View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through “The American Exception” .

Multiple Choice Questions

1. At the end of “The American Exception,” what did Smith say states were forced to bid on during the pandemic?
(a) Houses.
(b) Laptops.
(c) Textbooks.
(d) Personal Protective Equipment.

2. What name does Smith say would better suit the writing department in which she works at the University in “Peonies”?
(a) The Controlling Educator Department.
(b) The Mind Control Department.
(c) The Controlling Experience Department.
(d) The Experiential Experience Department.

3. Which philosopher does Smith cite when discussing the difference between the thinker and his real life?
(a) Socrates.
(b) Nietzsche.
(c) Kierkagaard.
(d) Plato.

4. What “obsession” (6) does Smith liken to her resistance to nature as a youth, an obsessions she says many writers share?
(a) Chaos.
(b) Materialism.
(c) Order.
(d) Control.

5. As Smith stares into the garden of peonies near two other women her age, Smiths comments of what “gaudy symbol,” the flowers represent, “in the middle of a barren concrete metropolis” (3)?
(a) Sadness.
(b) Holiness.
(c) Opportunity.
(d) Fertility.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does Smith say are patronized by people of all ages?

2. Which president’s speech does Smith cite at the start of “The American Exception”?

3. What flowers does Smith wish she was looking at instead of peonies?

4. What former British Prime Minister does Smith reference at the end of “The American Exception”?

5. What does Smith say has “rarely been random” in America in her essay “The American Exception”?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 244 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample