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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 suggests that to make peace is to do which of the following?
(a) Understand.
(b) Forget.
(c) Remember.
(d) Forgive.

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

3. Modern society, Sontag argues, is a "society of _______".
(a) Spectacle.
(b) Sympathy.
(c) Sheep.
(d) Shock.

4. 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) War protest.
(c) Violence and sexuality.
(d) Violence and sadism.

5. Diorama, tableaux and wax exhibits served which of the following purposes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?
(a) Forms of history-as-display.
(b) Forms of war protest.
(c) Forms of entertainment.
(d) Forms of artistic expression.

Short Answer Questions

1. Sontag suggests that, for the most part, photographs received more serious attention when placed in which of the following scenarios?

2. _______ is a modern development in camera use.

3. In order to take pleasure in suffering, Sontag argues that one must necessarily have which of the following?

4. Recounting a conversation with a Sarajevan woman, Sontag claims that when people are safe, they will feel which of the following toward atrocities committed abroad?

5. Which of the following phrases does Sontag use to refer to items which allow us to remember or think on death?

Short Essay Questions

1. Sontag proposes that perhaps we place too much value on memory. What does she mean? Why does she posit this?

2. Describe the scene which Sontag refers to as the first description of bodies in anguish and identify the source of this description.

3. What is unusual about Wall's "Dead Troops Talk (A Vision After an Ambush of a Red Army Patrol near Moqor, Afghanistan, Winter 1986)?" Discuss two aspects of the work that separate it from others like it.

4. Sontag discusses the emergence of apathy and cynicism toward war. According to her discussion, what feeling underlies cynicism about war and atrocity? What is the purpose of this cynicism?

5. Sontag discusses two widespread ideas about the influence of photography. What is the first idea? Discuss it including one example.

6. Sontag contrasts the perceived number of atrocities now with the number from years ago, and makes a specific claim about the rate of atrocity. Discuss this assertion.

7. Why is a museum, in Sontag's opinion, an inappropriate place to display atrocity photographs?

8. Sontag asserts that many people become frustrated by their inability to act on the images of suffering they see in the media. What does this frustration often become?

9. Sontag claims that a book is still the best medium for circulating images of atrocity. Name the three reasons she provides.

10. Sontag suggests that Wall's work affirms the normalcy of war. How so?

(see the answer keys)

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