American Literature 1914–1945 Period Introduction Quiz

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

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

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

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

A  Novels were shortened in length.

B  Poems became shorter through free verse.

C  Prose and poetry became indistinguishable forms.

D  The short story rose to prominence.

A  textual construction from fragments

B  extensive repetition of a text’s theme

C  highly structured rhyme schemes

D  emphasis on stream-of-consciousness

A  Charles Darwin’s scientific theories

B  Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy

C  French symbolist literature

D  nineteenth-century melodramas

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

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

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 revealed the racial bias extant in the American judicial system.

C  It showed the dangers of publicly espousing Communist beliefs.

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

A  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.

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 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.

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 start of World War I

B  the Great Depression

C  the start of World War II

D  the sinking of the Titanic

A  Literary characters become individuals trapped in repressive cultures.

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

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

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

A  belief in Judeo-Christian values

B  the use of literary traditions

C  engagement in political struggles

D  the role of popular culture in literature

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

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

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

B  The war mobilized industry and employed more workers.

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

D  The war reduced the United States population through casualties.

A  to encourage immigration from underrepresented nationalities to the United States

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

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

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

A  stifle the economy’s growth

B  mobilize the country’s industries

C  prompte the relocation of civilians

D  encourage the development of technology