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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the first occasion that Kien had been drunk?
(a) After his sixteenth birthday
(b) After the train got bombed
(c) After the air raid in Hanoi
(d) After the fighting at Saigon aiport

2. Who does Kien dream about in hospital?
(a) His mother
(b) His lover, Phuong
(c) His childhood friend
(d) His pet dog

3. What does Phuong urge Kien to do after they hear the siren?
(a) To stay with her; to desert the army
(b) To fight the American menace
(c) To leave Vietnam
(d) To take cover

4. Where does the narrative of Part Four start?
(a) From Phuong's point of view
(b) Before Kien was born
(c) With Kien writing
(d) With Kien fighting

5. What does Kien do with the culprits of the farmhouse killing?
(a) He doesn't execute them
(b) He bribes them
(c) He executes them
(d) He runs away

6. What does Kien recognise about the driver of the tram on his return home from the bar?
(a) It is the father of Toan
(b) That he is a long lost friend
(c) That he is a ghost from the war
(d) That he is actually Phuong

7. Who was Toan?
(a) A fellow member of his platoon who was killed outside of Saigon
(b) A commander of the army
(c) A neighbor
(d) An old school friend

8. Who is Hoa?
(a) Kien's second in command
(b) A friend of Phuong's
(c) A young female guide who sacrifices herself for Kien and his platoon
(d) Kien's childhood sweetheart

9. When did Kien's father die?
(a) Before he was born
(b) During the 1990's
(c) During the war
(d) During the first air raids to attack Hanoi

10. Who else frequents the Balcony Cafe?
(a) Other ex-soldiers
(b) Americans
(c) Dancers
(d) Musicians

11. Why does Kien almost kill himself?
(a) Because he cannot bear the thought of war
(b) Because he sees how far removed he and Phuong have become
(c) Out of grief for his father
(d) Because he cannot bear the thought of losing Phuong

12. How does Hoa die?
(a) She died in a bar room brawl
(b) She died storming a regiment
(c) She is molested and killed by a squad of American solders to draw them away
(d) She died of a virus

13. What does Kien feel about the process of writing a novel at the start of Part Six?
(a) That it is making him famous
(b) That is a worthy and moral process
(c) That it is boring and unproductive
(d) That it makes lots of money

14. What did one particular friend think was the worst thing that could happen to a soldier?
(a) Having no money
(b) A bad relationship
(c) Venereal disease
(d) Having a small house

15. Why does Phuong accompany Kien on the train when they sign up for the war effort?
(a) To make sure he gets there
(b) She is travelling to her relatives
(c) She has never been on a train before
(d) They want to spend all the time they have left together

Short Answer Questions

1. Who sends Kien the letter that he receives many years later?

2. Why can Toan be considered a 'rival'?

3. How does Kien's friend Tu die?

4. Why does Kien remember his comrade Tu?

5. What does Kien realise is different about Phuong?

(see the answer keys)

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