sample questions from exams past
Note, especially, types of questions and directions given. Also: you will be expected to give titles, authors/directors, dates of publication/release for each of our texts.
Sample questions from 400 level courses on 20th century American texts.Texts [3 points each]: Below write FOR each of
Identify [3 points each]: Say concisely who or what each of the following is and identify the author OR the text or context in which it appeared.
1. Toussaint L'Ouverture
2. Nenny
3. Jody Starks
Define [4 points each]: Give a definition of each of the following words. Be sure your definition is the one most relevant to the way we used the term in class.
2. American Realism
4. miscegenation
5. James’s balloon
6. infer/imply [nb: there are TWO words here]
7. the 18th Amendment
8. anomaly
9. tableau vivant
10. suspension of disbelief
Brief answer [5 points each]: Answer the following questions briefly ( 1-2 sentences), making sure that you choose the most relevant of the possible ways to answer.
1. What is "playing the (dirty) dozens" and what is its significance in Hurston's novel?
3. All cultures seem to have a taboo on incest: what is one anthropological explanation for why all cultures have this in common? (hint: what does this taboo enable or enforce?)
9. Describe two strong female figures in The House on Mango Street , from two different stories or chapters. (It's o.k. if you don't remember their names; just be specific about why they are "strong").
12. To what film genre(s) does Mildred Pierce belong? (describe each and explain how/when they appear and how they work together in the film)
13. What is one way to read the way Tea Cake dies so that it "fits in" with an overall reading of the novel?
Short answer [7 points each]: These answers will be slightly longer (3-5 sentences) than the previous ones. These are not original essay questions; just report and/or summarize the class discussion/lecture material. Discuss the following quotations; be specific and give examples where appropriate.
2. "O.K., Bert. To hell with her!"
"Goddam it, that's what I want to hear! Come on, we got each other, haven't we? Let's get stinko."
"Yes--let's get stinko."
4. "Tom" was a bad baby, from the very beginning of his usurpation.
5. . . . for the first time he seemed to see before him the real Lily Bart, divested of the trivialities of her little world, and catching for a moment a note of that eternal harmony of which her beauty was a part.
6. We continued silent while the maid was with us--as silent, it whimsically occurred to me, as some young couple who, on their wedding journey, at the inn, feel shy in the presence of the waiter. He turned round only when the waiter had left us. "Well--so we're alone!"
8. Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.
Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.
C. The questions below are intended to inspire short (8-10 sentences) answers that will display the depth and breadth of your grasp of the course material. Use the backs of the pages to continue answers (number them clearly).
1. "Nor did he fail again to observe, or imagine, an analogy between the beautiful girl and the gorgeous shrub that hung its gemlike flowers over the fountain--a resemblance which Beatrice seemed to have indulged a fantastic humor in heightening, both by the arrangement of her dress and the selection of its hues." Discuss.
2. Discuss the relationship between Jerry and Stephanie in The Stepfather.
3. Who is the Beast in Double Indemnity? Explain.
4. Give a brief summary of the basic points in Freud's essay "A Special Type of Object Choice Made by Men."
5. Discuss the connections between Ripley and the Big Bug in the film Aliens.
6. Marlowe gets furious when he finds Carmen in his bed. Discuss.
7. Harvey Roy Greenberg ends his essay by asserting that Denham is the real beast of King Kong. Explain this remark and then agree or disagree with it.
8. Why does Spade hand Brigid over to the police?
9. What is John Marcher waiting for and does it arrive?
10. What is a Venn diagram and what makes it useful for the kinds of things we explored in this class?
11. Clips: Choose one. Write your choice down, and describe briefly what is happening in the scene. Discuss.
