Final Exam on Friday 3:00-5:30. I’ll be in my office on Monday, Tuesday morning, and
Thursday afternoon if you have any questions or want to review material.
Parts I cover the texts:
Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman
Toni Morrison The Bluest Eye
Allen Ginsberg “Howl”
Parts II, III, and IV, V cover all the texts we’ve read this semester, including the above
texts as well as:
William Dean Howells The Rise of Silas Lapham
William Dean Howells “Editha”
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman “A Poetess”
Edith Wharton Summer
Robert Frost “Mending Wall,” “Death of a Hired Man,” “Home Burial,” “A Hundred Collars”
Richard Wright Blackboy
T.S. Eliot “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and “The Waste Land”
William Faulkner “Barn Burning” and “A Rose for Emily”
I Identifications from books we’ve read since the last exam (Ginsberg through Baldwin). You’ll
choose to identify 4 of 5 provided. 20 pts (1 point for identifying text, 2 points for showing the
item works in the plot of the text, 2 points for connecting item to a theme).
II Short answer. You will choose 2 of the 3 on the exam. Those 3 will be chosen from the
below list. A successful answer will cite two examples either, for example, identifying two
elements of realism in Howells with textual examples of each or identifying one major element
of realism in Howells and citing two pieces of textual evidence. 20 pts. (10 pts for each answer
- 5 pts for each textual example).
What elements of Realism do you see The Rise of Silas Lapham?
What elements of Naturalism do you see in Summer?
What elements of Social Realism do you see in Black Boy?
What elements of Modernism do you see Faulkner’s either or both of short stories?
What elements of beat literature do you see in “Howl”
What is experimental about Death of A Salesman
What is the difference between Richard Wright’s and Toni Morrison’s perspective on
the value of black culture?
III Isms. Choose 2 of 3 below. You will be given a literary movement (realism, naturalism, social
realism, modernism). First explain the origins of the literary movement. Then trace some of its
characteristics in the passage that follows. 20 pts. (10 pts for each answer - 3 for discussing origins of
movement, 3.5 for each characteristic you find in passage).
Example:
Realism
HE saw her from the bottom of the stairs
Before she saw him. She was starting down,
Looking back over her shoulder at some fear.
She took a doubtful step and then undid it
To raise herself and look again. He spoke
Advancing toward her: “What is it you see
From up there always—for I want to know.”
She turned and sank upon her skirts at that,
And her face changed from terrified to dull.
He said to gain time: “What is it you see,”
Mounting until she cowered under him.
“I will find out now—you must tell me, dear.”
She, in her place, refused him any help
With the least stiffening of her neck and silence.
She let him look, sure that he wouldn’t see,
Blind creature; and a while he didn’t see.
But at last he murmured, “Oh,” and again, “Oh.”
5
10
15
IV Short Essays (2 of 3)
Today the class will generate a list of central concerns or issues early American literature. I
will write a question that asks you to traces this issue/theme through three of four texts
provided. Use two pieces of support (two pieces of evidence) from each text. 40 (20 pts. for
each answer – 6 pts for each text with 3 pts for each textual example for each text)
Example from previous exams below
For various reasons, American literature is often suspicious of modernity/modernization.
Trace this theme through three of the following four texts.
“The White Heron”
“The School Days of an Indian Girl”
The Wasteland
“Winter Dreams”
V
Choose your favorite text you’ve read this semester. Talk about why you liked (or
didn’t like) its structure/literary elements (things like first-or-third-person narrator, plot
structure, reoccurring images or symbols, tone, language) and why you liked (or didn’t like)
its content (things like characters, ideas/themes, plot events, settings). Be specific. 5 extra
points.