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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 does Rosemary Lawlor say was the action that started the snowball effect that broke the curfew in Lower Falls?

2. What trait does Gladwell say made Brer Rabbit formidable?

3. What is Wilma Derksen’s religious background?

4. What does Gladwell say geniuses require that prodigies do not?

5. How does Gladwell characterize the Saigon government?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were the effects of the Three Strikes law that turned public opinion against it, and led to its being “radically scaled back” (248)?

2. What is Brer Rabbit’s secret power, According to Gladwell?

3. How does Gladwell say successful dyslexics typically feel about wishing dyslexia on their children?

4. What does Gladwell say allowed Wilma Derksen to forgive her daughter’s murderer?

5. How does Wyatt Walker say he had to adjust his tactics to the situation at hand?

6. What was Mike Reynolds' reaction when the disadvantages of the Three Strikes law became apparent?

7. How dos Gladwell distinguish between geniuses and prodigies?

8. What does Gladwell say happened in Montreal when the police went on strike?

9. What does Stella get wrong about teaching in the video Gladwell refers to, from the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia?

10. How does Gladwell explain the trait that allowed Londoners to go about their business during the Blitz?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast Gladwell’s work with other public intellectuals like Christopher Hitchens or Chris Hedges. How are they similar, how are they different? What are the unique features of Gladwell’s book, compared to the others? What kind of public intellectual is Gladwell?

Essay Topic 2

Evaluate your own reading of David and Goliath—did you resist it, or were you compelled by the story? What does your reading tell you about yourself and your interests? Use specific examples from the book to describe yourself as a reader.

Essay Topic 3

In many cases, you have to step back to a certain distance to share the values Gladwell espouses, overlooking, for instance, the sufferings of children with cancer, in order to see the value of Freireich’s cure, or to say that “You could kill André Trocmé” but “another André Trocmé would rise in his place” (274). How would you characterize the distance one has to have from things in order to see what Gladwell sees. Is it the distance of a scientist? An anthropologist? A statistician? A historian? What are the advantages and disadvantages of that intellectual/emotional distance?

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