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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. What game does Francisco play with the Mexican government and the American stockholders in the San Sebastian Mines?
(a) He plays a game of marbles on the hotel room floor.
(b) He plays poker with the Mexican President in a winner-take-all game.
(c) He plays charades but no one can guess his subject.
(d) He knows the mines are worthless and wants to watch them go down with their own greed.

2. What does Francisco d'Anconia say the socialists will use to replace "the aristocracy of money"?
(a) The destruction of all aristocracy
(b) The aristocracy of everyone
(c) The commonality of all men
(d) The aristocracy of influence.

3. When the Taggart board and the Washington influence peddlers meet, what is the irony of their meeting place?
(a) It is held in the terminal beneath the statue of Nathaniel Taggart.
(b) It gives complete control of Taggart Transcontinental to the government.
(c) It is in Dagny's office.
(d) It is unheated because of the coal shortages.

4. What is so unusual about the cigarette Dagny gets from Dr. Hugh Akston?
(a) It cannot be lit.
(b) It is marked with a gold dollar sign.
(c) It is rolled in colored paper.
(d) It is made of unusual tobacco.

5. How does Dr. Ferris explain to Rearden the many laws that are being passed by the State?
(a) He says that laws that don't work will eventually be repealed.
(b) He says that Rearden just doesn't understand what the laws are saying.
(c) He says the lawmakers do not really know what they are doing.
(d) There is no other way to rule men than to pass laws that cannot be observed, enforced or interpreted

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Owen Kellogg's reply to Dagny when she asks him why he is resigning from Taggert Railway?

2. What strange exchange occurs between Dagny and Lillian at he party?

3. James and Cherryl begin their unlikely romance. Where does James meet her?

4. How does Rand indicate that Wesley Mouch, Rearden's Washington lobbyist, may not be working in Rearden's interest?

5. How does Rand use the marriage of James and Cherryl to make her point against social philosophy?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss the significance of the turnout of Taggart employees and the armed guards every mile along the initial John Galt Line train.

2. In the chapter Rand calls "Account Overdrawn," how does the author picture the results of the socialist government's regulations?

3. What is the significance of "the best hamburger" Dagny has ever tasted when she goes to the diner in Wyoming?

4. Why is the idea of "motive" so important in the novel? Explain in detail.

5. At first, Hank Rearden dislikes Francisco d'Anconia. Explain his reasons.

6. Using the example of the Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog rule, explain in a few paragraphs how eliminating competition by legislation destroys productivity.

7. When an agreement is reached that closes the John Galt Line and the Rio Norte Line, what does Francisco mean when he asks Dagny if they had murdered John Galt?

8. Explain the conflict within Francisco when he discovers that Rearden had ordered copper from his mines in Argentina.

9. When Cherryl confronts Dagny and says that she is now Mrs. Taggart, the woman of the family, Dagny replies, "That's quite all right. I'm the man." Explain what she means by that comment.

10. At his trial, Hank Rearden refuses to give the government the "sanction of the victim." Explain what he means.

(see the answer keys)

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