World Literatures in English
Final Exam, Fall 2002

Part II
Choose 2 from the following questions and write for each an essay of at least 4 paragraphs.

II. Mapping 2. Relate these different worlds and their "in-between" worlds. 

A. Colonization, Systems of Inequality and Post-Colonial Resistance

a. Colonization and Gender--
1) How is colonial mentality (its inner lack and its need for the Other) analyzed and presented in terms of gender relations in two of the following three texts? -¡§Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain Consummate Their Relationship¡¨; Foe, Wide Sargasso Sea.

2) Analyze the different roles the white masters (including both Creoles and Afrikans) play in three of the following text: Sugar Cane Alley, Wide Sargasso Sea, the hunting episode in Abeng, Cry Freedom and "Six Feet of the Country"

b. Systems of Inequality in colonial society--

3) Use two examples from below to a) analyze how women can be doubly victimized in gender and racial hierarchy in a (post-)colonial society; b) and compare their different responses to the experiences of victimization. Earth, Salaam Bombay, Wide Sargasso Sea, Abeng (exerpt), "Amnesty" and "Children of the Sea."

4) How is social hierarchy presented in the following texts? Explain their differences in terms of their social contexts. "Gainda," "The Day of the Riots" and "Bright Thursday."

c. Post-colonial Resistance:

5) Do Foe and Wide Sargasso Sea respectively allow their protagonist (e.g. Friday, Susan Barton, Chrisophine and Antoinette) chances of resisting domination and colonial power? Explain how and why. (It would be great if you could also discuss the novelists' re-vision of colonial texts.)

II. Children's Growth and Gender Relationships in (Post-)Colonial society

5) How are children (their education, gendering process and/or family relations) affected in a colonial or post-colonial society (e.g.  Wide Sargasso Sea, Salaam Bombay, Sugar Cane Alley, The Hunting episode in Abeng, Annie John, ¡§Bright Thursday," ¡§The Prophetess,¡¨ ¡§The Music of the Violin,¡¨ etc.)?  Choose two to analyze and compare. (Generally, children are the most  unaware of and thus vulnerable to the social prejudices and control.  How do these children deal with the unequal and unfair views and treatment of them?  Do they assert themselves, or withdraw into a corner of fear and self-protection? If they assert themselves, how do they do so?)

6) Discuss the theme of mother-daughter relationship in three of the texts we have studied.  (e.g. "Her Mother," "Bright Thursdays,"  Wide Sargasso Sea and Annie John.) (How does the mother teaches the daughter?  If the mother-daughter relationship gets broken, what are the reasons?   How does the daughter establish her sense of identity in relation to the mother?)

C. Immigrants' Relation to their Host Nation and/or Motherland

8). In our readings, we see several characters leaving their countries of origin or returning to them later on (e.g. Antoinette, Annie John, Leung in Happy Together, "Management of Grief"). These (about-to-be) emigrants express different views of their Motherland and cultural identity through their views of the place, their parents and/or the local customs. Please analyze two of these different views to show their different sense of belongingness and identity.

Good luck!