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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. How prevalent is National Ketman?
2. In Chapter 4, who is Alpha, the Moralist?
3. Milosz compares the American law system to what image?
4. In order to kept his apartment and good political standing, the man practicing aesthetic Ketman is willing to do what?
5. In Witkeiwicz's novel, if man is attuned to the absurd, what does he see?
Short Essay Questions
1. What advantages does the Center gain with the idea of "cosmopolitanism"?
2. As the new way comes into power, it cannot eradicate the old way all at once. Why not?
3. From several references to Tito throughout Chapters 2 and 3, what can the reader infer about him? What does the center gain by making an example of him?
4. What is historic fatalism and how does it affect even a man's most personal interactions?
5. Although only a couple presses were kept intact, in order to print Nazi propaganda, the underground writing flourished. Why?
6. If an artist disagrees with the dialectical method, he debates the question with a panel of Party authorities and always, undoubtedly loses. Why is this so?
7. 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?
8. 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?
9. Why does the Eastern communist often call the West stupid?
10. The pill takes away man's metaphysical concerns--why is this significant?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Through Party propaganda and education, communism suppresses man's ability to think for himself. How do the people presented in The Captive Mind either fight or accept this suppression? Consider only the main subjects of the book, including their writing for the underground or for the party.
Essay Topic 2
Why is art outside the public mind important? Milosz says that when man thinks only in the collective body, he can no longer think other than what is necessary. In other words, personal observations and thoughts are cut off. Why, then, does he place such importance on creating art other than what is strictly necessary?
Essay Topic 3
This question has been growing throughout the book: Why does Milosz write? As you answer, consider the writer's responsibility in the world, and the responsibility of a man who has witnessed great evil. Intellectually and ethically, did Milosz make the right choice to write what he saw?
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This section contains 1,205 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) |
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