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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do Smith and Ben complain they have to do during the many public school days off?
(a) Scramble for childcare.
(b) Bring their kids to work.
(c) Hang out with their kids.
(d) Read to their kids.

2. From whom did Smith learn how “to consider yourself lucky” (88) even under difficult circumstances?
(a) Mr. Rainbow.
(b) Darren.
(c) Kirin.
(d) Kelly.

3. In “A Provocation in the Park,” what types of crimes does Smith say she has trouble deciphering the nuances of?
(a) Misdemeanors.
(b) Arson.
(c) Hate crimes.
(d) Theft.

4. Though Barbara is older, Smith says she is like many women in the city who do not get old in what “traditional” (48) way?
(a) Boring.
(b) Scientific.
(c) Feminine.
(d) Elderly.

5. What is the name of the final short essay in “Screengrabs”?
(a) Post-script: Contempt as a Virus.
(b) Post-Script: Gaining herd immunity.
(c) The virus of contempt.
(d) Immune to the Herd.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does Smith say represents England's form of the contempt virus?

2. Why does Smith assume the nail salon she goes to must do a good business?

3. What does Smith’s Masseur call her in “A Man With Strong Hands”?

4. What is the name of the young man Smith describes in “A Hovering Young Man”?

5. Smith describes the young man at the start of “A Hovering Young Man” as a typical what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Smith tell her students about style each semester?

2. What does Myron think of all the people leaving NYC based on the phone call Smith overhears in the ATM?

3. Which famous New Yorker did Smith read about at the start of the pandemic and reference in “A Character in a Wheelchair in the Vestibule”?

4. How does Smith describe the nail salon and its clientele where she gets her massages in “A Man with Strong Hands”?

5. How does Smith describe the concept of British “class contempt” (74) in “Post-script: Contempt as a Virus”?

6. Why does Smith rarely get manicures and never get pedicures?

7. What does Smith say in regards to how certain crimes are categorized?

8. What does Smith thank Carol for in “Intimations: Debts and Lessons”?

9. What is Smith’s relationship like with Ben, her masseuse?

10. How does Smith describe the way enslavers looked upon the Blacks they kidnapped and brought over on slave ships 400 years ago?

(see the answer keys)

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