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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which book was Mencken's touchstone into literature?
(a) Thomas Paine's Common Sense.
(b) Alexander Dumas' The Three Musketeers.
(c) Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn.
(d) Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

2. What was Mencken's nickname for Chesapeake Bay?
(a) The big blue.
(b) The protein factory.
(c) Crab central.
(d) Home of the yummy lobsters.

3. Which of the following could NOT be used to describe Mencken's tone in "Star-Spangled Man"?
(a) Sarcastic.
(b) Hyperbolic.
(c) Sentimental.
(d) Tongue-in-cheek.

4. Which is NOT one of the reasons winters were difficult in 1880s Baltimore?
(a) Snow caused many roofs to cave in.
(b) Cellars could flood.
(c) Water pipes could burst.
(d) The cold was severe, and furnaces did not help much.

5. According to "Quid Est Veritas?," what kind of religion professes to know God exactly and completely?
(a) Perfect religions.
(b) American religions.
(c) Admirable religions.
(d) Primitive religions.

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

7. What organization did Mencken's father force him to join at age fourteen?
(a) The Baptist Church.
(b) Y.M.C.A.
(c) The Boy Scouts of America.
(d) The Junior Achievement League.

8. What was Theodore Dreiser's national and ethnic background?
(a) American.
(b) French.
(c) German.
(d) Swedish.

9. In "Gore in the Caribees," what was Mencken's perspective on the revolution in Cuba?
(a) Mencken was fervently pro-Cuba, and travels to the country to engage in propaganda.
(b) Mencken refused to cover the event, and is fired by his newspaper.
(c) Mencken thought the event is not newsworthy, and only reluctantly does he travel to cover it.
(d) Mencken thought it is newsworthy, and he asks to cover it.

10. What profession should the truth-teller NOT aspire to, according to Mencken?
(a) Owner of a large company.
(b) A bartender.
(c) A jewelry maker.
(d) The President of the United States.

11. What does Mencken call a man who resists the charms of women?
(a) A most rare beast indeed.
(b) An exceedingly wise stone statue.
(c) A most distinguished gentleman.
(d) A most disgusting cad.

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

13. Why did Mencken disagree with contemporary assessments of Abraham Lincoln?
(a) Critics maligned Lincoln for his handling of the Civil War, and Mencken thinks he did a fine job.
(b) Mencken believed a much broader conspiracy was in place in regards to Lincoln's assassination.
(c) Critics praised him as a hero and don't question some dubious sections of his biography.
(d) Abraham Lincoln did not get nearly enough credit for freeing the slaves, according to Mencken.

14. Why do "handsome men" deserve suspicion?
(a) The human body is inherently ugly.
(b) They are terrible conversationalists.
(c) They are always self-serving and vain.
(d) They are "ugly" inside.

15. In "Recollections of Notable Cops," why does Mencken find the idea of a police academy remarkable?
(a) Cops in Mencken's younger days were not educated.
(b) Mencken states that police academies are contrary to the ideals of democracy.
(c) Academies usually teach useless skills; police academies teach useful skills.
(d) Mencken regards policemen as corrupt, vicious brutes.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why do the majority of people lie, according to Mencken?

2. According to Mencken, what was the Union fighting for in the Civil War?

3. What is democracy's "aim," according to Mencken?

4. What did Mencken feel about "American thinking"?

5. Mencken provided what colorful phrase to describe a woman's body?

(see the answer keys)

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