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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 part of Buff's body does Doc Peret refuse to collect?

2. What form of public execution does the Squad attend in Chapter 29?

3. According to the major at Paul Berlin's promotion review, why are they fighting in Vietnam?

4. At the end of Chapter 44, what does Sarkin Aung Wan state at the beginning of her speech she is pleading for?

5. From what state is the American girl in the VW van that picks up Third Squad outside of Zagreb?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 31, what haunting event happens to Paul Berlin on his first day in the mountains?

2. How does Paul Berlin characterize the true war stories he has in Chapter 42?

3. Why does Third Squad intensify its search for Cacciato in Chapter 44?

4. How does Doc Peret get Third Squad out of trouble with Iranian authorities in Chapter 29?

5. What does Paul Berlin rationalize is the essential purpose of the Vietnam War at the end of Chapter 40?

6. Why does Stink Harris jump off the ship at the end of Chapter 38?

7. What does Buff's body look like when Cacciato finds it in Chapter 41?

8. How does Third Squad escape execution in Chapter 36?

9. Describe Captain Rhallon.

10. Describe Sarkin Aung Wan and Paul Berlin's debate in Chapter 44.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One recurring theme throughout the full Tim O'Brien cannon is the war story. Write an essay about the idea of the war story and its function in the world of the combat serviceman. How is the war story a form of first-aid to the traumatized soldier? When do the characters in the novel bust out their well-developed war stories? How are war stories that are, perhaps, the least factual also the most truthful? Do they add meaning to the meaningless violence of war?

Essay Topic 2

Going After Cacciato, as a novel, is the dueling of two narratives. One, the story of Cacciato's flight to Paris, is beautiful, meaningful, and false. The other, the story of Sidney Martin's murder, is nihilistic, sad, and sadly factual. It is a war story that cannot be told. Write an essay about the dynamic of between these two stories. Why does one necessitate the creation of the other? Why is the latter entirely unsatisfactory as a story? Does it have any substantive lesson to teach?

Essay Topic 3

There are two Paul Berlins in Going After Cacciato: the weak-willed bad soldier of the real chapters, and the one that presses onward and gets the girl in the Cacciato story. Write an essay comparing these two. How does the protagonist of the novel reinvent himself in half the chapters? How does this reinvention help him deal with his desperate shortcomings in the other half of the novel? TO what extent is the second Paul Berlin a defense for the first?

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