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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Henry's response when Ellen asks what will happen to the school now that there are no students?
(a) He will change the way the school is run to keep students.
(b) He says they will close and he will have to go back to teaching at a university.
(c) He will find new students.
(d) He will be the student and will learn from nature.

2. To what does Henry compare Waldo lecturing?
(a) A Unitarian preacher.
(b) The President of the United States.
(c) An old college professor.
(d) A Roman emperor giving away gold coins

3. To what does John attribute Henry's nonconformity?
(a) Henry's private school education.
(b) Henry's Harvard education.
(c) Henry's nature.
(d) Henry's desire to be isolated.

4. Why does Henry not hug Ellen?
(a) He is afraid she will cringe.
(b) Out of a sense of propriety.
(c) He is embarrassed.
(d) He does not like her.

5. Why does Henry note that it is good that men do not know how to fly?
(a) They would run into one another in the air.
(b) They would dive to earth.
(c) If they did they would damage and dirty the clouds and the air.
(d) They would hurt the birds in the sky.

6. What is Henry's advice when Bailey says he cannot swim?
(a) Henry tells him not to struggle with the water.
(b) Henry tells him to plug his nose when he jumps in.
(c) Henry tells him to take lessons.
(d) Henry tells him to avoid the ocean.

7. In another area of the stage, Henry's mother is visibly upset. What does she ask Henry?
(a) Who is with him.
(b) What has happened to John.
(c) Where his father is.
(d) What he has done.

8. What does Henry attempt to explain to Ellen?
(a) Calculus.
(b) Transcendentalism.
(c) Love.
(d) Boating.

9. What is the setting for the beginning of the play?
(a) Long Island Sound.
(b) A school.
(c) A jail cell in the center of the stage.
(d) Walden Pond.

10. If more people were willing to go to jail to protest the government, they could effect change on what scale?
(a) The scale of the Mexican War.
(b) A small scale.
(c) The scale of the American Revolution.
(d) The scale of the Civil War.

11. Henry replies that he likes the way the alphabet sounds and feels when read backwards. Why does he think that things should be mixed up?
(a) To make the alphabet more exciting.
(b) It would be more fun that way.
(c) To make the alphabet less linear and more human.
(d) It would be very tricky for everyone to remember.

12. Why do the townsfolk look strangely at Henry?
(a) Henry is arguing with the constable.
(b) Henry takes off one shoe.
(c) Henry is stumbling around.
(d) Henry is sneaking around in the dark.

13. How does Ellen find Transcendentalism?
(a) Evil.
(b) Scary.
(c) Sneaky.
(d) Nice.

14. For what does Henry propose to work?
(a) Food.
(b) A piece of Waldo's property in the woods, so that he can conduct an "experiment."
(c) A small Salary.
(d) A small garden in the back property.

15. Who is the old man who enters with his wife?
(a) Henry David Thoreau.
(b) Edward Emerson.
(c) Ralph Waldo Emerson.
(d) John Thoreau.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Henry urge Bailey to remain uneducated?

2. Henry agrees to take her to shore if she will do what?

3. How does the lighting show a new time period and a younger Waldo?

4. Henry returns to his jail cell. What is Bailey happily doing?

5. What becomes clear about Ellen and her father?

(see the answer keys)

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