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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. What does Kien recognise about the driver of the tram on his return home from the bar?

2. What do Kien and his platoon realize when they visit the South Vietnamese farm?

3. Before Kien started frequenting the Cafe, how many times in his life had he been drunk before?

4. What does Phuong finally tell Kien about their future in the form of a note?

5. What did this skill reveal to Kien?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Kien taunted by the other soldiers in the abandoned school?

2. Where do Kien and Phuong go to escape when they hear about the war?

3. Why does Kien refuse to sleep with Phuong before the war?

4. Why does Kien kill the Sailor on the Train?

5. What was Phuong forced to become?

6. Why does Kien discover about his father's paintings?

7. Who is Kien's first 'kill' of the war?

8. Why does Kien not kill the commandos responsible for the farmhouse massacre?

9. What happens to the train that Kien and Phuong eventually catch so that he can return to his unit?

10. Why does Phuong want Kien to be more like his father?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is a muse? Who was the muse in Kien’s story? Explain your reasoning.

Essay Topic 2

In what ways does Phuong change throughout the book? Explain in detail

Essay Topic 3

One theme of the novel is survivor guilt. Discuss how this theme is presented in the story.

(see the answer keys)

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