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

2. Who does the author propose might come to the young man for advice?
(a) A brazenly licentious priest.
(b) A coy milkmaid.
(c) A brilliant youth, even younger than he.
(d) The author proposes no one would come to the young man for advice.

3. What is the risk in despairing over something particular according to the author?
(a) That one's despair will be totally overwhelming.
(b) That one will forget one's obligation to one's wife.
(c) That one's despair will not be authentic and deep.
(d) That one will be distracted from the joy of sunsets.

4. To what do doubt and despair belong according to the author?
(a) The same family.
(b) The souls of young women.
(c) Completely different spheres.
(d) The hearts of young men.

5. If one can "lose the whole world" without damaging one's soul, the author of the letter asserts, then what must "one's soul" prove to be?
(a) One's soul must prove to far vaster and more powerful than every healthy marriage in Denmark.
(b) One's soul must prove to be indifferent to all the finite things in one's immediacy.
(c) One's soul cannot possibly exist.
(d) One's soul must be some supernatural forcefield.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the author's attitude toward scholarship?

2. What is the ethical according to the author?

3. Wherein is contained the whole wisdom of life according to the author?

4. What does the author say is another way to articulate the importance of living aesthetically?

5. What does the author say it is easy to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain how the author uses the metaphor of a ship captain to explain Either/Or.

2. Are any Either/Or choices absolute? Explain.

3. Why does the author write humans fear death?

4. What does the author write about "the Moment"?

5. Why does the author warn against young men being tied down to making a living right away?

6. How does the author define philosophy and what does he appreciate about it?

7. What does the author assert is the mystic's error?

8. Describe the folktale about Roland's three squires.

9. What is the point of the author's story about the count and countess?

10. Briefly describe what the author means by the term Either/Or.

(see the answer keys)

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