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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. According to Chesterton, what effect does the moralists' attitude have on the cosmos?
(a) Fairy tales cannot explain the cosmos.
(b) There are exciting possibilities.
(c) There can never be anything interesting.
(d) God has no part in the cosmos or its creation.

2. As Chesterton explains the origin of the word, the moon is the mother of which group of people?
(a) Lunatics.
(b) Believers.
(c) Priests.
(d) Atheists.

3. What do art and ecstasy recall to us, in Chesterton's words? (Chesterton 2000, p.g 212)
(a) "All the fire of the fairy tales is derived from this."
(b) "For certain dead levels of our life we forget that we have forgotten."
(c) "For one awful instant we remember that we forget."
(d) "There is no connection, except that one has seen them together."

4. How does Chesterton feel about the book Orthodoxy once it is completed?
(a) He wants to write a sequel.
(b) He is very proud of it.
(c) It is not perfect but he's happy.
(d) He would never read it.

5. What, in Chesterton's example, might God have an eternal appetite for?
(a) Fairytales.
(b) Infancy.
(c) Theatrics.
(d) Repetition.

Short Answer Questions

1. In moving through fairyland, what is the test of happiness, according to Chesterton?

2. What thing does Chesterton despise more than anything else?

3. Why does Chesterton assert that tall towers are an example of humility?

4. Why does Chesterton say that satire is disappearing from modern literature?

5. What does Bernard Shaw assert about the idea of choice?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter I, Introduction in Defense of Everything Else, Chesterton states that the book is written from his own experiences rather than as the result of research and labor. What expectations does this set up or destroy for the reader?

2. In Chapter I, Introduction in Defense of Everything Else, Chesterton states that he hates the defense of something that cannot be proved or disproved. How is this important for the rest of the book?

3. Materialistic fatalism has been credited with being merciful, though Chesterton says this is far from the truth. Why can fatalism not be merciful?

4. In Chapter IV, The Ethics of Elfland, what does Chesterton give as the first two principles of democracy? How does he convey a sense of wonder even in these principles?

5. As he begins to talk about fairy land, what does Chesterton argue about rationalism? How does this open the door to excitement in the world?

6. What does a pragmatist believe and how does he compare to a determinist? What is Chesterton's opinion of pragmatism? How is pragmatism fundamentally separated from the truth?

7. Chesterton ends Chapter II, The Maniac, with a look at the true skeptic. What picture does this man present? How does he relate to the man at the beginning of the chapter, the man who believed in himself?

8. Poetry is the only thing that keeps a man sane, while reason drives him insane. How does Chesterton support this argument, and is it plausible?

9. According to Chesterton, the complete skeptic knows that he cannot think anything. How does this differ from the young skeptic? How does the complete skeptic show a true awareness of where he is?

10. Why does Chesterton claim that fairyland is more rational than the scientific world? Does the sense of wonder remain?

(see the answer keys)

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