English
XI Mr. Benjamin Final Examination Review
Final
Exam--Tuesday, 27 May 2006, 9:00 a.m.,
Major
works/themes included on the exam:
T.S. Eliot The
Wasteland, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Be
familiar with wasteland imagery, themes of lost generation and ennui
Ernest
Hemingway Selected
short stories, including On The Quai at
Smyrna, Indian Camp, The Battler, A Very Short Story, Soldier’s Home, Big
Two-Hearted River, Parts I and II, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,
The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Hills Like White Elephants, A Clean, Well-lighted
Place.
Be
familiar with the “code hero,” grace under pressue, “wounded” men, other issues
of the lost generation, Hemingway’s style and the manipulation of syntax within
the stories, the role of women, birth, death, rebirth.
William Faulkner A Rose for Emily,
As I Lay Dying
Be
familiar with major characters and symbolic motifs. Themes of limitation of language, identity,
“aloneness” versus “love,” madness.
Review narrative technique, specifically the use of multiple character
point of view, interior monologue/stream of consciousness narration.
Be
familiar with plot details and major characters. Themes of illusion; desire vs. death; animal
vitality, madness. Review techniques
used to define characters (stage directions, costume, diction, etc).
Ken
Kesey One
Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Be
familiar with plot details and major characters. Issues of conformity, madness, repression,
self-actualization, size, finding one’s “voice.” Individual vs. society “the combine.” Biblical imagery in support of major themes.
Tim O’Brien The Things They Carried
Be familiar with plot details and major characters. Theme of “things” being carried emotionallly as well as physically. Story truth vs. happening truth. Courage vs. cowardice. Narrative techniques employed by O’Brien, including repetition, choice of diction, imagery.
Other themes/terms to be aware of:
Madness and sanity—what does it mean to be insane? Who decides what is sane or insane? What “advantages” are there for the madman or fool?
Women in Literature—consider the roles in which women have been depicted through the variety of works we have studied.
Use of language in storytelling—How does an individual author’s use of language and narrative technique contribute to the overall effect of the story? Is language sometimes unable to convey meaning?
Journey/return motif—Many characters journey from their homes, experience profound change on the journey, then return to tell us about their experience.
The Individual’s struggle to endure and, perhaps, prevail. Many characters face overwhelming odds against them but end up, somehow, not merely enduring their plight but somehow rising above it. Think of the “Happy Ending” question we wrote on.