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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. Punishment for crime is too often what, according to Mencken?
(a) Effective, which results in the murder of the human spirit.
(b) Hypocritical and dishonest.
(c) Cruel and unusual.
(d) The product of poor people exerting influence over the rich.

2. What is the relationship between free will and morality?
(a) Free will has no relationship to morality.
(b) Free will is the cause as well as the effect of morality.
(c) Free will creates several difficulties for morality.
(d) Free will and morality work hand in hand in a positive way.

3. What aspect of President Grant does Mencken admire?
(a) His military prowess.
(b) His oratorical prowess.
(c) His hard-living, genuine lifestyle.
(d) His reputation for a clean, corruption-free administration.

4. What is the proper function of punishment for crimes?
(a) As a deterrent, but also more.
(b) As a deterrent only.
(c) To create a sense of false dignity in society.
(d) As a mere incentivizing device.

5. What is Mencken's opinion of the American South?
(a) He loathes it and believes it to be a crude and uncultured place.
(b) He thinks highly of it because of its emphasis on grassroots values.
(c) He believes that southerners are intellectually superior to northerners, but rarely show it.
(d) He thinks it is a spiritually enlightened place.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the subject of Chapter 7?

2. What is Mencken's assessment of Abraham Lincoln?

3. What does the "metaphysical" type of person inevitably do?

4. Which is NOT one of the reasons Mencken praises George Washington?

5. How has Mencken organized his book?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. What is Mencken's view of monogamy/marriage?

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

9. Summarize Mencken's appraisal of William Jennings Bryan. How is Mencken's opinion related to the Scopes Monkey Trial?

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

(see the answer keys)

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