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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where do Raymond and Erica present their proposals in Chapter 16?

2. What personal problem does Harold begin having after he becomes romantically involved with Erica?

3. In Chapter 13, what term does Brooks use to describe the mechanism that tells us how we are viewed?

4. How does the board of the Academy help Erica matriculate in Chapter 7?

5. In Chapter 13, Harold ruminates that certain pagans considered what to be a god?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Erica get into the Academy in Chapter 7?

2. How does the business collapse in Chapter 14?

3. Describe Erica's experience at the consulting firm.

4. How does Harold battle overweening passion in Chapter 13?

5. What impresses Erica about Raymond during their lunches in Chapter 16?

6. In Chapter 9, what does Brooks say is often true ambitious individuals?

7. How do Raymond and Erica play major roles in the rebound of Intercom?

8. What does Brooks assess the search for harmony in Chapter 13?

9. How do Erica and Harold form a close bond in Chapter 13?

10. What traumatic event occurs to Erica during a tennis match in Chapter 8?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In "The Social Animal", David Brooks makes definite policy arguments, informed by the circumstances of Harold and Erica's lives. Write a two-part essay about these policy proposals and their connection to the narrative:

Part 1) Discuss Erica's experience at Intercom. What issues do Erica and Raymond discover while they work there? What policy proposals do they make to the investors? How does this narrative indicate policy proposals Brooks would make regarding private industry?

Part 2) What conclusions does Harold come to while working at a Washington think tank? How do these proposals reflect his personal experience? What do these proposals seem to bear in mind about human nature that current public policy does not?

Essay Topic 2

David Brooks intends "The Social Animal" to be a policy treatise of sorts. Part of this treatise is a promotion of charter schools. Write an essay about Erica's childhood education experience. How is she failed by the public school system? What skills does she learn at the Academy? What can it offer her that a public school cannot? What does Brooks promote as important components in a child's education?

Essay Topic 3

Harold's professional life takes an interestingly circuitous trajectory as he searches for spiritual fulfillment. Write an essay about the different stages of Harold's professional development:

Part 1) What about Erica's offer inspires Harold to end his odyssey period after college? Discuss the nature of Harold's work with the fledgling consulting firm? What skills does he develop? How does this occupation draw to a close?

Part 2) Discuss the impact working with the Historical Society has on Harold. What parts of his life does he leave behind in the process? What does he find especially fulfilling about this work?

Part 3) What ideas about politics does Harold bring to his think tank job? Discuss how Harold's previous life experience informs the policy papers he writes? What policy proposals does he produce at this think tank? How are they the culmination of his professional life?

(see the answer keys)

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