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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

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

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?

3. What term does Smith reference in “The American Exception” which Trump used in reference to other countries he saw as inferior?

4. In “Suffering Like Mel Gibson,” Smith says that suffering “is not relative; it is” (34) what?

5. In “The American Exception,” Smith says that the poorer countries Trump condemned did not have the foresight to be what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are some of the various types of loneliness Smith describes people felt at the start of the lockdown in “Suffering Like Mel Gibson”?

2. Describe the moment Smith realized her own privilege in a Subway shop.

3. What does Smith say about love in “Something to Do”?

4. What does Smith compare the way in which she packs her free time to at the start of “Peonies’?

5. Why does Smith say it was hard for Americans to fathom a plague?

6. How does Smith describe the space typically occupied by artists?

7. What is Smith doing at the very start of “Peonies’?

8. In what way does Smith agree with Trump’s sentiment that prior to the pandemic “we had no death” (12)?

9. What does Smith says is the true reason writers write when most else is “stripped away” (20)?

10. What does Smith say that artists learned in regards to privacy and time at the start of “Suffering Like Mel Gibson”?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay exploring how Smith’s ideas about femininity and womanhood have evolved over time as expressed in “Peonies.”

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing Cy’s character in “A Hovering Young Man.” What does he represent and how does the pandemic affect Cy? What is Smith’s tone in regards to the effect the pandemic has on people like Cy?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay exploring the significance of the title of Smith’s short essay “The American Exception.” Use direct examples from the text to support your analysis.

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