SPECIAL POST-MIDTERM REVIEW

As I pondered our review for your midterm, I decided to delete the question about exile and have replaced it with question 2 below.  I think this actual (past exam) question gives you more to discuss in your essay.

You may use your book for your exam.  Come in prepared with outlines/quotes marked for the following two essay questions.  Only one essay question will be on the exam.  You will turn in your outline and notes for the other prompt:

1.  The chi or personal spirit is a recurring theme in the novel, TFA, a spiritual belief important to understanding the main character Okonkwo.  Review the discussion of the chi in the novel.  Interpret this proverb, spoken of Okonkwo:  "When a man says yes his chi says yes also."  Trace further references in the novel to the chi.  What role does Okonkwo's chi play in shaping his destiny?  Note, however, that "the Ibo people did not believe that a man's chi controlled his entire destiny."

Prompt:  In a well written essay, identify the "role of the chi" in Okonkwo's destiny.  Your essay should answer the question~ Does Okonkwo decide his own fate, or is he a victim of fate?

2.   Many works of literature deal with political or social issues. Choose a novel or play that focuses on a political or social issue. In Things Fall Apart, the social issue is colonization or imperialism.  For this question, consider deeply the last paragraph of the novel.  This question speaks to Achebe's purpose in writing the novel~to dispel the paternalistic view of the African people.  Then write an essay in which you analyze how the author uses literary elements to explore this issue and explain how the issue contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

Short Answer Questions:  You may still use embedded quotations marked in your novel.

1.  Compare the missionary style of Mr. Smith and Reverend Smith.  Argue for the more effective style of winning people to Christ.  This does not have to be a full essay.  Write either two or three paragraphs defending your position.

2.  Compare the Anglo Saxon Hero Beowulf with the Tragic Hero Okonkwo. (two solid paragraphs)

Definition of a Tragic Hero:  Such heroes are mixed characters, neither thoroughly good or thoroughly evil, yet "better" or "greater" than the rest of us are in the sense that they are higher than ordinary moral worth and social significance.  The plot of tragedy traces the tragic fall of the hero, when a disastrous change of fortune, or reversal, catapults him from the heights of happiness to the depths of misery.  This fall usually comes as a consequence of a tragic flaw in the hero's character and/or an error of judgment, although the fall may also be a product of the hero's pre-ordained destiny or fate."   

Matching:  Details of the epic Beowulf.  You will have seen these questions before the exam on reading quizzes and classroom discussion.  Think:  numbers, kennings, names.

For Monday, December 16

Write a 50 minutes timed essay for homework.

Hints for essay writing.

1. Annotate the prompt carefully.  I will grade your annotations.  (Make sure you are actually answering the prompt.)
2. Start with your thesis; leave room for coming back to an introduction later.
3. Jot down a rough outline-thesis plus topic sentences
4. Remember:  It is your job to show how an author accomplishes his purposes.  This means your thesis must speak to the author's purpose.  You are writing about THE WRITING.
5. Stay organized with topic sentences that refer to your thesis
6. Do not forget the quotation sandwich format=use embedded quotations
7. Write in your own voice; do not use big words for the sake of using big words
8. If you find yourself running out of time, jump to your conclusion.
9. It would be better to use your hard copy of the poem and annotate directly on the page, but here is a copy, just in case.

1. (Suggested time—40 minutes)

 

In the following soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part II, King Henry laments

his inability to sleep. In a well-organized essay, briefly summarize the King’s thoughtsand analyze how the diction, imagery, and syntax help to convey his state of mind. (I THINK WRITING ABOUT HOW THE DICTION LEADS TO TONE IS A GOOD OPTION; PERSONIFICATION WOULD WORK; APOSTROPHE MEANS I AM ADDRESSING AN ABSTRACT CONCEPT=SLEEP; CONTRASTING IMAGERY)

How many thousand of my poorest subjects

Are at this hour asleep! O sleep! O gentle sleep!

Nature’s soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,

That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down,

And steep my senses in forgetfulness?

Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,1

Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee,

And hush’d with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber,

Than in the perfum’d chambers of the great,

Under the canopies of costly state,

And lull’d with sound of sweetest melody?

O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile

In loathsome beds, and leav’st the kingly couch

A watch-case or a common ’larum-bell? (alarm bell)

Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast

Seal up the ship-boy’s eyes, and rock his brains

In cradle of the rude imperious surge,

And in the visitation of the winds,

Who take the ruffian billows by the top,

Curling their monstrous heads and hanging them

With deaf’ning clamour in the slippery clouds,

That with the hurly death itself awakes?

Canst thou, O partial2 sleep, give thy repose

To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude,

And in the calmest and most stillest night,

With all appliances and means to boot,

Deny it to a King? Then, happy low, lie down!

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

 

1 huts

2 not impartial

 

  

For Tuesday, December 10

Beowulf-most brave of Geats

You need a copy of Raffel's translation of Beowulf.  If you can find an online edition, that is great.  Otherwise, you may have to buy the hard copy book or electronic version.  The translator is extremely important.

Finish:  Things Fall Apart 

Continue annotating as per your bookmark.

Exile
Missionary Styles
Okonkwo as a tragic hero (look up the definition of a tragic hero if you do not know it)

Review the details from Beowulf that we talked about in class today.

For Friday, December 6

No homework. 

Remember, you must be finished with the novel Things Fall Apart by Tuesday, December 10.  Pace yourself.

For Wednesday, December 4

Read Things Fall Apart through Chapter 15.  Expect a quiz on Wednesday.  Book II:  Focus on Exile and Missionary Styles,

We will try to finish up Beowulf this week. 

Great job in class today~