View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Mencken characterize the emotional state of most schoolboys?
(a) They are very sad.
(b) They are murderously violent.
(c) They are eager to learn and curious.
(d) They are happy.

2. Writers "who cannot write" write in what style?
(a) Poetry.
(b) Dialogues.
(c) Song lyrics.
(d) Prose.

3. What American book does Mencken call one of history's great masterpieces?
(a) Huckleberry Finn.
(b) The House of Mirth.
(c) The Scarlet Letter.
(d) Last of the Mohicans.

4. What is the BEST term to use for Mencken's characterization of American millionaires?
(a) Saints.
(b) Idiots.
(c) Exciting.
(d) Aristocrats.

5. Sister Aimee was an evangelist in what branch of Christian religion?
(a) Methodist.
(b) Scientologist.
(c) Catholic.
(d) Baptist.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does Mencken call "the national ideal of a literary character"?

2. What point does Mencken make by bringing up an 84-year-old man he knew in Chapter 21?

3. In the boxing match Mencken reports on in Chapter 23, why do most want the favorite boxer to lose?

4. Who did the Black Plague mostly kill off, according to Mencken?

5. Mencken sees authors as divided into which two classes?

Short Essay Questions

1. What should poetry ideally be, according to Mencken? What makes for a good poem? And how does taste in poetry reflect upon a person's qualities?

2. In Chapter 24, Mencken discusses art and literary criticism. How do critics influence artists? And what makes for the best kind of literary critics?

3. What opinion does Mencken render about a) Mary Baker G. Eddy and Christian Science, and b) the doctrine of theosophy?

4. Summarize Mencken's views on inspiration, as recounted in Chapter 25.

5. Summarize Mencken's account of the Scopes Monkey Trial and his impression of the town of Dayton, Tennessee.

6. In Chapter 19, Mencken discusses science. Discuss his views of a) the scientific hypothesis, b) Charles Darwin, and c) Mr. Ayres' and his philosophy.

7. What does Mencken feel is the contemporary state of psychology? How does he feel about Freudianism?

8. What does Mencken believe about contemporary new inventions? Mention the telephone as well as the thermostat in your response.

9. Summarize Mencken's account of a Jack Dempsey boxing match.

10. What is Mencken's own philosophy of psychology? What does he feel forms the basis of human psychology?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 974 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample