How to Prepare for the Final Exam (2 hour exam)
The final is in the same format as the
mid-term, giving you a chance to practice and improve your skills. The final
exam is, however, longer and cumulative; therefore, the essay question requires
that you compare and contrast three novels (rather than two), giving
you the opportunity to organize what you have learned in a broader scope.
The final is designed to allow you to synthesize the topics and texts that
most interest you most into a fresh and original essay of your own creation,
demonstrating your skills of literary analysis and evaluation.
Texts
- My Antonia (1918)
- A Farewell to Arms (1929)
- An American Tragedy (1925)
- The Great Gatsby (1925)
- They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1935)
- Invisible Man (1952)
- In Cold Blood (1966)
- Fight Club (1999)
- Caramelo (2002)
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Part I: Ten Quotation Identifications and Short Answer Questions,
including one option
(5 points each)
• Novel Title, Author (spelled correctly), precise date
of publication = 1 point.
• The specific character or situation in the novel and
Significance=4 points.
Sample Quotation and Statement of Significance
Quotation: “Well, these books are all scientific . . . . This fellow
has worked out the whole thing. It's up to us who are the dominant race
to watch or these other races will have control of things . . . . The idea
is that we’re all Nordics . . . “ (17-18).
Significance:
- Tom Buchanan has been impressed a book on white supremacy.
- With Tom’s dialogue about this book, Fitzgerald establishes that Tom’s
(1) a racist, (2) that he is not too bright on the topic—therefore, his weak
intellect contrasts his powerful body and position in society,
- (3) that even in the boom years ethnic minorities are still on the
margins of American life and the American Dream;
- and (4) Fitzgerald also unknowingly foreshadows the Nazi fascist plan
to exterminate Jews and other “non-Nordics”;
- therefore, Tom is a fictional, American prototype of things to come
in 20th century history.
Tips: "Significance": make astute analytical observations about the
quote in context of the text itself,; and to earn, full credit, also make
astute comments about how the quote ties in with larger course and/or
American cultural themes and issues we have discussed in class. For
example, it might be relevant to identify and explain the "nonfiction novel"
as an innovation growing out of cultural contexts, or passages of untranslated
Spanish as also emerging out of a changing cultural context.
Option: Dreiser Quote: You have the option of skipping one of
the quotation identifications in Part I and substituting a quote selected
from Dreiser's An American Tragedy: Select any quote you wish,
but it must represent what you believe to be the worst Theodore Dreiser
sentence in the novel. Here is an example of the format you would
follow:
Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy 1925:
awful quote in block format . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (page number)
Significance:
- quote must be exact
- quote must be truly terrible and truly
Dreiser
- quote must be followed by page reference
in correct MLA in-text block citation format
- your statement of Significance must demonstrate
that you are knowledgable about the text and about Dreiser (his style, his
vision, and his contributions to America's house of fiction.
If there are several contenders on your finals, I will post the entries
and announce the winner on the course web site.
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Part II: Create an essay (in response to one the topics and directions provided).
(50 points)
Select three texts (at least one published before 1950 and
at least one published after 1950), and create an essay comparing and
contrasting your three texts, focusing on one of the following topics
:
- American ideas/ideals vs. realities that challenge those ideas,
such as racism and/or economic inequalities
- Representations of American institutions such as family and/or
justice and/or work
- American images of masculinity
- American images of femininity
- Representations of love and work
- Self-invention
- individualism vs. community
- American literature and multiculturalism, including the recent
globalization of American literature
Essay Tips:
- Organize your essay: create an introduction with a
clear thesis; develop body paragraphs with clear
main ideas about the topic; provide
transitions that tie your main ideas together.
- Always provide well chosen examples from
the texts to support your assertions.
- Create skillful analysis of
your main ideas and examples: avoid plot summary: summary is not analysis.
- Avoid generalizations: be specific about the texts.
- Avoid vague statements and ideas: write clearly and directly.
- Word choices: use accurate words
and use literary terms precisely.
- Create a thought provoking conclusion
that states the significance of the ideas you have developed in your essay
.
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Grading Standards for the Essay
• “A” indicates outstanding work—fresh, insightful, and
original in substance and writing.
• “B” goes beyond average, demonstrating skillful analysis
and writing.
• “C” indicates that you did the job—no more no less.
Remember that you have to do a lot of things right to “do the job.” A “C”
is a good grade--means "average for
an upper-level university literature class.
• “D” indicates that you very nearly did the job but
fell short in one or two areas.
• “F” indicates an inadequate or incomplete or off topic
response. A lengthy plot summary does not take the place of analysis
and will earn an “F.”
Grading Scale: (10=A, 9=A-/90, 8=B-/80).
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syllabus
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