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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What two things does Smith say share in common their ability to distort one’s vision?
(a) Suffering and Endurance.
(b) Suffering and starvation.
(c) Privilege and suffering.
(d) Privilege and disease.

2. In the conversation Smith overhears at a Subway shop, Smith learns that the two women conversing are more appalled by what factor, than that the child is too young for technology?
(a) That the baby was unhappy even though he had an iPad.
(b) That the mother tried to take away the iPad.
(c) That the iPad was not the latest version.
(d) That the baby held such an expensive item.

3. Which president’s speech does Smith cite at the start of “The American Exception”?
(a) Barack Obama.
(b) Donald Trump.
(c) Joe Biden.
(d) Bill Clinton.

4. What does Smith say in “Suffering Like Mel Gibson” was the only relief people quarantining together had from one another?
(a) Pretending to be asleep.
(b) The computer screen.
(c) Pretending to go to the bathroom.
(d) Hiding in a closet.

5. Who did people “thank God for” (16) after the pandemic when, Smith says, they were not seen as worthy of a $15/ hour minimum wage prior to the pandemic?
(a) Essential Workers.
(b) Doctors.
(c) Teachers.
(d) Bartenders.

6. What does Smith say she believed to be the “cage of her circumstance” (3) when she was younger?
(a) Her race.
(b) Her class.
(c) Her gender.
(d) Her sexual orientation.

7. Which writer does Smith quote in her essay “Something to Do”?
(a) Odessa Mosher.
(b) Ottessa Moshe.
(c) Lottie Moshfegh.
(d) Ottessa Moshfegh.

8. What “obsession” (6) does Smith liken to her resistance to nature as a youth, an obsessions she says many writers share?
(a) Order.
(b) Chaos.
(c) Control.
(d) Materialism.

9. What song does Smith reflect on how the lyrics would change if it were written for a man?
(a) Girls Just Want To Have Fun.
(b) Just Like A Woman.
(c) (You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman.
(d) I Am Woman.

10. The day Smith looked at the peonies in the Jefferson Market Garden was just a few days before what Smith refers to as what?
(a) The Worldwide Humbling.
(b) The Global Submission.
(c) The Global Humbling.
(d) The Global Fumbling.

11. While looking on at the garden, Smith thinks of a quote by Nabokov regarding his inspiration for which novel?
(a) Lolita.
(b) Mary.
(c) Glory.
(d) Laura.

12. Smith thinks that one reason Americans cannot fathom plagues is because they do not discriminate based on what?
(a) Gender.
(b) Wealth.
(c) Zip code.
(d) Skin color.

13. What does Smith say we were in a “long, involved cultural conversation” about prior to the pandemic?
(a) Universal Healthcare.
(b) Privilege.
(c) Gender inequality.
(d) Free public universities.

14. In “Suffering Like Mel Gibson” Smith discusses an article she read about a 17-year-old who committed suicide during the pandemic for what reason?
(a) She could not stand Zoom meetings.
(b) She did not get enough likes on social media.
(c) She did not have access to the internet from home.
(d) She could not see her friends.

15. What example does Smith use in “Peonies” as a time when submitting might be better than resisting?
(a) Peer pressure.
(b) Disease.
(c) Torture.
(d) When your alarm clock goes off.

Short Answer Questions

1. Smith refers to the space of time that artists usually occupy as a “charming but useless” what?

2. Though the “bubble” of privilege can be penetrated, what bubble does Smith say cannot be penetrated?

3. Which actor is in the director’s chair talking to Jesus in the meme someone sent Smith at the start of the pandemic?

4. Despite a pandemic’s ability to discriminate, says Smith, the structure of American hierarchy meant that which groups experience higher death rates?

5. What is different about Jesus versus the actor speaking to him in the meme Smith saw during the pandemic?

(see the answer keys)

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