College American Literature CLEP Exam
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QUESTION
Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society
is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each
shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is
conformity. . . . It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs. Whoso would be a
man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by
the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the
integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the
world.
24. The passage is excerpted from
(A) Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience"
(B) Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance"
(C) James Russell Lowell's "Democracy"
(D) Henry James's The American
(E) Oliver Wendell Holmes's The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table
Answer:
(B) Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance"
QUESTION
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Answer:
Originally a transcendentalist; later rejected them and became a leading anti-transcendentalist.
He was a descendant of Puritan settlers. The Scarlet Letter shows the hypocrisy and insensitivity
of New England puritans by showing their cruelty to a woman who has committed adultery and
is forced to wear a scarlet "A".
The Scarlet Letter, The House of Seven Gables
,QUESTION
Edgar Allen Poe
Answer:
Author who wrote many poems and short stories including "The Raven," "The Bells," "The Tell-
Tale Heart," and "The Gold Bug." He was the originator of the detective story and had a major
influence on symbolism and surrealism. Best known for macabre stories.
QUESTION
William James
Answer:
founder of functionalism; studied how humans use perception to function in our environment
QUESTION
Henry David Thoreau
Answer:
American transcendentalist who was against a government that supported slavery. He wrote
down his beliefs in Walden. He started the movement of civil-disobedience when he refused to
pay the toll-tax to support him Mexican War.
QUESTION
Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society
is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each
shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is
conformity. . . . It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs. Whoso would be a
man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by
the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the
integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the
world.
25. The sentence beginning "He who would gather immortal palms . . . " is best interpreted to
mean which of the following?
,(A) Anyone who wishes to achieve greatness must examine society's fundamental values.
(B) A person worthy of emulation need not be good.
(C) A love of goodness usually stands in the way of great achievements.
(D) Immortality is denied to the individual who opposes conventional values.
(E) The means an individual uses to achieve a worthy goal are not important.
Answer:
(A) Anyone who wishes to achieve greatness must examine society's fundamental values.
QUESTION
Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society
is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each
shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is
conformity. . . . It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs. Whoso would be a
man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by
the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the
integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the
world.
26. The philosophy expressed in the passage is best paraphrased by which of the following
statements?
(A) Doing deliberate evil is preferable to surrendering freedom.
(B) The ideal relationship between the individual and society strikes a balance between total
conformity and excessive nonconformity.
(C) Society and individuality are at odds, so those seeking to be individuals must define their
own terms for living.
(D) Each individual is threatened by society but finally must compromise for the greater good.
(E) Some people surrender their integrity to society, but they must choose to set themselves
against it.
Answer:
(C) Society and individuality are at odds, so those seeking to be individuals must define their
own terms for living.
QUESTION
27. The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might
originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot
, a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison. . . . But, on
one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush.
In the passage above, the images of the cemetery, prison, and rose-bush set the tone for which of
the following works?
(A) Jonathan Edwards' Freedom of the Will
(B) Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
(C) Herman Melville's Typee
(D) Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
(E) Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Answer:
(B) Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
QUESTION
28. The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man
toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To
prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
The statement above represents a deliberate rewriting of which important political text?
(A) The Gettysburg Address
(B) The Declaration of Independence
(C) The Preamble to the United States Constitution
(D) The Bill of Rights
(E) Common Sense
Answer:
(B) The Declaration of Independence
QUESTION
29. The "unpardonable sin" committed by Ethan Brand is
(A) allowing one's intellectual curiosity to violate the privacy of others
(B) any mortal transgression not followed by repentance
(C) the attempt to improve upon God's handiwork
(D) loss of faith in God
(E) ambition deteriorating into a lust for power
(NEW 2023/ 2024 Update) | Already Graded
A| Questions and Verified Answers| 100%
Correct
QUESTION
Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society
is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each
shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is
conformity. . . . It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs. Whoso would be a
man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by
the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the
integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the
world.
24. The passage is excerpted from
(A) Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience"
(B) Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance"
(C) James Russell Lowell's "Democracy"
(D) Henry James's The American
(E) Oliver Wendell Holmes's The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table
Answer:
(B) Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance"
QUESTION
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Answer:
Originally a transcendentalist; later rejected them and became a leading anti-transcendentalist.
He was a descendant of Puritan settlers. The Scarlet Letter shows the hypocrisy and insensitivity
of New England puritans by showing their cruelty to a woman who has committed adultery and
is forced to wear a scarlet "A".
The Scarlet Letter, The House of Seven Gables
,QUESTION
Edgar Allen Poe
Answer:
Author who wrote many poems and short stories including "The Raven," "The Bells," "The Tell-
Tale Heart," and "The Gold Bug." He was the originator of the detective story and had a major
influence on symbolism and surrealism. Best known for macabre stories.
QUESTION
William James
Answer:
founder of functionalism; studied how humans use perception to function in our environment
QUESTION
Henry David Thoreau
Answer:
American transcendentalist who was against a government that supported slavery. He wrote
down his beliefs in Walden. He started the movement of civil-disobedience when he refused to
pay the toll-tax to support him Mexican War.
QUESTION
Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society
is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each
shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is
conformity. . . . It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs. Whoso would be a
man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by
the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the
integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the
world.
25. The sentence beginning "He who would gather immortal palms . . . " is best interpreted to
mean which of the following?
,(A) Anyone who wishes to achieve greatness must examine society's fundamental values.
(B) A person worthy of emulation need not be good.
(C) A love of goodness usually stands in the way of great achievements.
(D) Immortality is denied to the individual who opposes conventional values.
(E) The means an individual uses to achieve a worthy goal are not important.
Answer:
(A) Anyone who wishes to achieve greatness must examine society's fundamental values.
QUESTION
Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society
is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each
shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is
conformity. . . . It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs. Whoso would be a
man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by
the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the
integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the
world.
26. The philosophy expressed in the passage is best paraphrased by which of the following
statements?
(A) Doing deliberate evil is preferable to surrendering freedom.
(B) The ideal relationship between the individual and society strikes a balance between total
conformity and excessive nonconformity.
(C) Society and individuality are at odds, so those seeking to be individuals must define their
own terms for living.
(D) Each individual is threatened by society but finally must compromise for the greater good.
(E) Some people surrender their integrity to society, but they must choose to set themselves
against it.
Answer:
(C) Society and individuality are at odds, so those seeking to be individuals must define their
own terms for living.
QUESTION
27. The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might
originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot
, a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison. . . . But, on
one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush.
In the passage above, the images of the cemetery, prison, and rose-bush set the tone for which of
the following works?
(A) Jonathan Edwards' Freedom of the Will
(B) Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
(C) Herman Melville's Typee
(D) Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
(E) Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Answer:
(B) Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
QUESTION
28. The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man
toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To
prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
The statement above represents a deliberate rewriting of which important political text?
(A) The Gettysburg Address
(B) The Declaration of Independence
(C) The Preamble to the United States Constitution
(D) The Bill of Rights
(E) Common Sense
Answer:
(B) The Declaration of Independence
QUESTION
29. The "unpardonable sin" committed by Ethan Brand is
(A) allowing one's intellectual curiosity to violate the privacy of others
(B) any mortal transgression not followed by repentance
(C) the attempt to improve upon God's handiwork
(D) loss of faith in God
(E) ambition deteriorating into a lust for power
