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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 does Smith say a man can bend to his will?

2. In the conversation Smith overhears at a Subway shop, the two women discuss seeing a baby holding what item?

3. What date was the speech Smith references at the start of “The American Exception”?

4. What is the title of the fourth essay is Zadie Smith’s collection Intimations?

5. What does Smith liken Trump’s speech to after coming to her senses after the first part of his speech?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are some of the various types of loneliness Smith describes people felt at the start of the lockdown in “Suffering Like Mel Gibson”?

2. What does Smith say artists of all kinds are asked at some point in their lives?

3. What does Smith say that artists learned in regards to privacy and time at the start of “Suffering Like Mel Gibson”?

4. How does Smith describe the similarity and difference between privilege and suffering in “Suffering Like Mel Gibson”?

5. Why does Smith say it was hard for Americans to fathom a plague?

6. Whose speech does “The American Exception” begin with and what it is in regards to?

7. How does Smith describe the space typically occupied by artists?

8. In “The American Exception” Smith says that Americans attack death as what?

9. Despite a plague's inability to discriminate, Smith says what about the structure of America’s hierarchy?

10. What does Smith say the country had begun to learn or discuss in regards to privilege prior to the virus?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay exploring the theme of submission versus resistance is the short essay “Peonies” in Zadie Smith’s intimations. Use direct examples from the text to support your viewpoint.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the narrative tone and writing style in “Peonies.” Use examples from the text as evidence for your argument.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing Cy’s character in “A Hovering Young Man.” What does he represent and how does the pandemic affect Cy? What is Smith’s tone in regards to the effect the pandemic has on people like Cy?

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