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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. What well-known war correspondent's work did the radio program Brooks describes in Chapter 1 feature?

2. How many times was Day arrested?

3. What terms does Brooks use to describe a life of humility versus a life of egotism in Chapter 1?

4. In Chapter 1, what does Brooks describe as the habit of a friend who works on self-improvement and who Brooks admires?

5. Where did Dwight Eisenhower grow up?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Brooks describe Adam II in the Introduction?

2. How did Perkins initially win over Franklin Delano Roosevelt's trust?

3. How does Brooks define the so-called "Big Me" culture?

4. What was Eisenhower's personal opinion of General Douglas MacArthur?

5. What does Brooks say are the ultimate joys in Chapter 1?

6. Why was Day intensely annoyed with Forster Batterham during the time when she nursed his partner Nanette through her terminal illness?

7. What was a tactic Dwight Eisenhower used to manage his anger and emotions that involved writing?

8. Why did Day set out to write about the experience of childbirth after having her child?

9. What event in young Dwight Eisenhower's life prompted his mother to read him a Bible verse about conquering his own soul that had a great impact on his adult life?

10. Why did Ida Eisenhower forbid dancing, card games, and drinking in her home?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Brooks proposes that joy "is a byproduct experienced by people who are aiming for something else. But it comes" (269). Choose two people he profiles in the book and write an essay explaining how their lives demonstrated this idea.

Essay Topic 2

How did the writer George Eliot's (born Mary Anne Evans) life and writings change dramatically after her relationship with George Henry Lewes developed? Write an essay explaining your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing how the radio program Command Performance, the WWII-era radio show that Brooks heard on NPR, inspired his writing of The Road to Character, citing specific references to the text to support your answer .

(see the answer keys)

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