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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. How many Americans are of German descent?
(a) One in one hundred.
(b) One in four.
(c) One half.
(d) One in three.

2. What pictures would Vonnegut hang if he were president of MIT?
(a) JK Rowling's Harry Potter.
(b) Robert Lewis Stevenson's Edward Hyde.
(c) Bob Fosse's Sally Bowles.
(d) Pictures of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's "Frankenstein" monster.

3. Vonnegut's 1990 article in the New York Times observes that American humorists/satirists grow to be what past a certain age?
(a) Sarcastic old men.
(b) Intolerably unfunny pessimists.
(c) Enthusiastic optimists.
(d) Grumpy.

4. What Joseph Conrad novel depicts whites as highly evolved and others as monkeys without tails?
(a) Land of Darkness.
(b) Heart of Darkness.
(c) The Dark Continent.
(d) Deep in Darkness.

5. What is an example of a book that Vonnegut believes moralizes?
(a) "Lord of the Rings."
(b) "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing."
(c) "Blubber."
(d) "Gulliver's Travels."

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Rait believe she can say whatever she pleases in English?

2. How does Rita Rait become the winner of a limerick contest?

3. What is Mark's only crime against his government?

4. Why are Germans frightening?

5. What does Vonnegut never think he owes to himself or the world?

Short Essay Questions

1. Do you think, based on the information given, Rita Rait enjoys winning the limerick contest? Why or why not?

2. What are some examples of humorists who have lost their humor after a certain age? How has their humor been lost?

3. Why do the MIT graduates applaud politely but not take Vonnegut seriously?

4. According to John Yale, what is the Mozambican's true enemy? Why?

5. Although the subtitle of SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE is "The Children's Crusade," what are the average ages mentioned of those who died in war?

6. How is Vonnegut different from other authors mentioned in this chapter?

7. What is the Folk Society?

8. Why is the Italian translator, Roberta Rambelli, Vonnegut's favorite?

9. What does the "Kilimanjaro Device" give as an alternative to Hemingway's shooting himself in the head?

10. Why does Vonnegut believe Colonialism will bust up all cultures and create a Third World planet?

(see the answer keys)

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