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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. What one thing did Mencken feel was useful from the contributions of Sigmund Freud?
(a) The notion that "mother issues" were deeply-seated.
(b) The notion that lying stemmed from an unconscious place.
(c) The notion that dreams could reveal aspects of our everyday lives.
(d) The notion that people could be easily hypnotized.

2. Why shouldn't men trust other men?
(a) Men can become violent at any moment.
(b) Men lie constantly.
(c) Men are only interested in accumulating wealth.
(d) Men can be subject to temptation, and thus betrayal.

3. What was "The Art Eternal" according to Mencken?
(a) Prostitution.
(b) Literature.
(c) Portrait painting.
(d) Lying.

4. Which was NOT a feature of the ideal aristocracy, according to Mencken?
(a) Intellectual superiority.
(b) The presence of a complex set of protocols and accepted behaviors.
(c) The ability to produce excellent art.
(d) The presence of bold, free-thinking men.

5. What kind of presence did Henry Cabot Lodge have, according to Mencken?
(a) Lodge was meek and soft-voiced.
(b) Lodge was powerful and authoritative.
(c) Lodge swore often and told dirty jokes, shocking women.
(d) Lodge was cantankerous and given to bickering.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Mencken think about Lincoln's issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation?

2. Why did Mencken disagree with contemporary assessments of Abraham Lincoln?

3. Why does the typical man have a poor conception of beauty?

4. According to "The Skeptic," what do women always bear?

5. What aspect of man-woman relationships are the movies incorrect about, according to Mencken?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How did Mencken answer the question of whether successful men should have mistresses?

3. According to Mencken, Theodore Dreiser had what emotional effect on the reader?

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

5. What questions did Mencken raise about the contemporary understanding of Abraham Lincoln?

6. What was the nature of Mencken's first-ever printed article?

7. Why did Alistair Cooke feel that Mencken experienced a "downfall" in the 1930s?

8. What was Mencken's opinion about Henry Cabot Lodge?

9. According to Mencken, why would a Christian man not cheat on his wife, according to "The Libertine"?

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

(see the answer keys)

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