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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 does Freud say is Eros’ goal?

2. How does Freud characterize the relationship between Eros and the death principle?

3. How does Christianity offer to purge all humanity of guilt?

4. What does Freud say is still necessary, if men are united in love?

5. How does Freud distinguish between the individual trend in civilization, and the cultural trend in civilization?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does Freud say the feeling of guilt originates?

2. How pervasive does Freud say the human sentiments about property are?

3. In what three spheres does Freud see the same interplay between Eros and death playing out?

4. What insights does Freud offer into the value of communism?

5. What does Freud say society does in order to accommodate the traits he sees in human nature?

6. How does Freud describe the super-ego?

7. In what regard to human beings differ from animals, in Freud's account?

8. How does Freud characterize the emergence of the death instinct?

9. How does Freud characterize the opposition of egoism and altruism?

10. How does Freud characterize the traditional view of the extremes of pleasure and pain in love?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What topics would you like to research further, after reading Civilization and Its Discontents. Describe why additional research or reading would be beneficial to an understanding of this book. Propose a list of articles or books you would read in order to get a better handle on Civilization and Its Discontents.

Essay Topic 2

Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions does each climax resolve? What questions does each climax leave unanswered?

Essay Topic 3

When is Civilization and Its Discontents most itself? What is its characteristic passage, or moment? What makes that moment or passage the most representative of the book as a whole? Are there any places where the book seems to depart from its typical self, as if to become a different book?

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