Facing It Quizzes

Facing It Quiz

1 What was the author’s role in the Vietnam War?
A war correspondent for a major newspaper

A soldier in the army

A civilian critic

A war correspondent for a military newspaper
2 Which two major historical events most shaped the author as a young man?
The Korean War and American counterculture

The civil rights movement and the Cold War

The Vietnam War and the civil rights movement

The Vietnam War and the Cold War
3 Which book first brought Yusef Komunyakaa critical acclaim?
Talking Dirty to the Gods (2000)

Neon Vernacular (1993)

Dien Cai Dau (1988)

The Pleasure Dome (2001)
4 Which 21-year-old artist designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial?
Laura Ann Jacobs

Anne Chu

Raymond Persinger

Maya Lin
5 Which is an example of a metaphor?
A red bird’s / wings cutting across my stare

Half-expecting to find / my own in letters like smoke

I’m stone. I’m flesh.

My clouded reflection eyes me / like a bird of prey.
6 Which is an example of a simile?
In the black mirror / a woman’s trying to erase names.

I turn / this way—the stone lets me go.

I see the booby trap’s white flash.

My clouded reflection eyes me / like a bird of prey.
7 Who is the name “Andrew Johnson” in reference to?
A former president

Neither option

Potentially both options

A dead soldier
8 What is the significance of the number 58,022?
The known number of American soldiers dead or missing from the Vietnam War at one point in the 1980s

The total number of American and Vietnamese casualties of the Vietnam War

Neither option

Both options
9 Which is an example of assonance in the poem?
Letters like smoke

My black face fades

I’m stone. I’m flesh.

Granite / dammit
10 What is a metonym?
a word used to stand in for another, closely related word, like "the crown" as substitute for a monarch or monarchy

a true statement which seems self-contradictory

a phrase in which several words in a row begin with the same letter

the repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds, like “granite” and “dammit”
11 What is alliteration?
when a true statement seems self-contradictory

when phrase has several words in a row beginning with the same letter

when a word is used to stand in for another, closely related word, like "the crown" as substitute for a monarch or monarchy

when different words repeat the same or similar vowel sounds, like “granite” and “dammit”
12 What is assonance?
when a true statement seems self-contradictory

when different words repeat the same or similar vowel sounds, like “granite” and “dammit”

when a word is used to stand in for another, closely related word, like "the crown" as substitute for a monarch or monarchy

when a phrase has several words in a row beginning with the same letter
13 What does the memorial wall in this poem most often operate as a metonym for?
The importance of history

American racial politics

The impact of the war

The subjectivity of memory
14 Which of the following definitions of the word “reflection” is NOT at play in the poem?
an often obscure or indirect criticism

a thought, idea, or opinion formed or a remark made as a result of meditation

consideration of some subject matter, idea, or purpose

the production of an image by or as if by a mirror
15 Which color, with all its symbolic associations, is NOT prominent in this poem’s visual landscape?
white

red

yelllow

black
16 Which character does Andrew Johnson most stand in contrast to in the poem?
The speaker/author

The white vet

The woman trying to erase names

The woman with names on her blouse
17 Which metaphor is NOT present in this poem?
I’m a mirror.

I’m a window.

I’m stone.

I’m flesh.
18 Regarding the speaker’s memory of “the booby trap’s white flash”: how many American casualties in the Vietnam War were caused by landmines and booby traps?
Over 50%

5%

25%

50%
19 Approximately how many Vietnamese soldiers and civilians died in the Vietnam War?
1,000,000

58,000

580,000

2,000,000
20 Approximately how many more Vietnamese people have died from encountering the war’s leftover landmines since 1975?
30,000

10,000

20,000

40,000
21 Who or what was Agent Orange in the Vietnam War?
An undercover American operative in the Liberation Army of South Vietnam

A toxic herbicide used by American forces to destroy Vietnamese forests and crops, causing illness in millions of people

The code name of an American Air Force base

An undercover Northern Vietnamese operative in the American army
22 Which idea or ideas are communicated through the changing and combining reflections in the memorial wall?
The connectivity of past and present

The fleetingness of time

All of the answers

The vulnerability of the body
23 Where did the author grow up?
Nashville, Tennessee

Bogalusa, Louisiana

Brooklyn, New York

Sacramento, California
24 What is a possible interpretation of “the profile of night / slanted against morning?”
His dark skin stands out against the lighter sky behind him

Neither option

The black granite memorial stands out against the lighter sky behind it

Both options
25 What is a possible interpretation of "letters like smoke"?
The names on the wall remind him of the smoke and gunfire of wartime

The letters are ephemeral like smoke

Any or all of the answers

The letters are the greyish color of smoke

Study Guide for Facing It

Facing It study guide contains a biography of Yusef Komunyakaa, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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Facing It

by Yusef Komunyakaa

Facing It Quiz

Facing It Questions and Answers

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