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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through "The Case for a Tragic Optimism" (through page 179).

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What kind of event does the author attend with the camp's chief officer?
(a) A medical presentation on Measles.
(b) A seance.
(c) A meeting where SS officials discuss punishment.
(d) A private meal.

2. How does Frankl define nihilism?
(a) No longer searching for meaning.
(b) Being sad about the lack of meaninglessness.
(c) Satisfying oneself with a loveless life.
(d) A kind of "learned meaninglessness."

3. When Frankl ran the neurological department of a general hospital, what did he say he witnessed?
(a) "That suffering is only momentary, but the attitudes that lead to happiness can last a lifetime."
(b) That "suffering is a choice."
(c) His patient's capactity to "turn their predicaments into human achievements."
(d) He saw that "patients who listen to their own inner voice end up happier and healthier."

4. What does Frankl argue happened when a diverse group of men was made to go hungry?
(a) These men became more similar.
(b) This group diversified.
(c) These men fought like pigs for food.
(d) These men suffered, but some found meaning in it.

5. What did Frankl advise prisoners in an Illinois penitentiary?
(a) To admit that they are responsible for the meaning in their lives.
(b) To decide not to suffer.
(c) To take responsibility for overcoming guilt.
(d) To admit their guilt.

Short Answer Questions

1. Was there art in the concentration camp?

2. What concentration camp does the author describe traveling to?

3. What was the "most ghastly moment of the twenty-four hours of camp life"?

4. Who does Frankl quote (more than once) as writing: "He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how."

5. How does the friend of the author, who "smuggled himself" into the author's hut, suggest that the prisoners try to stay alive?

(see the answer key)

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