View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

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) Virtue comes through action.

(d) Men are virtuous by nature.

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

3. What does Emerson say "...is all that concerns..." him?
(a) What I must do.
(b) What I believe.
(c) My own charities.
(d) My own thought.

4. Emerson says boys try and sentence people and facts based on what?
(a) Their own mind.
(b) Their intuition.
(c) Their merits.
(d) Their characters.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Emerson referring to when he writes: "...seated at their heart, working through their hands..." in his description of those living according to his recommendations?

2. How does Emerson say it is easy to live after your own opinion?

3. What does Emerson say he will do if he is the Devil's child?

4. What does Emerson claim "statesmen and philosophers and divines" adore?

5. What does Emerson say a man will find himself if he exercises his reason?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain Emerson's comparison of the white man to the New Zealander.

2. After giving his example of "boys who are sure of a dinner" in paragraph 5, Emerson laments that adults cannot return to this neutrality. He explains what he believes would happen if we could. What does he believe would happen?

3. Emerson states in paragraph 3 that "We are now men." What does he insist that we must do?

4. In paragraph 14, Emerson portrays the relationship between consistency and being misunderstood. Explain this relationship.

5. In paragraph 14, Emerson explains the relationship between being misunderstood and greatness. Explain this relationship.

6. In paragraph 22, Emerson explains God's way of communicating. Give a brief explanation of his theory.

7. In paragraph 21, Emerson begins an explanation of the "reason of self-trust." Explain very briefly the question he is asking and the answer he finds.

8. What does Emerson say in paragraph 29 about others having the power to annoy us?

9. At the beginning of paragraph 9, Emerson states: "What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule ... may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness." What does he mean by that?

10. In paragraph 6, Emerson compares society to a joint-stock company. Explain this comparison.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,099 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample