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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What conflict does Marx say was avoided as America expanded?
(a) Warfare between North and South.
(b) Warfare between industrial and agrarian interests.
(c) Class warfare.
(d) Warfare between financiers and farmers.

2. What defines complex pastoralism?
(a) Refusal to let sentimental pastoralism lapse.
(b) Industrial machinery fostering nature.
(c) Acceptance of history.
(d) Redemption of the alienation that comes from industrial modernity.

3. What modern problem does Marx take as emblematic of man's treatment of nature?
(a) Pandemics.
(b) Industrial agriculture.
(c) Wars.
(d) Pollution.

4. How would you describe Marx's book 'The Machine in the Garden'?
(a) Prophetic.
(b) Political.
(c) Scientific.
(d) Academic.

5. What effect did Carlyle say industrialism would have?
(a) Poisoning the rivers and water.
(b) Disrupting the continuity of societies with mobility.
(c) Increasing the gap between rich and poor.
(d) Corrupting the youth with dreams of individualism.

6. What did Emerson originally propose in his philosophy?
(a) Immersion in nature.
(b) Immersion in literature.
(c) Immersion in society.
(d) Immersion in science.

7. What does Marx say Thoreau wanted people to do in nature?
(a) Meditate.
(b) Hide.
(c) Organize.
(d) Invent.

8. What should man do in nature, in Thoreau's vision?
(a) Learn the ways of the animals.
(b) Contemplate eternal laws.
(c) Study the ruthless ways of men.
(d) Oppose industrialism.

9. What is the purpose of an epilogue?
(a) To repudiate parts of the book that look naïve or foolish.
(b) To repeat the main themes one more time.
(c) To reflect on the content of the book.
(d) To describe the process of writing the book.

10. What does Marx say about modern farming (in the time of his writing this book)?
(a) Modern farming has preserved nature while offering productive land.
(b) Modern farming has freed Americans from industry.
(c) Modern farming has returned Americans to their agrarian roots.
(d) Modern farming has become an industry.

11. What feature of modern society came into existence with American industrialism?
(a) Strikes and riots.
(b) Total warfare.
(c) Laissez-fair class structure.
(d) Unionization.

12. What was unique about American manufacturing, in Coxe's view?
(a) The raw materials were limitless.
(b) The environment would keep it healthy.
(c) It presented enormous economic opportunities.
(d) Markets were waiting for American goods.

13. How does industrialism devalue man, in Carlyle's opinion?
(a) It discourages invention.
(b) It requires long hours in dark factories.
(c) It uses only one part of him.
(d) It treats him as a commodity.

14. What did Thoreau conclude as a result of his time at Walden?
(a) That technology must be stopped.
(b) That men should remove themselves from society.
(c) That men are desperate and sad.
(d) That man should simplify his life.

15. How did Thoreau describe modern man?
(a) Free in the wilderness.
(b) Poised at the boundary between nature and industry.
(c) Unhappy in factories.
(d) Torn apart by his desires.

Short Answer Questions

1. How would you classify Marx's 'The Machine in the Garden'?

2. How does Marx characterize man's hopes for nature?

3. What feeling characterized the beginning of Mark Twain's writing career?

4. What was the general feeling about industrialism in America, as it expanded?

5. What did Coxe foresee for America?

(see the answer keys)

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