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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "The National Letters," what was the cause of all the "diseases" which afflict America?
(a) Organized religion.
(b) The lack of a proper diet.
(c) The presumption of guilt, rather than innocence, in legal matters.
(d) The lack of a stable aristocracy.

2. Why was Theodore Dreiser compared to Franz Schubert by Mencken?
(a) Dreiser and Schubert exhibited an uncommon and sometimes perverse imagination.
(b) Dreiser and Schubert both created work that is "lighter than air."
(c) Dreiser and Schubert didn't know the theory of their arts, but nonetheless they produce valuable work.
(d) Dreiser and Schubert used whimsy, irony, and a sense of silliness.

3. What quotation did Mencken borrow from Theodore Dreiser in "Cavia Cobaya"?
(a) Does the temperate, invulnerable man ever give in to the sins of alcohol?
(b) Does a man of moderate means never aspire to great wealth?
(c) Does a woman of considerable means ever want for a man of inconsiderable means?
(d) Does the average strong, successful man confine himself to one woman?

4. Who presided over the Republican Convention of 1920?
(a) William Jennings Bryan.
(b) Franklin Pierce.
(c) Henry Cabot Lodge.
(d) Grover Garfield.

5. According to the editor, why were the 1930s Mencken's "downfall"?
(a) President FDR waged a battle of personal attacks against Mencken.
(b) Mencken's severe illness limited his output.
(c) Mencken spent most of the decade in Europe.
(d) The hardships in the country changed popular sentiment.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Mencken think about monogamy, as revealed in "Cavia Cobaya"?

2. What part of Mencken's work is NOT included in the volume?

3. Why shouldn't men trust other men?

4. Which was described as Mencken's earliest memory?

5. What dominated Puritanism, according to Mencken in "The National Letters"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do men usually marry women who are "basically hideous"?

2. What was the nature of Mencken's first memory, as described in "Introduction to the Universe"?

3. What was Mencken's opinion of Ralph Waldo Emerson's "The American Scholar"?

4. According to Mencken, why do so many people lie?

5. What was Gene the magistrate's approach to law and justice in "Recollections of Notable Cops"?

6. What is the difference between men and women in regards to trust, according to "The Skeptic"?

7. What was accomplished by Walt Whitman's "Democratic Vistas," according to Mencken?

8. What was Mencken's ideal form of government?

9. What was the chief problem of a Baltimore summer, according to Mencken in "The Baltimore of the Eighties"?

10. Why did Mencken believe it was advantageous for him to have not attended college?

(see the answer keys)

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