ECC 140 The Study of Literature, Section 5

Take Home Midterm Exam

All responses must be typed, double-spaced, and numbered. Also, cite all direct quotes by putting the page number the quote is found on in parentheses at the end of the passage. There is no need to cite the sources since we all have the same books. This is due one week from today (Monday, October 27 th).

Part I:

This section is mandatory and is worth 25 points. Your interpretation should be at least one page and not more than two pages. Make sure to use poetic language

(i.e. terms like “metaphor”) as well as specific evidence from the poem to support your response. You should also focus your interpretation by tying all evidence to a central theme of the poem. You are welcome to follow the guidelines for close reading posted on Syllabase under “Lectures and Course Notes,” but please write out your interpretation in an essay format. In other words, don’t simply respond to the questions in a list.

Choose one poem from the Bedford anthology and do a “close reading.” You may choose a poem we discussed in class with the exception of Sylvia Plath’s “Mushrooms;” however, you may also choose a poem we did not discuss. You do not need to reproduce the poem in your midterm, just please include the title, author, and page number of the poem so that I can quickly reference it.

Part II:

Choose three prompts to respond to. Each response should be one to two pages long and is worth 25 points for a total of 75 points for this section. Each response should contain a clear focus and should be developed with a variety of evidence including specific examples and quotes form the text. You are welcome to reference the “Theory Charts” we have been working on as a class which I have also posted on Syllabase under “Lectures and Course Notes;” however; your answers must be in your own words with the exception of specific textual evidence that you cite in quotes.

• Choose one symbol (or closely related symbols) from Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and explain how it drives a larger theme of the novel.

• Explain how taking a biographical approach to Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time would affect your interpretation. How would it add to your understanding of the collection? What are the possible dangers this strategy may present?

• What are the key tenets of formalism and reader-response literary strategies? Choose one of the readings we have done so far and use it to explain how these strategies might produce similar and/or different “meanings” of the text.

• Explain how taking a new historicist approach to Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” would affect your interpretation of the short story. What elements within and outside of the text would you focus on?

• Choose one story from Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies and explain how taking a Marxist of feminist literary approach would open up the reading. Don’t be afraid to take a risk here and try these approaches out! I will evaluate your response with the same criteria as your weekly interpretive responses (your ability to focus and provide textual support) while I will only be looking for a basic understanding of feminism or Marxism (key terms and concerns).