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

Short Answer Questions

1. During her teenage years, what was Eliot mostly caught up in?

2. What position did Augustine take in the later years of his life?

3. How did writer Henry James describe Eliot's physical appearance?

4. Which of the following traits did many people observe Eliot possessed?

5. Between which two ideals was Augustine caught even as a young boy, according to Brooks?

Short Essay Questions

1. For Augustine, what did the stealing of the pears symbolize?

2. What was the surprising outcome of Marshall's tense encounter with General Pershing in 1917?

3. What kinds of romantic relationships characterized Eliot's years as a young woman?

4. What kind of relationship did Mary Anne Evans (whose pen name was George Eliot) have with her mother?

5. How did George Marshall humiliate his father when he was a young boy?

6. What was the main social consequence of Eliot's relationship with Lewes?

7. What does Brooks imply is the impetus for Marshall's drive to succeed?

8. In what ways were Eliot and George Lewes well-matched as a couple?

9. Why did Marshall lose the job of commander of the allied forces in Europe in 1943 to Eisenhower?

10. How did Virginia Woolf characterize Eliot's work?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Brooks repeatedly refers to Immanuel Kant's adage, "Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made" (11). Write an essay analyzing how this sentiment relates to the idea of self-awareness.

Essay Topic 2

What are the core tenants of Augustinian Christianity, and how do they reflect Augustine's own life struggles and journey? Write an essay explaining your answer, citing specific references to the text.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay comparing and contrasting the writers Samuel Johnson and Michel de Montaigne. How does each man embody and reflect the tenants of humanism?

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