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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. What is NOT one of the qualities of being a teacher according to Mencken?

2. Which is NOT one of the features of the typical school day, as envisioned by Mencken?

3. What point does Mencken make in his discussion of Darwinian evolution?

4. Where did Mencken meet Sister Aimee?

5. Who does Mencken call the most romantic American author of the nineteenth century?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Mencken's opinion of the music of Johann Strauss? Why wasn't Strauss' music more well-received in America?

2. Summarize Mencken's views on Mark Twain.

3. Why does Mencken make mention of Charles Joseph Bonaparte? Who was Bonaparte, and what was Mencken's opinion of him?

4. What does Mencken believe about chiropractors?

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

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

7. Summarize Mencken's view of Ludwig van Beethoven.

8. What is Mencken's belief about American millionaires?

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

10. 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?

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

1) Discuss Mencken's thoughts on death and suicide. What is the popular misconception of death? What is the use of suicide, and why might people refrain from committing it?

2) Discuss Mencken's thoughts on death and suicide in the context of a) his view of human nature in general, and b) his view on religion. How do these viewpoints inform one another?

Essay Topic 3

Choose five of the types of people Mencken discusses in Chapter 2 and discuss:

a) The manner in which Mencken describes them

b) What Mencken believes motivates each type of people

c) What the defining characteristics of each type of people are

(see the answer keys)

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