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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Merton desire just before going to Olean?
(a) To teach religion at the university.
(b) A meeting with congenial friends.
(c) A retreat from the world into solitude and contemplation.
(d) To become a parish priest.

2. What does Merton think of Father Edmund's recommendation to apply to the order in August of 1940?
(a) Merton decides not to apply to the priesthood until the next year.
(b) Merton thinks that is too long to wait.
(c) Merton agrees and takes Father Edmund's advice.
(d) Merton becomes discouraged and thinks about not applying at all.

3. What country does Merton visit while waiting to enter the novitiate?
(a) Cuba.
(b) Brazil.
(c) Argentina.
(d) Mexico.

4. How does Merton want to live in the world?
(a) As a religious teacher.
(b) As a chaplain in the military.
(c) As a monk.
(d) As a good and righteous lay person.

5. What action does Merton take to become a monk after lunch at the Columbia Faculty Club?
(a) He applies for early admission to the Franciscans.
(b) He visits his brother to discuss the matter.
(c) He follows the advice of Mark Van Doren.
(d) He writes to the abbot at Gethsemani.

6. What pattern of behavior is repeated in Merton's quest for the priesthood?
(a) He depends on others to make difficult decisions for him.
(b) After spending a delaying a decision, he is impatient for action once he decides.
(c) He asks everyone for advice and then ignores what he is told.
(d) He would rather let circumstances push him in one direction or another.

7. How could Merton have registered for the draft?
(a) As a conscientious objector.
(b) As a lay person.
(c) As a religious person.
(d) As a lay person.

8. When does John Paul die?
(a) April, 1943.
(b) December, 1940.
(c) June, 1944.
(d) September, 1941.

9. What narrative convention does Merton use repeatedly in this book?
(a) He links every current event to a childhood experience.
(b) He writes long historical passages to set the stage for action.
(c) He provides detailed and accurately recorded conversations with priests.
(d) He writes long reveries that arise from his imagination.

10. What prompted Merton to confess his sins to the abbot?
(a) The abbot's forgiving demeanor.
(b) Merton's trip to Cuba.
(c) Merton's medical emergency.
(d) A discussion with Dan Walsh.

11. What was Merton hoping to gain at his country cottage?
(a) Excitement and fun.
(b) A replacement for school classes.
(c) Order and structure in his life.
(d) A romantic relationship.

12. Who is Father Edmund?
(a) A friend of Owen Merton.
(b) A friend of Merton's brother.
(c) A friend of Dan Walsh.
(d) A friend of Mark Van Doren.

13. What does Merton have to do upon joining the monastery?
(a) He must contact the draft board to inform them of his novitiate.
(b) He must take a physical examination to prove his endurance.
(c) He must confess the sins of his past to the Master of Novices.
(d) He must talk with others in the novitiate about their calling.

14. When did Merton first talk with Father Edmund about becoming a priest?
(a) December, 1939.
(b) September, 1939.
(c) January, 1940.
(d) September, 1950.

15. What does Merton want Father Edmund to do for him in regard to the novitiate?
(a) He wants Father Edmund to stop trying to push him into a particular religious order.
(b) He wants Father Edmund to find a way to implement early admission to the monastery.
(c) He wants Father Edmund to come with him to visit several monasteries.
(d) He wants Father Edmund to call the abbot and apologize for Merton's behavior.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Merton feel about the war?

2. Where is Merton's brother sent while Thomas is joining the monastery?

3. Where is Olean?

4. What does Merton see as his vocation while he is in Olean?

5. Why does Merton register for the draft in the way that he does?

(see the answer keys)

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