The Sorrow of War

Final Test

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Multiple Choice – 30 Points

1. What was Kien planning before the air raid sirens were called?
a. To go to a bar
b. To go home
c. A romantic dinner with Phuong
d. To go to a movie

2. Why is Kien afraid to miss his train?

a. He wants to leave Phuong behind
b. He wants to fight
c. Everyone will think he is a deserter
d. He doesn't want to let down his father's expectations

3. What musical instrument was Phuong especially good at?

a. The guitar
b. The piano
c. The clarinet
d. The flute

4. Why does Kien write in the post war period?

a. It’s Phuong’s wish
b. To become famous
c. To exorcise his feelings
d. It’s the only job he can get

5. Where do Kien and Phuong go when they first hear about the outbreak of war?
a. The school
b. The train station
c. The beach
d. The barracks

6. What 'peaceful' memory of the war does Kien think about in this Part?
a. Gambling with his platoon
b. Their platoon's trip to Hanoi
c. Smoking cigarettes
d. Their platoon's trip to a southern farm

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

8. Why does Kien make his first 'kill'?

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a. To save the life of his comrades

b. To save his own life
c. To serve his country
d. To protect Phuong

9. What happens to the train that Phuong and Kien eventually get on?
a. It crashes
b. It breaks down
c. It arrives safely
d. It is bombed

10. What profession did Kien's father hold?

a. That of a tax inspector
b. An army general
c. That of a tram driver
d. That of an artist

11. How does Phuong help Kien to rejoin his unit and avoid being accused of desertion?
a. She makes a phone call to their army base
b. She writes a letter to their commander
c. She gives him money to bribe the guards
d. She hitches a ride with him to their barracks

12. When did Kien's father die?

a. During the 1990s
b. During the war
c. Before he was born
d. During the first air raids to attack Hanoi

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

14. Who does Kien see before he goes off to war?

a. His mother
b. Can
c. His father
d. His stepfather

15. At the end of the Vietnam War, how were Kien and the other soldiers treated by the public?
a. They were ignored
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b. They were hailed as heroes

c. They were ridiculed
d. They were shamed

16. What disease plagued soldiers in Vietnam?

a. Smallpox
b. Polio
c. Rickets
d. Malaria

17. What does the woman in Doi Mo Hamlet promise Kien?

a. She will never expose his sins of the war
b. She will raise the child had together out of wedlock
c. He will always have a place to return
d. She will marry him someday

18. What device does the author use when he writes, “But relentlessly, his pen disobeyed him” (57)?
a. Hyperbole
b. Personification
c. Metaphor
d. Juxtaposition

19. What behavior exhibited by Kien’s biological father caused his mother “humiliation” (123)?
a. He was a sleepwalker
b. He was a stutterer
c. He was an epileptic
d. He spoke in tongues

20. How would one describe the paintings of Kien’s father?

a. Diabolical and dark
b. Magical and spiritual
c. Working Class Propaganda
d. Bright and optimistic

21. Why did Kien give four commandos who had killed village girls a reprieve?
a. Because he remembered his mother saying he should always accept heartfelt apologies.
b. Because one of the commandos looked like his father.
c. Because he remembered his girlfriend mocking men who killed who thought they were heroes.
d. Because he realized that it was to kill unarmed men would be cowardly.

22. Kien had two loves in his life; who were they?
a. Phuong and the mute girl
b. Phuong and his mother
c. God and his mother
d. Phuong before the war and Phuong after the war
23. Why would some say Hoa represents the sacrifice of war?
a. She risked her life to protect Kien and his men.
b. She volunteered to serve in the war in the place of her younger brother
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c. She threw herself on top of German Shepherd dogs that were destined to be killed.
d. She made “friends” with the enemy, as a means of distraction.

24. Why does Kien know the” Jungle of Screaming Souls” well?
a. He grew up there.
b. Phuong and he spent their last night together before the war there.
c. He was one of ten men that survived a bloody attack there.
d. Hao showed him around the area.

25. How does Hoa sacrifice herself for Kien and the other soldiers?
a. She distracts a group of soldiers and is raped while the other soldiers escape.
b. She throws herself on a grenade.
c. She shoots a group of American soldiers.
d. She hides Kien from the death squad.

26. How does the narrative change at the end of the book?
a. Fiction to nonfiction
b. Third person narrative to first person narrative
c. First person narrative to third person narrative
d. Nonfiction to fiction

27. Which of the choices below is not a theme that fits this book?
a. Death is inevitable
b. There are no winners in war
c. The cost of peace is sorrow
d. Love and war can bring sorrow

28. What was Kien’s nickname in the war?

a. Death Dealer
b. Sorrowful Soul
c. Can
d. Sorrowful Spirit

29. What job is Kien performing at the beginning of the book?

a. Collecting trash
b. Freelance writer
c. Teacher
d. Collecting dead bodies from the jungle

30. How does Kien’s interaction with Tran Sinh reveal his guilt?
a. Tran Sinh let Kien money and he never paid Kien back.
b. Kien came out of the war relatively unharmed, but Tran Sinh was badly injured.
c. Kien killed Tran Sinh’s brother
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d. Kien knew that Tran Sinh’s sister was a prostitute, but did not tell him.

Essay Question – 30 Points

Pick one of the questions below and respond in a well written paragraph. Use three examples from the text to support
your claim.

1. The women in Kien’s life symbolize aspects of the war. Explain two or three of Kien’s relationships with women
in the novel.
2. Why does Kien write about the war, when he is afraid of those memories? Explain how those memories drive his
writing.
3. What emotional effects does war have on Kien? How does it affect the way he feels and thinks about others?
Include examples in your response.
4. Kien finds himself attracted to Lan even though he loves Phuong. Is this the only way Kien knows how to express
himself and love? Or is he merely acting on a sort of animal instinct?
5. Kien describes his life as a set of non-life where he just wanders aimlessly through the town on page 70. Can
Kien live a normal life after what he had been through? Is he capable of moving on, or will he have to find a way
to both live in the past and present at the same time?
6. Kien is described as being instilled with a new vigor when his country prepares for war once more. Is he only
capable of being alive during war and strife? If so, does this mean that Kien had never truly lived during pre-war
times?
7. Kien talks about how it is now a time of peace and that the war was in the past. However, Kien says that they are
"two different ages, two worlds, yet written on the same page of life." What does this quote suggest about
Kien's feelings towards the war? Is the war over according to Kien?
8. At the end of the novel, Kien leaves his home and leaves everything behind, including his story. What does this
represent? (228)