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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. As far as man's preferences in Western art and literature, what aspect does Milosz refer to?
(a) The inexplicable nature of his choices.
(b) The ability of the state to imitate the pieces he likes.
(c) The fickleness of his choices.
(d) The ability of the state to predict his choices.

2. The people who practice metaphysical Ketman are often former ____________ .
(a) Philosophers.
(b) Humanists.
(c) Catholics.
(d) Communists.

3. When Alpha and Milosz stumbled on a board with the painted words "Lieutenant Zbyszek's road of suffering," what did they meditate on?
(a) The story of Lieutenant Zbyszek's family.
(b) Their own possible deaths.
(c) What remains at the end of a man's life.
(d) History's plans for a man's life.

4. Alpha became a moral authority, as he had dreamed, because of his work in what place?
(a) In the underground, writing and publishing.
(b) In the underground, smuggling food.
(c) In the underground, smuggling Jews to safety.
(d) In the Communist Party, writing and publishing.

5. In Chapter 4, who is Alpha, the Moralist?
(a) A well-known prose writer, a good friend of Milosz.
(b) A well-known prose writer not personally known to Milosz.
(c) A well-known poet, a good friend of Milosz.
(d) A little-known prose writer, a good friend of Milosz.

Short Answer Questions

1. Milosz asserts that the man of the New Faith has the greatest fear of what action?

2. Milosz says that both the old way of life and war-time values are natural if what happens?

3. Defining good and evil outside of party interests is what type of Ketman?

4. Alpha's pursuit of purity in his work was driven largely by what characteristic?

5. Witkiewicz thought art and philosophy were living out their last days, and how did he see their end?

Short Essay Questions

1. "If something exists in one place, it will exist everywhere" (pg. 29). Why does the man in destroyed Warsaw believe this, and how does it affect his spirit?

2. Why does the man entering the gate of communism feel that he is doing something wrong?

3. Why is cosmopolitanism linked to nationalist concerns? What does the center gain by connecting these?

4. How does Alpha's hunger for purity and strong heroic characters prepare the way for the New Faith? Could he have gone any other way?

5. Why does the Eastern communist often call the West stupid?

6. What is the difference between Eastern and Western Communists?

7. The pill takes away man's metaphysical concerns--why is this significant?

8. Is Ketman necessary to the citizen of the New Faith? Why?

9. Why, in the end, could Alpha make only one decision about joining the party?

10. .How did Alpha become a more religious writer when he turned away from Christianity?

(see the answer keys)

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