View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Arbus' pictures were presented as _____________, even though the content at the time was not considered so.

2. Whitman wanted people to begin to look at the essential ____________ of a person in order to define a person or object.

3. Photography has become a bit of a surrealist art, not a/an __________ art, but close to it, according to Sontag.

4. Photographs also warp our sense of _________ as they are always minute in comparison to the real object.

5. Photography has made the world unable to perceive the _________ beyond the photograph, according to Sontag.

Short Essay Questions

1. What kind of art does Sontag believe photography has become, according to the text in this chapter?

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

3. How does photography make the photographer incapable of intervening in a situation?

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

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

6. What did the Farm Service Administration effectively show about the power of photography?

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

8. What do photographs of the same subject over the course of many years show about this person or this item?

9. Who were some of the groups of people who Diane Arbus took pictures of when she was creating portraits?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Photographs can be made to speak with the help of captions beside them, but are these captions always necessary?

Part 1: Why do you think it's necessary to include captions with photographs?

Part 2: How do you think the photograph is changed by the introduction of captions?

Part 3: Do you think captions are necessary to include with pictures? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Diane Arbus took pictures of people in society who might be considered freaks, something Sontag seems to judge.

Part 1: How do you define the idea of 'freaks'?

Part 2: Do you think there is value in the Arbus pictures? Why or why not?

Part 3: Do you agree that those who are not 'normal' as defined by society are freaks? Why or why not?

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)

This section contains 670 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample