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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to "Pillar Number Four: Purity versus Pollution," what makes the United States's racial hierarchy different from those in the rest of the Americas?
(a) The size of the highest caste.
(b) Racial absolutism.
(c) The degree of segregation.
(d) Privileges that increase with increasing "degree of Whiteness."

2. 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?
(a) Wilkerson is metaphorically challenging the reader to reason past a "fog" of propaganda.
(b) Wilkerson personifies the fog in an analogy that demonstrates how tradition "clouds" an understanding of present realities.
(c) It foreshadows the difficulties Wilkerson will have in gaining cooperation during her visit.
(d) It symbolizes the difficulty of seeing the Indian social system clearly.

3. To what part of history does Wilkerson explicitly link the Electoral College?
(a) The Jim Crow South.
(b) Reconstruction.
(c) Slavery.
(d) Colonization.

4. According to Wilkerson, how are jobs assigned under the Indian caste system?
(a) They are inherited with caste.
(b) They are inherited from the mother's family.
(c) They are assigned based on merit.
(d) The upper castes distribute them.

5. According to Wilkerson in "The Second Pillar: Heritability," what distinguishes "caste" from "class"?
(a) Caste is not related to economics.
(b) Caste is permanent and inescapable.
(c) Class is not a status marker.
(d) Class cannot be inherited.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to "Pillar Number Four: Purity versus Pollution," what did the United States use to "curate" its population (123)?

2. In "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill," what is the rhetorical purpose of including the Hammond quotes?

3. In the page 15 sentence "An old house is its own kind of devotional, a dowager aunt with a story to be coaxed out of her," the idea that the house has a story to tell is an example of what literary technique?

4. In "Defining Purity and the Constancy of the Bottom Rung," what does Wilkerson note is referred to as "the most segregated hour in America" (128)?

5. What is the best definition of "endogamy" as used in "The Third Pillar: Endogamy and the Control of Marriage and Mating"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the analogy that Wilkerson makes between caste and a play.

2. In "'The Container We Have Built for You,'" how does "Miss" end up with her unusual first name?

3. What explanation does Wilkerson give of the origins of caste in Hindu scriptures in "Pillar Number One: Divine Will and the Laws of Nature"?

4. To what cause does Wilkerson ascribe the election of Donald Trump?

5. What is the rhetorical purpose of including the anecdote about Willie James Howard in "Pillar Number Three: Endogamy and the Control of Marriage and Mating"?

6. What is the rhetorical purpose of stressing the length of time that slavery existed in America?

7. Explain the analogy that Wilkerson makes in "The Vitals of History."

8. Explain the titular analogy in "An Old House and an Infrared Light."

9. In "Pillar Number Six: Dehumanization and Stigma," what similarities does Wilkerson see between the treatment of Blacks in the time of slavery and Jews entering Nazi camps?

10. How does Wilkerson explain the differences between race and caste?

(see the answer keys)

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