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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Mencken, the intellectual tradition of Whitman and Emerson had been transferred to which man?
(a) William Jennings Bryan.
(b) Van Wyck Brooks.
(c) Theodore Dreiser.
(d) Jose Miguel Gomez.

2. What was the subject of the first Mencken-written article that was ever published?
(a) Political discontent in Europe.
(b) A high-society party.
(c) The gold standard.
(d) A horse robbery.

3. What cheeky nickname did Mencken give Theodore Dreiser?
(a) The Hindenburg of the novel.
(b) The Clown Prince of prose.
(c) The Jack Ripper of the novel.
(d) The Frankenstein of the short story.

4. What criticism did Mencken have for the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation?
(a) It directly led to the Battle of Shiloh.
(b) It only freed specific slaves, and not all slaves.
(c) It freed slaves all at once, when it should have done it in a gradual way.
(d) It freed all slaves, when to preserve peace it should have freed only some.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Mencken, what was Christianity's history with lying?

2. Which was NOT a source of loud noise in the Baltimore of the 1880s, according to Mencken?

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

4. How was Theodore Dreiser like Joseph Conrad, according to Mencken?

5. Which was NOT a source of terrible smell in the Baltimore of the 1880s, according to Mencken?

(see the answer key)

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