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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 one shouldn't travel in hope of?
(a) "Finding Thebes and Palmyra."
(b) "Leaving all the past behind."
(c) "Finding somewhat greater than [one] knows."
(d) "Escaping the difficult decisions ahead."

2. What do our first journeys reveal?
(a) The ruins of ruins.
(b) The wonders of the world.
(c) A fool's paradise.
(d) The indifference of places.

3. What is a man worth that "tries all the professions"?
(a) A hundred city dolls.
(b) Less than a minister.
(c) A thousand college students.
(d) Less than a farmer.

4. Emerson states that we are "like children" who do what?
(a) "Postpone that which inevitably must come."
(b) "Repeat by rote the sentences of grandames and tutors."
(c) "Do not yet understand the truth we witness."
(d) "Are perfect at every moment."

5. Who said "To the persevering mortal ... the blessed Immortals are swift"?
(a) Fletcher.
(b) Bonduca.
(c) Zoroaster.
(d) Caliph Ali.

6. What does God communicate when he speaks, according to Emerson?
(a) Pure light.
(b) His will.
(c) The truth.
(d) All things.

7. In which hours does Emerson say "We feel that duty is our place"?
(a) In prudent hours.
(b) In honest hours.
(c) In manly hours.
(d) In self-reliant hours.

8. How does Emerson measure the degree to which a thing is real?
(a) By the degree of trust it has in the Supreme Cause.
(b) By the measure of life it contains within it.
(c) By the measure of virtue it contains.
(d) By the degree of power it exhibits.

9. When does Emerson claim power ceases?
(a) When life has ceased.
(b) When we fail to use it.
(c) As soon as one gives power to others.
(d) As soon as one rests.

10. According to Emerson, what is the same to both "kingdom and lordship" and "John and Edward"?
(a) The things of life.
(b) The importance of character.
(c) The value of a palace.
(d) The force of power.

11. What "plays us false" in history?
(a) Our ceremonies.
(b) Our kings.
(c) Our imaginations.
(d) Our memories.

12. What does Emerson call history a parable of?
(a) Phraseology in another country.
(b) Time and space.
(c) Right and wrong.
(d) My being and becoming.

13. What does the soul perceive about Truth and Right in the state of having "life in yourself'?
(a) Their self-evidence.
(b) Their self-existence.
(c) Their coexistence with passion.
(d) Their calming effect.

14. What does Emerson recommend we do in our relationships with our family?
(a) Accept them for who they are.
(b) Stop living according to their expectations.
(c) Help them build their own self-reliance.
(d) Ask them for help in building our self-reliance.

15. What does Emerson claim we have become, in stating that man will see that we need his ethics?
(a) Hopeless whiners.
(b) Dejected complainers.
(c) Passive snivelers.
(d) Desponding whimperers.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following does Emerson NOT list in the aspects of life in which "It is easy to see that a greater self-reliance must work a revolution"?

2. What does Emerson claim must we do in order to see truly?

3. Emerson mentions something personal to him that makes "no reference" to the past and simply exists with God today. What is it?

4. What kind of prayer does Emerson call "vicious"?

5. Which of the following countries does Emerson NOT mention in talking about traveling?

(see the answer keys)

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