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

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 make love gently.
(c) They trust each other with words rather than a touch.
(d) They talk about running away together.

3. Where is Jones forced to hide when Haitian police officers enter the ship?
(a) Under the kitchen table.
(b) Under an empty bed.
(c) In the ship's hold.
(d) In the bathroom.

4. What day do Brown and Jones leave town?
(a) Thursday.
(b) Tuesday.
(c) Monday.
(d) Sunday.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What revelation does Jones give Brown about his love life?

2. While listening to Mr. Smith describe the vegetarian center, what does the Secretary for Social Welfare doodle on his paper?

3. When Brown and his ship friend return to the boat, why is the guard at the gangplank not threatening?

4. At the casino with Luigi, whom does Brown see from the ship?

5. For the first time during Chapter 1 of Part 2, Martha mentions her father. Why is he disgraced in Brown's eyes?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. 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?

3. 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?

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. 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?

6. 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?

7. 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.

8. 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?

9. 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?

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

(see the answer keys)

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