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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Chapter 2: Family Values, Irving compares her childhood to paintings created by which famous artist?
(a) Rembrandt.
(b) Norman Rockwell.
(c) Andy Warhol.
(d) Pablo Picasso.

2. Irving quotes Betsy Leondar-Wright in Chapter 3: Race Versus Class, writing, "When it comes to culture, the only thing we all have in common is that we have one and that" (28) what?
(a) It conquers our fears.
(b) It shapes us.
(c) It seals our fates.
(d) It is complex.

3. Which quality did Irving's father stress above all others throughout his children's childhoods?
(a) Honesty.
(b) Dedication.
(c) Affection.
(d) Compassion.

4. What sort of literary device does Irving use to stress the verbs "avoid" and "perpetuate" in relation to the "zap factor" (92)?
(a) Allusion.
(b) Repetition.
(c) Onomatopoeia.
(d) Simile.

5. The activity at the end of Chapter 9: White Superiority asks readers to explain how they feel about which term?
(a) Caucasian.
(b) Systemic.
(c) Beautiful.
(d) Racist.

6. Irving remembers a family member telling her that Indians "were lovely people who became" what "when they drank liquor" (15)?
(a) Dangerous.
(b) Amorous.
(c) Foolish.
(d) Apathetic.

7. Irving asserts that American culture and government have always embraced the idea of America as what object?
(a) A black hole.
(b) A melting pot.
(c) A mosaic.
(d) A city on a hill.

8. Which word does Irving define as "a collective character that describes a set of beliefs and behaviors that identify the group" (79)?
(a) Community.
(b) Culture.
(c) Tenet.
(d) Motto.

9. In what part of the country did Irving grow up, according to Chapter 5: Within the Walls?
(a) Northwest.
(b) Southwest.
(c) Midwest.
(d) New England.

10. What was the last name of Irving's ancestor who established New Salem Academy by applying for a land grant?
(a) Stevens.
(b) Putnam.
(c) O'Neill.
(d) White.

11. Chapter 5: Within the Walls asks readers to reconsider the definition of which term?
(a) Poverty.
(b) Privilege.
(c) Rich.
(d) Exclusive.

12. In which level of Irving's education did she learn about "white ethnics" (61)?
(a) Junior high.
(b) Undergraduate.
(c) Graduate.
(d) High school.

13. By what decade had "pale skin become a beauty ideal for white people, making its way into European art and literature" (57)?
(a) The 1790s.
(b) The 1860s.
(c) The 1920s.
(d) The 1720s.

14. In Chapter 12: Icebergs, Irving uses an episode of which classic television show to illustrate the "capacity for self-reinforced thinking" (79)?
(a) The Jeffersons.
(b) Green Acres.
(c) I Love Lucy.
(d) Sanford and Son.

15. In Chapter 15: The Whole Story, Irving warns the reader of the dangers associated with what types of stories?
(a) Fictional.
(b) Second-hand.
(c) Ancient.
(d) One-sided.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who wrote the maxim, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" (114)?

2. When Irving was not yet ready to examine her own white privilege, which other quality of her identity did she decide to start with?

3. Irving points out in Chapter 16: Logos and Stereotypes that humans are the only creatures on earth who use which objects to make sense of their world?

4. What does the letter P stand for in the acronym WASP?

5. How many different categories does Betsy Leondar-Wright identify when she provides "a way of thinking about class" (30)?

(see the answer keys)

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