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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. What date was the speech Smith references at the start of “The American Exception”?
(a) 2019.
(b) 2018.
(c) 2021.
(d) 2020.

2. What is the title of the third story in Zadie Smith’s collection, Intimations?
(a) How to fill time during a pandemic.
(b) Something to write.
(c) Something to Do.
(d) Something to Say.

3. What are some of the topics Smith and her mother discuss during the pandemic lockdown?
(a) TV shows and movies.
(b) Housekeeping and books.
(c) PPE, family, and gardening.
(d) Online teaching and cooking.

4. Where is Smith at the beginning of “A Character in a Wheelchair in the Vestibule”?
(a) A taxi.
(b) Her home.
(c) A diner.
(d) An ATM.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. While looking on at the garden, Smith thinks of a quote by Nabokov regarding his inspiration for which novel?

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

3. Though the “bubble” of privilege can be penetrated, what bubble does Smith say cannot be penetrated?

4. At the end of “An Elder at the 98 Bus Stop,” Smith says her mother told a story about someone who did what to his girlfriend during lockdown?

5. Where does Barbara eat her croissant despite it being a place designated for other business?

(see the answer key)

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