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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 road do the soldiers take toward the battle?

2. Why does Jonathan decide not to ask any more questions about the battle after talking to his father's friend?

3. What do the soldiers accuse the Corporal of after asking him about the men from Snydertown?

4. What happens as the Americans and Hessians begin shooting at one another?

5. What type of gun does the tavern keeper give Jonathan?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does it reveal about the soldiers when one of them shoots into the air as a joke?

2. In what way are Jonathan's feelings about the Corporal different than those of the other soldiers?

3. Does Jonathan have a realistic idea of what war entails at the beginning of the story?

4. How does Jonathan feel about his performance in the battle?

5. Why does Jonathan hope the drum or fife player is younger than he?

6. Why has Jonathan's father prepared him to fight even though he is against it?

7. Why is Jonathan so eager to join the war effort in the beginning of the story?

8. Why is Jonathan's father against Jonathan joining the war effort?

9. What mixed message does the tavern keeper send Jonathan?

10. Why does the youngest Hessian seem safer and more trustworthy to Jonathan than the other two?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the use of time-stamping throughout the book. What effect does it have on the reader to see events unfold more slowly or more quickly using this device?

Essay Topic 2

Do the men's initial reactions to fighting Hessians rather than Redcoats foreshadow Jonathan's later experiences with Hessians, or do his experiences as their prisoner reveal another side of them in Jonathan's perception? What do the Hessians represent to the men, and what do they later come to represent for Jonathan?

Essay Topic 3

Why does Jonathan's father neglect to share his own experiences with and concerns about war with Jonathan, both before and after Jonathan goes to fight? In what ways might his father's silence be a contributing factor in Jonathan's strong desire to go to war? How might Jonathan's outlook and actions be different if his father had been more open with him?

(see the answer keys)

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