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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. Which family at Big Sur hails from Mexico and embodies the virtues that Americans most undervalue, according to Miller?
(a) The Diaz family.
(b) The Lopez family.
(c) The Inez family.
(d) The Lee family.

2. Miller writes that Big Sur feels naked and vulnerable, an apt setting for what?
(a) Shakespearean tragedies.
(b) Roman tragedies.
(c) Greek tragedies.
(d) Melodramas.

3. Miller is sometimes surprised by revelations of household tragedies too great to describe, even by who, whose domestic life is a sad joke?
(a) Conrad.
(b) Chekhov.
(c) James.
(d) Tolstoy.

4. Who is Miller's favorite of the child painters in Big Sur?
(a) Brian Cooper.
(b) Butch Eames.
(c) Timmy Conway.
(d) Tasha Doner.

5. Who is the octogenarian Miller often meets at the sulfur baths in Part 2, "Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri," Chapter 5?
(a) Oden Wharton.
(b) Conrad Moricand.
(c) Emil White.
(d) Jean Wharton.

Short Answer Questions

1. Miller asserts that few city dwellers can stand solitude, but communities built on _____ and detachment are inevitable in this destructive world.

2. Miller quotes a long passage from whose Travel Diary about the perfection of Japanese women and how Western women fail to imitate them?

3. Who begins a yearlong yarn about a superman-like character named Inch Connecticut?

4. Miller asserts in Part 1, "The Oranges of the Millennium," that people fail to realize that life is what?

5. What would-be writer hopes to find the Cult of Sex and Anarchy?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Miller describe the plants and animals in Hieronymus Bosch's The Millennium? How does this relate to Big Sur?

2. What does Miller write of Tolstoy in Part 2, Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri, Chapter 7? How does his domestic life relate to Miller's?

3. How does Miller describe Ephraim Doner in "Testimonial in Ut-Mineur"?

4. What is "The Charma Serial" about?

5. Who does Miller describe meeting in Part 2, Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri, Chapter 5 at the sulfur baths?

6. How does Miller describe corporal punishment in Part 2, Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri, Chapter 10?

7. Who is able to thrive in Big Sur and who is not, according to Miller in Part 1, The Oranges of the Millennium?

8. What artists and writers does Miller describe living within the Big Sur community in Part 2, Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri, Chapter 2? How do they support themselves?

9. What is the main question posed in Part 2, Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri, Chapter 10? Where does Miller gain insight in this subject?

10. How does Miller describe "Karma" or balance in "The Part of Fortune"?

(see the answer keys)

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