Eng 104 (Winter 08)
Instructor A. Lee
FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE
Remember that these focus points are suggestive and partial, not exhaustive. What follows is
to give you a better idea of what kinds of themes to keep in mind as you prepare for the final
exam—but it is up to you to formulate your own analysis of issues at hand. You will be tested
on your ability to integrate our course readings with your own ideas that demonstrate your
enhanced critical thinking and writing skills. You will not be tested on how well you memorize
and regurgitate information, but rather on your ability to generate an insightful and critical essay
based on many topics of cultural studies that we have discussed thus far. You will be given two
open-ended questions to choose from, which will allow you to approach the topic in multiple
ways. Be prepared to write a critical, thought-provoking, and illuminating prose with minimal
grammatical/mechanical errors. I suggest you to write several draft paragraphs as you prepare,
as this will give you much more confidence and knowledge of the topic(s) at hand. Final exam
will take place in class on Mar. 19th Wed from 9:10-11:10 am and is worth 15% of your final
grade. Bluebooks are required.
1. Diana Eck, “Afraid of Ourselves” (693)
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Examples of binary oppositions: Christian vs. Pagan/Muslim, Us vs. Them, External vs.
Internal, Body vs. Thought, Absence vs. Presence--among many others
How does Eck transcend such boundaries?
“We are black and white and all the hues of Asia from Korea and Japan to Southeast Asia
and South Asia. We are Latino and Hispanic. And we are increasingly multiracial as Latino
and Euro-American, Native and African American, Asian and Latino become the
components of our own racial mestizaje” (695).
Her definition of stereotypes: “pictures in our heads,” the sketchy and distorted images
created by one group to describe, label, and caricature another. These pictures, shaped by
media, reading, and hearsay, inevitably yield images that don’t match the human being”
(698).
“People known through stereotypes do not have the opportunity to tell us who they are. We
define them in their absence, on the basis of the images already present in our minds”
(699).
Other themes to consider: Visible differences, Stereotypes, hate crimes, court cases,
examples of the relationship between state and religion.
2. Shelby Steele, “I’m Black, You’re White. Who’s Innocent?” (530)
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Examples of binary oppositions: Black vs. White, Innocent vs. Victim, Innocence vs. Guilt,
Self vs. Other, Bargainer vs. Challenger--among many others.
Does Steele believe that this power struggle between blacks and whites can be resolved?
If so, how? How can we dismantle this system of oppression for both groups?
“Race is a separate reality in American society, an entity that carries its own potential for
power, a mark of fate that class can soften considerably but not eradicate” (532).
“Your difference from me makes you bad, and your badness justifies, even demands, my
pursuit of power over you- the oldest formula for aggression known to man” (532).
“To be innocent someone else must be guilty—Power defines their relations?” (533).
Other themes to consider: “Black power formula,” difference between bargainer and
challenger, significance of The Cosby Show, etc.
3. Carmen Vazquez, “Appearances” (472)
Eng 104 (Winter 08)
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Instructor A. Lee
Think about the boundary between heterosexuality/homosexuality in our society. How is
this boundary socially, culturally, and politically constructed?
According to Vazquez, why is this division not always so crystal clear? In other words, what
may blur the distinctions between the two groups?
What does she mean by “gender betrayal” (para. 16)? How might advertising influence this
occurrence? Try to make connections to Jean Kilbourne’s reading.
Why does the author argue that homophobia affects all of us, and not just the gay
community? Do you agree or disagree? How so?
4. Aurora Levins Morales, “Child of the Americas” (609)
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Examples of binary oppositions: American vs. Native/Immigrant, Body vs. Language,
History vs. Present, Latin vs. America
Pay attention to key words like “diaspora,” “crossroads,” “spanglish” and “Latinoamerica”-What do these words tell us about immigrant experience?
“I’m new. History made me. My first language was spanglish. I was born at the crossroads
and I am whole”
5. Paul L. Wachtel, “Talking About Racism: How Our Dialogue Gets Short-Circuted” (541)
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Examples of Binary Oppositions: Racism vs. Prejudice, Majority vs. Minority, Black vs.
White, Individual vs. Institutional, Self vs. Other, etc.
“[t]he word racist has been bandied about so much that for some people it has lost its
impact, lost its power to shock, to evoke guilt or revulsion. A term that once referred to the
most deplorable and shameful of traits and actions has been extended to include virtually
universal human characteristics and to include within its purview practically everyone in our
society”
“Racism is a strong word (or at least it was a strong word), and it should remain one” (Pg.
545)
Other important themes to consider: “The Paradoxes of Guilt”- Explore the complexity of the
feeling “guilt”; “Institutional Racism”- How has the discourse of racism been
institutionalized? Provide Examples.
Myth of Racial Equality, “Otherness”, indifference
“The real crime of which white America is now most guilty is not racism. It is indifference.
Understanding the difference between the two is a crucial step in liberating ourselves from
the sterile and unproductive impasse that has characterized the dialogue on racial relations
in recent years” (553).
6. Sherman Alexie, “Assimilation” (584)
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Examples of Binary Oppositions: External vs. Internal Reality, Body vs. Mind, Shakespeare
vs. Sitting Bull, White vs. Indian, Coeur d’Alene vs. American, Mary Lynn vs. Jerry,
Daughters vs. Sons, Past vs. Present, etc.
