Print
Word
PDF
|
| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What does Mencken see as the problem with contemporary Protestantism?
2. What does the "believer" type of person inevitably do?
3. What was the most damning effect of the Civil War, in regard to the South?
4. How did morality come to be, according to Mencken?
5. What does Mencken believe about the concept of evil?
Short Essay Questions
1. What does Mencken have to say about politicians? What kind of people are they? How do they operate?
2. What is the average person's opinion of government, according to Mencken?
3. What is democracy's fundamental flaw? What aspect of human nature motivates democracy?
4. Describe Mencken's opinion of George Washington. Why does Mencken admire him? Why doesn't Mencken believe Washington would do well in a contemporary political climate?
5. What is Mencken's take on the universality of morality? Can morality grow and change, or is it static?
6. Describe Mencken's thought experiment, in which he imagines if the Confederacy had won the Civil War.
7. Summarize Mencken's appraisal of William Jennings Bryan. How is Mencken's opinion related to the Scopes Monkey Trial?
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. What does Mencken feel about the relationship between science and religion?
10. In Chapter 1, how does Mencken's view of humanity coincide with that of the modern scientist?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Describe in-depth Mencken's views of the following people:
1) Abraham Lincoln
2) George Washington
3) Ulysses S. Grant
4) Theodore Roosevelt
5) Grover Cleveland
Essay Topic 2
Chapter 17 is titled "Pedagogy".
1) Summarize Mencken's view of the teaching profession.
2) How does Mencken compare and contrast the teaching methods of yesteryear with contemporary methods?
3) What is the contemporary state of schoolboys? Why do they suffer?
4) What suggestions does Mencken have for improving education?
Essay Topic 3
Summarize Mencken's views on government, especially the democratic form of government. Include:
a) The average man's conception of government
b) The history and evolution of democracy as Mencken sees it
c) Why democracy is inherently flawed
d) The effects of democracy -- what it harms, what kind of people it produces
e) Mencken's prescription for an ideal form of government/leadership for the United States
|
This section contains 1,086 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
|
