Reading Comprehension Quiz

Joy Williams, “Save the Whales, Screw the Shrimp”

Read “Save the Whales, Screw the Shrimp” and check your comprehension by answering the following questions. Click the submit button when finished.

Question What is Williams’s dominant message in this essay?

Question Williams writes “Joyce Carol Oates suggests that the reason writers—real writers, one assumes—don’t write about Nature is that it lacks humor and registers no irony.” What is ironic about this statement?

Question What word does Williams describe as “a cold word, mechanistic”?

Question In paragraph 5, Williams writes “We know that” in referencing how farmers and agribusiness produce more crops than can be eaten by the population of the United States. This is supposed to be the reader’s reaction to this information that she has presented. What does William wish for us to infer?

Question In paragraph 9, Williams writes, “Growth—it’s weird—it’s like cancer or something.” In this line, how can Williams’s tone be described?

Question In paragraph 16, Wilson quotes Martin Krieger, a resource economist. Why does Wilson include this quote as she describes the development of zoos and nature preserves?

Question In paragraph 17, Williams cites “a Dr. Lave from Carnegie-Melon” who says that “scientists will have to prove to you that you will suffer if you don’t become less of a ‘throw-away society.’” How does Williams indirectly prove this statement?

Question In paragraphs 23-30, Williams again interjects the voice of her presumed reader. She has a conversation about the fact she lives in Florida, and the reader suggests that Williams does not have the right to argue. What is Williams pointing out to us, the actual audience?