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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. How does Brown describe the new Secretary for Social Welfare?

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

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

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

5. What day do Brown and Jones leave town?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Jones realizes that Captain Conasseur is curious about his actions, he comes to Brown's hotel in a panic. What does this tell us about Jones's plan to get rich? How prepared is he to deal with the Tonton Macoutes?

2. 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.

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

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

5. 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?

6. 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?

7. 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?

8. 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?

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. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role does Angel play in the novel? Could it be said that he acts as Brown's conscience, or is he merely an annoying child? Why is Martha so attached to him and how does this attachment change her relationship with Brown?

Essay Topic 2

Brown often defines characters by their race, which seems also to determine their social standing. Is Brown trying to explain the world, or is he simply presenting the Haitian culture as it existed? What other pieces of the story present uniquely Haitian culture?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the main female characters in The Comedians, Martha and Mrs. Smith. How are they in many ways completely opposite? How does fidelity in their respective marriages change their characters?

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