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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 is Brown's plan to get through the road-blocks with Jones?

2. When Brown disembarks from the Medea, why is Martha sitting in the place she used to rendezvous with him?

3. When the Smiths first arrive at the Hotel Trianon, what does Mr. Smith think of the body crouched in the pool?

4. When Brown returns to his hotel in Santo Domingo, what does he find on his pillow?

5. How does Martha explain Brown's view of the world?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Brown and Mr. Smith visit the Secretary of State, hoping to free Jones, how is Brown successful? Why is Mr. Smith's bluntness ineffective?

2. Doctor Magiot's funeral oration for Philipot consists mostly of the consolation that he died a natural death, which is to say he was not murdered. Considering the political environment, is this a compliment? What about the dead man's sense of mathematics?

3. When Angel has the mumps, Brown visits him at Martha's insistence, and this is the only time the two people interact for any length of time. What is the effect of this meeting? How is Angel portrayed?

4. After visiting Martha and her husband at the embassy, what drives Brown to Mere Catherine's? Is he satisfied there?

5. At the end of the book, Jones is given a military funeral with the rest of the guerrilla fighters who were killed. Is this honorable or simply ironic? How does it fit Jones's life?

6. When Brown first mentions his hotel to the passengers aboard the Medea, he shows them bright postcards of bikini-clad girls and jazz drummers. Does this present Brown as an optimist or a pessimist? What do the postcards tell the reader about his character?

7. When Captain Concasseur returns to Haiti, his single goal is to catch Jones. How is this fitting to Jones's character? What about to the character of Haitian politics?

8. After Philipot's body is removed from the pool, Joseph cleans the pool so Mr. Smith can swim. Mr. Smith passes very close to where the body had crouched, and Brown cringes to think of the two scenarios. How is this, in a succinct fashion, an indication of the story?

9. Doctor Magiot is willing to help Brown plan an escape for Jones as well as maintain a facade of caring for Jones in order to explain his absence from public life. Why are these two men willing to take such risk? What does it say about their character?

10. Once again, in Part 1, Chapter 4, Brown is asked to look out for Jones and any suspicious activity he may be involved in. How is this instance similar to the first? How does it differ? What changes might be attributed to a greater understanding of Jones's character?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Of his relationship with Martha, Brown says, "Like some wines, our love could neither mature nor travel." Find examples in the text which illustrate this. How was their love bound to the moment? How were they bound to Haiti? What clues tell the reader that their love will not last?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the times Brown is held at gunpoint by Captain Concasseur. What does he have to lose? Why does he react differently? How is the captain's attitude different? What are their roles in both scenes? For example, in the second incident, Brown notes that a person would not hesitate to shoot someone he sees as worthless.

Essay Topic 3

What is the significance of the characters' names? The three main male characters have common, interchangeable names. Martha's last name is rarely mentioned. Doctor Philipot's name is nonsense. Does this change the characters? How does the reader perceive them? What might the author be doing by choosing these names?

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