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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Vonnegut say happens to American literary history, that "generations" of writers are separated by less than twenty years?
(a) There are more writers.
(b) There are more people being born.
(c) They are very young.
(d) They have been so foreshortened.

2. Who is the model for Vonnegut's Bill Pilgrim in SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE?
(a) Joe Crone.
(b) Bishop Moore.
(c) Jane Seymour.
(d) Jack Spratt.

3. Who is nearing economic, legal, and social equality only in Vonnegut's lifetime?
(a) Women and racial minorities.
(b) Children.
(c) Elderly people.
(d) Animals.

4. In his letter to the future, what does Vonnegut say today's rulers are doing to Nature's stern but reasonable surrender terms?
(a) Conserving energy.
(b) Working towards a peacable agreement.
(c) Nothing.
(d) Limiting waste.

5. Vonnegut defends what freedom?
(a) Freedom of assembly.
(b) Freedom of religion.
(c) Freedom of speech.
(d) Freedom of the press.

6. Although Jill attends private school and vacations with the rich as a child, how does she provide for herself as a grown woman?
(a) Running her own restaurant.
(b) Marrying a wealthy man.
(c) Teaching English.
(d) Her photography and children's books.

7. Who is the Cody, Wyoming, artist who is America's foremost adventurer in the Abstract Expressionist movement?
(a) Mary Cassatt.
(b) Keith Haring.
(c) Jackson Pollock.
(d) George Segal.

8. What does Vonnegut believe is the United State's only true art form prior to Jackson Pollock's work?
(a) Jazz.
(b) Photography.
(c) Hip hop.
(d) Ballet.

9. Vonnegut Sr. is denied his dreams by what event?
(a) The Great Depression.
(b) World War I.
(c) The Civil War.
(d) September 11, 2001.

10. How do the author and Jill meet?
(a) At a production of a Vonnegut play.
(b) At an art gallery.
(c) At a baseball game.
(d) At a movie premiere.

11. Why does Vonnegut like to write pieces for Architectural Digest?
(a) He is an architect.
(b) As a tribute to his son, Mark.
(c) He loves architecture.
(d) As a tribute to his father and grandfather.

12. Even after many years, what is imprinted in Vonnegut's mind?
(a) Lake Maxincuckee where he swims with his siblings.
(b) Geist Lake where he went boating.
(c) Lake Michigan where he played in the sand.
(d) Culver Lake where he is a lifeguard.

13. What does Vonnegut wish his father had insisted he study?
(a) Law.
(b) Architecture.
(c) Painting.
(d) Engineering.

14. How much does Vonnegut believe is enough to make a masterpiece? Beyond that, it is like empty talk at the end of a party.
(a) Two-thirds.
(b) One-third.
(c) One-half.
(d) Three-fourths.

15. Why do psychiatrists believe Mark is a misdiagnosed depressive?
(a) They do not believe that one can recover from schizophrenia.
(b) They do not believe that one can recover from bipolar disorder.
(c) Mark seems sad.
(d) Mark has all the symptoms of someone who is depressed.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what year does the author's father die?

2. What does Vonnegut tell Hemingway scholars defines his fellow Midwesterner?

3. Vonnegut references what Biblical story to his belief that people find life too hard and disappointing to act on repairing it?

4. What is the best reason for why Vonnegut's family keeps his mother's insanity and suicide a secret?

5. What art form does Kurt Vonnegut Sr. take up after he retires?

(see the answer keys)

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