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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Billy do when he gets drunk at the party in 1961?
(a) He cheats on his wife.
(b) He calls up old girlfriends.
(c) He yells at his best friend.
(d) He passes out on the living room rug.

2. When was Billy kidnapped by the Tralfamadorans?
(a) During the march in 1944
(b) After dinner in 1957
(c) One morning in 1945
(d) On a night in 1967

3. What happens when Billy tries to sleep in the railroad car?
(a) The other soldiers tell him to go lie down someplace else.
(b) The guards start searching through the railroad car.
(c) Someone in the darkness starts screaming loudly.
(d) The railroad car starts moving too fast to sleep.

4. Where did the soldiers take Billy and Roland?
(a) To the mayor's house in the nearest village
(b) To a local brewery where they were fed sausages
(c) To a stone cottage filled with other prisoners
(d) To the town jail where they were able to wash up

5. What are the subjects of Roland Weary's most treasured picture?
(a) His mother and his sister
(b) A naked woman and a Shetland pony
(c) His best friends back in the United States
(d) His car and his rifle

6. What is Billy's position in the war?
(a) Chaplain's assistant
(b) Private in the Infantry
(c) Corporal in Support Services
(d) Second lieutenant

7. What was the prized possession of the Commander who captured Billy and Roland?
(a) His sheepskin jacket
(b) His ancient rifle
(c) His pocket watch
(d) His golden boots

8. What did Vonnegut study in college?
(a) Creative Writing
(b) Political science
(c) Anthropology
(d) Philosophy

9. What does Vonnegut tell his sons about massacres?
(a) To run away from them if at all possible.
(b) Not to be involved in them, or take glee from them.
(c) That they are a necessary part of human history.
(d) That they are excusable if done for a good reason.

10. Where in the city are the prisoners of war kept during the bombing?
(a) In a slaughterhouse
(b) In a deserted zoo
(c) In an empty school
(d) In a baby food factory

11. What surprised the British officers most about the American prisoners?
(a) How young they were
(b) How ill-dressed they were
(c) How tired they looked
(d) How nice they were

12. What did the German soldiers find on Billy when they searched him?
(a) A two-inch pencil stub
(b) The letter from his mother
(c) A picture of his girlfriend
(d) His rifle and bayonet

13. Why does one of the Germans beat up an American prisoner of war?
(a) He was mimicking one of the other guards.
(b) He was making fun of Billy Pilgrim.
(c) He was trying to escape from the POW camp.
(d) He said something that the German did not like.

14. What happens to Billy in 1968?
(a) His father gets into a car accident and nearly dies.
(b) He is diagnosed with cancer and undergoes surgery.
(c) He survives a plane crash and his wife dies.
(d) His children try to get him committed to a mental ward.

15. How long does Billy stay locked in a railroad boxcar before it starts moving?
(a) Five days
(b) Ten hours
(c) One day
(d) Two days

Short Answer Questions

1. What is unusual about Billy Pilgrim?

2. Why does Vonnegut stop at the Hudson River on the way to see his friend Bernard O'Hare?

3. What is the first thing both the Germans and the Tralfamadorans have Billy do?

4. What does Billy compare the guard's railroad car to?

5. What do humans look like to the Tralfamadorans?

(see the answer keys)

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