View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where is the narrator in the beginning of Chapter 23?

2. Where did the narrator, Bon, and Man swear their blood oath?

3. What item are the members of the narrator's team given to wear over their hearts in Chapter 18?

4. When was Ho Chi Minh born?

5. What phrase does the narrator describe as Ho Chi Minh's "empty suit" in Chapter 23?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is significant about Ms. Mori's family photos being set out in Chapter 13?

2. What conflict takes place between the narrator and Sonny in Chapter 13?

3. How does the admiral compare the plight of the troops to Jesus in Chapter 17?

4. What is revealed about the narrator's father's death in Chapter 22?

5. What is the commandant questioning the narrator about in the beginning of Chapter 19?

6. How is Abe's story related in Chapter 13?

7. What do Lana and Bon discuss at the night club in Chapter 14? How does this conversation impact the narrator?

8. What is revealed in the jar on the commandant's desk? What does it symbolize?

9. How has the narrator's past year in the prison been described in Chapter 19?

10. What is the answer to the question that the narrator must answer to the commmissar in the end of the novel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and analyze the character of Lana in the novel. How old is Lana? Where does the narrator know Lana from? What risks does the narrator take in courting Lana?

Essay Topic 2

Why does Bon insist on returning to Vietnam to fight for the General? Why does the narrator try to convince him otherwise? What ultimately leads to the narrator's decision to accompany Sonny to Vietnam?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the narrator's relationship with Ms. Mori. How does their relationship begin? How does it evolve? How does it end? How would you describe the narrator's feeling for Ms. Mori?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 891 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample