WORLD LITERATURE II (ENG 252)

Exam 2

Dr. Diane Thompson, NVCC, ELI

Bring the following to the Testing Center of your choice:

Your Exam Pass (see left menu on Blackboard Forums page) and a photo ID
Your emplid
An outline, or notes for your essay (optional)
Printouts from WWW sources that you want to refer to in your exam
Your textbook or other print sources for stories that you want to discuss in your essay

You will write this exam in the Testing Center using the Blackboard testing system. There is no time limit, so be sure that you enter the Testing Center early enough to allow yourself as much time as you think you may need. An hour or two should be plenty. You may use a dictionary. Be sure to proofread your essay carefully before posting it to the Blackboard Exam Message Box. I will consider both the quality of the writing and the quality of the content when I grade your essay.

After you have completed the exam, it will be sent to ELI, where I will read it. I will mail your grade to you with my comments on your exam. Allow about one week for turnaround. You will not receive the exam back, nor will you be able to get back any papers you bring to the exam. I will keep a copy of your exam for one year, so you may refer to it if necessary.

This exam will ask you to select one of the groups below, or you may make up your own question. You must include at least one reading from either Unit 2 or Unit 3; you may use more. You may use background material from your  Activities in this essay. This material can include web site printouts, notes and outlines, but not the completed Activities. You may bring your textbook. The goal is to write an interesting essay that compares/ contrasts some issue, characters or theme from the readings you select for the exam.

Note: there may be questions on this page that are not on the exam in the Testing Center, but don't worry about that. Any question on this form, or any good question of your own that deals with the relevant material, is ok.

Possible topics might include:

Faust and Candide: Searching for "truth"
Faust, Hugo's "Et nox facta est," and Coleridge's Kubla Khan" -- Romantic fantasy, moral and otherwise.
Rousseau, Shelley, Keats, Heine and Hugo -- Romantic views of nature OR of human injustice. Select at least three poets for this group.
Keats' "La Belle Dame sans Merci" and Akinari's "Bewitched" -- two demon lovers.
Tartuffe and Hedda Gabler -- Women's roles in society
Six Characters in Search of an Author and Freud's "Dora" (not required reading, but in your textbook (1394-1447) -- modern psychology and the fragmentation of the person and reality, whatever that is.
Two or more women's stories from the textbook.
Faust, Rousseau, and other Romantic heroes -- here look for poets and  who present themselves as the heroic centers of their writings and lives.
Make up your own group of at least two works you have read this semester that have something interesting in common. Do not use both Tartuffe and Candide (you already did that). You may use either one with something else.

Remember--your essay should have a point to it, it should be able to answer a reader's question: SO WHAT? If you are not sure how to do this, see A.Taormina's instructions on "How to Write a Literary Comparison Essay," which is linked to our home page.

Select a group you have some interesting ideas about.

  • State your thesis at the start of your essay.
  • Develop your ideas into an essay of about 500 words.
  • Use plentiful, specific references to support your ideas.
  • Remember--your essay should have a point to it, it should be able to answer a reader's question: SO WHAT?

Contact me at Diane Thompson to discuss your plans for this exam before you take it; I can be helpful, and I'd like to talk with you about your ideas.

Plan to write about for about two hours; you may have longer if your wish. You should develop an essay of not less than five hundred words; it may be longer if you need to say more about your topic. You may bring notes and www printouts and/or paper articles to the testing center; the notes and articles will be stapled to your test and returned to me. You may also bring your textbook and course guide to the testing center. You may not bring a draft of the essay, or completed Activities. Be sure to support any statements you make with examples from the texts themselves. The purpose of this exam is to encourage you to demonstrate your own understanding and thinking about what you have read; there is no simple, single answer to any of these questions.

EXAM GRADING

Exam 2 is worth up to 150 points.

GRADING CRITERIA

You develop a topic of comparison/ contrast that is relevant to the readings you select.
You contact me and discuss your proposed topic before taking the exam.
You state your topic of comparison/ contrast in a clear and complete manner at the start of your essay.
You develop your ideas into a coherent essay of about 500 words.
You use plentiful, specific references to your selected readings to support your main points.
You make sure your essay has a point (e.g. an answer to the reader's question, SO WHAT?
You write your essay in clear, correct English.

 

(c) Diane Thompson: 11/14/1998; updated: 07/30/2007