View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Joe decide when he first figures out he has no arms?

2. What did Joe think when he read THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII?

3. How does Joe feel about the war?

4. What does Superintendent of School Hargraves say about the airplane?

5. What does Glen Hogan give Joe for his birthday one year?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Joe think about doctors and war?

2. What book did Joe read that gave him a nightmare and what was that nightmare?

3. What does Joe think guys should do when called up for the military?

4. What are the two problems Jose talks to the guys at the bakery about?

5. Why does Joe think being the way he is is worse than being in the womb?

6. How does Joe come to know he has no face?

7. As Joe's pain fades some what does he think about and how does he feel about being deaf?

8. When did Joe become aware of the war and what events in the war occurred at that time?

9. Why does Joe think he is dying and why does he know he is alive?

10. What does Joe see on the way home from the train station?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Joe Bonham also has to join, and ends up lying in bed, thinking this is no place for him, no war for him, none of his business. What does he care about making the world safe for democracy?

1. Compare Joe's feelings about war and his assertion that it is none of his business with the ideas many Vietnam draftees expressed.

2. Do you think Joe's reaction to war is a common reaction for draftees? Why or why not?

3. The idea that rich, political persons declare war but the common, poor person fights them. Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

One of the images in the book is the returning to the womb of an adult. Joe often expresses a feeling of being in a womb. When he first begins assessing his situation in the hospital, he expresses the desire that his mother care for him as he saw her care for his youngest sister, Elizabeth. Discuss the following:

1. How is the image of being in a womb both a positive and negative one in the book?

2. Why do you think Joe yearns for his mother to treat him like his young sister? Do you think his mother would be willing to care for Joe?

3. Many people who are dying, especially unexpectedly or in combat, call out for "mother." Discuss why you think this is so and include examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

This story is written in a series of flashbacks in a stream-of-consciousness style. Discuss one of the following:

1. Define flashback and stream of consciousness. What are some reasons an author would choose to use each of these literary devices? Give examples of each from the text.

2. Analyze the way the author uses flashbacks to make Joe a more complex, well-rounded character. Does the fact that the flashbacks are not chronological make the story more realistic? What are the advantages and disadvantages of flashbacks?

3. A narration using stream of consciousness can be difficult at times to follow and understand because most people's brains when reading are more linear and organized, though the thought process tends to be associative. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the stream-of-consciousness style in this book.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,057 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample