LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034
B.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE
FIFTH SEMESTER – November 2008
EL 5403 - TRANSITIONAL LITERATURE
Date : 12-11-08
Time : 9:00 - 12:00
Dept. No.
XA 12
Max. : 100 Marks
PART – A
I. Annotate or interpret the following in 50 words each: (8 x 3 =24 marks)
8. What! The greedy dog!
Insatiate camel of a foolish doting race;
Is he at his tricks again?
2. I hear voices from wind talking
Sound that shuttles me
Between
Echo and ears.
3. And behind the tree she stood
with roots sprouting from her
feet and leaves growing on her head
4. Here language has always been at the heart of the two contending social forces in the
Africa of the twentieth century.
5. Ah he continued, yawning again,
The pains we suffer in building the nation!
6. Because I have not been to school
And I have not been baptized
You compare me with a little dog,
A puppy.
7. The child still thinks she is wiser than
The cotton head of age.
8. Language is mediating in my very being. And this brings us to the third aspect of
language as culture.
PART - B
II. Answer any SIX of the following in 150 to 200 words each: (6 x 6 = 36 marks)
11. Critically review the theme of transition as seen by Benedict Onyango Oguto in his
poem ‘Voices of Transition’.
12. How does Gabriel Okara transfer his delight into a poem in ‘The Mystic Drum’?
13. Discuss how Henry Barlow satirises the bureaucrats in ‘Building the Nation’?
14. Critically evaluate the core conflict that makes ‘The Song of Lawino’.
15. How does Ama Ata Aidoo present a ‘Mother Courage’ in M’ma Asana in her short
story, ‘Certain Winds from the South’.
16. Who is the real hero of ‘The Lion and the Jewel’? Discuss.
1
17. Write a long note on the proverbs of Umuofia.
18. Enumerate the aspects of language, as identified by Ngugi wa Thiong’o.
19. Bring out the cultural aspects of South Africa as seen in the‘Snapshots of a Wedding’.
PART – C
III. Answer any FOUR of the following in 300 to 350 words each:(4 x 10 = 40 marks)
20. Enumerate the themes and concerns of Transitional Literature with suitable examples.
22. Evaluate the techniques of Wole Soyinka in ‘The Lion and the Jewel’.
23. Was Okonkwo a failure or a success? Discuss.
.
24. How does Thiongo picture the politics of language in African Literature?
25. Discuss how Ama Ata Aidoo and Bessie Head portray the feminine feelings in their
short stories?
26. Review the poems prescribed for your study, considering their themes, style and tone.
*************
2