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

2. In which city did Mencken grow up?

3. What did Mencken think about Lincoln's issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation?

4. According to the editor, why were the 1930s Mencken's "downfall"?

5. What was Mencken's nickname for Chesapeake Bay?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Mencken believe it was advantageous for him to have not attended college?

2. In "Gore in the Caribees," what becames of the rebel leader, Jose Miguel Gomez?

3. What was Mencken's opinion of Ralph Waldo Emerson's "The American Scholar"?

4. Why did Alistair Cooke feel that Mencken experienced a "downfall" in the 1930s?

5. Why was 1880s Baltimore such a loud town?

6. What was the nature of Mencken's first-ever printed article?

7. Instead of military generals, who did Mencken wish to award medals to in "Star-Spangled Man"?

8. In "A Blind Spot," why was Mencken impervious to the ills of democracy?

9. What was the chief problem of a Baltimore summer, according to Mencken in "The Baltimore of the Eighties"?

10. What was accomplished by Walt Whitman's "Democratic Vistas," according to Mencken?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Gore in the Caribees" had Mencken doing some foreign reporting in Cuba.

A) What is Mencken's opinion of the Cuban administration? What is his opinion of the rebellion?

B) What can the incident tell us about Mencken's general opinions about ideal government, and how to rule properly?

Essay Topic 2

In articles like "The Baltimore of the Eighties," Mencken looks back on his childhood. What attitude does Mencken have toward childhood? How did his childhood impact the man he became? Why is it valuable to take this look back?

Essay Topic 3

Mencken's style and tone are widely celebrated. Using several examples from the text, discuss Mencken's approach to style and tone. How does Mencken present himself to the reader? Who does he posit as his reader? What rhetorical devices does he use to persuade the reader of his position?

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