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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. Jones finally tells Brown how he got the traveling cocktail case. What is the truth?
(a) He won it in a bet in Burma.
(b) He walked out of the store with it.
(c) The captain of his platoon gave it to him.
(d) He used a company check to buy it.

2. Part 3, Chapter 1 opens with a dream that Brown has. What is this dream?
(a) Martha has locked him in his own house with Angel.
(b) His mother is again lying in her bed, deathly ill.
(c) The priest will not give him communion at church.
(d) Joseph comes back with no legs but moves faster than before.

3. As Brown and Martha lie outside in the grass, what does Brown realize about the character of their relationship?
(a) Neither of them would love enough to die for the beloved.
(b) They belonged to the world of tragedy rather than that of comedy.
(c) They were not destined to stay together.
(d) He loved her more than ever before.

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

5. When Brown and his ship friend return to the boat, why is the guard at the gangplank not threatening?
(a) They had knocked him unconscious.
(b) They had bribed him with alcohol.
(c) They had threatened him with a pistol.
(d) They had shot and killed him.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why is Jones proud of his expansive liquor traveling case?

2. When Mrs. Smith appears on the porch, what is she wearing?

3. How does the captain intimidate the police officer who came onboard the ship?

4. Why do Jones and Brown go back to the Medea?

5. As Brown and young Philipot converse near the hotel pool, what does Philipot reveal that he is obsessed with?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

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

5. 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.

6. 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?

7. 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?

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. Brown feels that the happiest moment he spent with Martha was when they lay outside on the grass, talking. How does this compare to his initial feelings about the relationship? What does this moment portend about the future of their relationship?

10. What is the significance of saying Doctor Philipot's coffin is filled with bricks?

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