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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The people who practice metaphysical Ketman are often former ____________ .

2. How does Metaphysical Ketman treat man's mind?

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

4. How prevalent is National Ketman?

5. Why did Alpha eventually become a communist?

Short Essay Questions

1. Although only a couple presses were kept intact, in order to print Nazi propaganda, the underground writing flourished. Why?

2. Although human interaction is often characterized by some degree of acting, how do Eastern communists take this to an extreme? How does this affect them?

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

4. As the new way comes into power, it cannot eradicate the old way all at once. Why not?

5. Several times, Milosz describes bombed Warsaw as the cratered moon. How is this significant?

6. Why, according to party policy, can there be no contradictions in the minds of Soviet citizens?

7. What advantages does the Center gain with the idea of "cosmopolitanism"?

8. Why is the Ketman of revolutionary purity the most rare form of Ketman?

9. "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?

10. What is communism's goal for the relationship between the present and the past?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Several people in The Captive Mind believe that life without religion, philosophy, and art is not worth living. Is this true? Are there necessary things which this list does not include or, conversely, is the list too long? Be sure to define the terms clearly (e.g., is art a painting hung on the wall, or is it the beauty found throughout the world?)

Essay Topic 2

"The moment when bullets pierce the flesh is a moment of amazement for the body. Life and death mingle for a second..." (pg. 184). How accurate is this statement (written and read by people who have never experienced death)? How does this add to the reader's horror of these deaths?

Essay Topic 3

Milosz begins Chapter 4 by saying that the ethical and moral considerations that helped man make decisions in the past have become merely theoretical, inconsequential in the face of changes. What does this say about the changes brought on Eastern Europe from the mid-1930s onward? Given what you know of European history, how were these changes radically different from anything that had come before?

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