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. What architecture does Paul fix in his mind?

2. About what does Molly worry?

3. Where is Paul when Chapter 14 opens?

4. For what does Yu use feng shui?

5. How does Yu explain himself?

Short Essay Questions

1. With whom does Paul meet in Zurich and what do they do?

2. Briefly sum up Molly's week with the Websters.

3. What happens to all the Cubans but Ruiz and why not Ruiz? What does Nsango ask about Ruiz?

4. What does Paul learn during his visit to Yu Lung?

5. What are Paul's instructions to the two men who are to break Pigeon?

6. With whom does Paul meet and upon what does Paul's report focus?

7. How does Paul finally break Pigeon and why does his method work? What do they do with Pigeon?

8. What do Paul and Tom discuss as they are at the bar having hot buttered rum?

9. What does Ruiz tell Paul about the recruiting of Oswald?

10. Why is Paul glad he is alone?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Intelligence work, at least as far as this novel is concerned, can be dangerous business. Discuss one of the following:

1. What are some of the dangers of intelligence work specified or implied in THE TEARS OF AUTUMN? Illustrate with specific examples from the text.

2. Do you think intelligence work in the "real" world is more or less dangerous than that which is stated or implied in THE TEARS OF AUTUMN? Explain fully. (This may require some research).

3. Why do you think those characters in THE TEARS OF AUTUMN who choose intelligence work do so? Discuss and compare the motives for intelligence work by Paul, Tom Webster, David Patchen, Nsango, Luong, Trevor Hitchcock, and Klimenko. Each of these may have different reasons. Discuss fully with examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,448 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample