AP Prose Multiple Choice 1-6 and AP Poetry Multiple Choice 7-10

Instructions: Use the passage below, an excerpt from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four to answer questions 1-2.

“Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth. Just once in his life he had possessed -- after the event: that was what counted -- concrete, unmistakable evidence of an act of falsification. He had held it between his fingers for as long as thirty seconds. In 1973, it must have been -- at any rate, it was at about the time when he and Katharine had parted. But the really relevant date was seven or eight years earlier.

The story really began in the middle sixties, the period of the great purges in which the original leaders of the Revolution were wiped out once and for all. By 1970 none of them was left, except Big Brother himself. All the rest had by that time been exposed as traitors and counter-revolutionaries. Goldstein had fled and was hiding no one knew where, and of the others, a few had simply disappeared, while the majority had been executed after spectacular public trials at which they made confession of their crimes. Among the last survivors were three men named Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford. It must have been in 1965 that these three had been arrested. As often happened, they had vanished for a year or more, so that one did not know whether they were alive or dead, and then had suddenly been brought forth to incriminate themselves in the usual way. They had confessed to intelligence with the enemy (at that date, too, the enemy was Eurasia), embezzlement of public funds, the murder of various trusted Party members, intrigues against the leadership of Big Brother which had started long before the Revolution happened, and acts of sabotage causing the death of hundreds of thousands of people” (Orwell 86-87).

1. You can make an inference that Winston Smith’s disposal of “concrete, unmistakable evidence of an act of falsification” (Orwell 86), foreshadows his course of action, involving:

a) An abandonment of the truth complimented by assimilation into the insidious regime on the Party

b) A defiance of the manipulation of the truth through the propagandistic devices employed by Big Brother

c) Departure with his beloved, Julia, to the United States of America to engage in the pursuit of the American Dream

d) Suicide to escape the persecution of the Thought Police and to secure his intrinsic principles as a human being with a moral conscience

e) Winning the lottery, using his money in order to convene the general public toward his valiant cause of launching a revolution against the Party

2. Exploring the failures of the totalitarian dictatorships that followed World War II, George Orwell communicates how the human race can be held in submission through:

a) Executions

b) Employment of propagandistic devices

c) Achievement of a stagnant social hierarchy, undeterred by the prospect of revolution

d) Censorship, a manipulation of the perceived truth

e) Governmental intervention within our private lives

 

Instructions: Use the passage below from George Orwell’s Animal Farm to answer questions 3-6.

‘“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself. Our labour tills the soil, our dung fertilises it, and yet there is not one of us that owns more than his bare skin. You cows that I see before me, how many thousands of gallons of milk have you given during this last year? And what has happened to that milk which should have been breeding up sturdy calves? Every drop of it has gone down the throats of our enemies. And you hens, how many eggs have you laid in this last year, and how many of those eggs ever hatched into chickens? The rest have all gone to market to bring in money for Jones and his men. And you, Clover, where are those four foals you bore, who should have been the support and pleasure of your old age? Each was sold at a year old-you will never see one of them again. In return for your four confinements and all your labour in the fields, what have you ever had except your bare rations and a stall?

"And even the miserable lives we lead are not allowed to reach their natural span. For myself I do not grumble, for I am one of the lucky ones (Orwell 4-5).”’

3. The literary device used to epitomize the characters of Manor Farm as an extended metaphor for the development of the totalitarian dictatorship imposed in Russia by Joseph Stalin is:

a) Metaphor

b) Metaphysical conceit

c) Allegory

d) Apostrophe

e) Anaphora

4. Through communicating how “Man is the only creature that consumes without producing,” Old Major, the unchallenged ruler of the animals, is under the assumption that the concept of equality is an attainable goal with the unified efforts of the animals (Orwell 4). Which best describes the primary grievance of the animals against humans during their creation of Animal Farm?

a) Aspiration to achieve equality

b) Conspicuous consumption of the human race toward material possessions

c) The vices of the human race—living in a house, smoking cigarettes, using money as leverage for trade proposals, wearing clothing

d)  The abuses endured by the animals of Manor Farm

e) Preservation of personal integrity

 5. Through acknowledging how their miserable lives “are not allowed to reach their natural span,” Old Major contrasts the manipulative nature of the human race with the animals who perceive themselves to be virtuous in nature (Orwell 5). Through comparing the animals in facing _________, Old Major unifies their individual causes to promote Animal Farm as a success.

