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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Smith refers to the space of time that artists usually occupy as a “charming but useless” what?
(a) Playpen.
(b) Reality.
(c) Existence.
(d) Playground.

2. What does Smith say the link to long life in America is?
(a) Healthy eating habits.
(b) Money.
(c) Good luck.
(d) Exercise.

3. After the pandemic, Smith says we must modify our new knowledge of privilege to involve what new category?
(a) Vaccination.
(b) Excessive screen time.
(c) Suffering.
(d) Isolation.

4. At which point does Smith say a man submits to nature?
(a) At birth.
(b) In death.
(c) In private.
(d) In old age.

5. Nabokov said the inspiration for his novel came from an article about an ape that drew what?
(a) His own cage.
(b) His self-portrait.
(c) Bananas.
(d) His captors.

6. What does Smith say “demanded a new dawn” (11)?
(a) Disaster.
(b) Night.
(c) Women.
(d) Americans.

7. Who is the author of the essay “Peonies”?
(a) Zadie Smith.
(b) Zinnia Smith.
(c) Zora Smith.
(d) Zelda Smith.

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

9. What is the title of the fourth essay is Zadie Smith’s collection Intimations?
(a) A Conversation with Jesus.
(b) A Conversation between Jesus and Mel Gibson.
(c) Suffering like Mel Gibson.
(d) Suffering like Jesus.

10. What is different about Jesus versus the actor speaking to him in the meme Smith saw during the pandemic?
(a) He is praying.
(b) He is soaked in blood.
(c) He is kneeling.
(d) He is on a cross.

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

12. What song does Smith reflect on how the lyrics would change if it were written for a man?
(a) (You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman.
(b) Girls Just Want To Have Fun.
(c) I Am Woman.
(d) Just Like A Woman.

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

14. 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) "Lowlife countries."
(c) "Crappy countries."
(d) "Shithole countries."

15. In what city does Smith live at the start of “Peonies”?
(a) Chicago.
(b) New York.
(c) Los Angeles.
(d) Brooklyn.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the conversation Smith overhears at a Subway shop, Smith learns that the two women conversing are more appalled by what factor, than that the child is too young for technology?

2. What name does Smith say would better suit the writing department in which she works at the University in “Peonies”?

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

4. What purported purpose of art does Smith say is usually overstated in her essay “Something to Do”?

5. What type of person does Smith say has created some of the most powerful art she has seen?

(see the answer keys)

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