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

2. When Alpha and Milosz stumbled on a board with the painted words "Lieutenant Zbyszek's road of suffering," what did they meditate on?

3. The Multi-Bing pills are most tempting to what type of person?

4. Cosmopolitanism, as defined by communism, is what thought?

5. The center planned that all Eastern European countries would speak which language?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. When the Nazis invaded Warsaw, every man quickly changed his view of the world. Rather than reporting a corpse lying in the gutter, he passes quietly on. What does this say about man's state of mind then?

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

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

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

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

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

9. How does national Ketman satisfy, as much as possible, the nationalist leanings in a man? Why is this an important Ketman?

10. What significance is there in the fact that Murti-Bing comes in pill form?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Though many human interactions are characterized by some degree of acting, the citizens of Soviet countries are forced to take this to an extreme. What does this tell us about the relationship between communist ideals and the individual? What should the role of government be in an individual's life? To what degree is this a perversion of how it should be? Or is this justified in the name of communist ideals?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the book, the converts to communism decry the evils of capitalism, even going so far as to say capitalism led directly to Hitlerism (pg. 128, Beta's assertion). Is this necessarily true? If communism leads, as history has proven, to a dictatorship, then where does capitalism lead?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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