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Mark Twain
Contributed by: Guy
  • 1. What is Mark Twain's real name?
A) Samuel Clemens
B) William Shakespeare
C) Thomas Jefferson
D) John Adams
  • 2. In which state was Mark Twain born?
A) Missouri
B) California
C) Texas
D) New York
  • 3. Which of the following books did Mark Twain write?
A) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
B) Moby Dick
C) Pride and Prejudice
D) The Great Gatsby
  • 4. What is the title of Mark Twain's first successful novel?
A) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
B) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
C) Life on the Mississippi
D) The Innocents Abroad
  • 5. In what year was 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' first published?
A) 1876
B) 1885
C) 1850
D) 1900
  • 6. What is the name of the famous satirical short story by Mark Twain about two boys who switch places?
A) The Prince and the Pauper
B) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
C) Huckleberry Finn
D) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
  • 7. Which quote is often attributed to Mark Twain?
A) All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
B) To be or not to be, that is the question.
C) The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
D) I have a dream.
  • 8. What profession did Mark Twain have before becoming a writer?
A) Farmer
B) Lawyer
C) Riverboat Pilot
D) Doctor
  • 9. What was the name of Mark Twain's wife?
A) Emily Dickinson
B) Olivia Langdon
C) Louisa May Alcott
D) Harriet Beecher Stowe
  • 10. What is the name of Mark Twain's childhood friend who inspired the character of Tom Sawyer?
A) Huck Finn
B) Tom Blankenship
C) Joe Harper
D) Ben Rogers
  • 11. What year did Mark Twain die?
A) 1910
B) 1920
C) 1900
D) 1930
  • 12. In which city did Mark Twain spend a significant portion of his adult life?
A) Hartford, Connecticut
B) New York City, New York
C) Chicago, Illinois
D) Los Angeles, California
  • 13. In which year was 'The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County' published?
A) 1865
B) 1884
C) 1894
D) 1876
  • 14. What mechanical device did Mark Twain invest in that ultimately failed?
A) Paige Compositor
B) Typewriter
C) Printing press
D) Steamboat engine
  • 15. Who helped Mark Twain manage his finances and copyrights after financial setbacks?
A) Grant Marsh
B) Charles Dudley Warner
C) Henry Huttleston Rogers
D) Orion Clemens
  • 16. What was the name of Mark Twain's brother who became Secretary of the Nevada Territory?
A) Orion Clemens
B) Pleasant Hannibal Clemens
C) Benjamin Clemens
D) Henry Clemens
  • 17. What is the title of Mark Twain's satirical pamphlet about Belgian atrocities?
A) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
B) Pudd'nhead Wilson
C) King Leopold's Soliloquy
D) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
  • 18. Which war caused Mark Twain to leave river piloting?
A) World War I
B) The Civil War
C) The Spanish-American War
D) The Revolutionary War
  • 19. What was the name of the steamboat on which Mark Twain's brother Henry died?
A) Mississippi Queen
B) Nevada Belle
C) Hannibal Clipper
D) A. B. Chambers
  • 20. Which organization did Mark Twain join as a member to explore parapsychology?
A) Virginia City Territorial Enterprise
B) American Anti-Imperialist League
C) International Typographical Union
D) Society for Psychical Research
  • 21. What was the cause of Mark Twain's death?
A) Pneumonia
B) Explosion
C) Heart attack
D) Colonialism
  • 22. In which year did Mark Twain join his brother Orion as secretary to Nevada Territory governor James W. Nye?
A) 1864
B) 1867
C) 1861
D) 1870
  • 23. Which community did Twain and his brother visit during their stagecoach journey across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains?
A) The Mormon community in Salt Lake City
B) New York
C) San Francisco
D) A mining town in Virginia
  • 24. What was Twain's first job upon arriving in Virginia City, Nevada?
A) Stagecoach driver
B) Miner on the Comstock Lode
C) Teacher
D) Journalist at Territorial Enterprise
  • 25. Under what pen name did Twain first write for the Virginia City newspaper?
A) Samuel Clemens
B) Mark Twain
C) Charles Langdon
D) Dan DeQuille
  • 26. What was the title of Twain's first humorous travel account published on February 3, 1863?
A) "Roughing It"
B) "The Innocents Abroad"
C) "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"
D) "Letter From Carson – re: Joe Goodman; party at Gov. Johnson's; music"
  • 27. Which book was inspired by Twain's experiences in the American West?
A) Roughing It
B) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
C) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
D) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
  • 28. What inspired Twain to write "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"?
A) His experiences in Angels Camp, California
B) His journey across the Great Plains
C) A Mediterranean cruise
D) A trip to Hawaii
  • 29. Which newspaper first published Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"?
A) Territorial Enterprise
B) Sacramento Union
C) New-York Tribune
D) The Saturday Press
  • 30. What was Twain's role on the Sacramento Union trip to the Sandwich Islands?
A) Reporter
B) Travel agent
C) Photographer
D) Editor
  • 31. Where did Mark Twain marry Olivia Langdon?
A) Elmira, New York
B) New York City
C) Hartford, Connecticut
D) Buffalo, New York
  • 32. Who was one of the abolitionists Twain met through Olivia Langdon?
A) W.E.B. Du Bois
B) Sojourner Truth
C) Frederick Douglass
D) Harriet Tubman
  • 33. Which invention did Twain patent that was commercially successful?
A) Paige typesetting machine
B) Improvement in Adjustable and Detachable Straps for Garments
C) History trivia game
D) Self-pasting scrapbook
  • 34. Who was the inventor with whom Twain developed a close friendship?
A) Alexander Graham Bell
B) Thomas Edison
C) Nikola Tesla
D) George Westinghouse
  • 35. Which city did Twain visit due to a cholera epidemic, canceling his lecture?
A) Fiji
B) Honolulu, Hawaii
C) New Zealand
D) Australia
  • 36. What book resulted from Twain's three months in India during his world tour?
A) The Innocents Abroad
B) Following the Equator
C) Life on the Mississippi
D) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
  • 37. Which friend did Twain help by selling autographed portraits after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake?
A) Ina Coolbrith
B) Dorothy Quick
C) George Washington Cable
D) Henry Rogers
  • 38. Which massacre prompted Twain to write 'The Incident in the Philippines'?
A) Bataan Death March
B) Battle of Manila Bay
C) Siege of Baler
D) Moro Crater Massacre
  • 39. Who co-owned Charles L. Webster and Company with Mark Twain?
A) Ulysses S. Grant
B) Henry Huttleston Rogers
C) Thomas Lounsbury
D) Charles L. Webster
  • 40. Which movement did Twain support through his 'Votes for Women' speech?
A) Abolition of slavery.
B) Prohibition.
C) Labor rights.
D) Women's suffrage.
  • 41. What was the value of Twain's estate estimated by officials?
A) $471,000
B) $600,000
C) $300,000
D) $750,000
  • 42. Where can one find the Mark Twain Room that houses related materials?
A) Tulane University
B) Buffalo & Erie County Public Library
C) Newberry Library
D) St. Louis Mercantile Library
  • 43. What was the name of Twain's daughter who wished to study piano in Vienna?
A) Livy
B) Susy
C) Jean
D) Clara
  • 44. Which magazine rejected 'The War Prayer' for publication?
A) The Atlantic Monthly
B) Harper's Bazaar
C) Scribner's Magazine
D) Collier's Weekly
  • 45. Which publishing company in Hartford, Connecticut, published the first edition of several of Twain's books?
A) Harper & Brothers
B) The Ash Ranch Press
C) The American Publishing Company
D) Charles L. Webster and Company
  • 46. What did Mark Twain say about his use of Captain Isaiah Sellers' pen name?
A) 'He gave me permission to use it.'
B) 'I confiscated the ancient mariner's discarded one.'
C) 'It was a gift from Captain Sellers himself.'
D) 'I created it independently without any influence.'
  • 47. Which political figure did Mark Twain associate with his later identification as a Sansculotte?
A) Danton
B) Louis XVI
C) Marat
D) Robespierre
  • 48. Which pen name did Mark Twain use before deciding on 'Mark Twain'?
A) 'Sieur Louis de Conte'
B) 'John Snook'
C) 'Josh'
D) 'Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass'
  • 49. What newspaper did Mark Twain write for when he met Tom Fitch?
A) The Territorial Enterprise
B) The Virginia Daily Union
C) The New York Saturday Press
D) The San Francisco Alta California
  • 50. Which religious denomination was Mark Twain originally a part of?
A) Presbyterian
B) Methodist
C) Baptist
D) Catholic
  • 51. In which year did Mark Twain publicly break with the Republican Party to support Grover Cleveland?
A) 1916
B) 1895
C) 1884
D) 1907
  • 52. How many versions of 'The Mysterious Stranger' did Twain write?
A) Two
B) Four
C) One
D) Three
  • 53. Which magazine first published 'The Private History of a Campaign That Failed'?
A) The Century Magazine
B) Harper's Magazine
C) Atlantic Monthly
D) Scribner's Magazine
  • 54. Which work by Thomas Carlyle influenced Mark Twain's political views?
A) On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History
B) The Life of John Sterling
C) Sartor Resartus
D) French Revolution
  • 55. What is the subject of Twain's political satire 'King Leopold's Soliloquy'?
A) India
B) South Africa
C) the Congo Free State
D) Egypt
  • 56. What was the title of Twain's speech in German that amused the audience?
A) "Der Zauber des Englischen"
B) "Die Schrecken der Deutschen Sprache"
C) "Die Freude der Italienischen Sprache"
D) "Das Wunder der Französischen Sprache"
  • 57. Which political party did Mark Twain support most of his life?
A) Independent
B) Libertarian
C) Republican
D) Democratic
  • 58. What was Mark Twain's initial career focus?
A) Chronicling historical events
B) Creating scientific literature
C) Writing light, humorous verse
D) Writing political essays
  • 59. In which year did Mark Twain form the Angel Fish and Aquarium Club?
A) 1908
B) 1904
C) 1910
D) 1906
  • 60. What did Twain testify in favor of before a Congressional joint committee in 1906?
A) Creating public domain status for older works
B) Extending copyright protection to the author's lifetime plus 50 years.
C) Reducing taxes on authors' incomes
D) Implementing stricter plagiarism laws
  • 61. Which author did Twain criticize in his article 'Literary Offenses'?
A) James Fenimore Cooper
B) Robert Louis Stevenson
C) Jane Austen
D) George Eliot
  • 62. What political stance did Mark Twain identify with after reading Carlyle's 'French Revolution'?
A) Bourbon
B) Jacobin
C) Sansculotte
D) Girondin
  • 63. What economic principle did Mark Twain strongly believe in?
A) Keynesian economics
B) Protectionism
C) Socialism
D) Laissez faire
  • 64. Which clubs did Mark Twain perform solo humorous talks for?
A) Dramatists Guild, Comedy Enthusiasts
B) Authors' Club, Beefsteak Club, Vagabonds
C) Shakespeare Society, Literary Lions
D) Poets' Circle, Humorists' Haven
  • 65. What aspect of Twain's writing style is he particularly known for?
A) Focusing solely on abstract themes
B) Writing in a formal, academic tone
C) Rendering colloquial speech
D) Using complex, archaic language
  • 66. Which newspaper commissioned Twain to write letters about his travel experiences after the popularity of 'The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County'?
A) Virginia Daily Union
B) San Francisco Alta California
C) Sacramento Union
D) New York Saturday Press
  • 67. What role did Twain hold in the American Anti-Imperialist League?
A) president
B) vice-president
C) treasurer
D) secretary
  • 68. Which pen name did Mark Twain use for humorous letters?
A) 'Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass'
B) 'Josh'
C) 'John Snook'
D) 'Sieur Louis de Conte'
  • 69. Which university awarded Twain a Doctorate of Law in 1907?
A) University of London
B) Oxford University
C) Imperial College London
D) Cambridge University
  • 70. What was the name of the steamer on which Twain rode to Hawaii for his first commissioned travel letters?
