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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. To whom did the "Here Is New York" exhibit donate the proceeds?

2. Sontag argues that the photograph, unlike the written word, is:

3. Which famous surrealist thinker does Sontag quote as saying "Beauty will be convulsive, or it will not be?"

4. Sontag claims that American journalists have always followed one tacit prohibition. What have American journalists always avoided?

5. Discussing the "co-spectatorship" and "indecency" of the image of the Vietcong suspect's execution, Sontag asserts which of the following?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Discuss one way in which the development of technology during and after the Vietnam War has affected the veracity of photographs.

3. Explain the connection Sontag made between religious narratives and iconography and the Western understanding of images of suffering. Discuss at least one example from the text.

4. Explain the purpose of photography collections such as Ernst Friedrich's "Krieg dem Kriege!" (War Against War!), and discuss how these works attempt to achieve this end.

5. 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?

6. 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?

7. 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?

8. According to Sontag, how does a photograph in the news media differ from a written account? How does the audience change?

9. What did Sontag mean when she claimed that the memory of war is mostly local? What does this mean for international news firms?

10. Discuss the controversy surrounding the kidnapping of Daniel Pearl in Karachi in 2002. What was the main conflict?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sontag asserted that acknowledging the human capacity for unthinkable cruelty is a step toward intellectual and moral maturity. Do you agree? Why or why not? Further, why is intellectual or moral maturity a desirable outcome of war photography? How does this new-found maturity benefit the world? Is this perhaps vital to the production of a functional society? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout Sontag's argument, gender norms and expectations emerge as contributing factors in the way individuals receive images. How does Sontag treat these gendered expectations? Do you agree with Sontag's assertions on this issue? Why or why not? Discuss the differences in the ways men and women receive photographs of war and atrocity as well as the way publishing companies think about their audiences in terms of gender.

Essay Topic 3

In her analysis of Woolf's views of war and the business of making war, Sontag elaborated on her contemporary views on gender and its significance to an individual's understanding of war. Do you agree with her gendered assumptions or arguments? Are you more inclined to support Woolf's statement? Why or why not? Be sure to support your argument with contemporary examples and evidence from the text.

(see the answer keys)

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