English 11: Final Exam Preparation
Name: ______________________________
Final Exam Study Guide
All questions will be in multiple-choice or true-false format. There will be 60 total questions divided into three parts.
Part One will serves as an overview of our entire course of study – the major periods of American Literature that we
studied throughout the year. Part Two will focus on our major readings from this past semester, Huck Finn and Gatsby.
Part Three tests your knowledge of literary devices and your ability to comprehend and analyze a text on your own.
Part One: American Literature Overview (20 Questions)
Sample types of questions:
1. “Name that Period” – These questions will offer you a central idea, work of literature, author, etc. from a
specific period of American literature and ask that you identify where it belongs in literary history.
2. “Identify the Ideology” – These questions will give you a period/movement in American Literary history and
several options for ideas that might belong to it. Your task is to identify the idea that matches with the
movement.
3. “Order the Periods” – Know which movement preceded and followed the others and/or connect a literary
period with its historical context
You ought to know:
1. The historical context of each period and things that were happening in history that affected the literature of the
time
2. The major writers associated with each period that we covered in class throughout the year
3. The “big ideas” and focus for writers during that period
American Literary Periods – Review these to best prepare for Part One of the exam:
- Age of Faith (Colonial/Puritan Period)
o Historical/Cultural Context:
o Principles of Ideology/Worldview:
o Important Authors:
o Type of Literature Produced/Style/Genres:
o Important Works:
- Age of Reason (Revolutionary Period)
o Historical/Cultural Context:
o Principles of Ideology/Worldview:
o Important Authors:
o Type of Literature Produced/Style/Genres:
o Important Works:
- Romanticism and Transcendentalism
o Historical/Cultural Context:
o Principles of Ideology/Worldview:
o Important Authors:
o Type of Literature Produced/Style/Genres:
o Important Works:
- Realism and Regionalism
o Historical/Cultural Context:
o Principles of Ideology/Worldview:
o Important Authors:
o Type of Literature Produced:
o Important Works:
- Modernism
o Historical/Cultural Context:
o Principles of Ideology/Worldview:
o Important Authors:
o Type of Literature Produced/Style/Genres:
o Important Works:
Part Two: Second Semester Focus (15 Questions)
Realism and Regionalism
- Mark Twain and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Modernism
- F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby
Sample types of questions:
1. Identifying characters – Characteristics, relationships, major ideas, connections to themes
Ones to Know – Huck Finn: Huck, Jim, Tom, Pap, King, Duke, Widow Douglass, Miss Watson, Grangerfords &
Shepherdsons, Colonel Sherburn, the Wilks family
Ones to Know – Gatsby: Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker, Jay Gatsby, Myrtle
Wilson, Tom Wilson
2. Connecting quotes to themes – A character’s line will be quoted to you. Connect it with a major theme/idea it
represents in the story.
3. Connecting symbols to themes
Ones to Know – Huck Finn: River, Raft, certain characters
Ones to Know – Gatsby: Green light, The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleberg, colors, geography, alcohol
You ought to know:
For Huck Finn, be able to…
 Explain how Huck Finn’s views of morality changes in the novel. How does this relate to the theme? Think of
specific examples from the novel. Explain the moral confusion and/or hypocrisy in the novel and give examples.
 Discuss Huck’s relationship with Jim. What is the purpose of this relationship and how is it important to the
theme? Think of specific examples from the novel.
 Compare and contrast Tom’s and Huck’s characters. How is Tom a foil for Huck? Describe their relationship
and how these differences/similarities are important to the theme of the story.
 Consider Twain’s use of irony and satire. There are several ironic situations. Give examples from the novel and
explain their importance to the plot and theme. Consider what Twain was satirizing through his novel.
For Gatsby, be able to…
 Discuss the importance of the setting upon the story told in The Great Gatsby (1920’s, New York City)
 Consider the relationships between the central characters in the story (love triangles, friendships, affairs;
deception and trust; personal histories; etc.) and their bearing on the events
 Characterize Jay Gatsby and discuss his development over the course of the novel (mystery and rumors, love
and obsession, death and tragedy)
 Analyze Fitzgerald’s style and its impact on the story telling (imagery, diction, lyrical quality, etc.). Demonstrate
and ability to understand his language and narration.
Part Three: Reading Skills – Comprehension and Analysis (25 Questions)
Literary Devices
o Symbolism
o Characterization and
o Theme
Character Development
o Setting
o Figurative Language
o Irony – Verbal, Dramatic,
o Imagery
Situational
o Conflict
o Character – Antagonist,
o Resolution/Denouement
Protagonist
o Tone
o
o
o
o
o
o
Mood
Personification
Point of View
Metaphor
Allusion
Allegory
Sample types of questions:
1. Defining Terms – You’re given a term. You’ll select from several options the best way to define it.
2. Identifying Devices – You’re given a brief passage. Identify what device is being utilized in that passage.
You ought to know:
Definitions for each of these major literary devices and distinctions between similar devices (ex. Tone and
Mood; the three “Ironies). Find examples of each in readings if you’re unfamiliar or forget a certain device.
Short Story Analysis – “Warm Readings”
You may have heard of a “Cold Reading,” which means a reading that you’ve never seen before. Many literature exams
will give you a “cold reading” and then ask you to analyze it on the spot. This exam, you’ll be given two readings in
advance, but you won’t be coached through the reading by your teacher. Thus, it’s not “cold,” and not “hot,” but
WARM. You’ll be able to read the stories in their entirety and complete your own analysis a week in advance of the
exam. The questions you will be asked may be text-based (you’ll have your copy with you) or more general in nature.
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Short Story 1: Charlotte Perkins Gillman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
o Example of Realism Period
o Gilman's best known short story, presented as a series of diary entries written by a woman whose
husband, a doctor, confines her to the upstairs bedroom of the house they are renting for the summer
after she suffers what her husband calls a "temporary nervous depression.” An indictment of the 19th
century medical profession's treatment of women, the story also explores one woman's apparent
descent into madness as her life is circumscribed by her husband and by society.
Short Story 2: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams”
o Example of Modernism Period
o You’re already familiar with Fitzgerald. Like The Great Gatsby, "Winter Dreams" sketches a
disillusioned view of the American search for wealth and its horrible effect on relationships. But what
exactly is that view, and what makes the American search for wealth so terrible? Fun fact: after "Winter
Dreams" first appeared in Metropolitan magazine in September of 1922, Fitzgerald reworked both the
overall plot of the story and some of its passages into his most famous novel, The Great Gatsby (1925),
which is why they bear such remarkable similarity.
Sample types of questions:
1. Ones which focus on basic Comprehension: Identify and understand characters and character development;
identify key elements of the plot and conflict; recall events; identify relationships; understand unfamiliar words
based on their context
2. Ones which focus on Analysis: Consider the use of literary devices at work in the story; identify possible themes
and symbols; critique the relationships between certain characters; detect relationships between these texts and
those you’ve read before
You ought to know:
- Main characters and if/how they develop over the course of the story
- Significant relationships between characters
- Main plot points (inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution)
- Points/examples of irony in each of the story
- Setting(s) for each story and how they affect the action
- Mood and tone present in stories
- Possible symbols (people, places, objects, ideas, etc.) and themes (main ideas) for each story