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.