View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Shakepeare's American Fable.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the third stage of life that Marx describes through Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'?
(a) Return to nature.
(b) Return to the city.
(c) Return to childhood.
(d) Return to home.

2. What does Marx say is unique about pastoralism in the industrial age in America?
(a) The railroad blurred the boundary between city and country.
(b) Southern plantations were the first farms to perform agriculture on an industrial scale.
(c) People stopped living on farms in the late 1700s.
(d) People began to be able to visit the country from the city.

3. What do liberal thinkers say the sentimental pastoral ideal results in, according to Marx?
(a) Reactionary philosophy.
(b) Ignorance and apathy.
(c) Industrial developments.
(d) Peace movements.

4. What part of 'The Tempest' held special interest for Marx?
(a) The portrait of love's frailty against political power.
(b) The portrait of an unspoiled landscape invaded by Europeans.
(c) The portrait of indecision about taking the throne.
(d) The portrait of men who gain power by disposing of natural resources.

5. What is the heart of the pastoral ideal?
(a) To turn nature into an industrial resource.
(b) To live in the lap of nature.
(c) To live out a primitive existence.
(d) To transform nature into an ordered place.

Short Answer Questions

1. What would people live on, in Gonzalo's ideal world?

2. What does Marx say is the central theme of pastoral literature?

3. What other American literature does Marx say exemplifies the three-stage theme he identified in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'?

4. When did the assault on American pastoralism begin, in Marx's account?

5. In what art does Marx see pastoral ideology contributing to a more realistic outcome for American society?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 309 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample