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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 the only thing for which the author prays to God with his whole heart?

2. What does the author say belongs in every marriage but is missing from a marriage of convenience?

3. What effect does giving of thanks have on first love?

4. What does the author say romantic love is built on?

5. What is the author of the letter accustomed to writing on?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is first love the unification of freedom and necessity?

2. How does the author distinguish between the erotic embrace and the marital embrace?

3. What is the author's attitude toward "first love"?

4. Why does the author write that an exploration of the aesthetic significance of marriage might seem superfluous?

5. What interests the author in a certain engraving dramatizing the story of Cain and Abel?

6. How does the author describe romantic love?

7. Describe the church wedding that the author says caused the young man to fume.

8. When does the secretiveness about which the author writes gain its strength?

9. In what kind of moment does the author write he hopes his letter finds the young man, and why?

10. What does the author write is "unhappy love?"

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the author define "the ethical"? How does the author define "the esthetic"? How does the author propose the esthetic and the ethical should be balanced in human life? Defend or refute these assertions citing specific examples from the text to support your position.

Essay Topic 2

In the second chapter of EITHER/OR the author discusses mysticism at length. How does the author define mysticism? What is the author's attitude toward mysticism? What is the mystic's error? And finally, how does the mystic choose himself "abstractly"? Discuss citing specific examples to support your argument.

Essay Topic 3

Much of EITHER/OR takes the form of a letter written from an older man to a younger man. How does Kierkegaard use this format to accomplish his goals with the book? How might the message of the book feel different if it took another form? Discuss citing specific examples from the text.

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This section contains 865 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample