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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Emerson say one shouldn't travel in hope of?
(a) "Escaping the difficult decisions ahead."
(b) "Finding somewhat greater than [one] knows."
(c) "Finding Thebes and Palmyra."
(d) "Leaving all the past behind."

2. What does Emerson say are "but physiological colors which the eye makes"?
(a) Light and dark.
(b) Belief and wisdom.
(c) Time and space.
(d) Reality and perception.

3. What does Emerson say goes with him everywhere he goes?
(a) His giant.
(b) His trunk.
(c) His suggestions.
(d) His guilt.

4. How does Emerson describe perception?
(a) Perception is something one chooses on one's own.
(b) Perception should be contradicted.
(c) Perception is as much a fact as the sun.
(d) Perception is different for each person.

5. What does Emerson claim we have become, in stating that man will see that we need his ethics?
(a) Passive snivelers.
(b) Desponding whimperers.
(c) Dejected complainers.
(d) Hopeless whiners.

6. What does Emerson recommend we do in our relationships with our family?
(a) Ask them for help in building our self-reliance.
(b) Stop living according to their expectations.
(c) Accept them for who they are.
(d) Help them build their own self-reliance.

7. In the state of having "life in yourself" that Emerson describes, what does he claim is of no account?
(a) A man's own personal interest.
(b) The will and wanting of others.
(c) This world's many riches.
(d) Vast spaces of nature and long intervals of time.

8. What is a hieroglyphic as referred to in talking about virtue paid to kings, nobles and great proprietors?
(a) A symbol.
(b) A monument.
(c) An Egyptian pictogram.
(d) A puzzle.

9. Emerson compares society to what in saying "(it) moves onward, but the water of which it is composed does not"?
(a) A stream.
(b) A wave.
(c) An ocean.
(d) A river.

10. What is the definition of "docility" as used by Emerson ("our docility to our own law")?
(a) Passivity.
(b) Submissiveness.
(c) Weakness.
(d) Strength.

11. What does Emerson NOT say is a good reason to travel?
(a) To be amused.
(b) For the purpose of art.
(c) For study.
(d) So that man becomes domesticated.

12. What do Alfred, Scanderbeg and Gustavus have in common?
(a) They all are kings.
(b) They all are dukes.
(c) They all protect their kingdoms against powerful enemies.
(d) They all lead their people to great riches.

13. Who instructed the world, according to Emerson?
(a) The world's geniuses.
(b) The world's teachers.
(c) The world's priests.
(d) The world's kings.

14. What kind of prayer does Emerson call "vicious"?
(a) Dishonest prayer.
(b) Prayer that craves a particular commodity.
(c) Prayer that appeals thoughtlessly to God.
(d) Disheartened prayer.

15. How does Emerson claim we give men the power to annoy us?
(a) Through our curiosity.
(b) Through our friendliness.
(c) Through our dependence.
(d) Through our weakness.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Emerson describe the relationship between the soul and the "divine spirit"?

2. When does Emerson claim that the luster "will be transferred from the actions of kings to those of gentlemen"?

3. What does Emerson say are "another sort of false prayer"?

4. How does Emerson say a cultivated man feels about his property?

5. According to Emerson, when will man finally be happy?

(see the answer keys)

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