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 is Pyle's urgency to see Fowler?

2. What does Fowler dream after he finally falls asleep?

3. Fowler wants to make love to Phuong but accepts the opium pipes instead. Why?

4. What does Fowler say when Phuong says Miss Hei does not believe he will marry her?

5. When things settle down at the House of the Five Hundred Girls, where do Pyle, Fowler and Phuong go?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when Pyle invites himself over for a drink?

2. What is the strange scene when Phuong comes in while Pyle is still there?

3. After Pyle and Phuong dance, how does the conversation go between Pyle and Miss Hei?

4. In a flashback, describe how Pyle meets Fowler and Phuong.

5. What does Fowler take away from Pyle's apartment?

6. What information does Phuong give Fowler?

7. At the press conference, what is the French colonel's response to the question of French casualties?

8. Why does Fowler want to answer Vigot's questions quickly and get out of his office?

9. What new complication is Fowler struggling with besides the possibility of losing to Pyle?

10. What is so annoying about the letter from Pyle that is waiting for Fowler when he finally gets home?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a paper about the similarity between the Catholic church in Phat Diem and the Caodaist Temple in terms of their political involvement. Religions that are poles apart yet they have one thing in common when dealing with two sides of warring factions. It comes down to a matter of survival and all religion is suspect by totalitarian regimes. Make this comparison without being judgmental as to the merits of either religion.

Essay Topic 2

The beginning of what we call the Vietnam war was an effort on the part of Vietnamese Communists to overthrow French colonialism. Write a paper on your opinion about the Americans becoming involved after the French pulled out. The implication of Pyle's trying to set up a Third Force hints at a premeditated plan on the part of America to be ready to step in when the French pull out. Do you think that is what happened?

Essay Topic 3

Young idealistic men often think of war as something glamorous. Using the descriptions in the book, write a paper about the horrors of war. To do this, use the description of the massacre at Phat Diem, the bomb explosion in Saigon, the ignoble assassination of Pyle, and Trouin's description of the use of napalm. Pyle comes to Vietnam, ignores the advice and observations of men who have been there for years, and idolizes York Harding. Show how this makes him idealistic and sure that he is invulnerable.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 917 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample