Mark Twain's Stories

In his autobiography, Twain pretends to be hypnotized because he

• is embarrassed to be on stage

• hopes that Hicks will be jealous

• wants the audience's attention

• thinks that he is supposed to pretend

Why is the fact that Simmons calls Twain a wonderful subject in the autobiography an example of verbal irony?

• Twain has just chased another boy with a gun.

• The audience doubts that Twain is hypnotized

• Twain comes to regret becoming a subject

• Both Simmons and Twain know Twain is faking

The detail that helps you predict that Twain will try to trick Dr. Peake into believing in mesmerism is that Dr. Peake

• had great influence on the townspeople

• dressed in fine but old-fashioned clothes

• liked to talk about Virginia and old times

• had been in a theater fire years before

Twain soon disliked hearing people talk about his feats in the show because

• the school bully was angry about being chased

• the townspeople told the story wrong

• remembering his lie made him ashamed

• he soon missed the fun and excitement

One result of Twain's actions with the mesmerizer is that Twain

• finds that history becomes real for him

• develops a disbelief in mesmerism

• becomes an expert in hypnotism

• tries to make his actions respectable

Credulity is

• need to doubt everyone

• a compulsion to lie to friends

• a tendency to boast to enemies

• an inclination to believe too readily

Implacable means

• difficult to move

• impossible to satisfy

• easy to change

• hard to upset

Gullible means

• finally defeated

• fully worn out

• easily deceived

• clearly wounded

What does multifariously mean?

• in various ways

• at many times

• in certain places

• for many reasons

Something unassailable is

• impossible to disprove

• difficult to identify

• possible to alter

• easy to misunderstand