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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What flowers does Smith wish she was looking at instead of peonies?
(a) Daffodils.
(b) Roses.
(c) Lupines.
(d) Tulips.

2. What does Smith say a man can bend to his will?
(a) Steel pipes.
(b) Rules.
(c) Religion.
(d) Nature.

3. While looking on at the garden, Smith thinks of a quote by Nabokov regarding his inspiration for which novel?
(a) Glory.
(b) Laura.
(c) Mary.
(d) Lolita.

4. What image of “bored children” at home does Smith use in “The American Exception”?
(a) Staring zombie like at a screen.
(b) Twiddling their thumbs.
(c) Climbing the walls.
(d) Crying from boredom.

5. What term does Smith reference in “The American Exception” which Trump used in reference to other countries he saw as inferior?
(a) "Unimportant countries."
(b) "Crappy countries."
(c) "Shithole countries."
(d) "Lowlife countries."

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the author of the essay “Peonies”?

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

3. Smith says that despite America’s feelings of being untouchable, as the pandemic progressed, what did America appear to lead the world in?

4. At which point does Smith say a man submits to nature?

5. What “obsession” (6) does Smith liken to her resistance to nature as a youth, an obsessions she says many writers share?

(see the answer key)

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