Hank Morgan, the hero of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, is a nineteenth-century master

Hank Morgan, the hero of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, is a nineteenth-century master mechanic who mysteriously awakening in sixth-century Britain, launches what he hopes will be a peaceful revolution to transform Arthurian Britain into an industrialized modern democracy. The novel, written as a spoof of Thomas Malory’s Morte d’ Arthur, a popular collection of fifteenth-century legends about sixth-century Britain, has been made into three upbeat movies and two musical comedies. None of these translations to screen and stage, however, dramatize the anarchy at the conclusion of A Connecticut Yankee, which ends with the violent overthrow of Morgan’s three-year-old progressive order and his return to the nineteenth century, where he apparently commits suicide after being labeled a lunatic for his incoherent babblings about drawbridges and battlements. The American public, although enjoying Twain’s humor, evidently rejected his cynicism about technological advancement and change through peaceful revolution as antithetical to the United States doctrine of progress.

1. ​​According to the passage, which of the following is a true statement about the reception of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by the American public?

A. The public had too strong a belief in the doctrine of progress to accept the cynicism demonstrated at the conclusion of Twain’s novel.

B. Twain’s novel received little public recognition until the work was adapted for motion pictures and plays.

C. Although the public enjoyed Twain’s humor, his use of both sixth-century and nineteenth-century characters confused many people.

D. The public has continued to enjoy Twain’s story, but the last part of the novel seems too violent to American minds.

E. Because of the cynicism at the end of the book, the public rejected Twain’s work in favor of the work of Thomas Malory.

OA A


2. ​The author uses the examples of “three upbeat movies and two musical comedies” (lines 9-10) primarily in order to demonstrate that

A. well-written novels like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, regardless of their tone or theme, can be translated to the stage and screen

B. the American public has traditionally been more interested in watching plays and movies than in reading novels like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

C. Twain’s overall message in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is one that had a profound impact on the American public

D. Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court has been a more popular version of the Arthurian legends than has Malory’s Morte d’ Arthur

E. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court has been accepted as an enjoyable and humorous tale in versions that have omitted the anarchy at the novel’s conclusion

OA E


3. ​The author of the passage characterizes Thomas Malory’s Morte d’ Arthur as which of the following?

A. The best-known and most authoritative collection of Arthurian tales written in the English language

B. A collection of legends that have been used as the basis for three movies and two musical comedies

C. A historical account of King Arthur, the sixth-century king of Britain

D. A collection of legends about sixth-century Britain that have existed since at least the fifteenth century

E. The novel about the life of King Arthur that inspired Twain’s cynicism about nineteenth-century notions of progress

OA D


4. It can be inferred from the passage that Mark Twain would most probably have believed in which of the following statements about societal change?

A. Revolutions, in order to be successful in changing society, have to be carried out without violence.

B. Technological advancements are limited in their ability to change society and will likely bring liabilities along with any potential benefits.

C. The belief in the unmitigated benefits of societal change is antithetical to the American doctrine of progress.

D. The political system of sixth-century Britain was more conducive to societal change than was the political system of nineteenth-century America.

E. Technological advances and peaceful revolutions, although sometimes accompanied by unintended violence and resistance to societal change, eventually lead to a more progressive order.

OA B