a)  Mortality

b) Physical abuse

c) The future

d) The perceived injustices against them

e) The incurred debts of the Manor Farm

6. The primary communicable theme of George Orwell’s Animal Farm is:

a) Siberian Huskies are…wait…for…it…legendary!

b) Questioning of the positioning of man on The Great Chain of Being

c) Our mortality demoralizes your original intentions, leaving you devoid of hope

d) Giving into temptations and committing sins are  inexplicable truths of life

e) The vice of power corrupts individual moral convictions, resulting in our adoption of existentialism

 

Instructions: Read the follow poem written by Henry David Thoreau, using textual evidence as a motive toward your answers to questions 7-8.

Conscience

Henry David Thoreau

 

Conscience is instinct bred in the house,

Feeling and Thinking propagate the sin

By an unnatural breeding in and in.

I say, Turn it out doors,

Into the moors.

I love a life whose plot is simple,

And does not thicken with every pimple,

A soul so sound no sickly conscience binds it,

That makes the universe no worse than 't finds it.

I love an earnest soul,

Whose mighty joy and sorrow

Are not drowned in a bowl,

And brought to life to-morrow;

That lives one tragedy,

And not seventy;

A conscience worth keeping;

Laughing not weeping;

A conscience wise and steady,

And forever ready;

Not changing with events,

Dealing in compliments;

A conscience exercised about

Large things, where one may doubt.

I love a soul not all of wood,

Predestinated to be good,

But true to the backbone

Unto itself alone,

And false to none;

Born to its own affairs,

Its own joys and own cares;

By whom the work which God begun

Is finished, and not undone;

Taken up where he left off,

Whether to worship or to scoff;

If not good, why then evil,

If not good god, good devil.

Goodness! you hypocrite, come out of that,

Live your life, do your work, then take your hat.

I have no patience towards

Such conscientious cowards.

Give me simple laboring folk,

Who love their work,

Whose virtue is song

To cheer God along.

7. Asserting that “Conscience is instinct bred in the house” and that “Feeling and Thinking propagate the sin” (Thoreau 1-2), Henry David Thoreau reveals his ideal conception of the conscience to be all of the following except:

a) Consistent, undeterred by external factors beyond the control of the conscience

b) Ready to encounter obstacles, creating resolutions to unforeseen predicaments

c) Remains true to the individual

d) Acknowledges the complexities of life with an indulgence in contemporary literature

e) Simple

 8. When writing that he admonishes a soul that is “Predestined to be good” (Thoreau 25), Henry David Thoreau is alluding to the Calvinist doctrine of predestination in which:

a) God determines your salvation and ascendance into heaven or your confinement to the depths of hell

b) You are preordained by God to be a disciple, spreading the word of the Holy Bible

c) Predestination allows you to supersede human mortality, enabling you to live forever

d) Preaches abstinence as an absolute requirement to be able to consummate a marriage e)  John Calvin used in order to undermine the distribution of indulgences by the Catholic Church

 

Instructions: Read the follow poem written by Lord Byron, using contextual information to answer questions 9-10.

All is Vanity, Saieth the Preacher

Lord Byron

 

Fame, wisdom, love, and power were mine,

And health and youth possessed me;

My goblets blushed from every vine,

And lovely forms caressed me;

I sunned my heart in beauty' eyes,

And felt my soul grow tender;

All earth can give, or mortal prize,

Was mine of regal splendour.

 

I strive to number o'er what days

Remembrance can discover,

Which all that life or earth displays

Would lure me to live over.

There rose no day, there rolled no hour

Of pleasure unembittered;

And not a trapping decked my power

That galled not while it glittered.

 

The serpent of the field, by art

And spells, is won from harming;

But that which soils around the heart,

Oh! who hath power of charming?

It will not list to wisdom's lore,

Nor music's voice can lure it;

But there it stings for evermore

The soul that must endure it.

 9. Admitting that “Fame, wisdom, love and power” belonged to the preacher before the vice of power corrupted his moral convictions, Lord Byron recognizes how desire has the capability of inducing the demise of the members of the human race (Byron 1). What is the literary device that calls into question the character of a preacher who is delivering the word of the Holy Bible to the community?

a) Verbal irony

b) Dramatic irony

c) Situational irony

d) Paradox

e) Conceit

 10. Addressing that a remembrance of the past will “lure [the preacher] to live over” (Byron 12), Byron exemplifies how the pursuit of material commodities leaves the preacher to feel:

a) Disillusioned

b) Remorseful

c) Determined

d) Apologetic

e) Melancholy

Answer Key (I got a 100%, did you?):

1) A.

