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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. Which politician does Mencken refer to as "a good man in a bad trade"?
2. Which is NOT one of the reasons Mencken praises George Washington?
3. What effect has intermarriage had on the American South?
4. How did morality come to be, according to Mencken?
5. What is Mencken's opinion of the belief that man has a soul, according to Chapter 1?
Short Essay Questions
1. What is Mencken's opinion of government? What is the role of government? Is one system of government preferable to another?
2. What is Mencken's view of romantic love?
3. Describe Mencken's thought experiment, in which he imagines if the Confederacy had won the Civil War.
4. Describe Mencken's contention that democracy is a "self-limiting disease." What does he mean by that? Is there any good aspects to democracy?
5. What is the origin of morality according to Mencken?
6. What is the degree of women's "civility" according to Mencken? How does emotion factor in to civility?
7. Describe Mencken's opinion of George Washington. Why does Mencken admire him? Why doesn't Mencken believe Washington would do well in a contemporary political climate?
8. Per Chapter 2, describe Mencken's summation of the following types of people: the romantic, the believer, the metaphysician, and the altruist.
9. What is democracy's fundamental flaw? What aspect of human nature motivates democracy?
10. What is Mencken's take on the universality of morality? Can morality grow and change, or is it static?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Summarize Mencken's views on organized religion. Discuss each of the following topics:
a) The notion that the universe is constructed or divinely designed
b) The notion that God can only have a net positive effect on Man
c) The modern problem with Protestantism
d) The doctrine of free will
e) The relationship between science and religion
Essay Topic 2
1) Discuss Mencken's view of socialism. What effect has socialism has on the world?
2) Compare and contrast Mencken's view of capitalism with that of socialism.
3) Relate Mencken's view of human nature with his view of economics. How do the tendencies and reality of the human condition affect the effectiveness of economical models, for Mencken?
Essay Topic 3
Chapter 22 is dedicated to "Utopian Flights."
1) What is a "Utopian Flight" as Mencken has described it? How does the notion of the Utopian flight relate to Mencken's view of human nature? How does the notion relate to Mencken's view of government?
2) Summarize Mencken's suggestion for choosing legislators. Discuss the mechanics of this system, and its supposed benefits.
3) Summarize Mencken's suggestion for "special laws" to be applied to government officials. Discuss the mechanics of this system, and its supposed benefits.
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This section contains 1,077 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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