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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. Through understanding brainwashing, Lessing hoped that people could let go of ___________.

2. What would Lessing like schools or governments to teach?

3. According to Lessing, governments use brain washing for what purpose?

4. During the Milgram experiment, what did most of the subjects do?

5. Lessing considered the time period of World War II to be ___________.

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the Milgram experiment?

2. Why do people often conform to groups?

3. What relationship does communism have with the individual?

4. When it comes to commentators and critics, what breeds an air of familiarity with viewers?

5. What is the price an individual might pay if he resists the group mentality?

6. Why did Lessing believe that insane people are the only ones safe against brainwashing?

7. What was the literary community's reaction to Lessing's pseudonym experiment?

8. According to Lessing, why is elitism considered unfashionable?

9. Who is Jean Rhys? Why did all of her work become popular?

10. What type of ideas can be put into a subject's mind during the brainwashing process?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Lessing contended that several parts of our culture use brainwashing as a form of communication. Choose from one of the following entities and examine the influence it has or could have on society through brainwashing.

1) Advertising community.

2) Religion.

3) Government.

Essay Topic 2

According to Lessing, people have a tendency to follow a leader. Examine the concept of leadership and how it is acted out in society, citing examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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