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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. At what event did Mencken first personally encounter William Jennings Bryan?

2. What does the "romantic" type of person inevitably do?

3. What kind of promises do politicians make?

4. Who does Mencken dub "The Lady of Joy"?

5. What is Mencken's belief about the concept of sin?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the average person's opinion of government, according to Mencken?

2. In Chapter 1, what comparison does Mencken make between man and animal? Who is "superior"?

3. What is Mencken's opinion of government? What is the role of government? Is one system of government preferable to another?

4. What does Mencken believe about the nature of man and God? What is the consequence for believing in God? What about the soul?

5. What effect did the Civil War have on the American South, and why was this conflict so disastrous to Mencken from a cultural standpoint?

6. What is Mencken's view of punishment for crime? What is the function of punishment?

7. Discuss Mencken's history of democracy. Before it arrived, what did people think of democracy? How was it conceived? How did it evolve?

8. Is morality necessary in Mencken's view? How many people are moral people? Is there a good and evil, or is that a human-created concept?

9. What does Mencken have to say about politicians? What kind of people are they? How do they operate?

10. In Chapter 1, how does Mencken's view of humanity coincide with that of the modern scientist?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe in-depth Mencken's views of the following people (and specific works, if applicable):

1) Ludwig van Beethoven

2) Richard Strauss

3) Johann Strauss

4) Johannes Brahms

5) Richard Wagner

6) Franz Schubert

Essay Topic 2

Summarize Mencken's views on women. Discuss each of the following topics:

a) Women's level of intelligence

b) Women's level of civility

c) The institution of marriage, and how it affects men and women

d) The role of beauty in man-woman relationships

e) The role of romantic love in man-woman relationships

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the Chapter 29 "buffoonery" in which Mencken portrays a dialogue involving Pharoah Cheops.

1) Summarize the "plot" and premise of the story.

2) Discuss how the story relates to contemporary concerns.

3) Speculate as to why Mencken may have used Pharaoh Cheops and his world to comment on contemporary issues. What does Mencken accomplish by commentary designed in this fashion?

(see the answer keys)

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