Posted: February 4th, 2015

Choose four (4) of the following five (5) questions and provide complete written answers within the established word limit.

Paper, Order, or Assignment Requirements

Final Exam:
Due: Tuesday, December 9th (by 5:00 PM)
NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED!!!

Instructions: Choose four (4) of the following five (5) questions and provide complete written answers within the established word limit. Answers that fail to adhere to the word count (long or short) will receive significant penalty! Read both the question and the instructions that follow. Your answer should provide a complete answer to the question and must address the topics or elements listed in the question. Please refer to the Exam Formatting Template (posted on ANGEL) for specific instructions concerning how your finished exam should look.

*A Note on References:
In the instructions below you will note that I have listed a set of references pertaining to each question. I expect that each of those texts will find their way into your answer. You may quote or paraphrase from them if necessary; you may also simply refer to or talk about them. When you do so, be sure to completely name the work and be specific about the meaning you are seeking to ascribe to it. If you do directly quote from the text, do so concisely and with purpose. Excessive quotation will constitute grounds for a significant reduction in the grade!

1. Given our readings and discussion of the writings of John Steinbeck and Richard Wright, discuss how these express a pessimistic or disillusioned revision of classic American myths (Westward Expansion and Slave Narrative)?
• Length: 450-550 words
• References: John Steinbeck “The Leader of the People”
Richard Wright “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”
• Secondary References (Optional):
William Cullen Bryant: “The Prairies”
Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (excerpt)

2. Given our readings and discussion of Naturalism and Modernism, how does Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” present nature and what advice does London provide for human survival within nature? How might London’s perspectives and ideas fit within the context of a modernizing American society?
• Length: 450-550 words
• References: Jack London: “To Build a Fire”

3. Given our reading and discussion of Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur and Thomas Pynchon’s “Entropy” how might we see both stories as reflective of the American counter-culture and that culture’s response to the uniformity of life in post-war America?
• Length: 450-550 words
• References: Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur
Thomas Pynchon’s “Entropy”
Film: God in America Episode 5 “Soul of the Nation”

4. Given your viewing of the Ken Burns documentary New York Episode 7: “A City of Tomorrow” and your reading of John Updike’s “Separating” how does Updike’s story represent a loss of faith in Robert Moses’s vision of the modern city and its model of suburban life.
• Length: 450-550 words
• References: New York Episode 7: “A City of Tomorrow”
John Updike: “Separating”

5. Given your viewing of the We Shall Remain Episode 5: “Wounded Knee” and Maxine Hong Kingston’s “No Name Woman,” how might we compare the experience of immigration (identity confusion, cultural difference, issues of assimilation) with that of the modern native Americans depicted in the documentary.
• Length: 450-550 words
• References: We Shall Remain Episode 5: “Wounded Knee”
Maxine Hong Kingston’s “No Name Woman,”