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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. After graduating from college, what does Merton do?
(a) He applies to graduate school.
(b) He looks for work that will bring him fortune and fame.
(c) He begins a teaching career.
(d) He gets a job as a journalist.

2. How does Merton describe his mother?
(a) She was an American perfectionist.
(b) She was an American pessimist.
(c) She was a divorced woman.
(d) She was a British artist.

3. How does Merton describe his parents?
(a) They were independent and free of small prejudices.
(b) They disliked one another and planned to divorce.
(c) They were focused on wealth and social status.
(d) They were uncaring people who left him with strangers.

4. Where did Merton attend school in England while with his aunt?
(a) He was home-schooled.
(b) Eton.
(c) Ripley Court.
(d) A church school.

5. What do the Columbia Review and the Spectator have in common?
(a) They are magazines that Pop wrote for.
(b) They are publications that represented failure to Merton.
(c) They are both student publications Merton was involved with.
(d) They are magazines Merton disliked.

6. What does Merton do during the summer he returned to New York after a trip to Rome?
(a) He begins going to bars and burlesques.
(b) He continues his religious explorations.
(c) He immediately visits his Aunt Maude.
(d) He prepares for a diplomatic career.

7. What are Merton's childhood memories of his brother?
(a) His brother went with him to school.
(b) His brother cried a lot.
(c) His brother was a tag-along.
(d) His brother was liked by older boys.

8. What does Merton admire about Mark Van Doren?
(a) His contemplative ability.
(b) His many girlfriends.
(c) His sports ability.
(d) His teaching.

9. How does Merton describe his athletic endeavors?
(a) He brags about his abilities.
(b) He says he lacks aptitude in sports.
(c) He believes he has natural talent.
(d) He doesn't participate in sports.

10. What was the name of the school Merton attended in 1929?
(a) Oakham.
(b) Ripley Court.
(c) Durston House.
(d) The Lycee.

11. Who came to visit Merton in 1930?
(a) Bonnemaman and Pop.
(b) Pop and Owen.
(c) Pop, Bonnemaman, and John Paul.
(d) Owen and John Paul.

12. What is the "sign of the Water Bearer"?
(a) Merton's astrological birth sign of Aquarius.
(b) An advertisement for a hotel.
(c) The name of his father's art gallery.
(d) The symbol for the month of January.

13. What political activities does Merton participate in at the university?
(a) Student demonstrations and meetings.
(b) Writing for political publications.
(c) He is not involved with politics at the university.
(d) Church-sponsored lectures.

14. How does Merton describe his fellow students in France?
(a) They are cultured and refined.
(b) They are socially inferior.
(c) They are extremely poor.
(d) The are vulgar, mean, and pitiless.

15. What philosophy does Merton explore while at the university?
(a) Stoicism.
(b) Materialism.
(c) Catholicism.
(d) Communism.

Short Answer Questions

1. What profession does Tom encourage Merton to prepare for?

2. Who put Merton on the academic path to Cambridge University?

3. When was Merton's brother born?

4. How old was Merton when he went to his first Mass?

5. With whom does Merton stay in England?

(see the answer keys)

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