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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. As Wilkerson explains on page 9, under what circumstances can mental health professionals make a diagnosis public?
(a) When the person is deceased.
(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 presents a danger to themselves or other people.

2. According to "The Trials of the Middle Castes: The Race to Get Under the White Tent," what caused the Supreme Court to rule that "White" means "Caucasian"?
(a) A Cuban immigrant sued for the right to own property in Florida.
(b) An Indian immigrant argued that he should be considered for citizenship.
(c) A Japanese immigrant tried to make the case that he should be considered "White."
(d) An Irish immigrant was arrested for shopping in a store signed "No Irish."

3. Which leading Black intellectual corresponded with Bhimrao Ambedkar about race in America?
(a) William Monroe Trotter.
(b) Thurgood Marshall.
(c) Booker T. Washington.
(d) W.E.B. Du Bois.

4. In "Pillar Number Eight: Inherent Superiority versus Inherent Inferiority," what is Wilkerson's central claim?
(a) That Black Americans have had to learn an elaborate performance of inferiority.
(b) That the caste system depends on all members of the lowest caste being treated as inferior to all members of the highest caste.
(c) That even ordinary events like getting onto a bus reflect the premise that Blacks are inferior.
(d) That American Blacks have historically been treated like animals.

5. In "Through the Fog of Delhi to the Parallels in India and America," what is one of the main differences that Wilkerson notes between caste in America and caste in India?
(a) The American system is for the most part a binary one.
(b) Blacks in America are not permanently confined to the lowest caste.
(c) There is no attempt being made in modern India to improve the situation of the lowest caste.
(d) The lowest caste in India was never enslaved.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what reason does Wilkerson give for most people's participation in the American caste system?

2. 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?

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

4. In the beginning of "Chapter Six: The Measure of Humanity," what physical characteristic is the basis for Wilkerson's imaginary caste system?

5. Besides the caste systems in India and the United States, which other caste system does Wilkerson say that she will focus on?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Summarize the analogy Wilkerson makes between the thawing of the Siberian permafrost and the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

3. 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"?

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

5. What is the rhetorical purpose of Wilkerson telling the story about the man who refuses to believe that she works for the New York Times?

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

7. In "Pillar Number Four: Purity versus Pollution," what claim does Wilkerson make about water, and how does she support her claim?

8. In "Pillar Number Two: Heritability," what difference does Wilkerson note between the way caste is inherited in India versus the way it was historically inherited in the U.S.?

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

10. According to Wilkerson, what relationship exists between immigration or transportation to America and "becoming" white or Black?

(see the answer keys)

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