All CLEP Humanities Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 :Understanding Terminology That Describes Twentieth Century Fiction
A miraculous or unexpected intervention that quickly resolves a seemingly impossible plotline is called a__________.
red herring
chorus
flashback
deus ex machina
MacGuffin
deus ex machina
"Deus ex machina," Latin forthe god from the machine, is an ancient theater term that described a play's conclusion that found actual gods intervening from contraptions to quickly resolve a plot. The term is used more widely in literature and film in modern parlance to refer to a contrived ending to a plot that relies heavily on a miraculous or contrived intervention by some other figure than the main characters.
Example Question #2 :Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to an author for__________.
excellent work in multiple genres
a singular achievement in composing one novel
a singular achievement in composing one poem
an author's literary output in a single year
an entire career of literary achievement
an entire career of literary achievement
The Nobel Prize in Literature, first established by Alfred Nobel's will in 1895, rewards authors for their total "work," which is read by the prize committee to mean an author's entire output for their career. The Nobel prize can be given to an author working in any field of literature, be it fiction, poetry, or even nonfiction. Usually, the Nobel Prize is seen as capping the career of an author, and is awarded usually to older writers.
Example Question #3 :Literature
Which twentieth-century novel features a detailed rumination on “kitsch"?
The Swell Season
All Quiet on the Western Front
Pale Fire
The Stranger
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera'sThe Unbearable Lightness of Beingfeatures the 1968 Prague spring uprising as a background story for its characters' lives. The novel also discusses many philosophical themes, particularly the low-art known as "kitsch." Kundera's discussion of kitsch helps reflect on the "lightness" in the title of the novel.
Example Question #1 :Clep: Humanities
In a novel, a narrator that can see every event and understands every character's motivation is describes as a__________.
third person omniscient narrator
second person narrator
multiple first person narrators
third person limited narrator
first person narrator
third person omniscient narrator
A third person narrator describes a narrator whose perspective is from outside any individual's own thoughts. An omniscient narrator describes a narrator that knows and understands every event and character motivation. This is one of the most common kinds of narration, along with first person narration, which is told from the point of view of a single character. A third person limited omniscient narrator has a perspective from outside, but can only understand the motivation of one, primary character. A first person narrator uses "I" and narrates from one character's perspective. A second person narrator uses "you."
Example Question #5 :Literature
The novels of John Updike are marked by all of the following EXCEPT__________.
a sharp realism
a use of fantasy elements
a focus on middle-class American life
frank descriptions of sexual activities
explorations of Protestant theology and morality
a use of fantasy elements
John Updike was a prolific, successful, and critically acclaimed American author whose work was centered in the middle of the twentieth century. Updike's style, which was fairly consistent over his more than twenty novels and dozens of short stories, featured an intense realism in storytelling about middle class Americans that often had frank descriptions of sexual activity and discussions of Protestant beliefs.
Example Question #6 :Literature
The American author who wrote a series of novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawtha County, Mississippi was__________.
John Updike
Philip Roth
Edith Wharton
William Faulkner
年代inclair Lewis
William Faulkner
Virtually the entire canon of William Faulkner is set in the fictional Yoknapatawtha County. Even the stories set elsewhere refer back to or feature characters from Faulkner's other stories set there. William Faulkner’s literary achievements earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949.
Example Question #1 :Clep: Humanities
Franz Kafka'sThe Metamorphosis(1915) tells the tale of__________.
a man who is charged with a crime he did not commit
the use of an elaborate torture device
a young woman who is stoned to death by her fellow villagers
a man overcome by the guilt of the monstrous crime he committed
a man transformed into a hideous bug
a man transformed into a hideous bug
Franz Kafka'sThe Metamorphosisis a landmark novella that tells the story of Gregor Samsa, who finds himself transformed one morning into a massive bug.The Metamorphosisis Kafka's most famous story, and has many of the hallmarks of Kafka's style, including surreal situations, ironic plots, and dark humor.
Example Question #8 :Literature
The author Raymond Chandler's style was marked by all of the following EXCEPT__________.
sparse descriptions and language
romantic tales of heroism
detective stories
complex plot twists
Los Angeles as a setting
romantic tales of heroism
Raymond Chandler wrote his first book when he was in his 40s during the Great Depression. Nonetheless, he instantly became one of America's bestselling authors, writing several books in a "pulp" vein about the detective Phillip Marlowe. In doing so, Chandler pioneered literary detective fiction, with its hard-boiled investigator, sparse language, complex plots, and dark mood. Chandler's typical Los Angeles settings also saw many of his books, like大睡andThe Long Goodbye, made into films.
Example Question #3 :Clep: Humanities
这些二十世纪美国小说concerns a corrupt evangelist in the Midwest?
Tender is the Night
Arrowsmith
The Sound and the Fury
Elmer Gantry
The Jungle
Elmer Gantry
年代inclair Lewis published his novelElmer Gantryin March 1927, and immediately had both a bestseller and controversy on his hands. Lewis' story of a corrupt and immoral evangelist, which was based on the careers of actual evangelists, drew widespread derision from religious groups. Nonetheless,Elmer Gantrywas the bestselling American novel of 1927.
Example Question #1 :Analyzing The Content Of Fiction
The novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison uses the main character's invisibility as an allegory for__________.
the Biblical story of Jesus' crucifixion
the African-American experience
the Red Scare
depression and anxiety
U.S. involvement in overseas wars
the African-American experience
Ralph Ellison's 1952 novelInvisible Mantells the story of an unnamed narrator who is not physically "invisible," but instead is someone who people refuse to see. Ellison's book was an allegory for the status of African Americans in American society at the time. The book also dealt with Marxist politics, cultural norms, and issues of black nationalism through its narrator becoming invisible.
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