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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In “Something to Do,” Smith says that without love life can seem what?
(a) Tragic.
(b) Dark and depressing.
(c) Comical.
(d) Empty and endless.

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

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

4. Though the “bubble” of privilege can be penetrated, what bubble does Smith say cannot be penetrated?
(a) Isolation.
(b) Suffering.
(c) Self-hate.
(d) Inadequate education.

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

6. Which actor is in the director’s chair talking to Jesus in the meme someone sent Smith at the start of the pandemic?
(a) Tom Hanks.
(b) Mel Gibson.
(c) Michael Douglass.
(d) Burt Reynolds.

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

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

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

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

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

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

13. 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) Dating couples.
(b) Roommates.
(c) Married couples with children.
(d) Grandparents.

14. What flowers does Smith wish she was looking at instead of peonies?
(a) Tulips.
(b) Roses.
(c) Daffodils.
(d) Lupines.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which writer does Smith quote in her essay “Something to Do”?

2. Which president’s speech does Smith cite at the start of “The American Exception”?

3. 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?

4. What does Smith say has “rarely been random” in America in her essay “The American Exception”?

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

(see the answer keys)

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