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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 the author say would be a matter of indifference to Christians?

2. What idea does the insane man, of whom the author writes, have fixed in his head?

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

4. What does the author say God's love is?

5. Where does the author say the young man might be intoxicated by aesthetic pleasure?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the author write about egotistic depression?

2. What does the author write first love is for "happy individualities?"

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

4. Describe the fantasy marriage the author proposes to the young man.

5. What does the author assert is the principle reason for marrying?

6. Why does the author say that dealing with the young man is a most difficult task?

7. Describe what the author writes are the necessary inward conditions for marriage?

8. Why does the author write that marriage belongs to Christianity?

9. What does the author say could seriously tempt him to write books?

10. What is significant about the author's reference to the biblical story of King David and the prophet Nathan?

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

The final chapter of EITHER/OR takes the form of a sermon? How does this form serve the author's intentions? How does it limit him? What other form might the final chapter have taken? How would that change the effect of the book for better or worse? Cite specific examples from the text to support your position.

Essay Topic 3

The author of the letter and the recipient of the letter are of two different generations. Discuss the impact of generational differences on the two characters' attitudes. For example how do the younger man and the older man each understand the concept of love and of relations between the sexes. Also the older man makes frequent reference to his generation's problems with contemporary social trends. What are these? Discuss citing specific examples.

(see the answer keys)

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