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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Merton afraid to tell anyone when he is teaching at St. Bonaventure?
(a) That he stills yearns to be a monk.
(b) About his experiences overseas.
(c) His deepest and darkest sins.
(d) The condition of his teeth.

2. What does Merton tell his brother when he comes to Gethsemani?
(a) The names of women he should visit.
(b) The address of a priest in New York he must visit.
(c) Everything Merton knows about Catholicism.
(d) How to stay safe while traveling.

3. What sends Merton into a frustrating "holding pattern"?
(a) Discovering that his friends had sabotaged him in his desire to be a priest.
(b) Finding out that he was taken off the waiting list at St. Bonaventure.
(c) Being told that he must wait to find a teaching job until the next year.
(d) Being told to withdraw his application to the monastery and that he has no vocation to be a priest.

4. Why can Merton register for the draft as a conscientious objector?
(a) Because he teaches his students about peace.
(b) Because he has a letter from the abbot defining him as such.
(c) Because he argues for that position.
(d) Because he is a religious with plans to enter a monastery.

5. What narrative convention does Merton use repeatedly in this book?
(a) He provides detailed and accurately recorded conversations with priests.
(b) He links every current event to a childhood experience.
(c) He writes long historical passages to set the stage for action.
(d) He writes long reveries that arise from his imagination.

6. What does Merton think of Father Edmund's recommendation to apply to the order in August of 1940?
(a) Merton decides not to apply to the priesthood until the next year.
(b) Merton agrees and takes Father Edmund's advice.
(c) Merton becomes discouraged and thinks about not applying at all.
(d) Merton thinks that is too long to wait.

7. What religious order does Merton first consider joining?
(a) The Franciscans.
(b) The Jesuits.
(c) The Dominicans.
(d) The Templars.

8. What does Merton write in his draft papers?
(a) That he is ready to fight the enemy.
(b) That he must receive a teaching exemption.
(c) That he can't argue there is no just war.
(d) That he won't go into the military because he is religious.

9. What do Ed Rice and Bob Lax work on in Olean?
(a) They write church history.
(b) They both write novels.
(c) They both write autobiographies.
(d) They work on newspaper articles.

10. Who suggests that Merton withdraw his application for the novitiate?
(a) Dan Walsh.
(b) Bob Lax.
(c) Ed Rice.
(d) Father Edmund.

11. How many countries has Merton lived in by the time war breaks out?
(a) Five .
(b) Three.
(c) Six.
(d) Four.

12. What does Merton say he needs when he begins talking about being a priest?
(a) A rule designed to detach him from the world.
(b) A rule that would lead him to parish ministry.
(c) A rule that would prepare him to teach at the university.
(d) A rule that would allow him to do community outreach.

13. What does Merton have to do upon joining the monastery?
(a) He must take a physical examination to prove his endurance.
(b) He must talk with others in the novitiate about their calling.
(c) He must confess the sins of his past to the Master of Novices.
(d) He must contact the draft board to inform them of his novitiate.

14. What pattern of behavior is repeated in Merton's quest for the priesthood?
(a) He would rather let circumstances push him in one direction or another.
(b) After spending a delaying a decision, he is impatient for action once he decides.
(c) He asks everyone for advice and then ignores what he is told.
(d) He depends on others to make difficult decisions for him.

15. What was Merton hoping to gain at his country cottage?
(a) Order and structure in his life.
(b) A replacement for school classes.
(c) Excitement and fun.
(d) A romantic relationship.

Short Answer Questions

1. What action does Merton take to become a monk after lunch at the Columbia Faculty Club?

2. What does Merton want Father Edmund to do for him in regard to the novitiate?

3. What makes Merton unhappy while he is teaching?

4. Who is the Baroness?

5. What were growing interests for Merton in Olean?

(see the answer keys)

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