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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 2: "Part Two: The Arbitrary Construction of Human Divisions".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. As Wilkerson explains on page 9, under what circumstances can mental health professionals make a diagnosis public?
(a) When the person presents a danger to themselves or other people.
(b) When the person is a celebrity or other national media figure.
(c) When the person is not a paying client.
(d) When the person is deceased.

2. Besides the caste systems in India and the United States, which other caste system does Wilkerson say that she will focus on?
(a) Nazi Germany.
(b) Apartheid South Africa.
(c) Yuan China.
(d) The Nigerian Osu System.

3. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," Wilkerson says that actions that reinforce the caste system are "autonomic." What is the best meaning of this word in this context?
(a) Automatic, occurring without conscious thought.
(b) Spontaneous, occurring without planning.
(c) Autonomous, occurring without social or environmental input.
(d) Involuntary, occurring without choice.

4. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," where does Wilkerson say the term "Caucasian" came from?
(a) A Sanskrit word that originally referred not to race but to caste.
(b) A German professor who thought a skull from the Caucasus Mountains was especially attractive.
(c) An eighteenth century novel about a fictional people who migrated from Central Europe to Western Europe.
(d) A long-discredited theory about human origins in Western Russia.

5. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what does Wilkerson say human-genome testing has revealed about race?
(a) There are up to 36 divisions that could be called "races."
(b) It does not exist.
(c) It is entirely dependent on geography.
(d) There is tremendous variation within each of the five races.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Through the Fog of Delhi to the Parallels in India and America," what is the rhetorical purpose of including the detail of the fog that Wilkerson sees when her plane lands?

2. On page 15, Wilkerson says of the old house that "whatever is lurking will fester." What is especially apt about her choice of the word "fester"?

3. On page 12, Wilkerson says that some contagions can only be managed with "vigilance." How is she proposing they should be managed?

4. On page 59 of "Chapter Five: 'The Container We Have Built for You,'" when Harold Hale's daughter is about to return to school after a visit with a friend's family, what is the grandmother's response?

5. In the opening anecdote of the book, what escapes from the melting permafrost?

(see the answer key)

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