View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Marx say about modern farming (in the time of his writing this book)?

2. Why does Marx say that machines could be welcomed into America?

3. What dangers were writers warning about as America urbanized?

4. What is the relationship between industrialism and pastoralism?

5. What thinkers does Marx say followed Carlyle's critique of industrialism?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was John Orvis' reaction to industrialism?

2. What was Tench Coxe's contribution to the American pastoral ideal?

3. How did Ralph Waldo Emerson see nature?

4. What critique did Carlyle make of industrialism?

5. What is complex pastoral ideology, and where does Marx see it in evidence?

6. How did Daniel Webster describe industrialism?

7. What is the 'Garden of Ashes' a reference to?

8. How would you characterize Marx's own view about pastoralism?

9. How would you describe the genre shift at the end of 'The Machine in the Garden'?

10. What is the future of the pastoral ideal in Marx's view at the end of the epilogue?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Utopia means 'the good place' and 'no place'. How does this paradox relate to the pastoral ideal? Is pastoralism ultimately Utopian? What are the differences between Utopianism and pastoralism?

Essay Topic 2

What is the value of farming today? What ideological value does the small farm have? What is the reality of farming--is it agribusiness, or are small farms making a comeback? What forces are affecting the shape of farms in America? Is this a result of shifts in American pastoral ideology, or is it driving a new kind of pastoral ideology?

Essay Topic 3

Is there an essential pastoralism, or is each person's or culture's pastoralism unique to its own context? Does the similarity of symbols and associations apply in every time and case? Read one of the stories or novels Marx analyzes, to see how the pastoral themes might be unique to the individual work.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 834 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample