Take-home
Midterm Exam
Modern/Postmodern
English Literature
This test is also a
test of the depth as well as the scope of your knowledge in the
texts. Think carefully before you answer the questions.
Illustrate your answers with specific examples from texts.
Choose four from the following and
answer each with a well-developed essay that includes a thesis
statement and topic sentences. Keep the given sequence.
1. First,
discuss the conjugal relationship between Susan and Matthew
Rawlings and show how the modern marriage is presented in ¡§To
Room Nineteen.¡¨ Then,
discuss the motif of Susan's journey in the story and show how
it leads Susan's death. Could you suggest any way out for Susan?
2. In
what way does "Rocking-Horse Winner" call forth the
pity and fear of the reader? How is the tragedy caused?
3. What
is the "Waste Land" Eliot describes?
What other kinds of physical settings does Eliot use?
How do they influence the messages of his poems?
4. Why
is Eliot so fascinated with death imagery?
What does the recurring imagery of drowning symbolize?
5. In
Mrs. Dalloway although the characters are continually
criticizing each other, there may exist a strong bond between
women in spite of differences and hostility. For instance,
Clarissa acclaims her love with Sally for its ¡¥purity¡¦ and
¡¥integrity,¡¦ which are impossible in a relationship with a
man, which always becomes domination by the latter. Bonds with
men, especially their culmination in marriage, are a menace to
the freedom of women. Take another example from the old woman
opposite Clarissa¡¦s window. The old woman is a mirror image of
herself in her attic, a symbol of both independence and
isolation in patriarchal society. With ¡¥a room of her own¡¦,
she lives up to the demands of Woolf¡¦s major feminist tract.
Even between Clarissa and Miss Kilman there is a bond.
Comment on the women¡¦s comradeship in Mrs. Dalloway.
6. Many
critics describe Septimus as Clarissa's doppelganger, the
alternate persona, the darker, more internal personality
compared to Clarissa's very social and singular outlook.
What¡¦s your opinion?
Discuss and comment. |