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

Short Answer Questions

1. Who performs first in the event of Chapter 5?

2. What is significant about the way Lowell recites his poetry in Chapter 6?

3. In Chapter 6, how does Mailer characterize Macdonald politically?

4. Who is entertaining the audience when the speakers arrive?

5. Which of the following ideas is not something that Mailer declares the young generation believes in more fervently than its forebears in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Mailer respond to William Sloane Coffin in Chapter 3?

3. What state is Mailer in when he leaves the party in Chapter 4?

4. Describe Norman Mailer as a character.

5. Why is Dwight Macdonald livid about the newspaper coverage of the Ambassador event in Chapter 3?

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

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

8. What concerns Goodman about the protest planning in Chapter 3?

9. What does Mailer feel about left-wing splinter groups' names in Chapter 3?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The character of Norman Mailer begins Armies of the Night with an ambivalent attitude toward the conflict in Vietnam. As the novel continues, his opinions regarding the war are codified by what he sees in Washington, DC. Write an essay about this codification in three parts:

Part 1) Norman Mailer is unsure of what he thinks about Vietnam protesting when Mitch Goodman calls him in Chapter 2. Why does he agree to go to Washington for the march? Is it at all connected to political realities of the time? How does his behavior at the Ambassador reflect his attitude toward the movement?

Part 2) What does Mailer experience on Friday and Saturday at the Justice Department, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Pentagon? Discuss how this experience makes him remember his time in combat. How does this experience begin to alter his feelings about the anti-war movement?

Part 3) Describe what Mailer's feelings toward the war in Vietnam have become when his is awaiting processing after having been arrested. What has he realized about those who oppose the conflict? What does he think is driving America's continued involvement in the conflict?

Essay Topic 2

Norman Mailer is an arrogant, hard-living, patently cynical person, but he cares passionately about what others think of him. When he sees someone who is more respected or more famous, Mailer is stricken with a combination of fascination and maddened jealousy. Write an essay about three such individuals. How does the narrative juxtapose these people with the character of Mailer? How does he react to them? Do they inspire anger, respect, or some combination of both in him?

Part 1) Robert Lowell

Part 2) William Sloane Coffin

Part 3) Noam Chomsky

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the use of stream-of-consciousness and free association in the narration of Armies of the Night. When are these modernist tools used most prevalently? To what extent do they appear when Mailer the character is swept up in some phenomenal experience? What does this style of narration say about Norman Mailer's state of mind? In the second half of the essay, discuss what Mailer most frequently associates toward. What does this say about his goals as an author in writing this novel?

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