The Things They Carried, Ambush quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. How old is Kathleen when she asks the narrator whether he has ever killed anyone?

   • Seven
   • Correct answer: Nine
   • Twelve
   • Sixteen

   The chapter opens by stating she was nine, and that she reasoned a man who keeps writing war stories must have killed somebody.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What answer does the narrator give his nine-year-old daughter?

   • He tells her the truth about the man on the trail
   • He changes the subject and sends her outside to play
   • Correct answer: He says of course not and then holds her on his lap
   • He promises to explain the whole thing when she is older

   He lies to protect her, then holds her, and admits later in the chapter that as a little girl she was absolutely right.

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3. 3

   Question 3. Who wakes the narrator for the final watch at the ambush site?

   • Correct answer: Kiowa
   • Jimmy Cross
   • Henry Dobbins
   • Curt Lemon

   Kiowa shakes him awake for the last watch, and afterward tries to convince him that the killing was justified.

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4. 4

   Question 4. How does the narrator kill the young man on the trail?

   • He fires his rifle from the brush beside the trail
   • Correct answer: He throws a grenade that explodes at the man's feet
   • He calls in artillery on the trail before dawn
   • He sets off a mine buried at the ambush site

   He throws one of the three grenades he lined up during his watch, lobbing it high because the brush was too thick to aim through.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Why does the narrator say the killing was not a matter of live or die?

   • Because his weapon had jammed at the crucial moment
   • Because the platoon had already surrounded the trail
   • Because the young man had surrendered before the throw
   • Correct answer: Because the young man would almost certainly have passed him by

   He says he was in no real peril, which removes self-defense as a justification and leaves the responsibility entirely his own.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Kiowa say to the narrator after the killing?

   • That he should report the killing to his platoon leader
   • Correct answer: That it was a good kill and he should stop staring
   • That the platoon will never speak of the incident again
   • That he ought to write the whole story down someday

   Kiowa offers the soldier's argument, but the narrator says the words seemed far too complicated and that none of it mattered.

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7. 7

   Question 7. How does the chapter end?

   • Kathleen asks the question again, now as an adult
   • The platoon moves on from My Khe before full daylight
   • Correct answer: The narrator still sees the young man step out of the fog
   • The narrator burns the story he has just written down

   In ordinary moments he looks up and watches the man walk past him and continue up the trail to where it bends back into the fog.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Which of these events actually occur in this chapter?

   • Kathleen tells her father he must have killed somebody because he keeps writing war stories.

     Happened

   • The narrator lines up three grenades whose pins have already been straightened.

     Happened

   • The narrator wakes Kiowa to ask him for insect repellent.

     Didn't happen

   • The young man drops his weapon and runs two or three quick steps.

     Happened

   • The narrator shouts a warning before the grenade goes off.

     Didn't happen

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these details does the narrator include in his account of the ambush?

   • The platoon waited about five hours before anything happened.

     Happened

   • The young man wore black clothing and rubber sandals.

     Happened

   • The narrator recognized the young man from an earlier patrol.

     Didn't happen

   • The narrator says he did not hate the young man or see him as the enemy.

     Happened

   • Kiowa threw a second grenade a moment later.

     Didn't happen

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'peril' mean as used in: 'I was in no real peril.'?

    • Correct answer: Serious and immediate danger
    • Regret about a past choice
    • Confusion about one's location
    • Exhaustion after a long march

    Peril means serious danger. Saying he was in no real peril removes self-defense as an excuse for the killing.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'lob' mean as used in: 'The brush was thick and I had to lob it high, not aiming'?

    • To roll something along the ground
    • To conceal something under cover
    • Correct answer: To throw something in a high arc
    • To hand something to another soldier

    To lob is to throw in a high arc, which is what the thick brush forced him to do with the grenade.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'gape' mean as used in: 'All I could do was gape at the fact of the young man's body.'?

    • To turn away in disgust
    • Correct answer: To stare open-mouthed in shock
    • To speak in a low murmur
    • To search carefully for something

    Gape means to stare open-mouthed. It shows that Kiowa's reasoning could not reach him at all.

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