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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

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

5. What song does Smith reflect on how the lyrics would change if it were written for a man?
(a) Girls Just Want To Have Fun.
(b) I Am Woman.
(c) (You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman.
(d) Just Like A Woman.

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

7. 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 could not see her friends.
(b) She did not get enough likes on social media.
(c) She did not have access to the internet from home.
(d) She could not stand Zoom meetings.

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

9. Which philosopher does Smith cite when discussing the difference between the thinker and his real life?
(a) Socrates.
(b) Kierkagaard.
(c) Plato.
(d) Nietzsche.

10. Despite a pandemic’s ability to discriminate, says Smith, the structure of American hierarchy meant that which groups experience higher death rates?
(a) Asians and Latinos.
(b) Blacks and Latinos.
(c) Blacks and whites.
(d) Whites and Asians.

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

12. Which type of person does Smith describe as being shuffled “from one isolation to another and back again” (30)?
(a) Essential workers.
(b) Cheating spouses.
(c) Doctors.
(d) Children of divorced parents.

13. What is the topic of conversation Smith overhears between two woman at a Subway shop in “Suffering Like Mel Gibson”?
(a) Feminism.
(b) Technology and children.
(c) Higher Education.
(d) The economy.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Smith liken Trump’s speech to after coming to her senses after the first part of his speech?

2. What example does Smith use in “Peonies” as a time when submitting might be better than resisting?

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

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?

5. What is the title of the fourth essay is Zadie Smith’s collection Intimations?

(see the answer keys)

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