2. What does Trump say we did not have prior to the pandemic, which Smith agrees?
(a) Quarantines.
(b) Pandemics.
(c) Disease.
(d) Death.

3. What does Smith say we were in a “long, involved cultural conversation” about prior to the pandemic?
(a) Privilege.
(b) Universal Healthcare.
(c) Free public universities.
(d) Gender inequality.

4. 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?
(a) That the baby held such an expensive item.
(b) That the mother tried to take away the iPad.
(c) That the baby was unhappy even though he had an iPad.
(d) That the iPad was not the latest version.

5. In “The American Exception,” Smith says that Americans attacked death as a series of what?
(a) Discrete problems.
(b) Mysteries.
(c) Unfortunate events.
(d) Bad decisions.

6. In suffering like Mel Gibson, Smith says that prior to the pandemic people were learning about the link between privilege and what?
(a) Class.
(b) Race.
(c) Intersectionality.
(d) Gender.

7. What is one of the ways in which Smith said she had tried to resist her own nature?
(a) By speaking with a fake accent.
(b) By not keeping track of her menstrual cycles.
(c) By dying her gray hair.
(d) By wearing fake nails.

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

9. In “Suffering Like Mel Gibson,” Smith says that suffering “is not relative; it is” (34) what?
(a) Necessary.
(b) Absolute.
(c) A waste of time.
(d) Imaginary.

10. Who were the few people, according to Smith, who did not have to “seek out something to do” during the pandemic?
(a) Painters.
(b) Gamers.
(c) Writers.
(d) Essential workers.

11. What is one thing Smith says that wealthy people would not do if suffering were relative?
(a) Seek therapy.
(b) Work.
(c) Commit suicide.
(d) Buy so many things.

12. Smith thinks that one reason Americans cannot fathom plagues is because they do not discriminate based on what?
(a) Gender.
(b) Skin color.
(c) Wealth.
(d) Zip code.

13. What purported purpose of art does Smith say is usually overstated in her essay “Something to Do”?
(a) Its fundraising abilities.
(b) Its political efficacy.
(c) Offer financial security to the artist.
(d) Its aesthetic value.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Who did people “thank God for” (16) after the pandemic when, Smith says, they were not seen as worthy of a $15/ hour minimum wage prior to the pandemic?

2. What flowers does Smith wish she was looking at instead of peonies?

3. What is different about Jesus versus the actor speaking to him in the meme Smith saw during the pandemic?

4. What does Smith say in “Suffering Like Mel Gibson” was the only relief people quarantining together had from one another?

5. Smith refers to the space of time that artists usually occupy as a “charming but useless” what?

(see the answer keys)

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