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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. As a result of being considered to be documentation, photographs yield a _______ that no other art form can yield.

2. Arbus simply strove to present the subjects of her photographs as ____________ to the viewers.

3. Like surrealism, photography is often about ________ poverty and wealth in its contents or its themes.

4. Unlike what the previous parts of the chapter say, Sontag goes on to say that photography can inform ____________.

5. The project with the FSA was enormously influential in depicting to America the __________ face of man and his struggles.

Short Essay Questions

1. Are people with children more or less likely to own a camera, according to Sontag's own findings?

2. What did Steichen thus do with his photographs in terms of creating importance with the subject of the picture?

3. Why is surrealism not necessarily a universal art form, according to this particular chapter?

4. Why is photography a democratizing experience, according to Sontag in this particular chapter of the book?

5. What do photographs do to the scale of an object within the photograph and in real life, according to Sontag?

6. How did Whitman want to see society as a whole, according to Sontag's writings in this chapter?

7. How does photography encourage voyeurism in those who look at photographs?

8. What is the significance of the title of this particular chapter of this Susan Sontag book?

9. What did Whitman think about those things which are often deemed trivial and those things considered to be real?

10. How are photographs usually held as definitive evidence in the world, according to Sontag?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Often, photographs are offered as evidence that something occurred at a certain time.

Part 1: Why do you think photographs are thought to be so definitive?

Part 2: How do you think photographs should be used in everyday life?

Part 3: Do you think something is real when you have a picture of it? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

In the end, Sontag points out that some people seem to prefer photographic images to reality.

Part 1: How are photographs superior to reality?

Part 2: Why do you think reality might be less appealing to others?

Part 3: Do you prefer photographs or reality? Why?

Essay Topic 3

Sontag also points out that some photographers are moralists, trying to identify a world vision.

Part 1: How do you think photographers are moralists? How does this label work?

Part 2: Why is it important to identify a world vision? Or isn't it?

Part 3: Is photography necessary in order to understand morality? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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