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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. Where did Brown attend school as a child?

2. When Brown and Martha are stopped by the soldier at the road-block, why does Brown protest?

3. Starting in Part 1, Chapter 1, what problem does Brown have with Jones's name?

4. What is the name of the ship on which Brown, Jones, and the Smiths are traveling?

5. How does Brown think of Mr. Smith even before he knows his name?

Short Essay Questions

1. Doctor Magiot asserts, in a conversation with Brown, "No, I don't despair, I don't believe in despair, but our problems won't be solved by the Marines. . . . We are an evil slum floating a few miles from Florida, and no American will help us with arms or money or counsel" (p. 222). Is this a fair view of the situation? What might lead the doctor to believe this?

2. Once again, in Part 1, Chapter 4, Brown is asked to look out for Jones and any suspicious activity he may be involved in. How is this instance similar to the first? How does it differ? What changes might be attributed to a greater understanding of Jones's character?

3. Doctor Magiot's funeral oration for Philipot consists mostly of the consolation that he died a natural death, which is to say he was not murdered. Considering the political environment, is this a compliment? What about the dead man's sense of mathematics?

4. Martha and Brown rendezvous for the first time in her car by the Columbus statue. What is the nature of this meeting and how does it set the tone for their relationship?

5. Petit Pierre is introduced at the beginning of Part 1, Chapter 2. What purpose does his character play? How is he similar to Brown?

6. In Part 1, Chapter 2, how is Brown and Martha's relationship portrayed? What is the irony of their situation?

7. In his mother's desk, Brown finds a disk which Doctor Magiot recognizes as a medal of the resistance. What does this reveal about his mother?

8. When Captain Concasseur returns to Haiti, his single goal is to catch Jones. How is this fitting to Jones's character? What about to the character of Haitian politics?

9. Doctor Magiot is willing to help Brown plan an escape for Jones as well as maintain a facade of caring for Jones in order to explain his absence from public life. Why are these two men willing to take such risk? What does it say about their character?

10. In Chapter 1 of Part 1, Brown and Jones meet as Jones is attempting to bribe the steward to switch their rooms. How is this first scene indicative of Jones's character?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Jones's funeral tie the story together? Include all the characters who are present and the ways they react to the funeral. How is it fitting that all characters are brought together for this funeral? Can the honorable funeral be a form of forgiveness for Jones's lies?

Essay Topic 2

Look back through the novel at the main characters. Have any of them changed? If so, how? Has the book simply progressed through a period of time, or has it traced the development of particular characters?

Essay Topic 3

Who is Jones when is he honest about himself to Brown? What impression does he give of his own character?

(see the answer keys)

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