View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Andy Warhol silk screened which of the following images of war as his only direct statement about the atrocity of war?
(a) The raising of the flag at Iwo Jima.
(b) The barren wasteland of trench warfare.
(c) The mushroom cloud of the a-bomb.
(d) The death of the suspected Vietcong member.

2. Sontag claims that Bataille could see extreme pain as a form of __________.
(a) Deification.
(b) Sadomasochism.
(c) Erotic pleasure.
(d) Transfiguration.

3. When Baudelaire expressed his concerns about the effects of the newspaper in 1860, which of the following was true?
(a) Newspapers had begun to sensationalize headlines.
(b) Newspapers had begun printing images alongside the stories.
(c) Newspapers did NOT yet print images.
(d) Newspapers had recently become more widely available to the public.

4. Which of the following poets expressed concerns about the effect of national-scale events on human sensibility in 1800?
(a) Hemingway.
(b) Eliot.
(c) Pound.
(d) Wordsworth.

5. Contemporary society, at the time Sontag wrote the book, unanimously witnessed a rise of which of the following in the media?
(a) War protest.
(b) Violence and sexuality.
(c) Sadism and sexuality.
(d) Violence and sadism.

6. In order to take pleasure in suffering, Sontag argues that one must necessarily have which of the following?
(a) Distance from the source of suffering.
(b) A sadistic streak characteristic of serial killers.
(c) Deep seated feelings of misanthropy.
(d) A sense of moral or intellectual superiority.

7. Which of the following is an account of a man's last hours before his execution at the guillotine?
(a) "The Ascent."
(b) "The Hours."
(c) "The Execution of Troppmann."
(d) "The Green Mile."

8. Diorama, tableaux and wax exhibits served which of the following purposes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?
(a) Forms of entertainment.
(b) Forms of artistic expression.
(c) Forms of war protest.
(d) Forms of history-as-display.

9. Which of the following produced a documentary about a "deranged" Pacific war veteran who drives the streets of Tokyo speaking against Japanese war crimes?
(a) Theodore Dreiser.
(b) Kazuo Hara.
(c) Jeff Wall.
(d) Larisa Shepitko.

10. It was generally thought that public awareness was largely guided by which of the following?
(a) Educational programming.
(b) Book industry.
(c) Media coverage.
(d) Government propaganda.

11. Sontag claims that shock used for rhetorical purposes can become _________.
(a) Damaging.
(b) Familiar.
(c) New.
(d) Dangerous.

12. Sontag criticizes American portrayals of U.S. military strategy, saying that war museums do not emphasize which of the following?
(a) War crimes committed by United States officers.
(b) U.S. defeat in battle.
(c) The victims of U.S. military force.
(d) U.S. use of disproportionate fire power.

13. The West had a long tradition of viewing war as which of the following?
(a) Honorable.
(b) Necessary.
(c) Atrocity.
(d) Spectacle.

14. Which of the following is NOT one of the adjectives Sontag uses to describe the indescribable experience of war?
(a) Dreadful.
(b) Exhilerating.
(c) Terrifying.
(d) Normal.

15. "Without Sanctuary" was a book of photographs taken of which of the following atrocities?
(a) The Rwanda atrocities.
(b) Japanese internment in the U.S.
(c) The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.
(d) Lynchings of black Americans in the 1930s.

Short Answer Questions

1. Sontag refutes the possibility of a suggestion she made in "On Photography". Which of the following ideas did she refute?

2. Which of the following terms does Sontag define as a commonly used term for those whose profession like journalists takes them into war zones?

3. Sontag claims that the model for public space in modern society is which of the following?

4. Sarajevans were angered by a photography exhibit which featured photographs of their suffering alongside images of which other country's people?

5. Although Sontag is pessimistic about the broad effects of atrocity photographs, she did mention one positive outcome. What was it?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 646 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample