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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. By standards of the East, as compared to the West, how is anyone with talent treated?
(a) He is allowed to go his own way.
(b) He is rejected by the State.
(c) He is put to full use.
(d) He is ignored.

2. Within communist countries, it is not important what a man says but:
(a) How he says it.
(b) What he wanted to say.
(c) How it is received.
(d) Who hears him.

3. Taking joy that one's life occurs within the stream of life is what type of Ketman?
(a) Professional Ketman.
(b) Aesthetic Ketman.
(c) The Ketman of revolutionary purity.
(d) Ethical Ketman.

4. The Multi-Bing pills are most tempting to what type of person?
(a) An intellectual.
(b) A peasant.
(c) A worker.
(d) A merchant.

5. In the eyes of the besieged Pole, what is the only poetry that will last?
(a) Poetry that is most vivid to the reader.
(b) Poetry that has most affected the writer.
(c) Poetry that is unquestionably real.
(d) Poetry that is most amusing.

6. According the Chapter 2, what does the Method emphasize about change?
(a) Moderate, deliberate change.
(b) Fluidity of phenomena.
(c) Exercise of critical faculties.
(d) Stasis.

7. As explained in Chapter 2, the party considers _________ one of the highest virtues.
(a) Restraint.
(b) Compliance.
(c) Informing.
(d) Silence.

8. Defining good and evil outside of party interests is what type of Ketman?
(a) Sceptical Ketman.
(b) Metaphysical Ketman.
(c) Aesthetic Ketman.
(d) Ethical Ketman.

9. Milosz asserts that the man of the New Faith has the greatest fear of what action?
(a) Thinking for others.
(b) Losing the capability to reason.
(c) Thinking for himself.
(d) Acting based on others' decisions.

10. Alpha's pursuit of purity in his work was driven largely by what characteristic?
(a) Sense of personal purity.
(b) Jaded view of the world.
(c) Personal arrogance.
(d) Devotion to the church.

11. Aesthetic Ketman spreads because the citizens crave what aspect of daily life?
(a) Strangeness.
(b) Superficiality.
(c) Similarity.
(d) Sameness.

12. How do the inhabitants of communist countries appear?
(a) Uniformly short and stocky.
(b) Mostly Aryan, following the decimation of the Jewish population in World War II.
(c) Diverse according to their racial heritages.
(d) Predominantly tall and well-dressed.

13. In the 1940s, once they were freed of the past, how did the Eastern countries think?
(a) They returned to a feudalist system.
(b) They modified capitalism to fit their needs.
(c) They had no choice but the New Faith.
(d) They regretted their choice.

14. How does Metaphysical Ketman treat man's mind?
(a) He loses the need for metaphysical answers.
(b) He thinks religiously.
(c) He thinks rationally and materialistically.
(d) He thinks in terms of the present.

15. The atmosphere in a collective society is one of what?
(a) Harmony and action.
(b) Strength and unhappiness.
(c) Usefulness and action.
(d) Solidarity and happiness.

Short Answer Questions

1. As explained in Chapter 1, if a man asks the questions to which the absurd leads him, he reaches what emotional state?

2. In Milosz's experience, how does a man change under communist rule?

3. The Ketman of revolutionary purity holds that a tyrant's reign may be justified in what circumstances?

4. Walking in the ruined city in 1945, what emotion did Alpha feel primarily?

5. Milosz ends Chapter I with the question:

(see the answer keys)

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