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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why might "reflective and skeptical men" refrain from suicide?
(a) For the sense of humor in life.
(b) For the thrill of physical activity.
(c) For the great women in life.
(d) For the good food in life.

2. What is the "altruist" motivated by?
(a) A divine inspiration.
(b) A selfish sense of self-worth.
(c) Out and out greed.
(d) Being uncomfortable with unhappy people around him or her.

3. Which is NOT one of the qualities Mencken ascribes to William Jennings Bryan?
(a) Insanity.
(b) Lack of dignity.
(c) Preference to keep in the company of intellectuals.
(d) Charlatanism.

4. Which is NOT one of Mencken's view of humankind as expressed in Chapter 1?
(a) Man is full of errors.
(b) Man is the product of random and meaningless processes.
(c) Man is prone to believe in ridiculous things.
(d) Man is the center of the universe, and rightly so.

5. What is Mencken's opinion about the variety of political systems?
(a) All governments accomplish the same thing and there are very little differences.
(b) Dictatorship is preferable to oligarchy.
(c) Different political systems accomplish vastly different things.
(d) Aristocracy is by far the worst form of government.

Short Answer Questions

1. How intelligent are women according to Mencken?

2. What kind of sense of right and wrong do children have?

3. Who derives several advantages from marriage?

4. What is Mencken's belief about morality?

5. What aspect of President Grant does Mencken admire?

Short Essay Questions

1. Name four historic events Mencken mentions in Chapter 12, and his opinion of them.

2. What does Mencken see as a popular misconception about death? What is his opinion of suicide?

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

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

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

6. What is the degree of women's "civility" according to Mencken? How does emotion factor in to civility?

7. 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?

8. What is democracy's fundamental flaw? What aspect of human nature motivates democracy?

9. What is the origin of morality according to Mencken?

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

(see the answer keys)

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