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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

4. 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) Just Like A Woman.
(c) I Am Woman.
(d) Girls Just Want To Have Fun.

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

6. What does Smith liken Trump’s speech to after coming to her senses after the first part of his speech?
(a) White lies.
(b) Snake oil.
(c) Poison.
(d) Rotten apples.

7. 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.

8. What type of person does Smith say has created some of the most powerful art she has seen?
(a) People who endlessly engage with their subjects.
(b) People who feel completely alone in the world.
(c) People who have no contact with the outside world.
(d) People who constantly strive for perfection.

9. What former British Prime Minister does Smith reference at the end of “The American Exception”?
(a) Neville Chamberlain.
(b) Tony Blair.
(c) Margaret Thatcher.
(d) Winston Churchill.

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

11. In “The American Exception,” Smith says that the poorer countries Trump condemned did not have the foresight to be what?
(a) Iceland.
(b) Sweden.
(c) America.
(d) Europe.

12. Though private interests play a role in the lives of many Americans, what private interest does Smith say should not be one of them?
(a) Social security.
(b) The Postal system.
(c) Healthcare.
(d) Education.

13. What is the term Smith says reflects her resistance to the nature of her gender?
(a) Internalized misogyny.
(b) Internalized misandry.
(c) Externalized misogyny.
(d) Internalized misanthropy.

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

15. What is the title of the second essay in Zadie’s Smith’s collection, Intimations?
(a) Intimations.
(b) Peonies.
(c) The American Exception.
(d) Screengrabs.

Short Answer Questions

1. What two things does Smith say share in common their ability to distort one’s vision?

2. What term does Smith reference in “The American Exception” which Trump used in reference to other countries he saw as inferior?

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

4. “Truly laboring people,” Smith says, have to adhere to this, to which an artist does not have to adhere?

5. In “Something to Do,” Smith says that without love life can seem what?

(see the answer keys)

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