American Literature MCQs

Question 1

What statement below best sums up the literary significance of Walt Whitman ?

Accepted Answer

Both A and B

Answer

Father of free verse

Answer

Father of American Poetry

Answer

Circumference

Question 2

What statement below best sums up the literary significance of Frederick Douglass ?

Accepted Answer

Most popular slave narrative

Answer

Indian Autobiography

Answer

Father of free verse

Answer

Father of American poetry

Question 3

Who wrote Heritage ?

Accepted Answer

Countiee cullen

Answer

William Faulkner

Answer

T.S. Eliot

Answer

Wallace stevens

Question 4

This Puritan author wrote about the Salem witch trials_____________?

Accepted Answer

Cotton Mather

Answer

Owen Edwards

Answer

Annie Bradford

Answer

Terry Pratchett

Question 5

when did william Faulkner get nobel prize for literature ?

Accepted Answer

B-1949

Answer

A-1941

Answer

C-1945

Answer

D-1938

Question 6

This group united 5 tribes_____________?

Accepted Answer

Iroquois

Answer

Sioux

Answer

Navajo

Answer

Hopi

Question 7

But for many minutes the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. This victim is killed because of_____________?

Accepted Answer

His clouded eye

Answer

A letter

Answer

His pact with the devil

Answer

His loud heart beat

Question 8

What lesson does Hare's adventure involving a tall man with a cane attempt to teach the Winnebago people ?

Accepted Answer

Boasting shows weakness and will lead to bad things

Answer

Flattery will get you no where

Answer

Don't put of for tomorrow what you can do today

Answer

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

Question 9

I know that many say that they are willing, perhaps the majority of the people, that we should enjoy our rights and privileges as they do. If so, I would ask why are not we protected in our persons and property throughout the Union? Is it not because there reigns in the breast of many who are leaders, a most unrighteous, unbecoming and impure black principle, and as corrupt and unholy as it can be-while these very same unfeeling, self-esteemed characters pretend to take the skin as a pretext to keep us from our unalienable and lawful rights? I would ask you if you would like to be disfranchised from all your rights, merely because your skin is white, and for no other crime? I'll venture to say, these very characters who hold the skin to be such a barrier in the way, would be the first to cry out, injustice! Awful injustice! ?

Accepted Answer

William Apess

Answer

Fredrick Douglass

Answer

John Winthrop

Answer

Benjamin Franklin

Question 10

Mr. Covey entered the stable with a long rope; and just as I was half out of the loft, he caught hold of my legs, and was about tying me. As soon as I found what he was up to, I gave a sudden spring, and as I did so, he holding to my legs, I was brought sprawling on the stable floor. Mr. Covey seemed now to think he had me, and could do what he pleased; but at this moment-from whence came the spirit I don't know-I resolved to fight; and, suiting my action the resolution, I seized Covey hard by the throat, and as I did so, I rose. He held on to me, and I to him. ... He trembled like a leaf. ...We were at it for nearly two hours. Covey at length let me go, puffing and blowing at a great rate, saying that if I had not resisted, he would not have whipped me half so much. The truth was, that he had not whipped me at all. I considered him as getting entirely the worst end of the bargain; for he had drawn no blood from me, but I had from him_____________?

Accepted Answer

Fredrick Douglass

Answer

John Winthrop

Answer

Benjamin Frankin

Answer

William Apess

Question 11

His son Rip, an urchin begotten in his own likeness, promised to inherit the habits, with thåe old clothes of his father. He was generally seen trooping like a colt at his mother's heels, equipped in a pair of his father's cast-off galligaskins, which he had much ado to hold up with one hand, as a fine lady does her train in bad weather. What are "galligaskins" ?

