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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. According to Brooks in the Introduction what do Harold and Erica inherit?

2. What is Ms. Taylor's tactic for making children learn?

3. What does Ms. Taylor want to match each student to?

4. At the beginning of the introduction, Brooks assures the reader that his protagonists are not what?

5. How many children do Brooks' wealthy socialites all have in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Brooks' book different from other social studies?

2. According to Brooks, what separates us from other animals?

3. Why does Timothy Wilson think that the unconscious mind does the majority of the work in thinking?

4. What great skill does Harold have in high school?

5. Describe young Harold's relationship with falling things.

6. Describe Ms. Taylor.

7. What is Harold's goal from conception on?

8. How does Ms. Taylor guide Harold's reading in Chapter 6?

9. What is the Composure Class?

10. How does Brooks use the meeting of Julia and Rob to illustrate the surprise of similarities?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In "The Social Animal", David Brooks makes definite policy arguments, informed by the circumstances of Harold and Erica's lives. Write a two-part essay about these policy proposals and their connection to the narrative:

Part 1) Discuss Erica's experience at Intercom. What issues do Erica and Raymond discover while they work there? What policy proposals do they make to the investors? How does this narrative indicate policy proposals Brooks would make regarding private industry?

Part 2) What conclusions does Harold come to while working at a Washington think tank? How do these proposals reflect his personal experience? What do these proposals seem to bear in mind about human nature that current public policy does not?

Essay Topic 2

Much of the latter half of "The Social Animal" is dedicated to the marriage between Harold and Erica. Write an essay charting the trajectory of this marriage. What attracts Erica to Harold and vice versa? Discuss the conflict that nearly tears them apart and how the two manage to make the marriage work? What is the state of the marriage in the last year of their lives?

Essay Topic 3

In "The Social Animal", the candidate Richard Grace is clearly modeled on Barack Obama. In an essay, compare the two men's biographies. How are their paths to the presidency similar? What does each man instinctively understand about society? What draws people to this understanding of the world? Discuss whether you think this is a positive or negative portrayal of the Obama movement in 2008.

(see the answer keys)

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