Think about how stream-of-consciousness is used throughout this short story. How does
this affect the overall narrative? What does this tell you about external and internal reality?
“[a]nd now race has become the Frankenstein monster that has grown beyond our control”
(593).
“We should have another kid, she’d said to Jeremiah, so we’ll know if this is a white family
or an Indian family. It’s a family family, he’d said, without a trace of humor” (593).
Eng 104 (Winter 08)
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Instructor A. Lee
Mary Lynn’s misunderstanding, negotiation, and resolution of her internal conflicts
7. Diana Kendall, “Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption”
(334)
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Different types of media framing and its examples
Media’s ways of simplifying, generalizing, trivializing reality
Consensus framing, admiration framing, emulation framing, thematic framing, caricature
framing, etc.
Vicarious living and its consequences- hedonism, kiddy consumerism, etc.
Media and its relationship to societal notions of gender, sex, identity, race, and equality (the
status quo)
Possible solutions? Kendall’s notion of the first, second, and third place.
“To the viewer, the product is the programming. To the television executive, the product is
the audience” (346).
8. Maysan Haydar, “Veiled Intentions: Don’t Judge a Muslim Girl by Her Covering” (402)
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Binary Oppositions: Veil vs. Non-veil, Muslim women vs. American women, Ethnic and
cultural hybridity, Body vs. Mind, External vs. Internal
“As an adult, I embrace the veil’s modesty, which allows me to be seen as a whole person
instead of a twenty-piece chicken dinner. In spite of the seeming contradictions of my lifeI’m married to a white man who was raised Catholic, I love heavy metal, I consider myself a
feminist, and I sport a few well-disguised piercings” (403).
Think about the different contradictions in her life and investigate how she negotiates and/or
transcends them.
9. Evan Wolfson, “What is Marriage?” (98)
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Binary Oppositions: Heterosexual vs. Homosexual, Marriage vs. Love, State vs. Religion,
Marriage vs. Marriage(s)
Universality of marriage; Cultural differences of marriage; Significance of his characters like
Maureen and Cindy, Alicia and Saundra, and Tony and Thomas.
Difference between marriage and marriages
Think about the different ways Wolfson defines marriage.
“In fact, marriage has historically been a battlefield, the site of collisions within and between
governments and religions over who should regulate it” (101).
“America tells its children that the dream of ‘first comes love, then comes marriage’ is not
for you if you’re gay” (108).
“I didn’t fit into, when, in fact, the love and commitment marriage signifies were perfectly
appropriate dreams for me. It was exclusion, rejection, and the denial of the freedom to
marry that were and are unnecessary, harsh, harmful, and wrong” (109).
10. Judith Ortiz Cofer, “The Story of My Body” (393)
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Standard of Beauty in America vs. Latin America, leche con café vs. café con leche,
Gender roles, objectification of the body
Pay attention to her narrative structure that is divided thematically rather than
chronologically (Skin, Color, Size, Looks)
Eng 104 (Winter 08)
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Instructor A. Lee
“My skin color, my size, and my appearance were variables- things that were judged
according to my current self-image, the aesthetic values of the time, the places I was in,
and the people I met. My studies, later my writing, the respect of people who saw me as an
individual person they cared about, these were the criteria for my sense of self-worth that I
would concentrate on in my adult life” (401).
11. Ruben Martinez, “The Crossing” (574)
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What is the significance of the “line” in this story? (Think of the line in terms of the actual
border and also as an invisible boundary between North and South, as well as American
and immigrant)
The paradox of the line
Why do some people believe that there is “no law in the South” and “no past in the North”?
(575)
“Every step across the line is a breach of one code or another. Some of these laws are on
the books; some have never been written down; some are matters more private than public”
“I’ve been drawn to that line my whole life. Sometimes it’s a metaphor. Sometimes it’s not”
(576) What does he mean by these passages?
Think about the dilemma he faces on the line with Victor. Was his decision lawful? Ethical?
Moral? Or something different altogether?
“I tell myself I did the right thing. I tell myself I did the wrong thing. I tell myself that every
decision on the line is like that, somewhere in between” (583)
What is Martinez’ ethnicity? Is it hybrid (mixed)?
12. Virginia Woolf, An Excerpt from “A Room of One’s Own” (Handout)
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How does this idea of androgyny (having both male/female characteristics) relate to the
dichotomy of men/women? Does it dismantle or maintain it? How so?
What is the significance of the letter “I”? Why is the woman in the “shadow of the letter ‘I’?
Pay attention to her choice of words such as shadow, “shapeless mist,” “flood of his views”
and think about its significance to her story.
What does she mean by Shakespeare’s sister?
What is the difference between feminist writing and female writing?
“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt, that you can set
upon the freedom of my mind”
13. David Kupelian, “Killer Culture” (646)
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His arguments against MTV and other special interest groups.
The crucial distinction between mainstream culture and subculture
Hallmarks of America’s “Killer Culture” according to the author
His depiction of the “mook” and “midriff” and its significance in relation to the topics covered
in class
Connections between Kupelian’s arguments with other authors like Moore, Gatto,
Kilbourne, etc. about the influence of contemporary corporate culture on American children
** You can use readings from the first half of the quarter as necessarily, as long as the
connections are concrete, specific, and clear.