American Literature 1914–1945 Period Introduction Quiz

A  They were unable to financially support themselves in the United States because their writing was not commercial.

B  They believed that the United States lacked a tradition of high culture and was antagonistic to cultural expression.

C  They were forced out of the United States by a country suspicious of their leftist-leaning political views.

D  They were dissatisfied by the New Deal programs of Franklin D. Roosevelt that supported competing artists and writers.

A  Novels were shortened in length.

B  Prose and poetry became indistinguishable forms.

C  Poems became shorter through free verse.

D  The short story rose to prominence.

A  emphasis on stream-of-consciousness

B  highly structured rhyme schemes

C  extensive repetition of a text’s theme

D  textual construction from fragments

A  Charles Darwin’s scientific theories

B  nineteenth-century melodramas

C  French symbolist literature

D  Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy

A  Writers’ cultural influence waned as scientists ascended to cultural prominence with their discoveries.

B  Scientists and writers were less able to communicate with one another as their views diverged.

C  Writers ignored scientific developments because science was considered irrelevant to literature.

D  Writers adopted new scientific concepts with alacrity and extensively incorporated them in literature.

A  They were concerned that mass culture would create a robotic, passive population.

B  They were distressed that mass culture was more accessible to society than other forms of culture.

C  They were anxious that mass culture would reduce the power of the individual in art.

D  They were worried that mass culture would reduce the ability to create high art.

A  It demonstrated the artificial division between church and state.

B  It showed the dangers of publicly espousing Communist beliefs.

C  It illustrated the progress women had made for equal rights.

D  It revealed the racial bias extant in the American judicial system.

A  Society is composed of multiple castes that get increasingly smaller in population as the amount of personal wealth increases, which creates unrest in the lower classes who have no social mobility.

B  Society is assembled from aggressive and exclusionary individuals who enter mutually exclusive pacts to create nations in which all social, political, and cultural aspects are adjudicated by the members.

C  Society is based on sacrifice whereby each person forfeits his or her personal rights for the sake of society’s benefit. All members of society gain communal rights instead of amassing personal wealth.

D  Society is divided into two classes which are antagonistic to each other because one class controls the means of production and the other class provides the labor necessary to maintain industry.

A  the sinking of the Titanic

B  the Great Depression

C  the start of World War I

D  the start of World War II

A  The middle class replaces the impoverished as the primary focus in literature.

B  Sexual elements became highly graphic and technical in modernist novels.

C  Women were featured more prominently in novels as the protagonists.

D  Literary characters become individuals trapped in repressive cultures.

A  the role of popular culture in literature

B  engagement in political struggles

C  the use of literary traditions

D  belief in Judeo-Christian values

A  an American phenomenon that recoiled from European modes of expression and sought new artistic oeuvres

B  a singularly focused belief that Christian ideology needed to be revived in contemporary literature

C  a European-based philosophy that privileged natural expression over aesthetic conventions

D  a loosely related collection of international movements that challenged traditional authority

A  The war reduced the United States population through casualties.

B  The war mobilized industry and employed more workers.

C  The country elected its first Republican president in nearly a decade.

D  The country had to print more money to finance the war effort.

A  to streamline the immigration application process and reduce the wait time to enter the country

B  to prohibit immigration from Asian countries and set quotas for other countries

C  to encourage immigration from underrepresented nationalities to the United States

D  to create a formal process of immigration that included testing for English-speaking abilities

A  mobilize the country’s industries

B  encourage the development of technology

C  prompte the relocation of civilians

D  stifle the economy’s growth