View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What comment does Camus make about Greek tragedy?
(a) It is too culturally specific to be useful.
(b) It is rich in lessons.
(c) It is over-estimated.
(d) It is obscure, hard to comprehend.

2. According to Camus, what is the only way Iago can be understood?
(a) Through an understanding of Venetian military structure.
(b) By thorough analysis of the text.
(c) By playing him.
(d) In terms of the absurd.

3. What factors ought to underpin discussion of the meaning of life?
(a) The rebel and his place in history.
(b) Don Quixote and a sense of the absurd.
(c) Common sense and perseverence.
(d) Common sense and understanding.

4. What argument does Camus dismiss as 'a matter of profound indifference'?
(a) Whether or not the earth revolves around the sun.
(b) The ontological argument.
(c) Whether or not the Bible is literally true.
(d) The absurd dilemma.

5. What is astonishing about eternal values?
(a) The very fact that they exist without reference to God.
(b) They transcend cultural factors.
(c) They survive wars and other conflicts.
(d) That they exist at all.

6. How does Kafka express the absurd?
(a) Through representations of everyday life.
(b) Through tragedy.
(c) Through farce that is close to sentimentality.
(d) Through the logical.

7. How does Camus see Sisyphus vis-a-vis his fate?
(a) Sisyphus is crushed by the rock.
(b) Sisyphus is a victim of playful gods.
(c) Sisyphus is crushed by his fate.
(d) Sisyphus is superior to his fate.

8. What kind of thought is involved in the absurd?
(a) Creative.
(b) Contradictory.
(c) Lateral.
(d) Rational.

9. In what way is a modern worker similar to Sisyphus?
(a) The tasks they have to do are too hard for them.
(b) The worker is a slave like Sisyphus.
(c) The worker spends every day at the same tasks.
(d) The worker is forbidden to innovate.

10. What temptation does Camus suggest is hardest to overcome?
(a) The temptation to be absurdy sentimental.
(b) The temptation to explain.
(c) The temptation to love.
(d) The temptation to commit suicide.

11. What does Camus see as the one truly serious philosophical problem?
(a) Judging the value of actions.
(b) The problem of human pain and suffering.
(c) Judging the value of religion.
(d) Judging whether or not life is worth living.

12. What comment does Camus make concerning suffering?
(a) It should be avoided.
(b) It is useless.
(c) It is ennobling.
(d) It must be endured.

13. What has been the focus of don Juan's existence?
(a) Self-actualization.
(b) Avoiding conflict.
(c) Absurd escapades.
(d) Short-lived joys.

14. In what ways are the thinker and the artist alike?
(a) Both have a desire to influence the minds of others.
(b) Both have total commitment to success.
(c) Both have a tendency to reject expressionism.
(d) Both thinker and artist have commitment and become themselves in their work.

15. What should be the response to subterfuge?
(a) We should admire it for its inventiveness.
(b) We should turn away from it.
(c) We should turn to it in hope.
(d) We should be suspicious of it.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Camus summarize the actor's art?

2. According to Camus, what is important about the idea that actions have consequences?

3. What would be a synonym for the phrase 'fecund rumination' (p. 93 of the Penguin Edition)?

4. What quality does Camus call 'the fatal evasion'?

5. What does Camus see as an almost inevitable companion to passion?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 581 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample