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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

4. 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) Healthcare.
(b) The Postal system.
(c) Social security.
(d) Education.

5. 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 Fumbling.
(b) The Global Submission.
(c) The Worldwide Humbling.
(d) The Global Humbling.

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

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

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

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

10. In “Suffering Like Mel Gibson” Smith discusses an article she read about a 17-year-old who committed suicide during the pandemic for what reason?
(a) She did not get enough likes on social media.
(b) She could not stand Zoom meetings.
(c) She could not see her friends.
(d) She did not have access to the internet from home.

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

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

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

14. In the conversation Smith overhears at a Subway shop, the two women discuss seeing a baby holding what item?
(a) A harmonica.
(b) An iPhone.
(c) His mother’s keys.
(d) An iPad.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What does Smith say a man can bend to his will?

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

4. What date was the speech Smith references at the start of “The American Exception”?

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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