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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What status as a philosopher does Camus accord Plato?
(a) Acceptable, focussing on reason.
(b) Superior, all-encompassing.
(c) Acceptable, though biased.
(d) Primitive because he had not the benefit of our scientific knowledge.

2. Traditionally, what has the left (of politics) been concerned to fight, according to Camus?
(a) Freedom of speech and worship.
(b) Freedom of the press, injustice and political change.
(c) Government interference, trade unions and religious fundamentalists.
(d) Injustice, obscurantism and oppression.

3. What had the writer hoped to gain when he first visited Tipasa?
(a) Experience as a tour guide.
(b) The recapturing of his sense of freedom.
(c) Some Phoenecian artifacts that might make him rich.
(d) The clarification of childhood memories.

4. To what is the romantic attracted?
(a) History, epic and a miraculous event at the end of time.
(b) Epic struggles between the individual and the state.
(c) The idea of God in history and the epic nature of humankind's struggle to survive morally.
(d) Popular fiction.

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

6. For whose victory must we hope?
(a) The politicians'.
(b) The artists'.
(c) The proleteriats'.
(d) The gods'.

7. What would the writer choose never to do?
(a) Join the Resistance.
(b) Act as a judge.
(c) Join a trade union.
(d) Betray a colleague.

8. What had changed Camus' life in September, 1939?
(a) Marriage.
(b) The birth of his twin children.
(c) War.
(d) His belief that God was dead.

9. According to Camus, what is the great misfortune from which we all suffer?
(a) The misfortune of war.
(b) The misfortune of hate.
(c) The misfortune of injustice.
(d) The misfortune of not loving.

10. What does the name Chenoua refer to?
(a) The harbor at Algiers.
(b) A type of Berber carpet.
(c) A pre-Islamic goddess.
(d) A mountain.

11. Whence had Camus planned to travel in 1939?
(a) South Africa.
(b) Greece.
(c) England.
(d) France.

12. Where did Sakyamuni meditate?
(a) In the desert.
(b) On top of a holy mountain.
(c) On top of a pole.
(d) In a dark room.

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

14. What comment does Camus make about the word 'sin'?
(a) That it refers to an illusion.
(b) That he has never really understood it.
(c) That it is a word used to make people fearful, thus easy to control.
(d) It is something we all should be more aware of.

15. What trees grow above the city?
(a) Olives and oranges.
(b) Mastics and olives.
(c) Mimosa and pittosporums.
(d) Olives and eucalypts.

Short Answer Questions

1. What significant thing concerning Socrates does Camus refer to?

2. For what does Camus criticize Oran?

3. Who calls out 'Want a ride, sister?' to pretty girls?

4. What does the modern political scene force an artist to do?

5. On which other society does the youth of Oran model its behavior?

(see the answer keys)

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