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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following adjectives best describes the narrator's experience of Paris?
(a) Disquieting.
(b) Peaceful.
(c) Productive.
(d) Disorienting.

2. What does Williams admire about Poe's choice of words?
(a) Poe's words are not associated with anything else but thoughts and ideas.
(b) Poe's words carry shades of other meanings that come from their usage elsewhere.
(c) Poe's words are beautiful to listen to if you read them out loud.
(d) Poe's words can be recognized out of context because they are so original.

3. What category of people does Williams say that Houston fits into?
(a) Those who go under and then drown.
(b) Those who come up from under.
(c) Those who never struggle or try to succeed.
(d) Those who tread water their entire lives.

4. What happens to Pere Rasles?
(a) He dies peacefully of old age.
(b) He is killed by enemies of the Abnaki.
(c) He is assassinated by the English.
(d) He is killed by the Abnaki.

5. What event has distracted historians from telling the whole story about Burr?
(a) The American Revolution.
(b) The French and Indian War.
(c) The duel with Alexander Hamilton.
(d) Shea's rebellion.

6. What does Jacataqua ask Aaron Burr to do?
(a) Hunt with her.
(b) Sleep with her.
(c) Eat with her.
(d) Fight. with her.

7. What does Williams say that Africans came enslaved from Africa for?
(a) Hope.
(b) Agriculture.
(c) Racism.
(d) Nothing.

8. Why does Houston resign as Governor of Tennessee?
(a) He wants to join the Army.
(b) He misses living with the Indians.
(c) He wants to move further to the West.
(d) His new wife leaves him after three months.

9. How does the narrator say that Puritans viewed the Indian?
(a) As a fellow Christian.
(b) As a degenerate.
(c) As a savage devil.
(d) As an unformed Puritan.

10. What does Williams say that Lincoln finds no relief from?
(a) Debt.
(b) Loneliness.
(c) Bewilderment.
(d) Madness.

11. What does Williams say that Americans think they will lose if they were ever to serve another person?
(a) Arrogance.
(b) Independence.
(c) Self-esteem.
(d) Faith.

12. How does Jones feel about the battle?
(a) He says that it is exciting.
(b) He says that it is horrifying.
(c) He says that it is necessary.
(d) He says that it is beautiful.

13. Which Founding Father refers to Aaron Burr as dangerous?
(a) Thomas Jefferson.
(b) Alexander Hamilton.
(c) Benjamin Franklin.
(d) James Madison.

14. How does Williams say that intense emotions affect our perceptions of things?
(a) They make everything confusing.
(b) They make everything larger.
(c) They make everything harder.
(d) They make everything better.

15. How does Poe respond to Lowell's criticism of him in verse?
(a) He says that Mr. Lowell should not use the anapestic rhythm, as he does not have an ear for it.
(b) He says that Mr. Lowell should stick to writing about topics that he knows more about.
(c) He says that he does not write for Mr. Lowell or for any other man but for himself.
(d) He says that Mr. Lowell does not understand what makes his work unique and original.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does the narrator describe George Washington's character at the beginning of "George Washington"?

2. How can Boone's attitude toward Indians best be described?

3. What adjective does the narrator use to describe Boone's character?

4. What does Poe call Longfellow?

5. What reason does the narrator give for believing that Americans have trouble understanding their own national character?

(see the answer keys)

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