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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. When Brown, Smith, and the Secretary for Social Welfare arrive at Duvalierville, who is the only person in sight?
(a) A Tonton Macoute guard.
(b) A beggar missing an arm.
(c) A man with a sign declaring him to be the justice of the peace.
(d) The American ambassador, who is interested in the project.

2. When Brown asks the ambassador to allow Jones to stay in his house, what is the ambassador's reaction?
(a) Relief.
(b) Hesitation.
(c) Fear.
(d) Scorn.

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

4. When Mrs. Smith appears on the porch, what is she wearing?
(a) A green pantsuit and sneakers.
(b) An old-fashioned nightgown and rollers in her hair.
(c) A sundress and sandals.
(d) A fancy dress and tortoise-shell comb.

5. In Chapter One, what is distinctive about Jones's driver, the man who ruined Joseph?
(a) His gold teeth.
(b) His harsh laugh.
(c) His severe limp.
(d) His long facial scar.

Short Answer Questions

1. As Luigi the Italian is gambling, why he is depressed?

2. Why does the captain not want to take Jones aboard?

3. While the Tonton Macoutes are ransacking the hotel, what is Brown most afraid of?

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

5. When Brown visits Jones at his rented villa for the first time, what is on the table?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Brown picks up Jones at the British embassy to smuggle him out of the city, how has Jones's attitude changed? What motivates this?

2. 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?

3. According to Doctor Magiot in Part 2, Chapter 1, what role does Voodoo play in Haitian culture? What is its relation to Catholicism?

4. From even their first meeting, Brown hesitates to address Jones as "Major Jones." How does this begin to explain Jones's character? How does it prepare the reader for the revelation that Jones has never even seen a man die?

5. Though Brown does not want to board the Medea for a last drink with the purser, he feels attached to the ship and the memories there. What does this say about Brown's loneliness? Is he happy alone in his hotel?

6. When just before leaving Haiti, Mr. Smith scatters money in front of the post office, what does he show about himself? Has he changed since he first came to the country?

7. At the end of Part 2, Chapter 1, Brown comes to a realization about himself. What is this realization? How does it change the reader's understanding of him? How does it fit with his wandering to the casino and then to the Medea, talking with the purser?

8. As the two men wait out the night in the cemetery, Jones tells Brown the truth about his life. Is this a fitting time for his confession? Why would he confess to Brown instead of anyone else?

9. Why do Mr. and Mrs. Smith refer several times to their experience in Nashville? Brown wonders this himself, when Mrs. Smith references that incident in order to win an argument with her husband.

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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