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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. Why do the majority of people lie, according to Mencken?
(a) They lie for fame.
(b) They are fearful of being arrested.
(c) They lie for profit.
(d) They are unhappy with their lot in life.

2. What was the name of H. L. Mencken's brother?
(a) Jesse.
(b) Bud.
(c) Charlie.
(d) Mitch.

3. What is a man's usual response to beauty?
(a) Lust.
(b) Romantic affection.
(c) Highly-violent behavior.
(d) Indifference.

4. What did Mencken satirize in "Quid Est Veritas"?
(a) Organized religion.
(b) Country doctors.
(c) Aristocrats.
(d) Those who insisted Latin was not a dead language.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the subject of the first Mencken-written article that was ever published?

2. Who presided over the Republican Convention of 1920?

3. Which is NOT a reason Mencken gives for admiring Theodore Dreiser?

4. What criticism did Mencken have for the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation?

5. Why was Theodore Dreiser compared to Franz Schubert by Mencken?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why are "handsome men" suspicious, according to "The Lure of Beauty"?

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

3. Instead of military generals, who did Mencken wish to award medals to in "Star-Spangled Man"?

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

5. In "Gore in the Caribees," what becames of the rebel leader, Jose Miguel Gomez?

6. What was Mencken's remedy for curing the ills of modern religions?

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

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

9. What criticisms did Mencken level at General John Pershing?

10. What criticisms did Mencken have for Theodore Dreiser?

(see the answer keys)

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