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Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. Who is the judge of the game the soldiers play?
2. How many young men are on stage at the beginning of Act 1?
3. Whose greeting of Toomey is less friendly than the other soldiers?
4. How many sex positions does Selridge say there are?
5. Where does Eugene tell the prostitute he's from?
Short Essay Questions
1. How does Eugene react to the men reading his notebook?
2. What does Eugene's attitude seem to be after the other soldiers have read his writings?
3. How does Eugene feel at the end of Act 2, Scene 2?
4. What does Eugene do at the end of the scene?
5. What does Roy think of himself?
6. Why is Eugene uncomfortable and nervous in Act 2, Scene 1?
7. What does Epstein threaten that he will do to Wykowski on the troopship?
8. Who does Eugene talk to at the end of the scene, and why?
9. What does Rowena say about her home life?
10. How does the army find out the identity of the escaped soldier?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Eugene grows from a boy into a man during the course of the play. How does the play define the quality of manhood?
1) What does it mean to be a man for Eugene? What is required of a man that's not required of a boy?
2) How does sex relate to manhood in the play? How does war relate to manhood in the play?
3) How do men in the play relate to each other? Do boys relate to each other differently than men?
Essay Topic 2
The play BILOXI BLUES is about soldiers during wartime, but little is actually seen of the war. Discuss the role of war in the novel.
1) Why does the play show Eugene's experience before shipping overseas, and then end with his retelling of events during the war, but not show the war itself?
2) How real does the war seem to the soldiers in boot camp?
3) What affect does the existence of the war, which the soldiers will soon have to become a part of, have on their decisions and attitudes?
Essay Topic 3
Discuss confrontation in the play.
1) Epstein isn't afraid to confront the other characters, while Eugene tends to be non-confrontational. Why do the two characters take these different attitudes? What are the dangers and benefits of Epstein and Eugene's attitudes toward confrontation?
2) Which of the soldiers are willing to be confrontational toward Toomey, in what circumstances, and why? What does this say about the soldiers?
3) How does being confrontational personally relate to one's ability to be a soldier in the play?
This section contains 613 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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