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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What part of the story is Tim's own?
(a) The Silver Star part
(b) The friend drowning part
(c) The part of pulling Kiowa by his boot
(d) The part of playing basketball at the YMCA

2. Other than Kathleen and Tim, who else watched him get into the river?
(a) An old man farming
(b) A young child eating
(c) A woman carrying a basket
(d) A young man hauling rice

3. What event causes Tim to revise "Speaking of Courage," following Norman Bowker's advice?
(a) The death of Lt. Cross
(b) A letter from Kiowa's father
(c) Feedback from his daughter
(d) Norman Boker's suicide

4. In Tim's imagination, what village is the man he killed from?
(a) Saigon
(b) Than Khe
(c) Tra Bong
(d) My Khe

5. What was Norman Bowker's chief criticism of the first draft of "Speaking of Courage?"
(a) A lack of details
(b) It was a gross embellishment of the truth
(c) The piece is too short
(d) The piece is too long

6. What did the man on trail wear on his feet?
(a) Boots
(b) Loafers
(c) Rubber sandals
(d) Nothing

7. What couldn't Tim bring himself to do?
(a) Talk to a dead body as if it were alive
(b) Give his rations to the villagers
(c) Find himself a Vietnam girlfriend
(d) Joke with the guys about killing people

8. Where did Tim and Linda go on a date?
(a) To the park
(b) To a baseball game
(c) To a movie
(d) To a skating rink

9. What does Tim think would have happened if he ignored the man on the trail?
(a) Someone else in the platoon would have killed him
(b) The man would have surrendered
(c) The man would have just continued down the trail, unharmed
(d) The man would have planted land mines

10. What is not a phrase used by the men to describe the dead?
(a) Cracker jack
(b) Crunchie munchie
(c) Roasted peanut
(d) Crispy critter

11. Which is NOT a way Norman Bowker attempts to return to normal life?
(a) Dating a number of women
(b) Basketball at the YMCA
(c) Working at various jobs
(d) Classes at a community college

12. Who warns Lt. Cross about the location the men choose to camp in?
(a) A group of Vietnamese children
(b) A group of other soldiers
(c) A group of Vietnamese women
(d) The command post

13. Who mimics the girl's dancing later that night, making Henry Dobbins angry?
(a) Rat Kiley
(b) Azar
(c) Tim
(d) Curt Lemon

14. By what area of the body does Norman Bowker attempt to pull the body out of the muck?
(a) His boot
(b) His belt
(c) His hand
(d) His arm

15. What question of Kathleen's does Tim have a hard time finding an answer to?
(a) Why did he kill the man in the trail?
(b) Why were they visiting Vietnam?
(c) Why did he write war stories?
(d) Why was there a war?

Short Answer Questions

1. How many soldiers are said to be in the platoon?

2. What color clothes was the man wearing when Tim killed him?

3. Who is the most "spooked" in the end?

4. How many years has it been since the war for the author, at the time of writing the novel?

5. Which feeling does the narrator not admit to about the war?

(see the answer keys)

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