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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. Who is Wolkowicz?

2. Where is the safe house in Washington, D.C.?

3. What have people advised Luong when he asks about Lê Thu?

4. What does Paul lack as he sets out to learn the truth of the assassination of JFK?

5. Back in Paris, what does Christopher read?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Paul's visit with the Ngo Truong toc.

2. What does the letter from David say?

3. Describe the dinner conversation between Kim and Paul.

4. Give a brief description of Paul Christopher.

5. What does David Patchen think about Foley?

6. Describe Molly, Paul Christopher's current girlfriend.

7. What is probably foreshadowed in Paul's dinner meeting with the Hitchocks?

8. What does Paul do in response to the letter from David?

9. What does Paul tell Ho he wants to know and why he wants to know it?

10. Describe Nguyên Kim.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Chapter 6, Paul meets with Luong and they discuss lucky numbers. Discuss the following:

1. What is numerology? How does the concept of numerology play out in the novel? Do you think Luong really believes that because 11/1 is his lucky number that his life is spared when Nhu and Diem are murdered on that day?

2. Paul insists he is not toying with superstitions but wants to learn when talking about numerology with Luong. Why do you think Paul wants to learn about how the Vietnamese view numbers? Does Paul use this information later? When? How?

3. Do you think the concept of numerology has any validity? Why or why not? Would you arrange your life by studying numbers? Is there a difference between superstition and numerology? Why or why not.

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 1, when the group that includes Foley and Peggy McKinney learn of the deaths of the Ngo brothers, Peggy tries to lead a college cheer over their deaths. No one will join in, and Sybille Webster weeps over all of the corpses that politics creates. Undeterred, Peggy McKinney insists on a difference between petty Asiatic dictators and presidents of the greatest nation on earth. Discuss the following:

1. Sybille Webster might be considered the "conscience" of the novel. How do you think she serves as a moral barometer? Give specific examples. How do you think she lives with the fact that her husband is part of an organization that will do many illegal and immoral acts to promote a political goal?

2. Debate Peggy McKinney's belief that there is a difference between petty Asiatic dictators and presidents of the greatest nation on earth.

3. Do politics create corpses or do humans create corpses? Is there a difference? Discuss fully.

Essay Topic 3

John F. Kennedy is the President of the United States at the opening of THE TEARS OF AUTUMN. Discuss one of the following:

1. Research the Kennedy's administration's policy in Vietnam and discuss how this policy affected the Ngo family. How accurate is McCarry's portrayal of the Kennedy administration's involvement in Vietnam? Do the historical records of the administration's policy to Vietnam differ compared to the novel? How?

2. After researching the Kennedy's administration's policy towards Vietnam, discuss whether you think some Vietnamese would be hostile to Kennedy even to the point of assassination. After your research, does McCarry's book seem more realistic or less? Explain.

3. Do you think JFK could be considered a character in the novel? Explain your answer with specific examples from the text. Would you label him as a protagonist or antagonist? How does Kennedy as a character affect the plot of THE TEARS OF AUTUMN?

(see the answer keys)

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