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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through 19-23.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. In "The Good Man," what general statement did Mencken make about mankind?
(a) Men are gluttonous, and must continually fight the urge to eat.
(b) Men are not predisposed to appreciate art, and often must be forced.
(c) Man is not perfect, and any strengths are balanced by flaws.
(d) Men are good and kind, and almost always do the right thing.

3. According to "The Incomparable Buzz-Saw," what is a woman's only power?
(a) The power over her children.
(b) The power to torture a man through love.
(c) The power of a house's pursestrings.
(d) The power to ruin a man's life with divorce.

4. What criticism did Dr. William Bayard Hale have for Woodrow Wilson?
(a) As an orator, Wilson was dull, and focuses too much on foreign policy.
(b) Wilson had the gall to pardon Eugene Debs.
(c) Wilson was more interested in tea parties and social functions than policy discussions.
(d) His rhetoric was lofty, but ultimately empty of substance.

5. What was the "last straw" that forced Mencken to quit the organization in #16?
(a) An evangelical teen in the reading room.
(b) The relentless shouting of his gym teacher.
(c) A painful accident with the horizontal bar.
(d) The fact that the running track was rectangular.

Short Answer Questions

1. What aspect of man-woman relationships are the movies incorrect about, according to Mencken?

2. What did Mencken, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, feel about the tradition of giving medals in the military?

3. Which decade, according to the author, was Mencken at his best?

4. What was the nature of the Prince of Wales story Mencken tells in "The Art Eternal"?

5. What was the subject of the first Mencken-written article that was ever published?

(see the answer key)

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