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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 claims that compassion requires which of the following in order to remain?
(a) Evidence.
(b) Reason.
(c) Belief.
(d) Action.

2. Which of the following poets expressed concerns about the effect of national-scale events on human sensibility in 1800?
(a) Hemingway.
(b) Eliot.
(c) Wordsworth.
(d) Pound.

3. Which work of literature does Sontag cite as evidence that war was once seen as part of a man's life?
(a) The Odyssey.
(b) The Iliad.
(c) The Republic.
(d) The Aeneid.

4. Concerned with the public health risk posed by cigarette smoking, officials in which country suggested that images of black lungs, damaged hearts or periodontal disease be included on the warning label for tobacco products?
(a) United Kindgom.
(b) United States.
(c) France.
(d) Canada.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Sontag lists three impulses which may be satisfied by viewing images of atrocities. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

2. 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?

3. At the time Sontag wrote the book, many felt what which of the following made atrocity photographs immoral?

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. The West had a long tradition of viewing war as which of the following?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

3. Discuss Sontag's assertion that some images serve as memento mori. What does she mean? How do they serve this purpose?

4. Sontag discusses Sebastiao Salgado's series entitled "Migrations: Humanity in Transition" and points out one very problematic effect of the series. Discuss this effect.

5. Ultimately, Sontag notes that to discuss the desensitization of all television viewers is a provincial move, at best. Why does she argue this?

6. Why does Sontag say that "it is not necessarily better to be moved?" Discuss the negative aspects of sentimentality.

7. Discuss the photograph that Georges Batailles kept on his desk. Why does Sontag discuss this particular photograph?

8. Why did the people of Sarajevo object to having scenes of their war represented alongside scenes of the conflict in Somalia?

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

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

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