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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. With what does Mr. Pickering help Ernie?

2. When was Pick's first airplane ride?

3. Who is the commander of the Pickerel?

4. What does McCoy talk about with Ernie in Pennsylvania?

5. What does Banning decide to do if he has to leave the Corps?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Pickering want to do when he leaves the military and how has he prepared for that career?

2. What does Ernie do when she sees Martha at the restaurant?

3. What kind of group does Carlson want to start and what are his ideas about rank for the group?

4. With whom does Pick and Stecker have lunch in Atlanta and what does she do? How did Pick feel about it?

5. In Chapter XI, what does a navy doctor find out about Banning and the other blind men and what does he do?

6. What does the navy psychiatrist tell Banning?

7. Where does Sergeant Zimmerman when Esposito sees him in Chapter XVI? What does Esposito ask Zimmerman about?

8. To what job has Zimmerman and Kozonwski been assigned in Chapter I?

9. Why has Pick volunteered for flight training?

10. Where does Zimmerman and Koznowski run into McCoy and Ernie and what story do they tell?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Although still wounded, McCoy's main concern is to get to Washington as soon as possible, not his own health. He was ready to do whatever his government wanted him to do. He, and many other characters in this book, was very patriotic. Discuss one of the following:

1. What does patriotism mean to me? Use examples from Call to Arms to support your answer.

2. Class discussion. What is patriotism? What are the advantages of a country whose citizens feel highly patriotic? What are the disadvantages? What happens when patriots become zealots? Should patriotism be expected of its citizens by any country? Why or why not?

3. How do the characters in Call to Arms demonstrate their patriotism? Use examples from Call to Arms to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Griffin has tried as much as possible to use historical events and facts around which to weave his work of fiction. Discuss the following:

1. Do you think this book qualifies as an historical fiction? Why or why not?

2. If much of the events in the book are historical, what surprises you about the way the events play out?

3. Do you think the culture of that era is more or less advanced than you imagined? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

Griffin is masterful in his description of battles and life in general in for a soldier during the second world war. Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze Griffin's descriptive passages about life as a soldier. How does he use descriptions of the five senses to make the reader feel s/he is there? Do you find his descriptions compelling? Seemingly accurate? How would Corps 02: Call to Arms be different if Griffin did not include such descriptive passages?

2. Analyze Griffin's descriptive passages about the social structure of the times and discuss what you think it would be like to be a person of wealth and/or privilege such as Pickering, or Wesley. Contrast that to the lives of those who are in a lower social strata such as McCoy and Zimmerman or one in service to someone of wealth and/or privilege.

3. Describe and analyze Griffin's descriptive passages about the topographical setting and the physical descriptions of the people. Does Griffin do an adequate job of actually making the reader "see" the land or sea where the action is taking place? How about getting a visual image of the characters? How does the descriptions of the setting add to the novel? Do you like having an idea of how a character looks? How would the novel be different without such descriptions?

(see the answer keys)

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