2) D.

3) C.

4) A.

5) A.

6) E.

7) D.

8) A.

9) A.

10) B.

Explanations of Answers:

1)       The correct answer is A. Yes, at one time, Winston held irrefutable evidence that could have contradicted the “truth” created by the Party. Of course, he only “had held it between his fingers for as long as 30 seconds” which, consequently, raised doubts toward his perception of an objective truth (Orwell 86). Although Winston tries to overcome an oppressive government, the “seven or eight years” that has elapsed clouded his judgment, resulting in concession, making B incorrect (Orwell 86). Julia is not discussed during this excerpt, so C is incorrect. Since the story is developing, Winston will not commit suicide to combat the Party’s intentions, making D incorrect.

2)       The correct answer is D. Yes, Winston “had held [unmistakable evidence of an act of falsification] between his fingers for as long as 30 seconds” until the paper had to be destroyed to conserve his innocence. Submission is reached before the prospect of death is introduced, making A incorrect. No where is a social hierarchy addressed in the selected passage, making C incorrect. Based on the text from the passage, the inference that propaganda caused the men to confess is flawed, making B incorrect. Although governmental intervention convinced the men to confess to crimes, choice D clearly addresses the question, making it a better choice than choice E.

 

3)        The correct answer is C. An allegory is a progressive metaphor that lasts throughout the entirety of the selected literature. A metaphor is a single comparison of two objects or ideas without using like or as, making A incorrect. Metaphysical conceit, while an extended metaphor, compares a spiritual idea to an object, making B incorrect. An apostrophe is a capitalization of a word to elevate its status, to signify its pertinence to the audience, making D incorrect. Anaphora is parallel structure, making E incorrect.

 

4)       As evidence by Man giving “back [the animals] the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving,” the primary grievance is equality, which, consequently, makes A the correct answer (Orwell 4). Although there are complaints made about the vices of Man during the novel, this passage does not contain specific examples, making C incorrect. The economic prosperity is not directly addressed during this excerpt from Animal Farm, making B and D incorrect. The endured hardships, indicative of inequality, are more of a concern to the animals than personal integrity, making E incorrect.

 

5)       The correct answer is A. The duration of time denoted by the word “span” demonstrates that in death, the animals are equivalent and should do whatever they can to undermine Man (Orwell 4). This excerpt from Orwell’s Animal Farm directly addresses mortality, making answers B, C, D, and E incorrect.

 

6)        The correct answer is E. The animal believed in the potential for a utopian society. Without a balance of power between the government and the will of the people, however, a dystopic society was created. The Great Chain of Being, while applicable, is not addressed throughout the text, making B incorrect. A is incorrect since Siberian Huskies are not addressed anywhere in this passage. While C and D are true, they do not address the passage explicitly and, therefore, are incorrect.

 

7) The correct answer is D. Contemporary literature is not an explored concept of Thoreau in Conscience, and, therefore, should be the selected answer upon a close reading of the question. Answers A, B, C, and E are demonstrated by the first two lines of the poem, and, therefore, are incorrect.

 

8) The correct answer is A. The Calvinist doctrine of predestination addresses how God has preordained each individual to either ascend into heaven or fall down into the depths of hell.  The other selected choices do not address this concept, making B, C, D, and E incorrect.

 

9) The correct answer is A. Verbal irony, a contradiction between the preacher’s religious affiliation and the regret for his actions, is demonstrated throughout Byron’s All Is Vanity Saieth the Preacher.  Dramatic irony is not prevalent, since there is no difference between the knowledge of the audience and the speaker in this instance, making B incorrect.  This is not situational irony since the irony is demonstrated throughout the poem, making C incorrect. Based on the excerpt provided in the question, no paradox is evident, making D incorrect. There is no extensive metaphor in this poem, making E incorrect.

 

10) The correct answer is B. When the preacher confesses his internal desire to “live over” days of his life, he demonstrates a remorse for his committed actions (Byron 12). Choices A, C, D, and E do not express this obvious sentiment, and, therefore, are incorrect answers.