Short Answer Questions - Chapter 1
1. How does Kiowa describe Ted Lavender's
death?
2. When was Ted Lavender killed outside of the
village Than Khe?
3. Who was excused from tunnel duty due to
size?
4. Who is unlucky to draw tunnel duty during the
mission outside Than Khe?
5. Which item doubled as a body bag?
6. "Hump it" means what?
7. What do the men call plane rides home to
America?
8. Which men have a conversation when they
see Lt. Cross crying after Ted Lavender's death?
9. Which of the following is NOT a way the men
resupplied the things they carried?
10. Which man cut off the thumb of a dead VietCong boy?
11. What did Lt. Cross keep under his tongue?
12. Where is Martha a student?
Short Answer Questions - Chapter 2
1. Who visited the author, Tim O'Brien, to talk?
2. What memory forced the men to switch from
coffee to gin?
3. How do we know the narrator is the author,
Tim O'Brien?
4. How did Jimmy Cross get another photograph
of Martha?
5. What purpose does the chapter 'Love' fill for
the novel?
6. What movie did Jimmy Cross and Martha see
on their date before the war?
7. In what year was the college reunion where
Jimmy Cross reunited with Martha?
8. How does Jimmy ask Tim to portray him in the
book he is writing?
9. Martha became a trained __________.
10. What color are Martha's eyes?
11. What is Jimmy Cross's last request to Tim at
the end chapter 2?
12. Where does Jimmy Cross stay while he visits
Tim?
Short Answer Questions - Chapter 3
1. Norman Bowker's father only cares about
what?
2. Who kills Tim Lavender's stray puppy with a
Claymore?
3. If you follow the dink, you stay in the
_____________.
4. Mitchell Sanders sent what in his letter to the
Ohio Draft Board?
5. How old is Tim O'Brien when he wrote the
book?
6. What is another name for a land mine?
7. What did Kiowa teach to Rat Kiley?
8. What game do Henry Dobbins and Norman
Bowker play?
9. What word does Ted Lavender use to describe
the war?
10. When Kiowa says "No choice, Tim. What else
could you do?" what can we assume he is
talking about?
11. Who does Azar give a chocolate bar to?
12. "If you weren't humping, you were
__________."
Short Answer Questions - Chapter 4
1. What year does Tim graduate college?
2. Where is Tim's first job after college?
3. How does Tim join the army?
4. Where does Tim consider running to?
5. Where does he stop before crossing the
border?
6. Who does Tim credit with saving his life?
7. How much money is the "Emergency Fund"
envelope?
8. How long does Tim stay with Elroy at the Tip
Top Lodge?
9. Because he is a coward, what does Tim do?
10. What are Tim's duties at the pig factory?
11. How did Tim protest the war?
12. What does Elroy do to tempt Tim to run
away?
Short Answer Questions - Chapter 5
1. Where is the platoon at?
2. Who gets into a fist fight?
3. What item owned by Dave Jensen is missing?
4. What part of Lee Strunk's body is broken?
5. How is Lee Strunk medically treated?
6. What is Dave Jensen worried about?
7. What does Dave Jensen do when he snaps?
8. What does Dave Jensen borrow?
9. What does Dave Jensen do with the pistol?
10. Where is Lee Strunk when Dave Jensen
shows his broken nose?
11. What does Dave Jensen ask Lee Strunk?
12. What does Lee Strunk confess to Tim O'Brien
in the morning?
Short Answer Questions - Chapter 6
1. How did the jackknife incident change the
relationship between Dave Jensen and Lee
Strunk?
2. What is one thing Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk
are NOT described as doing together?
3. What changed in late August between Lee
Strunk and Dave Jensen?
4. What kind of wound qualified for a mercy kill?
5. How did Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk agree on
the pact?
6. What happened in October to change things
for Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk?
7. Which limb does Lee Strunk lose?
8. How does Lee Strunk first react after his
injury?
9. How does Lee Strunk think the doctors will
treat the wound?
10. What does Rat Kiley do to treat Lee Strunk's
injury?
11. What is Dave Jensen's decision with regard
to the pact he made with Lee Strunk?
12. What happens to Lee Strunk?
Short Answer Questions - Chapter 7
1. Who has a sister Rat Kiley writes a letter to?
2. On what occasion does Rat Kiley write a letter
to a man's sister?
3. How does the sister respond to Rat Kiley's
letter?
4. According to the narrator, what is a
characteristic of a "true war story?"
5. Who tells the war story about the listening
patrol?
6. Where is the listening patrol positioned?
7. "A true war story, if truly told, makes the
____________ believe."
8. What animal does the platoon run into after
Curt Lemon's death?
9. What object is Mitchell Sanders described with
each time he is talking?
10. What does Rat Kiley do first to the baby
water buffalo?
11. What does Mitchell Sanders call 'Nam'?
12. What is a war story NOT about?