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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. Where did Ernie tell the children they would find happiness?

2. What is Ernie unable to determine about the children who crowd around him in the boxcar?

3. What did Ernie review in the infirmary as he recovered from his torture?

4. What does Ernie do to get the attention of the military in Drancy?

5. What was Ernie's assignment in the French army?

Short Essay Questions

1. What change does touching Melanie make in Ernie?

2. What do the old men of The Association of Zemyock say it is useless to do with any Levy?

3. What causes the Levy family the first tinge of fear that life in France will be the equivalent of their lives in Germany?

4. How was it possible that the majority of the condemned Jews realized what was happening to them only once inside the gas chambers?

5. What surprising request does Ernie make of the gendarmes at Drancy?

6. What were the Jews told to take with them into the "Baths and Inhalations"?

7. What changes does Madame Trochu make when she understands that Ernie is a Jew?

8. Why do the SS men torture Ernie for his request to enter the camp at Drancy?

9. How does Ernie describe Jesus?

10. In Ernie's dream, what mistake does Judith make as she talks about the wedding?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Authors write for many purposes such as to entertain, to inform, to persuade, or some combination of these. In your essay, explain which purpose you believe motivated Schwarz-Bart to write this story. Use specific examples from the book itself to substantiate your opinion.

Essay Topic 2

The author puts himself into the story more than once. In your essay, find the moments in which the author shares his own feelings with the reader, and evaluate this device. Does he belong in the story? Why or why not? Is he sharing his feelings because they are similar to yours? What ultimately gives him relief from the grief he experiences as he composes this story?

Essay Topic 3

A great deal of this story revolves around Ernie's development as a child. In your essay, tell which of Ernie's recorded childhood events changed the man he was to become, and why you think so.

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