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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is needed for a person to 'come alive again'?
(a) Prayer and meditation.
(b) Meditation in a suitable place.
(c) Special grace, self-forgetfulness or a homeland.
(d) A beautiful homeland and a loving family.

2. What comment does Camus make concerning the end of history?
(a) We need to ignore it and make our own lives count for something.
(b) It can't have any definable significance for us.
(c) It will come when God is pleased for it to happen.
(d) It is too frightening for us to try and imagine.

3. How does Camus evaluate the role of the artist??
(a) As having an important place in the continuing dialog.
(b) As necessary more now than ever before.
(c) As somewhat redundant.
(d) As one who is a conduit for popular culture.

4. In summer, what happens to Algiers?
(a) It is subject to extremes of weather.
(b) It becomes deserted.
(c) It fills with eager tourists.
(d) Pilgrims arrive and accommodation is stretched.

5. Camus mentions the parliament of birds in which literary source?
(a) Hindu.
(b) Russian.
(c) English.
(d) Arabian.

6. What is different about Tipasa now?
(a) It has been restored.
(b) It is surrounded by barbed wire.
(c) It has been settled by homeless people.
(d) It has been fenced in.

7. What word best describes Camus' attitude to Oran's shops?
(a) Admiring.
(b) Scathing.
(c) Tolerating.
(d) Praising.

8. As Camus describes it, the impression one has of the setting for the boxing boxing match is _______________.
(a) Exciting and dangerous.
(b) Well-organized.
(c) Chaotic.
(d) Squalid and crowded.

9. What is meant by 'quixotism'?
(a) The belief in the miracles of Don Quixote.
(b) Being generally unreliable and untrustworthy.
(c) Having the quality of the visionary or the romantic.
(d) Moving very quickly.

10. From examining the text, what do we learn about Salamis?
(a) That it was a city overrun by barbarians.
(b) That it was a lost text.
(c) That is was a sea battle.
(d) That barbarians lived there.

11. In what way is the Ancient Greek idea of justice different from the modern European?
(a) For the Ancient Greeks, punishment could be meted out by the gods; Europeans use the courts of law.
(b) The Greeks were concerned with limitation, but for modern Europeans justice is seen as something total.
(c) The Ancient Greeks used ostracism; Europeans use execution.
(d) The Greeks believed in divine inspiration to set limits; Europeans rely on committees.

12. What paradox did Descartes notice in Amsterdam?
(a) That one could feel freedom and tranquility amongst a crowd.
(b) That a tax on windows meant doors were narrow.
(c) That there were streets as well as canals for traffic.
(d) That one could feel safe in the red-light district of the city.

13. How might the mood of the first three paragraphs of Return to Tipasa be described?
(a) Happy.
(b) Depressed.
(c) Nostalgic.
(d) Excited.

14. What restores calm to the fight audience after the near-riot?
(a) A plea from Camus himself.
(b) The arrival of the police.
(c) The announcement of the main bout.
(d) Pleas from a tearful woman.

15. How does Camus describe today's society?
(a) As potentially communist.
(b) As laissez-faire.
(c) As overly regulated.
(d) As disordered.

Short Answer Questions

1. Camus describes a film in a handbill using words like 'sumptuous', 'staggering', 'amazing' and 'tremendous'. This is an example of which literary device?

2. Of what does Camus accuse the Marxists?

3. What makes Algiers different from cities like Paris, Prague and Florence?

4. Where did the writer spend his evenings?

5. What is the alternative title for The Minotaur?

(see the answer keys)

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