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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. Who narrates this story?
(a) A woman who claims to have grown up with Hitler.
(b) A concentration camp survivor.
(c) A former Nazi.
(d) A woman who hid Jews in her home to save them from the concentration camps.

2. When Frankl ran the neurological department of a general hospital, what did he say he witnessed?
(a) That "suffering is a choice."
(b) "That suffering is only momentary, but the attitudes that lead to happiness can last a lifetime."
(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."

3. What does Frankl claim is the most important part of suffering?
(a) One's attitude in the face of it.
(b) How one uses it to serve others.
(c) The way that one maintains peace in the face of hardship.
(d) The way that leads to love.

4. In the most difficult moments of our existence, what does Frankl suggest is the salvation of man?
(a) To recall the past.
(b) To consider our favorite things.
(c) To look into the future.
(d) To pray.

5. Why does Frankl believe that man behaves morally?
(a) Man has a moral drive.
(b) Most men are moral.
(c) Man decides to act morally.
(d) Man is instinctively moral and religious.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the author's tone of voice in this, the second section, of the book?

2. What does Frankl suggest is the meaning of life?

3. How does Frankl describe the "size" of human suffering?

4. What does Frankl write was the most depressing feature of life in a concentration camp?

5. Why did prisoners try to get to the center of the lines that workers formed in the morning?

(see the answer key)

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