HIS 101
Critical Thinking
Spring 2000
Professor Sayegh
Answer Key: Midterm Examination
PART I:
1. For full credit on this question, this response must discuss how a historian chooses and decides what
evidence is relevant and legitimate to the topic to be discussed. It is also important to note that telling
a story is about choices—of inclusion and exclusion. You can choose a variety of examples, but the
two most relevant are Silas Deane and Sacco and Vanzetti.
2. Primary sources first-hand accounts from people who lived during the period under question. These
are items like diaries, newspapers, public records, government documents, pictures, novels, etc.
Primary sources are NOT limited to textual items (stuff you can read); they are a variety of things
Secondary sources are historical accounts that use primary sources to build their stories. These are
primarily what we see in articles and books and textbooks (like Davidson and Lytle).
3. ML had a disagreement with the RCC but this disagreement turned into a European-wide
phenomenon. The story provides insight into audience because he had an intended audience for his
concerns (The Roman Catholic hierarchy, like bishops, cardinals, priests, etc.) and an actual audience
(The German Princes and literate people like merchants, etc.). His ideas spread further than he
intended (it was written in Latin) because of the rise of the print culture (which translated the work
into the colloquial, German, and spread it throughout the area). It is also important to note that we,
too, are an audience so a discussion of Luther shows how a work can have many different audiences
unintended by the author. This shows the importance of context. This idea of the audience looking
back on the past provides insight into context (who, what, where and when) and allows the more
recent audience to make sense of this conflict and how it was resolved.
4. Making sense of the world around you, making sense of the material you read, making sense of what
others tell you.
5. Both worked in the home, but with the cottage industry, the family maintained control over the entire
process. How much they made of any given product depended on their financial situation at the end
of the harvest. The putting-out system took control away from the families, and divided the process
(for example textile manufacture) into PIECES—hence piecework. Each family now did one portion
of the process (one family did the shearing, another family did the yarning, another they dying,
washing, weaving, etc.) and were responsible for getting the material to the capitalist in a certain
allotted time.
6. President Hoover didn't entirely ignore the problems of the Depression despite the fact that he
believed that the economy would fix itself. He established a commission on poor relief to get
companies and workers together to work out a fair shake for workers. He also did some public works
like the Grand Coulee Dam and Hoover Dam. These public works projects put men to work on the
government payroll. In 1931, he established a moratorium on European war debts to help ease the
European problems. He also signed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff, which was intended to relieve the
economy by promoting domestic trade, but it backfired.
7. Reflective hypothesis—the media is a reflection of society at large and its ideals and values.
Manipulative hypothesis—the media creates values that it presents to the people in order to persuade
them to accept certain values and attitudes. As a consequence, society tries to reorder itself on the
model it perceives to be an accurate depiction. For part 2 of this question, many answers are
acceptable as long as they are substantiated by the evidence from the reading. In general, a balanced
approach to examining both the hypotheses is moving in the right direction for an answer.
PART II: SECTION 1
A&B: CONTEXT: Both George Orwell, Both Down and Out. The quotes are about the time he was
poor, but very much a document of the Great Depression. Some discussion of poverty, the
Depression, etc. are needed for a full-credit answer.
ARGUMENT: Variations of how people are people and how class distinction are merely false
markers of respectability are acceptable. For credit, you need to explain what the quotes MEAN,
not simply restate what they say. Analyze what Orwell means by "work," by class distinction,
etc. What does he want to accomplish by making these statements? Any discussion of social
commentary will be important here. A full-credit answer will address Orwell's argument about
poverty in context of the book and will take the quotes on their own terms.
SECTION 2
A: CONTEXT: Dorothea Lange, Dustbowl Era (1930s) America; "Migrant Mother"
ARGUMENT: This analysis must take into account her work as a social commentator using
photography. After a brief discussion of the Dust Bowl Migration, a full-credit answer will attempt to
draw people's attention to how she used her art to try to make people aware of the situation migrants
were in. What does she prove with this piece? A full-credit answer will also mention the fact that
this isn't really a mirror, since Lange staged the piece and took many different poses of the woman
and her children to get the best possible shot. A full-credit answer will state that even though this
piece is staged, it is still an important piece of evidence, because this woman was not a "model"; she
really lived the Dust Bowl experience, so the reality is "enhanced" not "fictional."
B. CONTEXT: Jakob Riis, Progressive Era America, Turn of the Century, Tenement Home
ARGUMENT: Again, this is a social commentary, this time on living conditions of immigrant
workers. A full-credit answer will explain the shot, what Riis hoped to convey using these people and
this room. As with Lange's piece, this is staged, but not fictional. These people did live in a oneroom home. A full-credit answer will also talk about some of Riis' biases and how they informed the
shots that he took of workers. What did he want to accomplish by photographing immigrant workers?
Did he seek the same type of reforms and help Lange did?