A) Ajax
B) Territorial Enterprise
C) Alta California
D) Quaker City
  • 71. Which lodge did Mark Twain belong to as a Freemason?
A) Missouri Lodge No. 100
B) St. Louis Lodge No. 50
C) Polar Star Lodge No. 79 A.F.&A.M.
D) Nevada Lodge No. 75
  • 72. Which company was based in New York City and published some of Twain's works?
A) The American Publishing Company
B) Pennyroyal Press
C) Harper & Brothers
D) Charles L. Webster and Company
  • 73. How did Twain describe India in 'Following the Equator'?
A) As a land of peace and prosperity.
B) As an extraordinary country visited by the sun, where only man is vile.
C) As a paradise untouched by human corruption.
D) As a place devoid of any cultural significance.
  • 74. What was the name of Twain's home in Redding, Connecticut?
A) Elmira Manor
B) Buffalo Estate
C) Hartford House
D) Stormfield
  • 75. Which group of the French Revolution did Twain initially sympathize with?
A) Jacobins
B) Girondins
C) Royalists
D) Sansculottes
  • 76. Which university invited Twain to speak in 1901?
A) Oxford University
B) Princeton University
C) Harvard University
D) Yale University
  • 77. What was Mark Twain's opinion of organized religion as expressed in his later life?
A) Indifferent
B) Supportive
C) Enthusiastic
D) Critical
  • 78. Which school did Twain become a writer of during his early career?
A) Virginia City Writers
B) Silver-tongued Orators
C) Sagebrush School
D) New York Press Society
  • 79. What group did Mark Twain join when he supported Grover Cleveland over James G. Blaine?
A) Democrats
B) Mugwumps
C) Independents
D) Republicans
  • 80. According to Guy A. Cardwell, how would Mark Twain's political views be classified by present standards?
A) Centrist
B) Socialist
C) Primarily liberal
D) More conservative than liberal
  • 81. Who originally used the pen name 'Mark Twain' for river news?
A) Captain Isaiah Sellers
B) A fictional character created by Mark Twain
C) Samuel Clemens himself before adopting it
D) An anonymous journalist from New Orleans
  • 82. What is a common theme in 'The Prince and the Pauper'?
A) Travel and discovery
B) Adventure and exploration
C) Social commentary through role reversal
D) Friendship and loyalty
  • 83. In what year was the first volume of Twain's autobiography published by the University of California?
A) 2000
B) 1990
C) 1980
D) 2010
  • 84. What did Mark Twain believe was a driver of progress?
A) Technology
B) Religious reform
C) Agriculture
D) Military conquest
  • 85. In which publication were the sketches that became 'Life on the Mississippi' originally published?
A) San Francisco Alta California
B) The Atlantic Monthly
C) New York Saturday Press
D) Virginia Daily Union
  • 86. Where can one find works by Mark Twain in eBook form?
A) Faded Page (Canada)
B) LibriVox
C) Standard Ebooks
D) Project Gutenberg
  • 87. What was a challenge in preserving Twain's speeches and lectures?
A) Many were lost or not recorded
B) They were written in an unknown language
C) They were all destroyed by critics
D) They were never spoken publicly
  • 88. What did Mark Twain raise money to build in Nevada in 1864?
A) A Presbyterian Church
B) A school
C) A library
D) A hospital
  • 89. What is the title of Twain's work depicting visits of Satan to earth?
A) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
B) Pudd'nhead Wilson
C) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
D) The Mysterious Stranger
  • 90. Which rights did Mark Twain consider secondary to property rights?
A) Economic freedoms
B) Freedom of speech
C) Civil liberties
D) Personal political rights
  • 91. What did Ernest Hemingway say all modern American literature comes from?
A) 'Tom Sawyer'
B) 'Huckleberry Finn'
C) 'The Prince and the Pauper'
D) 'Life on the Mississippi'
  • 92. Where did Twain and his family spend the summer after consulting with Dr. Jonas Henrik Kellgren?
A) Vienna, Austria
B) Belgravia, London
C) London, England
D) Sanna, Sweden
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