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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. 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 Fumbling.
(c) The Global Humbling.
(d) The Global Submission.

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

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

5. Who does Smith say are patronized by people of all ages?
(a) Older women.
(b) Young men.
(c) Kids.
(d) Old men.

6. 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 speaking with a fake accent.
(c) By wearing fake nails.
(d) By not keeping track of her menstrual cycles.

7. 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) Vote for a different leader.
(d) Be younger.

8. What image of “bored children” at home does Smith use in “The American Exception”?
(a) Twiddling their thumbs.
(b) Staring zombie like at a screen.
(c) Climbing the walls.
(d) Crying from boredom.

9. Which type of person does Smith say was overjoyed with the new free time at the start of the pandemic?
(a) Artists with children.
(b) Children of artists.
(c) Artists without children.
(d) People living alone in city apartments.

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

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

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

13. What does Smith say in “Suffering Like Mel Gibson” was the only relief people quarantining together had from one another?
(a) The computer screen.
(b) Pretending to go to the bathroom.
(c) Pretending to be asleep.
(d) Hiding in a closet.

14. 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.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. The moment Smith realized that she had misunderstood the conversation between the women in the Subway shop was the moment Smith says she became aware of her what?

2. What purported purpose of art does Smith say is usually overstated in her essay “Something to Do”?

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. In “Suffering Like Mel Gibson” Smith says that class can alter what?

5. What is the title of the second essay in Zadie’s Smith’s collection, Intimations?

(see the answer keys)

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