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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Either/Or represent?
(a) An album of music.
(b) The capital of Denmark.
(c) Marital fidelity.
(d) Choice in human life.

2. According to the author, of what can the mystic not be absolved?
(a) A certain exclusivity in his relationship with others.
(b) Harboring lust in his heart.
(c) A certain obtrusiveness in his relationship to God.
(d) Harboring anger toward his brother.

3. What happens to choice if one admits meditation according to the author?
(a) If one admits meditation, then there is no absolute choice.
(b) There is no absolute choice unless one admits meditation.
(c) If one admits meditation, there is no effect whatsoever on absolute choice.
(d) If one admits meditation, absolute choice ceases to be meditation.

4. What does the author say an aesthetic representation requires?
(a) A beautiful picture frame.
(b) Lots of money.
(c) Concentration on the moment.
(d) Lots of laughter.

5. If a sailor is enchanted by a mermaid's song, what is the only way to break the spell according to the author?
(a) One must play the same piece backward without making a single mistake.
(b) One must consult a wise man and obtain his blessing.
(c) One must remember Either/Or.
(d) One must swallow the eye of a newt.

6. To what does he assert he sacrifices his life?
(a) To his children.
(b) To his wife.
(c) To his work.
(d) All of these.

7. What path does nature take according to the author?
(a) The widest path.
(b) The shortest path.
(c) The hilliest path.
(d) The longest path.

8. What does the author say is another way to articulate the importance of living aesthetically?
(a) One must enjoy life.
(b) One must marry well.
(c) One must destroy life.
(d) One must find the truth.

9. Wherein is contained the whole wisdom of life according to the author?
(a) In Either/Or.
(b) In marital commitment.
(c) In sensual pleasure.
(d) In religious duty.

10. What is everyone born with a penchant for according to the author?
(a) Climbing hills.
(b) Painting pictures.
(c) Descending hills.
(d) Singing songs.

11. What kind of woman does the author compare the young man to?
(a) A jealous woman.
(b) A spurned woman.
(c) A woman in love.
(d) A woman in labor.

12. What does the author accuse the young man of having become?
(a) A thief.
(b) A critic.
(c) A prostitute.
(d) A liar.

13. What does the author urge the young man to do with his "droll fancies"?
(a) Keep them.
(b) Pass them on to the object of his affection.
(c) Rid himself of them.
(d) Ignore them.

14. What does the author say that the young man thinks life is?
(a) A trial.
(b) A fair.
(c) A lark.
(d) A masquerade.

15. What does the author claim he has never passed himself off as?
(a) A cabinet maker.
(b) A cobbler.
(c) A poet.
(d) A philosopher.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does the author say it seems superfluous to tell the young man what is aesthetic?

2. What does the author say are the spheres proper to thought?

3. What does the author write is on the other side of the aesthetic?

4. Why does the author say he fights for Either/Or in his letter to the young man?

5. What does the author say concerns the young man?

(see the answer keys)

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