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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 6: "Part Six: Backlash".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Chapter Twenty: The Inevitable Narcissism of Caste," what is the rhetorical purpose of Wilkerson's anecdote about speaking with her colleague about the difficulty of managing her disabled mother's care?
(a) It offers the reader a humorous release of tension between two upsetting passages.
(b) It is an example of the distaste the dominant caste feels about being compared to members of the lowest caste.
(c) It establishes Wilkerson's credibility to discuss the topic of collective narcissism.
(d) It draws a parallel between the Indian and American systems that supports Wilkerson's general point that America has a caste system.

2. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what does Wilkerson say we are doing when we "see" race?
(a) Noting arbitrary physical signs that we have been taught to read as "race."
(b) Perpetuating a system of oppression.
(c) Taking in only a small number of the features that actually differentiate races.
(d) Participating in a self-reinforcing cycle that causes us to "see" what we expect to see.

3. According to "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill," what percentage of Blacks worked in white-collar professions during the Great Depression?
(a) 15.
(b) 20.
(c) 5.
(d) 10.

4. 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"?
(a) Its connotations evoke the idea of a swamp or mire.
(b) Its sibilance is part of an alliterative pattern.
(c) It has a lighter and more comic "sound" than the synonyms Wilkerson might have chosen.
(d) It has meanings that can be applied to both literal structures and to abstract structures.

5. In "Chapter Twenty: The Inevitable Narcissism of Caste," what term does Wilkerson introduce that refers to a white person explaining to a Black person something that the Black person has better credentials to understand?
(a) Bulldozing.
(b) Boundary-blindness.
(c) Whitesplaining.
(d) Brahmin-splaining.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Chapter Twenty-Six: Turning Point and the Resurgence of Caste," what does Wilkerson say political scientists call "the belief that undeserving groups are getting ahead while your group is left behind" (325)?

2. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what does Wilkerson say human-genome testing has revealed about race?

3. In "Chapter Twelve: A Scapegoat to Bear the Sins of the World," what does Wilkerson say Austin police initially said about the bomb-related death of Stephan House?

4. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," where does Wilkerson say that the idea of race began?

5. What does Tushar, from the London conference in "Chapter Ten: Central Miscasting," say caused him to question the caste system?

(see the answer key)

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