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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. What religious group does Marcus compare blues singers to in "Robert Johnson -1938"?
(a) Satanists.
(b) Voodoo.
(c) Puritans.
(d) Catholics.

2. Who said "If you have a mother-in-law with only one eye, and that eye is in the middle of her forehead, you don't keep her in the living room"?
(a) Lyndon Johnson.
(b) Norman Mailer.
(c) Erich Segal.
(d) Harmonica Frank.

3. In "The Band," what is Marcus' "sentimental favorite" American motto?
(a) "Don't tread on me."
(b) "Give me liberty or give me death."
(c) "We must all hang together, or we shall all hang separately."
(d) "Peace."

4. Whom does Marcus claim puts the pieces together to find meaning in the music?
(a) Artists.
(b) The critic.
(c) The audience.
(d) Rock 'n' rollers.

5. According to Marcus in "Harmonica Frank -1951," what do both Ahab and Huck have in common?
(a) They go on adventures for the sake of adventure.
(b) They have aunts who try to civilize them.
(c) They are after a dream that is not real.
(d) They try to escape restraints and authority.

Short Answer Questions

1. What "spirit" does Harmonica Frank have that Marcus believes is truly American?

2. What type of music did Robert Johnson sing?

3. With whom did the Band play from 1965 to 1966, helping him and themselves to improve and gain popularity?

4. Which of the following performers will NOT be discussed in Mystery Train?

5. What is added in the middle of the chapter "Harmonica Frank -1951," set off with a note from the author?

Short Essay Questions

1. According to Marcus in "Robert Johnson -1938," how are Robert Johnson's songs relevant even today? What artist's keep his spirit and music alive?

2. What type of music was Sam Phillips attempting to find and why?

3. According to Marcus in the introduction to "The Band," what message did The Band send to its audience?

4. Just before "The Righteous Land," Marcus quotes from "We Can Talk About It Now." The storyteller in the song tells "there's no need to slave. The whip . . . is in the grave" (53). What type of imagery does this line have and what does it mean?

5. In "Harmonica Frank - 1951," what exactly is the American spirit that Marcus believes Harmonica Frank brought to rock n' roll?

6. In "Robert Johnson -1938," what common theme does Robert Johnson's music have with music by Eric Clapton?

7. Why might "The Band" be subtitled "Pilgrim's Progress"?

8. Who is Marcus' audience for Mystery Train and how do you know?

9. Marcus analyzes Robert Johnson's "Stones in My Passway" in "Robert Johnson -1938." What is the song about and what are the tools that Johnson uses to create the mood?

10. Describe the example of an artist that Greil Marcus uses in the prologue. Who is an artist and why? Why are the other people in the example not artists?

(see the answer keys)

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