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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through “An Elder at the 98 Bus Stop,” “A Provocation in the Park,” “Post-script: Contempt as a Virus” .

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

2. In “The American Exception,” Smith says that nobody in 1945 wanted to go back to 1939 unless it was to do what?
(a) Resurrect the dead.
(b) Change the course of history.
(c) Vote for a different leader.
(d) Be younger.

3. What is the setting at the start of “Peonies”?
(a) The New York Botanical Gardens.
(b) Jefferson Market Garden.
(c) The Brooklyn Gardens.
(d) The Manhattan Garden.

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

5. In “Suffering Like Mel Gibson” Smith says that class can alter what?
(a) Your level of empathy.
(b) The number of cars you own.
(c) Your taste in clothes.
(d) Your conception of reality.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Smith say we had before the pandemic instead of death?

2. Smith describes the “Ideal, rent-controlled city dweller” who “creates community” without ever using what word?

3. What is the title of the fourth essay is Zadie Smith’s collection Intimations?

4. What is the topic of conversation Smith overhears between two woman at a Subway shop in “Suffering Like Mel Gibson”?

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

(see the answer key)

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