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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Dialectical materialism appeals to the Eastern man because it is, in Milosz's term, what?
(a) Mathematical.
(b) Timely.
(c) Earthy.
(d) Heavenly.

2. What event did Alpha and Milosz narrowly miss one day as they were returning from the train station?
(a) Being searched by Nazi squads.
(b) Being run over by a truck full of Jews bound for Auschwitz.
(c) The outbreak of a street fight.
(d) Being captured in the first man-hunt for Auschwitz.

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

4. During World War II, how did the nearness of death affect the Poles' lives?
(a) It created a daily thankfulness for life.
(b) It instilled terror.
(c) It destroyed all sense of shame.
(d) It made them ambivalent to the future.

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

6. Chapter 2 notes that though it is good to be free from something, how does freedom become better?
(a) For something.
(b) To work.
(c) To rest.
(d) From many things.

7. What do the Party dialecticians assert about art?
(a) The state only slightly moderates art.
(b) Individual art has intrinsic value.
(c) Individual art outside the party lines has no lasting value.
(d) Poets may write what content they choose as long as it follows the same form.

8. What is the basis of dialectical materialism, in Milosz's understanding?
(a) History favors communism but allows capitalism to remain.
(b) Fascism paves the road for communism.
(c) History will again favor the bourgeois.
(d) History has condemned capitalism.

9. At the end of Chapter 3, how does Milosz succinctly define Ketman?
(a) For the benefit of mankind.
(b) In the name of the state.
(c) Against the state.
(d) Against something.

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

11. Chapter 2 opens with the picture of the Eastern communists looking to the West with what emotion/s?
(a) Unabashed hope.
(b) Disillusionment.
(c) A mixture of hope and despair.
(d) Anger and confusion.

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

13. According to Milosz, nations which have recently come under communist rule feel excitement at first, and then feel what emotion?
(a) That they've been lied to about the government.
(b) Trepidation for their unknown future.
(c) Sadness for the loss of their autonomy.
(d) That they've been caught in a trap like mice.

14. Alpha's response to the Nazis' violent anti-Semitism was what emotion?
(a) Quiet approval.
(b) Support.
(c) Indifference.
(d) Outrage.

15. The Ketman of revolutionary purity holds that a tyrant's reign may be justified in what circumstances?
(a) For a brief period of time.
(b) If he cannot be deposed.
(c) In extreme historical circumstances.
(d) If he brings the nation out of its troubles.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the 1940s, once they were freed of the past, how did the Eastern countries think?

2. Harboring contempt for Russia is what type of Ketman?

3. Milosz admits that he has great admiration for what people or force?

4. Russian engineers and doctors ________ Western innovations.

5. According to several examples from Eastern history, how is Ketman a way of living?

(see the answer keys)

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