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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through 24-28.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What cheeky nickname did Mencken give Theodore Dreiser?
(a) The Clown Prince of prose.
(b) The Jack Ripper of the novel.
(c) The Hindenburg of the novel.
(d) The Frankenstein of the short story.

2. What quotation did Mencken borrow from Theodore Dreiser in "Cavia Cobaya"?
(a) Does the average strong, successful man confine himself to one woman?
(b) Does a woman of considerable means ever want for a man of inconsiderable means?
(c) Does the temperate, invulnerable man ever give in to the sins of alcohol?
(d) Does a man of moderate means never aspire to great wealth?

3. What was the subject of "The Noble Experiment"?
(a) The Cuban revolution.
(b) A scientific breakthrough Mencken reported on.
(c) Drinking during Prohibition.
(d) Voting during World War I.

4. Who presided over the Republican Convention of 1920?
(a) Grover Garfield.
(b) William Jennings Bryan.
(c) Franklin Pierce.
(d) Henry Cabot Lodge.

5. According to Mencken, how did members of the lower class respond to Wilson?
(a) They were attracted to his lofty rhetoric.
(b) They responded to his lower class domestic policies.
(c) They "clapped like fools" at a recent speech.
(d) They threw rotten vegetables at him at the convention.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Mencken think about monogamy, as revealed in "Cavia Cobaya"?

2. According to Mencken, what was Christianity's history with lying?

3. In "The National Letters," what was the cause of all the "diseases" which afflict America?

4. What is a man's usual response to beauty?

5. According to Mencken, the intellectual tradition of Whitman and Emerson had been transferred to which man?

(see the answer key)

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