FINAL EXAM ESSAY QUESTIONS

Half of your final exam's 100 points will come from the essay question; the other half will come from your quotation identifications. 

QUOTATION IDENTIFICATIONS: I will provide ten quotations from items on the syllabus. For five of the quotations, will need to identify the author, title, and significance of the quotation: why it is reflective of the period, author, or issue presented in the text. Excessively long titles can be shortened to a smaller (But unique) title. Last name is all that is required. I strongly suggest that students memorize titles and authors by name. In addition, for similar authors (like the Puritans), being able to identify key stylistic and content topics will help distinguish them from each other on the exam. Beyond the five quotations you select from the ten to fully answer, you may also identify the author or title (without completing the significance section) of the remaining five for one point for each name and one point for each title additionally supplied.

ESSAY: You will need to prepare an essay exam prep card using the following specifications:

• The card may be no bigger than 5" x 8".
• Your name must appear in the upper right corner of the card (with a horizontal orientation so that the longest side is at top).
• A clear space at the top left corner should be left blank for stapling.
• Quotes are expected in the essay since you can prepare ahead of time. You are expected to record quotes on the card with page numbers, but each quote on the card needs to appear in the essay. Listing other quotes in an attempt to have the answers to the ID section is forbidden.
• You may not write out the essay on the card, but you may outline the key points. "OUTLINE" denotes key phrases, not complete sentences (or nearly complete sentences).
• You may not create a list of all the authors and their texts' titles for the semester.
• Failure to follow these directions will result in the card not being allowed during the exam.
• I will inspect the card before the exam starts. You may wish to show up early to get my approval.
• You may not use your book during the exam, so all the information you need.

You may choose from one of the following questions for your essay: 

1. Victorian Literature is noted for many concerns, but a high regard for questions of human dignity, be it domestic or colonial, particular in light of social, economic, and scientific change, often dominate the literature from this period. Using at least three text specifically from the Victorian Era, demonstrate that human dignity was, in fact, of significant artistic concern. What effect does each text seek to create?

2. Modernist literature represents a response to the collapse of faith in the social institutions that sustained human acceptance of one's lot in life. Using three writers from the period, traces some of these collapses and how each writer attempts (or fails) to find new ways of creating a structure to sustain the individual's sense of purpose.

3. Women's roles in society clearly resonate throughout the course, particularly in Wollstonecraft's writings. Using Wollstonecraft as the standard of judgment, comment on how three texts attempt to elevate or at least challenge the perception of women's roles in British society and indicate if you believe Wollstonecraft would feel that the writer had (or had not) met her expectations for the proper view of women.

4. Pick a specific writer from the course and identify a central theme in his or her work from the syllabus. Explicate how that theme is developed and comment on the effectiveness of the message he or she was trying to convey.