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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 is Barbara's PhD in, according to her own admittance?

2. Barbara lets a sewer repairman spend a few minutes cooling off with a ________________ before taking his order.

3. Barbara is surprised that she feels a strong urge to ________ the patrons who she meets.

4. Barbara will keep driving a beat up ____________ car, though she knows many minimum wage workers can not.

5. What is the name Barbara uses for the family restaurant where she chooses to work first in Florida?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why doesn't Barbara think the physical exertion of her new job should be bothering her so much?

2. What will Barbara not rely on in order to get a job and to support herself, as one of the rules of her experiment?

3. What kind of job does Barbara say that she will take, money-wise, at least at the start of the experiment?

4. What does the interviewer at a grocery store warn Barbara about when she puts in her application?

5. Why do people end up living with others or in conditions they don't want to live in, according to Barbara?

6. What does Barbara feel she is compelled to do with the patrons at Hearthside, where she works as a waitress?

7. Once Barbara begins to let go of her elitist attitude, what does she realize about the workers around her?

8. If things get too rough during this experiment, what does Barbara say she will do in order to feel herself or to support herself?

9. What does the bad tempered cook like to do sometimes back in the kitchen, according to Barbara?

10. How long a period of time will the author spend in each location?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The argument of responsibility is one that takes on a subtle tone in this manuscript. The author too seems to believe that if a person takes responsibility for themselves, they can do more and be more.

Part 1: Do you believe people stay in poverty because they lack an attitude of responsibility? Why or why not?

Part 2: Do you think people in poverty situations are aware of their situations? Why or why not?

Part 3: Why do you think some people in poverty don't take more responsibility for their situation or for their future?

Essay Topic 2

One of the biggest beliefs the author holds about the way a person can better themselves in the world is that education can allow a person to do anything and to be something more.

Part 1: How does the author's educational level help her in the process of this project?

Part 2: Why do you think the other workers around the author don't realize she is more educated than them?

Part 3: Why do you think the author expected the others she worked with to notice her educational level? What does this say about the author?

Essay Topic 3

The author herself is white and someone who is certainly in the middle class, even if she's not working as though she was.

Part 1: In what ways might her 'white-ness' have affected the way her experience turned out?

Part 2: In what ways might her experience have been different had she been a man?

Part 3: In what ways might her experience have been different had she been of a different class or race?

(see the answer keys)

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