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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was surprised by what happened to the miner who returned to work during the miner's strike?

2. What nationality was Friedrich Hebbel?

3. When did the miner's strike referenced by Lessing take place?

4. Which leader of the miner's strike was referenced by Lessing?

5. How did the whites feel about the blacks in Rhodesia?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Lessing suggest that strengthening individuality would lead to a better world in the future?

2. What was the purpose of cutting down a tree associated with a traitor? Why did Lessing find it ridiculous?

3. What was Lessing's opinion regarding war as a basis of our mentality?

4. When onlookers recognize that others are lying, Lessing believed they refuse to protest the lies for what purpose?

5. Why did Lessing join a communist group in Rhodesia?

6. Lessing believed that if humans could learn from our history, we could change our future in what respect?

7. Why did Lessing believe sub-groups with opposing positions were dangerous?

8. What service did Lessing feel that novelists brought to the world?

9. Why was Lessing not surprised by the story of the attack on the British miner who was beaten by his friends?

10. Why was Lessing discouraged by the application of behavioral data uncovered through the "soft sciences"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

During the Korean War, U.S. soldiers were brainwashed into confessing crimes they did not commit. This began a government investigation into brainwashing. How might government knowledge of brainwashing affect society?

Essay Topic 2

Lessing believed that the word "blood" is a powerful one when it comes to inciting emotion.

1) Why did she find the word "blood" significant?

2) What are some examples she gives to support this theory?

3) What are the implications regarding human nature and violence?

Essay Topic 3

Lessing felt that humans suffered from an "awful primitivism." What were some of the examples she gave to support this theory?

(see the answer keys)

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