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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Paragraphs 9-18.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Emerson say about the occurrence of virtues?
(a) Society helps sustain virtue.
(b) They are the exception rather than the rule.
(c) Men are virtuous by nature.
(d) Virtue comes through action.


2. What does Emerson say happens to the "voices which we hear in solitude" as we enter into the world?
(a) They become louder and more powerful.
(b) They are affected by others.
(c) They grow faint and inaudible.
(d) They become abstract.

3. What does Emerson give as his reason for insisting that we "...must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny..."?
(a) We are now men.
(b) We must live according to our conscience.
(c) We are old enough.
(d) Society demands this of us.

4. Who does Emerson say the youth speaks forcefully to?
(a) Children.
(b) Their contemporaries.
(c) Women.
(d) Seniors.

5. What does Emerson mean by the word "meanness" when he writes: "This rule ... may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness"?
(a) Spitefulness.
(b) Hatefulness.
(c) Harshness.
(d) Plainness.

Short Answer Questions

1. Besides children, who does Emerson say God has armed with "piquancy and charm"?

2. How does Emerson say a man can recognize what he is capable of?

3. What does Emerson claim is the only thing that is sacred?

4. What is Emerson describing when he states: "In your metaphysics you have denied personality to the Deity: yet when the devout motions of the soul come ... they should clothe God with shape and color"?

5. What does genuine action explain?

(see the answer key)

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