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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Sontag cites one of her earlier books published in 1977. Which of the following is it?
(a) "Against Interpretation."
(b) "Reborn."
(c) "On Photography."
(d) "Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors."

2. Discussing the common person's ability to feel sympathy, Sontag argues which of the following?
(a) People will do anything to keep from being moved by what they see.
(b) People will naturally feel empathy, but will quickly distance themselves because society has programmed them to avoid involvement.
(c) People will instinctually distance themselves from suffering.
(d) People will automatically feel sympathy for victims of atrocity.

3. According to Sontag, people are less responsive to images of violence in which of the following contexts?
(a) Times of seemingly unending war.
(b) Armed conflicts amassing the deaths of military personnel.
(c) Instances of mass casualty.
(d) Times of relative peace in one's home nation.

4. It was generally thought that public awareness was largely guided by which of the following?
(a) Media coverage.
(b) Book industry.
(c) Government propaganda.
(d) Educational programming.

5. Contemporary society, at the time Sontag wrote the book, unanimously witnessed a rise of which of the following in the media?
(a) Sadism and sexuality.
(b) Violence and sexuality.
(c) Violence and sadism.
(d) War protest.

6. Sontag cites the Japanese narrative "Chushingura" in which the protagonist stops to appreciate the beauty of cherry blossoms one last time before committing ritual suicide as an example of which kind of shocking art?
(a) The type which is perennially performed, but which achieves less of a reaction with each performance.
(b) The type which, through the narrative form of pathos, continually induces emotional reactions.
(c) The type which is often underestimated for its emotional impact.
(d) The type which is only relative to a particular culture, and thus has little effect on outsiders.

7. Sontag cites William Hazlitt's claim that sympathy is no more a part of human nature than is which of the following?
(a) Love of power.
(b) Fear of death.
(c) Love of cruelty.
(d) Fear of pain.

8. Sontag suggests that Plato anticipated which of the following psychological models?
(a) Jung's archetypes.
(b) Freud's id, ego and superego.
(c) Pavlov's classical conditioning.
(d) Skinner's box.

9. Which of the following does Sontag suggest is an ethical act?
(a) Fighting.
(b) Remembering.
(c) Loving.
(d) Mourning.

10. Sontag argues that there are two extreme positions on a spectrum of war experience which create the same idea that images of war are no longer emotionally-jarring for an audience? Which two positions are they?
(a) Victims and perpetrators of atrocity.
(b) Scholars and politicians.
(c) Soldiers and civilians of war-torn regions.
(d) Unexperienced cynics and the war-weary.

11. Sontag claims that some photographs which are "repulsive" can also ________.
(a) Silence.
(b) Shock.
(c) Impress.
(d) Allure.

12. Sebastiao Salgado's work called "Migrations: Humanity in Transition" was often criticized as being:
(a) "Generalizing."
(b) "Melodramatic."
(c) "Exploitative."
(d) "Cinematic."

13. Sontag claims that the model for public space in modern society is which of the following?
(a) The classroom.
(b) The memorial.
(c) The mega-store.
(d) The debate hall.

14. Sarajevans were angered by a photography exhibit which featured photographs of their suffering alongside images of which other country's people?
(a) Bosnia.
(b) Bulgaria.
(c) Rhodesia.
(d) Somalia.

15. Many of the scenes in "Saving Private Ryan" were based on works by which famous World War I photographer?
(a) Roger Fenton.
(b) Ernst Friedrich.
(c) Gilles Peress.
(d) Robert Capa.

Short Answer Questions

1. "Without Sanctuary" was a book of photographs taken of which of the following atrocities?

2. Sontag claims that Bataille could see extreme pain as a form of __________.

3. For Sontag, the impression that there are more news of atrocity is probably which of the following?

4. Sontag argues that which of the following effects keeps the television viewer's attention "light", "mobile" and fairly "indifferent" to the images on the screen?

5. Although Sontag is pessimistic about the broad effects of atrocity photographs, she did mention one positive outcome. What was it?

(see the answer keys)

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