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

Multiple Choice Questions

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


2. What does Emerson say he has difficulty detecting when people "maintain a dead church"?
(a) The precise man one is.
(b) The precise nature of one's beliefs.
(c) The precise tone of one's character.
(d) The precise source of one's conviction.

3. On what does Emerson say we will be advancing if we live as "guides, redeemers and benefactors"?
(a) Chaos and the Devil.
(b) Chaos and the Dark.
(c) Evil and the Dark.
(d) Evil and Chaos.

4. Who does Emerson make an example of when talking about living according to his recommendations?
(a) Minors and invalids.
(b) Great men.
(c) True geniuses.
(d) Great artists.

5. Why does Emerson say a character is "like an acrostic"?
(a) Human character is ever-changing.
(b) Trying to understand one's character can be fun.
(c) Human character is puzzling.
(d) No matter how you read it, it always spells the same thing.

6. What does Emerson say is a conspiracy against manhood?
(a) The world.
(b) Nature.
(c) Society.
(d) Joint-stock companies.

7. What does Emerson say he will do if he is the Devil's child?
(a) He will live wholly.
(b) He will find the doctrines of the church.
(c) He will live from the Devil.
(d) He will try to find God.

8. What does Emerson claim "statesmen and philosophers and divines" adore?
(a) Foolish consistency.
(b) Foolish misunderstanding.
(c) Foolish contradiction.
(d) Foolish magnanimity.

9. What is Emerson suggesting with his mention of Joseph and his coat?
(a) That we abandon the need to conform.
(b) That we flee from contradiction.
(c) That we abandon previous theories.
(d) That we flee from God and religion.

10. How does Emerson say a man feels when he has said or done something not according to his own will?
(a) Ashamed.
(b) Powerless.
(c) Restless.
(d) Worried.

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

12. What does Emerson say a man must know how to estimate in talking about society and nonconformity?
(a) A sour face.
(b) Nonconformists.
(c) Whether others disagree.
(d) The will of others.

13. What does Emerson say no man can violate?
(a) The laws of God.
(b) The laws of nature.
(c) His nature.
(d) The laws of society.

14. How does Emerson say he knows it makes no difference whether he does or forbears "...those actions which are reckoned excellent"?
(a) His experience told him.
(b) He knows for himself.
(c) God told him.
(d) Society at large gave him the answer.

15. What is Emerson referring to when he states: "It will be found symmetrical" in talking about consistency vs. contradiction?
(a) Emerson's own thoughts reflect his life.
(b) A good character is always the same on the outside as on the inside.
(c) Every man's character reflects his own life.
(d) A man's character reflects the society he lives in.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Emerson suggest is required to withstand the "rage of the cultivated classes" and the "indignation of the people"?

2. What do others use to "compute our orbit"?

3. What does Emerson mean by the word "meanness" when he writes: "This rule ... may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness"?

4. Why does Emerson say about children's minds?

5. What is it that we put on in company according to Emerson?

(see the answer keys)

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