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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Sontag notes that images of war most significantly influenced which of the following groups?
(a) Governing officials making war decisions.
(b) Artists whose work centers on conscientious objection.
(c) Those who had experienced war, and were suffering from post-traumatic stress.
(d) Those who had never experienced war first-hand.

2. Audiences may question the veracity of photographs because:
(a) Images can be staged or manipulated.
(b) Photojournalists are unreliable.
(c) Anyone can photograph an event.
(d) Newspapers and magazines caption the images.

3. Faced with "information overload," people remember a photograph because it is a quick way of storing information, much like which of the following strategies?
(a) Quotations, mnenics and memory games.
(b) Quotations, maxims and proverbs.
(c) Jingles, mnemonics and rhymes.
(d) Maxims, proverbs and songs.

4. The first war photographer, whose work garnered him the position as "official photographer" of the Crimean War, was which of the following?
(a) Ernst Friedrich.
(b) Roger Fenton.
(c) Robert Capa.
(d) Edmund Gosse.

5. Sontag, confirming Walter Lippmann's assertion, argues that photography replaced which of the following media for representing the truth?
(a) Religious texts such as the Bible.
(b) Artistic representations such as paintings or drawings.
(c) Eye-witness testimonies.
(d) Scientific studies.

Short Answer Questions

1. Sontag mentions many factors which influence the way audiences receive war photography. Which of the following was NOT one of those factors?

2. In discussing the difference gender makes in perceptions of war, Sontag agrees with which of the following authors?

3. Sontag discusses the use of images of the dead to bolster hatred of the enemy. Which of the following recent events, aired on the Al Jazeera network, does she use as an example?

4. In interpreting photographs, Sontag claims that everyone approaches the image as which of the following?

5. According to Sontag, photographs of atrocities are best received if they are:

Short Essay Questions

1. Sontag distinguished between "image makers" and "image takers". What is the difference between these two groups of artists? How are they perceived differently?

2. According to Sontag, how are photographs of victims a form of rhetoric? What is their purpose or message? How do they function to convey this message?

3. Discuss the purpose of Virginia Woolf's "Three Guineas" as explained by Sontag, and explain why Sontag opens her book with this reference.

4. How do captions sway interpretations of images? Discuss one of the examples Sontag provides in Chapter 1.

5. Explain the significance of Jacques Callot's 1633 series of etchings titled "Les Miseres et les Malheurs de la Guerra" (The Miseries and Misfortunes of War). Why did Sontag discuss this work?

6. According to Sontag, how are standards for journalism determined in an era of tele-controlled warfare?

7. Sontag suggests that the same photograph might elicit "opposing responses." Discussing a specific example, explain how this might be possible.

8. Sontag discussed the captions to Goya's "Los Desastres de la Guerra" (The Disasters of War). Explain the significance of these messages to the viewer. How do these captions affect the impact of the image?

9. Sontag identified two types of censorship which affect war photography. Describe both types of censorship. Which is most influential?

10. How did war journalism change during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39)? How did the coverage of this war more closely resemble modern media coverage of conflicts?

(see the answer keys)

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