View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter 2, what word does Mailer want to tell Mitch Goodman to shove?

2. Which social or literary figure calls Mailer in Chapter 2?

3. In Chapter 1, what does Mailer claim the young generation hates more than anything else?

4. Why do Mailer, Macdonald and Lowell want to be arrested first on Saturday?

5. Where do the organizers of the March go for breakfast in Chapter 3?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Mailer late to emcee the event in Chapter 5?

2. Why does Mailer state he does not have a good instinct for speeches at protests?

3. What is Mailer's attitude toward protest at the beginning of the novel?

4. What appraisal of Robert Lowell does Mailer make in en route to the Department of Justice in Chapter 3?

5. Why does Mailer agree to join the Pentagon protest in Chapter 2?

6. What metaphor does Mailer use in Chapter 5 to describe the Vietnam controvery in America and who takes what sides?

7. What amusing interchange happens between Mailer and Lowell in this section?

8. What is the plan for the Justice Department protest?

9. How does Mailer annoy Ed de Grazia in Chapter 4?

10. How is Mailer received after Lowell in Chapter 6?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the novel Armies of the Night, Norman Mailer makes reference to other source materials. These offer the reader another vantage for the events of October, 1967. Write an essay about these source materials, focusing on two uses in the novel:

Part 1) The novel begins with a an assessment of Norma Mailer's involvement in the march on the Pentagon in Time Magazine. What does this article have to say about Mailer? How, in essence, does it provide a counterpoint for what follows in the rest of the novel? To what extent does this article both inspire Mailer to write the novel and serve as a destination of sorts for him? Why is Mailer so dedicated to responding to the article?

Part 2) The second book of the novel is full of quotes and references to other publications. Discuss several of these publications and their role in Book II. How does their inclusion reflect a different sort of narration from the narration in Book I? Is Mailer attempting to cite them as corroboration or refute them as he does the Time Magazine story?

Essay Topic 2

Norman Mailer, the author of Armies of the Night, takes on several roles throughout the novel. He is protagonist, author, and historian at the same time. Write an essay about the interchange amongst these three Mailers, divided into three parts:

Part 1) Norman Mailer is the protagonist of the novel, but the narrator's relationship to him is not as intimate as one might expect. Explore how the point of view of the novel makes the character of Mailer as much object as subject. What aspects of the character does the narrator go to great pains to dissect? How does the he function as protagonist to the first book?

Part 2) Discuss the role of Mailer as narrator in the first book of the novel. What does his narration reflect about the author's personality and his relative level of sobriety? Would you say that Mailer the author is a reliable narrator? How does he react both to the events of the march and the actions of Mailer the character?

Part 3) Focus on Mailer's narration in the second book on the novel. He characterizes himself as a historian in this section. How is Mailer the narrator different from both Mailer the author and Mailer the character? Is his narration more or less reliable than it was in Book I? In what way do the two narrators meet at the beginning of Book II?

Essay Topic 3

In Armies of the Night, Norman Mailer regularly invokes the history of the United States while he tells the story of the Pentagon March. Write an essay about Mailer's desire to present the March as a link in the development of America's social and political infrastructure, choosing three instances from the novel in which he invokes America's collective past. How does he bring up the past in these instances? What do they have to do with the current events involving the March? What specific point does the author seem to be making in this comparison?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,304 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample