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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) Holiness.
(b) Sadness.
(c) Opportunity.
(d) Fertility.

2. What does Smith say we had before the pandemic instead of death?
(a) Immortality.
(b) The flu.
(c) Universal healthcare.
(d) Casualties and victims.

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

4. What does Smith say she believed to be the “cage of her circumstance” (3) when she was younger?
(a) Her sexual orientation.
(b) Her gender.
(c) Her class.
(d) Her race.

5. Which president’s speech does Smith cite at the start of “The American Exception”?
(a) Donald Trump.
(b) Bill Clinton.
(c) Barack Obama.
(d) Joe Biden.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the title of the second essay in Zadie’s Smith’s collection, Intimations?

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

3. In “The American Exception,” Smith says that the poorer countries Trump condemned did not have the foresight to be what?

4. What date was the speech Smith references at the start of “The American Exception”?

5. In “The American Exception,” Smith says that Americans attacked death as a series of what?

(see the answer key)

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