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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 he can anticipate if he knows your sect?
(a) Your thoughts.
(b) Your heart.
(c) Your beliefs.
(d) Your argument.

2. What does Emerson suggest is required to withstand the "rage of the cultivated classes" and the "indignation of the people"?
(a) A sad countenance.
(b) Decorous and prudent rage.
(c) An unintelligent brute.
(d) The habit of magnanimity.

3. What word does Emerson use to describe people who live their own opinion "in the midst of the crowd"?
(a) Base.
(b) Independent.
(c) Great.
(d) Ingenious.

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

5. What does Emerson think about being misunderstood?
(a) It's the greatest risk in a great man's life.
(b) It's a compliment.
(c) It's not as bad as people say.
(d) It's inevitable.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Emerson say a man should learn to detect and watch?

2. What does Emerson say causes a man to come to the conviction that "...envy is ignorance"?

3. 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?

4. What does Emerson say "...is all that concerns..." him?

5. Which of the following did Emerson NOT say by name is misunderstood?

Short Essay Questions

1. Aside from the consequences faced within society, Emerson mentions in paragraph 12 one other factor that causes consistency. What is it?

2. Why does Emerson say in paragraph 26 that the world hates the fact that the soul becomes?

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

4. How does Emerson feel about travel? Explain why.

5. 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?

6. Who are Alfred, Scanderbeg and Gustavus, referred to in paragraph 19?

7. Why do other members of society "need" us to be consistent according to Emerson in paragraph 12?

8. What does Emerson say happens when a young man fails at his first endeavors? Describe what happens and what Emerson recommends.

9. At the end of paragraph 36, Emerson relates the story of Caratach in Fletcher's "Bonduca," who is "admonished to inquire the mind of the god Audate." In your own words, describe Caratach's response.

10. Emerson makes an important point about who or what one will see along the way "in the hour of vision" in paragraph 25. What does he say?

(see the answer keys)

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