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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the priest do with the bodies which the dancers bring to him?
(a) Chants over them.
(b) Holds their feet into the fire.
(c) Burns tiny pieces of their burial shrouds.
(d) Holds their arms into the fire.

2. Lying on the ground next to his pool, Brown thinks that he and Martha are more intimate than ever before. Why is this?
(a) They do not talk.
(b) They trust each other with words rather than a touch.
(c) They talk about running away together.
(d) They make love gently.

3. As Luigi the Italian is gambling, why he is depressed?
(a) He is losing large amounts of money.
(b) Brown is winning more money than he is.
(c) The casino is losing all its money.
(d) He has no money left for alcohol.

4. While listening to Mr. Smith describe the vegetarian center, what does the Secretary for Social Welfare doodle on his paper?
(a) Percentage marks and plus signs.
(b) Mr. Smith's face.
(c) Concentric circles.
(d) Sketches for the building entrance.

5. Why does the captain not want to take Jones aboard?
(a) Brown will not vouch that he is a good man.
(b) Jones has unresolved debts in Philadelphia.
(c) Jones does not have an exit-visa.
(d) Jones has no money to pay for his passage.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Jones want a business partner in the venture he is planning?

2. When Brown asks the ambassador to allow Jones to stay in his house, what is the ambassador's reaction?

3. Why do Mr. and Mrs. Smith decide not to build the vegetarian center?

4. What day do Brown and Jones leave town?

5. According to the new Secretary for Social Welfare, why did Doctor Philipot not have a funeral?

Short Essay Questions

1. In order to leave the Medea to travel to the British embassy, Jones dresses as a woman. What is the effect of this costume? How does it reflect on Jones?

2. Young Philipot, who visits Brown while he is swimming one early afternoon, is consumed with the idea of owning a Bren gun and fighting Papa Doc's army with it. In his idealism, what other character does he resemble and why?

3. When Brown attends the Voodoo ceremony with Joseph, several white-wrapped bodies are held close to the flame so that the skin burns. What is the effect of this scene? What is its possible antecedent?

4. When Brown's car breaks down on the road, he and Jones take refuge in a cemetery until the morning. How does this fit their time in Haiti? How does it portend what is to come?

5. When Jones and Brown board the Medea so Jones can ask for asylum, Brown describes the ship's captain like a judge. What is the effect of this appearance? Is this the first time a judge figure has appeared in the book? How does this contrast to Haitian culture?

6. The second time Brown visits the casino, the place is drastically changed from the night he met Martha. How is it different? What does this signal about Haiti's economy?

7. Why do the Smiths change their minds about opening a vegetarian center? How does the Secretary for Social Welfare misunderstand Mr. Smith?

8. What is the purpose of the Tonton Macoutes' visit to Brown at six o'clock in the morning? Do they expect to find anyone?

9. When Mr. Smith, Brown, and the Secretary for Social Welfare survey Duvalierville with the purpose of building a vegetarian center, the only person they see is a justice of the peace. What is the irony of this man?

10. The night before he takes Jones out of Port-au-Prince, Brown wanders through his empty hotel. What does it reveal to the reader about Brown's personality? What is the effect of this scene?

(see the answer keys)

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