Accepted Answer

Loose, wide breeches

Answer

Long, wide petticoats

Answer

A trench-coat

Answer

Underpants

Question 12

The annals of Massachusetts Bay will inform us, that of six governors, in the space of about forty years from the surrender of the old charter, under James II., two were imprisoned by a popular insurrection - a third, as Hutchinson inclines to believe, was driven from the province by the whizzing of a musket ball - a fourth, in the opinion of the same historian, was hastened to his grave by continual bickerings with the house of representatives - and the remaining two, as well as their successors, till the Revolution, were favored with few and brief intervals of peaceful sway. What is an "insurrection" ?

Accepted Answer

An of revolting against civil authority

Answer

An act or instance of beginning

Answer

The state of one risen from the dead

Answer

The condition of being stopped

Question 13

In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues; while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim. What is the meaning of the word audacity ?

Accepted Answer

Fearless daring or aggressive boldness

Answer

Auditory city

Answer

Authority

Answer

Insanity or dementia

Question 14

I would not have it imagined, however, that he was one of those cruel potentates of the school, who joy in the smart of their subjects; on the contrary, he administered justice with discrimination rather than severity; taking the burthen off the backs of the weak, and laying it on those of the strong. What is the meaning of the word "smart" in this context ?

Accepted Answer

Pain

Answer

Stupidity

Answer

Silliness

Answer

Intelligence

Question 15

Let me for a few moments turn your attention to the reservations in the different states of New England, and, with but few exceptions, we shall find them as follows: the most mean, abject, miserable race of beings in the world - a complete place of prodigality and prostitution. What does "prodigality" mean ?

Accepted Answer

Wasteful extravagance

Answer

Promiscuity

Answer

Return from the dead

Answer

Redemption

Question 16

The now ghastly pallor of the skin, and the now miraculous luster of the eye, above all things startled and even awed me. The silken hair, too, had been suffered to grow all unheeded, and as, in its wild gossamer texture, it floated rather than fell about the face, I could not, even with effort, connect its arabesque expression with any idea of simple humanity. The character described in this passage ?

Accepted Answer

Buries someone alive

Answer

Commits suicide

Answer

Devours a heart

Answer

Meets the devil

Question 17

"When I was 16 years of age, we heard a Strange Rumor among the English, that there were Extraordinary Ministers preaching from Place to Place and Strange Concern among the White People. This was in the Spring of the Year. ... After I was awakened & converted, I went to all the meetings, I could come at; & Continued under Trouble of Mind about 6 months; at which time I began to Learn the English letters; got me a Primer, and used to go to my English Neighbours frequently for Assistant in reading..."?

Accepted Answer

Samson Occcum

Answer

John Winthrop

Answer

Benjamin Franklin

Answer

Mayflower Compact

Question 18

The ambitious spirits of his brother chieftain Sassacus, had ever aspired to dominion over the allied tribes - and immediately after the appearance of the English, the same temper was manifest in a jealousy of their encroachments. He employed all his art and influence and authority, to unite the tribes for the extirpation of the dangerous invaders. Mononotto, on the contrary, averse to all hostility, and foreseeing no danger from them, was the advocate of a hospitable reception, and pacific conduct. What does "extirpation" mean ?

Accepted Answer

Extermination

Answer

Execution

Answer

Going to extremes

Answer

Expatriating

Question 19

"Can this be so!" cried goodman Brown, with a stare of amazement at his undisturbed companion. Howbeit, I have nothing to do with the governor and council - they have their own ways, and are no rule for a simple husbandman, like me. But, were I to go on with thee, how should I meet the eye of that good old man, our minister, at Salem village? Oh, his voice would make me tremble, both Sabbathday and lecture-day!" The word "husbandman" usually means farmer, but in this context it means something else - what ?

Accepted Answer

Man of ordinary status

Answer

Rancher

Answer

Male partner in a marriage

Answer

Cowboy

Question 20

The Puritans who settled Plymouth Colony were separating Puritans which meant ?

Accepted Answer

Separate from the Church of England

Answer

Continue being apart of the Church of England

Answer

Reform

Answer

None of the above

Free American Literature MCQs with Answers