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

Short Answer Questions

1. 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?

2. "The Killing Fields" depicts which of the following?

3. Sontag argues that the most extensive kind of censorship is which of the following?

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

5. Sontag discusses one year in European history in which the photograph was able to truly capture the nature of human atrocities. Which year was it?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. Discuss the significance of Eddie Adams' photograph of the execution of a suspected Vietcong agent. What did Sontag say was particularly striking about this image and the circumstances of its creation?

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. According to Sontag, do people prefer artistic renderings or straight-forward representations of atrocities? Why?

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

6. Why do images of pain challenge us to look without flinching? According to Sontag, what purpose does this serve?

7. According to Sontag, how do mass Hollywood productions influence the public's perception of catastrophic or horrific events?

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

9. Discuss the reaction of the British public to the image of trenches of unburied bodies taken 10 days after a British defeat during the Boer War. What does this reaction say about the sensibility of the public?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why might a group of people be more sensitive to images of its members in pain? For instance, why might Americans be more sensitive to images of American citizens in pain? Why, do you think, people are less sensitive to the suffering of "others" outside their own social, cultural, or national grouping?

Essay Topic 2

Sontag suggested that specific memory of atrocities may be detrimental to peace efforts. Is this necessarily true? Is there a way in which memories and memorials might contribute to establishing and maintaining peace? If so, how? If not, why not?

Essay Topic 3

On witnessing suffering in a photograph, are we morally or ethically obligated to be emotionally moved? Sontag suggested that perhaps the viewer should not feel ashamed for not feeling a reaction. Do you agree or disagree? Support your position with a discussion of the ethics of witnessing suffering from such a distance.

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