View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through 19-23.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which was described as Mencken's earliest memory?
(a) Getting bitten by a snake.
(b) Watching a carnival of the Order of Orioles.
(c) Swatting flies with his brother in the kitchen.
(d) Attending a speech of William Jennings Bryan.

2. Which historical figure did Mencken ridicule by stating he was known as a "plaster saint"?
(a) Napoleon Bonaparte.
(b) Theodore Dreiser.
(c) Abraham Lincoln.
(d) George Washington.

3. According to "The Incomparable Buzz-Saw," what is a woman's only power?
(a) The power over her children.
(b) The power to torture a man through love.
(c) The power of a house's pursestrings.
(d) The power to ruin a man's life with divorce.

4. What did Mencken think about monogamy, as revealed in "Cavia Cobaya"?
(a) Great men aspired to and achieved it.
(b) Functionally, monogamy was the same as polygamy, because everyone cheats.
(c) Monogamy stifled the natural urgings of a man.
(d) Monogamy was the laughable product of democracy.

5. In "The Good Man," what general statement did Mencken make about mankind?
(a) Men are good and kind, and almost always do the right thing.
(b) Man is not perfect, and any strengths are balanced by flaws.
(c) Men are gluttonous, and must continually fight the urge to eat.
(d) Men are not predisposed to appreciate art, and often must be forced.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which is one of the stated reasons the editor put the volume together?

2. What was the "last straw" that forced Mencken to quit the organization in #16?

3. In what way did Mencken mock General John Pershing?

4. Charlie the policeman was charged with which task, in "Recollections of Notable Cops"?

5. In "Recollections of Notable Cops," why does Mencken find the idea of a police academy remarkable?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 433 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample