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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 did Bartle's mother drive in Chapter 2?

2. By September, how many soldiers had been killed?

3. In Chapter 1, what flowers did Malik say that a neighbor used to grow?

4. In Chapter 4, what did a runner bring from battalion headquarters?

5. In Chapter 4, what did a friend send Bartle?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the bar like where Bartle went in the airport in Chapter 5?

2. How did Bartle describe the bargirl he meets in Chapter 3?

3. In Chapter 1, what had Bartle, Murph, and the other soldiers been doing for four days?

4. In Chapter 5, how did Bartle describe what he saw as he stared out the window after the plane came to the Atlantic Ocean?

5. In Chapter 1, who was Spc. Miriam Jackson, and how did she die?

6. At the end of Chapter 2, what did Sterling do to Bartle and why?

7. At the beginning of Chapter 4, what were conditions like for Bartle?

8. In Chapter 2, how did the days pass as Bartle and Murph's ship-out date approached?

9. Where does Bartle go in Chapter 3 after he leaves the cathedral?

10. What did Bartle notice in Chapter 5 when the plane from Germany flew over land?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Bartle does not feel at home when he returns to his mother’s house in Virginia. What does Bartle’s homecoming reveal about home as a place or a state of mind? What is home at that point in the novel for Bartle?

Essay Topic 2

Sterling had been in three previous tours in Iraq, and he seems to be a battle-hardened soldier. How is Sterling described by Bartle? What do his actions seem to say about the man? Why can Sterling be described as a tough, but gentle man?

Essay Topic 3

Murph begins spending time watching a female medic near the medic station. Why does Murph begin spending time watching the female medic? How much gentleness and kindness does Murph have in his life as a soldier? What does the girl represent to Murph, and why does he watch her?

(see the answer keys)

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