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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. At the start of “Suffering Like Mel Gibson,” which type of person does Smith say dreamed of an “isolation within isolation” (29) at the start of the pandemic?
(a) Married couples with children.
(b) Dating couples.
(c) Grandparents.
(d) Roommates.

3. The day Smith looked at the peonies in the Jefferson Market Garden was just a few days before what Smith refers to as what?
(a) The Global Humbling.
(b) The Global Submission.
(c) The Global Fumbling.
(d) The Worldwide Humbling.

4. What example does Smith use in “Peonies” as a time when submitting might be better than resisting?
(a) When your alarm clock goes off.
(b) Torture.
(c) Disease.
(d) Peer pressure.

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

6. What “obsession” (6) does Smith liken to her resistance to nature as a youth, an obsessions she says many writers share?
(a) Control.
(b) Chaos.
(c) Order.
(d) Materialism.

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

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

9. What two things does Smith say share in common their ability to distort one’s vision?
(a) Privilege and suffering.
(b) Suffering and starvation.
(c) Privilege and disease.
(d) Suffering and Endurance.

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

11. What name does Smith say would better suit the writing department in which she works at the University in “Peonies”?
(a) The Controlling Educator Department.
(b) The Mind Control Department.
(c) The Controlling Experience Department.
(d) The Experiential Experience Department.

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

13. What does Smith say a man can bend to his will?
(a) Nature.
(b) Rules.
(c) Religion.
(d) Steel pipes.

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

15. Which writer does Smith quote in her essay “Something to Do”?
(a) Odessa Mosher.
(b) Ottessa Moshe.
(c) Ottessa Moshfegh.
(d) Lottie Moshfegh.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Smith say is the truest, most obvious reason why people write or make art?

2. What is the setting at the start of “Peonies”?

3. Which philosopher does Smith cite when discussing the difference between the thinker and his real life?

4. What does Smith say the link to long life in America is?

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

(see the answer keys)

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