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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. With whom does Merton stay in England?
(a) He stays with his Aunt Maude and Uncle Ben.
(b) He lives with his grandparents.
(c) He boards at his school.
(d) He lives with his father and brother.

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

3. What action he performed in the summer of 1937 prompted Merton to take another step on his journey to faith?
(a) Writing for student publications.
(b) Participating in sports.
(c) Attending university.
(d) Praying for Bonnemaman.

4. Where did Merton's father receive medical treatment for his cancer?
(a) At home with a personal physician.
(b) At a hospital in Paris.
(c) At Durston Hospital in Scotland.
(d) At Middlesex Hospital in London.

5. What keeps Merton from athletic participation?
(a) The struggle and pain associated with practice.
(b) The pain of being compared to his father.
(c) The fear of being on the losing side.
(d) A concern about physical injury.

6. What did Pop tell Merton while Owen was ill?
(a) That the Great Depression had ruined him financially.
(b) That John Paul would be joining him at Oakham.
(c) That he and Bonnemaman were moving to Paris.
(d) That Merton and his brother would be financially secure after their father's death.

7. What is one of the last things mentioned in Chapter 4 of Part 1?
(a) Merton's lack of faith.
(b) Merton's sins.
(c) Merton's love affair.
(d) Merton's aunt.

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

9. Where does Merton attend his first Mass?
(a) At St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.
(b) At St. John the Divine in New York.
(c) At the Church of Corpus Christi in New York.
(d) At Gethsemane in Kentucky.

10. Who are Pop and Bonnemaman?
(a) Thomas Merton's grandparents.
(b) Neighbors of his mother.
(c) People he met at school.
(d) Friends of his father.

11. How old was Merton when he went to his first Mass?
(a) He was 15 years old.
(b) He was 24 years old.
(c) He was 30 years old.
(d) He was 25 years old.

12. Who is Bob Lax?
(a) A Catholic man who leads Merton to the faith.
(b) A friend of Merton's father who was a musician.
(c) A friend of Aunt Maude's from childhood.
(d) A friend of Merton's who eventually becomes a Catholic.

13. What does Merton miss when he left France for England?
(a) The Lycee.
(b) The churches.
(c) His house.
(d) The beauty of St. Antonin.

14. How does Thomas Merton feel about his father?
(a) Merton dislikes his father's job.
(b) Merton is critical of his behavior.
(c) Merton wants to be a perfectionist like him.
(d) Merton's father is his hero.

15. What lessens Merton's fear of Catholicism?
(a) Reading a book given to him by a professor.
(b) Buying a college philosophy textbook.
(c) Reading a book he bought by accident in New York.
(d) Meeting a Catholic in Scribner's.

Short Answer Questions

1. What political activities does Merton participate in at the university?

2. What philosophy does Merton explore while at the university?

3. Where had Merton been shortly before his father died?

4. Who came to visit Merton in 1930?

5. What does Merton do during the summer he returned to New York after a trip to Rome?

(see the answer keys)

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