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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. What kind of stores found themselves unable to keep up with demand in the wake of Barack Obama's election to the presidency?

2. The subtitle of Chapter 25: Belonging states, "How my sense of belonging also allowed me to feel" (155) what?

3. Irving's project sought to help which kind of people living in inner-city areas?

4. The subtitle of Chapter 33: Perception and Fear states, "The firt tiime I saw myself as white and" (199) what?

5. Irving describes noticing that most children of color at her workplace used which method of getting to school?

Short Essay Questions

1. Provide evidence for the conclusion that Irving wants to provide the reader of Waking Up White with practical advice.

2. What alternative to the superior/inferior paradigm does Irving suggest in Chapter 35: If Only You'd Be More Like Me?

3. How does Irving go about outlining the privilege inherent in her own life?

4. How did Irving first come to work within the public school system?

5. How did Irving first become familiar with the city of Cambridge and for how many years had she lived there at the time of her writing?

6. What major mistake does Irving consider herself to have made during her project meant to serve inner city youth?

7. What proactive step did Irving take along with another mother at her daughter's preschool?

8. In what way does Irving indicate in Chapter 28: I Am the Elephant that growth can be painful?

9. Before Irving learned about conflict resolution, how did she deal with uncomfortable feelings?

10. What did Irving learn from her experience with the mirror one year into her "waking-up process" (199)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose an object from Waking Up White, such as an electrical shock or some other symbolic object and discuss its overall meaning and its connection to themes within the text.

Essay Topic 2

Irving begins the text with a quote by James Baldwin. Explain how this choice of epigraph relates to the text and how it reflects one of its major themes.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the messages sent about the theme of appearance versus reality within Waking Up White.

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