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

2. In "Pillar Number Eight: Inherent Superiority versus Inherent Inferiority," what is the Louise Beavers anecdote meant to illustrate?

3. In "Chapter Five: 'The Container We Have Built for You,'" what does Harold Hale do when people knock down his mailbox?

4. On page 6, Wilkerson refers to white "preeminence." What quality is she referring to?

5. In "A Long-Running Play and the Emergence of Caste in America," what does the Nigerian playwright tell Wilkerson about Blacks in Africa?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. For what reason does Wilkerson say that race is a social concept, not a biological one?

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

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

5. In "Pillar Number Eight: Inherent Superiority versus Inherent Inferiority," what does Wilkerson say underlies each of the first seven "pillars" she has already described?

6. What explanation does Wilkerson give of the justification for slavery in Christian scriptures in "Pillar Number One: Divine Will and the Laws of Nature"?

7. According to Wilkerson, how did slavery create the conditions for American stereotypes about Black people?

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

9. 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.?

10. Explain the relationship between Hammond's "Mudsill" speech and the economic uses of caste that Wilkerson describes in "Pillar Number Five: Occupational Hierarchy: The Jatis and the Mudsill."

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you explore modern Indian beliefs about caste. To what extent are they linked to Hinduism? To what extent are they linked to rural versus urban settings? To what extent are they linked to education? How have they changed as the Indian economy has changed? Cite your sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you analyze Wilkerson's use of personal anecdotes in Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Your essay should be organized around a thesis that makes a claim about the rhetorical purpose and effectiveness of these anecdotes. Support your claims with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay in which you compare and contrast Wilkerson's vision of an American caste system with the caste system of India. Offer textual evidence for your claims, and be sure to cite all sources in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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