View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why was early Christianity superior to modern Christianity, per "Holy Writ"?
(a) It featured more moral instructions.
(b) Early Christianity had a less strict interpretation of Biblical stories.
(c) Services took place in cold places, to ensure better concentration.
(d) It featured a lot less sermonizing.

2. What might Mencken say was Grover Cleveland's defining trait?
(a) A lust for life.
(b) Political acumen.
(c) Intelligence.
(d) Stubbornness.

3. Which of the following was NOT a name applied to William Jennings Bryan by Mencken?
(a) Fly-catcher.
(b) Mountebank.
(c) Yellow-bellied sapsucker.
(d) Charlatan.

4. What was the flaw of FDR's opponent in the Democratic National Convention of 1932?
(a) He was ruined by a scandal involving adultery.
(b) He was blinded by his hatred for FDR.
(c) He was too old, and he looked like a mummy next to FDR.
(d) He was a complete political rookie.

5. How was Mencken able to get a taxi driver to drive him to a speakeasy in Pennsylvania?
(a) He gave the driver a ten dollar bill.
(b) He showed the driver the musical score from a Bach concert.
(c) He agreed to write an article about the driver.
(d) He threatened the driver with jail time.

6. Which was one of the architectural styles Mencken mentioned as part of the "new architecture"?
(a) Modernism.
(b) American colonial.
(c) Victorian.
(d) Cubism.

7. Per "Mr. Justice Holmes," which of the following might Mencken say about the legislature as a state organization?
(a) It is immune to corruption.
(b) It is run by the aristocracy.
(c) Despite its flaws, it always acts in the interest of the people.
(d) It is subject to special interests and blackmail.

8. What was Mencken's epitaph?
(a) Remember what I said, not what I did.
(b) Give your mother a kiss, for me.
(c) This gravestone may alternately be used as a paperweight.
(d) Wink your eye at some homely girl.

9. What was Calvin Coolidge's chief trait, according to Mencken?
(a) "A terrific ability to arrive at the wrong place, but at the right time."
(b) "A great appetite for jams and jellies."
(c) "A hide as tough as a rhinoceros, and a horn to match."
(d) "Self-induced narcolepsy."

10. Complete the following aphorism found in "Sententiae": "Adultery is..."
(a) "...the application of democracy to love."
(b) "...the destruction of love, life, and money."
(c) "...like a marriage with a bad cold."
(d) "...a willingness to get what's yours."

11. What did Mencken conclude in his examination of rulings in "Mr. Justice Holmes"?
(a) Justice Holmes rendered fantastically bizarre rulings, and should be impeached.
(b) Mencken slyly suggests Holmes should tuck chickens under his arms because of his chicken-like cowardice.
(c) Justice Holmes ruled too often in favor of the powers that be, rather than the people.
(d) Justice Holmes ruled too often for rabble-rousers, and not often enough for the aristocracy.

12. Which was NOT a challenge to the schoolboy Mencken mentioned in "Travail"?
(a) They were forced to be babysat against their will.
(b) They were taught lessons no one has an interest in.
(c) They were taught by teachers they don't respect.
(d) They were trying to learn things that are above their intellectual ability.

13. What memorable simile did Mencken use for Grover Cleveland?
(a) Cleveland was like a crocodile waiting to snap his jaws around the American public.
(b) Cleveland was like a fragile butterfly with wings of dynamite.
(c) Cleveland was like a steel ship loaded with monoliths of granite.
(d) Cleveland was like a newborn babe gazing at the stars for the first time.

14. How did Mencken describe the music of Chopin?
(a) "Genesis I, I"
(b) "Silver macaroni, exquisitely tangled."
(c) A dozen wind chimes in a hurricane."
(d) "Two embalmers at work upon a minor poet."

15. Which of the following is NOT a trait of the writer, according to Mencken in "The Author at Work"?
(a) The writer is a hypochondriac.
(b) The writer is starved for attention.
(c) The writer is in it for the money.
(d) The writer is a social creature.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what degree has "new architecture" impacted America?

2. How was plutocracy created, according to Mencken?

3. How had Wallace behaved in "The Wallace Paranoia"?

4. What might Mencken say about a writer's sense of beauty?

5. What event did Mencken cover in "The Wallace Paranoia"?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 812 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample