Essay Exam #3
Instructions: Please answer ALL the questions below.
Due Date: December 2, 2013 1:00 p.m.
You will provide a HARD COPY (PRINTED COPY) when you arrive to class on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. If you have any questions call me or email me or come by my office hours on Tuesday.
For these Essay Exam questions please take into account the readings of the novels by Junot Diaz and Sandra Cisneros.
1. Discuss the differences between circles and cycles (spirals) when thinking about he coming of age. Considering "House on Mango Street" and "Brief Wondrous Life..." which characters (and I am NOT asking only for the main characters but consider various characters) fall into circles and which fall into cycles?
2. How are the characters "victims" of their surroundings? Discuss the elements of pop culture or lack of that may influence the characters?
3. Discuss the coming of age of at least three character of each novel (total of 6). When do you "see" their coming of age? How was the character before and how did they change?
4. Out of ALL the readings done in class so far...ALL the readings, which one was your favorite and why? Which has been you least favorite and why?
5. When do you believe was your coming of age? What has happened recently in your life that has marked your life until now? What did you believe about yourself before that no longer holds true? (You don't have to get into intimate details if you don't wish but really think about yourself for once. How has this class made you realize that your life is either a circle or a spiral?)
Instructions: Please answer ALL the questions below.
Due Date: December 2, 2013 1:00 p.m.
You will provide a HARD COPY (PRINTED COPY) when you arrive to class on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. If you have any questions call me or email me or come by my office hours on Tuesday.
For these Essay Exam questions please take into account the readings of the novels by Junot Diaz and Sandra Cisneros.
1. Discuss the differences between circles and cycles (spirals) when thinking about he coming of age. Considering "House on Mango Street" and "Brief Wondrous Life..." which characters (and I am NOT asking only for the main characters but consider various characters) fall into circles and which fall into cycles?
2. How are the characters "victims" of their surroundings? Discuss the elements of pop culture or lack of that may influence the characters?
3. Discuss the coming of age of at least three character of each novel (total of 6). When do you "see" their coming of age? How was the character before and how did they change?
4. Out of ALL the readings done in class so far...ALL the readings, which one was your favorite and why? Which has been you least favorite and why?
5. When do you believe was your coming of age? What has happened recently in your life that has marked your life until now? What did you believe about yourself before that no longer holds true? (You don't have to get into intimate details if you don't wish but really think about yourself for once. How has this class made you realize that your life is either a circle or a spiral?)
Essay Exam #2
Instructions: Please answer ALL the questions below.
Due Date: November 5, 2013 1:00 p.m.
You will provide a HARD COPY (PRINTED COPY) when you arrive to class on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. If you have any questions call me or email me or come by my office hours on Tuesday.
1. How is the coming age in a colonial setting portrayed in Miguel Street?
2. How is the main character from Miguel Street’ coming of age, considering gender, different from or similar to Heathcliff’s transformation?
3. Choose at least 5 different characters from Miguel Street that influence the main character’s coming of age. Provide specific examples from the text to prove your point.
4. How are cycles important or not in the coming of age in the development of the main character in “Miguel Street”?
5. How is water a sign of coming of age and important in the novels “Annie John” and “Miguel Street”? Point out those instances in your answer with chapter and incident which water is involved.
6. How is Annie John, as a character, different in her coming of age from anything we’ve read so far? (Examples of previous readings/films could prove to be beneficial for you here)
7. Point out and provide example of at least 6 indicators that prove or demonstrate how Annie John came into her new identity as a “young adult”.
8. How does colonialism hinder or aid the coming of age in “Annie John”? (You can choose whatever stance you wish as long as you prove your point with examples from the text and mix it in with your personal opinion.)
Instructions: Please answer ALL the questions below.
Due Date: November 5, 2013 1:00 p.m.
You will provide a HARD COPY (PRINTED COPY) when you arrive to class on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. If you have any questions call me or email me or come by my office hours on Tuesday.
1. How is the coming age in a colonial setting portrayed in Miguel Street?
2. How is the main character from Miguel Street’ coming of age, considering gender, different from or similar to Heathcliff’s transformation?
3. Choose at least 5 different characters from Miguel Street that influence the main character’s coming of age. Provide specific examples from the text to prove your point.
4. How are cycles important or not in the coming of age in the development of the main character in “Miguel Street”?
5. How is water a sign of coming of age and important in the novels “Annie John” and “Miguel Street”? Point out those instances in your answer with chapter and incident which water is involved.
6. How is Annie John, as a character, different in her coming of age from anything we’ve read so far? (Examples of previous readings/films could prove to be beneficial for you here)
7. Point out and provide example of at least 6 indicators that prove or demonstrate how Annie John came into her new identity as a “young adult”.
8. How does colonialism hinder or aid the coming of age in “Annie John”? (You can choose whatever stance you wish as long as you prove your point with examples from the text and mix it in with your personal opinion.)
Essay Test #1
Instructions: Please answer ALL the questions below.
DUE DATE: Tuesday October 15, 2013 1:00 pm.
You will give me a HARD COPY (PRINTED COPY) when you arrive to class on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m.
QUESTIONS??? Call me or email me or see me on Tuesday during my office hours.
1. We've watched 3 films so far in class: "Jane Eyre", "Wide Sargasso Sea" and "Wuthering Heights". Discuss how class, race AND gender influences the coming of age of the main characters in each film? Do you believe that history and setting plays a major role in the coming of age? (Why or why not?) What are those turning points you observed in each? Why do you consider them key points in their coming of age?
2. Discuss the parallels between Jane Eyre and Antoinette (the crazy woman in the attic and in Wide Sargasso Sea). Looking at Rochester as a CHARACTER and not as an ACTOR, how does he come of age in each film.
3. Discuss the elements of coming of age in the following poem. Why is it a poem of the coming of age? What are the hints or evidence that males your point? What is this poem about?
The Sin of Omission
by Margaret E. Sangster
It isn't the thing you do, dear,
Its the thing you leave undone
That gives you a bit of a heartache
At setting of the sun.
The tender work forgotten,
The letter you did not write,
The flowers you did not send, dear,
Are your haunting ghosts at night.
The stone you might have lifted
Out of a brother's way;
The bit of heartsome counsel
You were hurried too much to say;
The loving touch of the hand, dear,
The gentle, winning tone
Which you had no time nor thought for
With troubles enough of your own.
Thoes little acts of kindness
So easily out of mind,
Those chances to be angels
Which we poor mortals find~
They come in night and silence,
Each sad, reproachful wraith,
When hope is faint and flagging,
And a chill has fallen on faith.
For life is all too short, dear,
And sorrow is all to great,
To suffer our slow compassion
That tarries until too late:
And it isn't the thing you do, dear,
It's the thing you leave undone
Which gives you a bit of heartache
At the setting of the sun.
4. At the beginning of the semester we read: "Girl", "Eleven" and " "How to Date a Brownie...". Which one do you believe had the elements of coming of age most clear? Why? What was so clear to you that probably wasn't as clear in the films?
5. Write briefly what you have learned from the class discussions and readings so far? What has been interesting or new to you? Which film has impacted you the most and why?
2. Discuss the parallels between Jane Eyre and Antoinette (the crazy woman in the attic and in Wide Sargasso Sea). Looking at Rochester as a CHARACTER and not as an ACTOR, how does he come of age in each film.
3. Discuss the elements of coming of age in the following poem. Why is it a poem of the coming of age? What are the hints or evidence that males your point? What is this poem about?
The Sin of Omission
by Margaret E. Sangster
It isn't the thing you do, dear,
Its the thing you leave undone
That gives you a bit of a heartache
At setting of the sun.
The tender work forgotten,
The letter you did not write,
The flowers you did not send, dear,
Are your haunting ghosts at night.
The stone you might have lifted
Out of a brother's way;
The bit of heartsome counsel
You were hurried too much to say;
The loving touch of the hand, dear,
The gentle, winning tone
Which you had no time nor thought for
With troubles enough of your own.
Thoes little acts of kindness
So easily out of mind,
Those chances to be angels
Which we poor mortals find~
They come in night and silence,
Each sad, reproachful wraith,
When hope is faint and flagging,
And a chill has fallen on faith.
For life is all too short, dear,
And sorrow is all to great,
To suffer our slow compassion
That tarries until too late:
And it isn't the thing you do, dear,
It's the thing you leave undone
Which gives you a bit of heartache
At the setting of the sun.
4. At the beginning of the semester we read: "Girl", "Eleven" and " "How to Date a Brownie...". Which one do you believe had the elements of coming of age most clear? Why? What was so clear to you that probably wasn't as clear in the films?
5. Write briefly what you have learned from the class discussions and readings so far? What has been interesting or new to you? Which film has impacted you the most and why?