Free American Literature MCQs with Answers

• A. Plymouth
• B. Mayflower compact
• C. Massachusetts Bay Colony
• D. Rhode Island

Explanation: John Winthrop led the Puritan migration that established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630.

• A. Father of Free verse
• B. Father of american poetry
• C. Self-reliance
• D. Father of American Liteature

Explanation: Thoreau's writing, especially Walden, stresses individual independence, simple living, and resistance to social conformity, making…

• A. The harp
• B. The guitar
• C. The ukulele
• D. The violin

Explanation: In Poe's “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Roderick Usher plays the guitar and sings to it during his periods of extreme nervous…

• A. A slave
• B. A Transcendentalist
• C. The son of itinerant actors
• D. An indentured servant

Explanation: The passage is associated with William Apess, a Native American Methodist writer who experienced indentured servitude as a child.

• A. Toni Morrison
• B. Jane Austin
• C. Ann Petry
• D. Frances Harper

Explanation: Toni Morrison became the first African American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, winning it in 1993.

• A. Popular early nosiest
• B. Romantisum
• C. Scarlett letter
• D. All are correct

Explanation: Hawthorne was a major American Romantic novelist, best known for The Scarlet Letter, and was widely read in his own period.

• A. Emerged as a supreme power among the European countries
• B. a huge collection of paintings and sculptures
• C. the wisest men of the time
• D. many scholars and sceptics

Explanation: The statement refers to Holland’s intellectual development by 1600, when it was associated with numerous scholars and sceptical thinkers.

• A. Nationalism
• B. Transcendentalism
• C. Romanticism
• D. Indian Autobiography

Explanation: Nathaniel Hawthorne belongs chiefly to the American Romantic tradition, although his dark symbolism and moral concerns distinguish him…

• A. Anne Bradstreet
• B. Bradford Nelson
• C. Jonathan Edwards
• D. William Bradford

Explanation: William Bradford served as governor of Plymouth Colony and was repeatedly re-elected, reportedly about thirty times.

• A. His dead uncle
• B. His dead father
• C. His dead grandmother
• D. His dead grandfather

Explanation: In the corn-clan narrative, the member appeals to his dead uncle as an ancestral source of supernatural help.

• A. The prayer was not answered and the people continued to live in sin
• B. The dead uncle sent a hail storm to destroy the land
• C. The priest's son was told to set fire to the village
• D. The dead uncle sent an earthquake to punish the corn clan for their wrongdoings

Explanation: The prayer receives an extraordinary supernatural answer when the dead uncle sends an earthquake against the corn clan.

• A. Goody Cloyse, Faith, and old goodman Brown.
• B. Goody Cloyse, deacon Gookin, and the minister.
• C. The minister, old goodman Brown, and deacon Gookin.
• D. Faith, old goodman Brown and deacon Gookin.

Explanation: On the forest journey, Goodman Brown and his companion encounter Goody Cloyse, Deacon Gookin and the minister.

• A. To make mischief and cause trouble
• B. To trample upon evil beings that were abusing his aunts and uncles
• C. To play tricks on other animals to prove how intelligent he is
• D. The hare has no purpose that is why his grandmother must always watch over him

Explanation: The Earthmaker gives Hare a protective purpose: he must trample evil beings that mistreat his aunts and uncles.

• A. Used pictographs to explain nature
• B. Told the story of Wolam Olum
• C. Settled in Northeast US
• D. All the above

Explanation: The Delaware, or Lenape, were a Native people of the northeastern United States; their Walam Olum tradition used pictographic symbols to…

• A. Establishment of puritans
• B. Establishment of autobiography
• C. Establishment of Indian praying towns
• D. Establishment of self- reliance

Explanation: Occom points to the establishment of Indian praying towns as evidence that Native communities had been organized for Christian worship…

• A. History of puritans
• B. History of slavery
• C. Transcendentalism
• D. None of the above

Explanation: Hawthorne's ancestors were prominent Puritans connected with the Salem witch trials, a history that influenced his treatment of inherited…

• A. Plymouth
• B. Mayflower compact
• C. Massachusetts Bay Colony
• D. Rhode Island

Explanation: William Bradford was the governor and historian of the Plymouth Colony, whose settlers arrived on the Mayflower.

• A. Freedom
• B. Escape from enslavement
• C. Transportation to the colonies
• D. Dropping charges for murder

Explanation: Many indentured servants exchanged several years of labour for transportation from Europe to the American colonies.

• A. Indian autobiography
• B. Most popular slave narrative
• C. First african american to speak to mixed audience
• D. None of the aboveE. All of the above

Explanation: Samson Occom was a Mohegan minister and writer associated with one of the earliest significant Native American autobiographical accounts.

• A. Hare told him of a large beast living near Bear's home.
• B. Hare took out his quiver and showed him four arrows.
• C. Hare told thim that the country is full of wars.
• D. Hare threated to kill him.

Explanation: Hare frightens Bear by displaying his quiver and four arrows, making Bear imagine that Hare is a dangerous hunter.