2017.04.12

 

💠 Week 9

Midterm

 

I.                   Multiple Choice: 1% x 30 = 30% 

1. What is the rising action of a fictional plot? (A) the life story and character background of the protagonist (B) introductory information that allows a reader to understand the conflict (C) introductory information that allows a reader to understand the conflict (D) the turning point of the plot, in which the conflict finds resolution.

2. The voice that tells an audience a fictional story is referred to as (A) the author (B) the narrator (C) the naratee (D) the protagonist.

3. How is an antihero distinguished from a conventional protagonist? (A) Antihero is another term for the antagonist, the character who opposes a story’s hero (the protagonist). (B) The antihero is the protagonist’s main foil—a minor character who illuminates the character of the hero by contrast. (C) An antihero is a protagonist who does not act in typically heroic ways (D) An antihero is an archaic term for a story’s heroine, a female protagonist.

4. How is the plot of a story different from its action? (A) The action is merely the events in a story, whereas the plot involves the way the author recounts the events to shape readers’ responses. (B) The action of a story does not provide introductory details about the characters in a story, whereas the plot does. (C) Action always ends in a climax, whereas plot ends in resolution. (D) Fictional plots always have flashbacks and flash forwards, whereas action is always chronological.

5. Which of the following describes a flat character? (A) a character who is not very interesting (B) a protagonist who feels oppressed by larger forces (C) a character who behaves and speaks in predictable, repetitive ways (D) a character who represents a specific social or cultural group.

6. How do symbols function within an allegory? (A) They are unusually hard to decipher. (B) They refer to common hallmarks (particular plots, characters, motifs) that appear across cultures. (C) They are used again and again, to a different effect with each repetition. (D) They set up a series of correspondences throughout the entire work, often for a specific moral or religious purpose.

 

7. Why did the short story first become a popular genre during the nineteenth century? (A) The industrial revolution shortened the amount of time average people had for reading longer works. (B) The rise of periodicals like newspapers and magazines meant that more space was available for publication of short stories. (C) Writers like Henry James and Nathaniel Hawthorne popularized the form, and others wished to follow their examples. (D) Passengers on short train routes required a genre that could be finished before reaching their destinations.

8. From what other genres did the novel originate? (A) poetry and epic (B) short stories and novella (C) drama and historical fiction (D) prose romances and travel writing.

 

9. For a while Carver attended a creative writing class at Chico State College taught by

(A) John Barth

(B) John Gardner

(C) John Updike

(D) John Fowles

10. Carver taught creative writing at several universities. Which of the following was not among them?

(A) Iowa Writers’ Workshop

(B) University of California at Santa Cruz

(C) University of Vermont

(D) Washington State University at Spokane

 

11. In the short story "Cathedral" the narrator tries to describe a cathedral to . . .

(A) a blind man

(B) a young child

(C) an elderly Vietnamese woman

(D) a dying soldier

 

12. Which one of the following stories was not drawn upon in Robert Altman’s film Short Cuts? (trailer)

(A) "Collectors"

(B) "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?"

(C) "Cathedral"

(D) "So Much Water So Close to Home"

 

13. The last story that Carver wrote and saw published in his lifetime concerns the death of

(A) Anton Chekhov

(B) Fyodor Dostoevsky

(C) Leo Tolstoy

(D) Ivan Turgenev

14. In Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” Robert is characterized by his (A) interest in and openness to the world around him. (B) tendency to pre-judge people and situations. (C) bitterness about his blindness. (D) nervousness and anxiety.

15. In the Carver story, which of the following is not an assumption the narrator made about blind people? (A) They use canes. (B) They do not laugh (C) They have beards. (D) They do not smoke.

16. According to the story by Carver, the building of a cathedral is notable for (A) the way it expresses the vision of a single architect. (B) the use of only materials local to the cathedral’s setting. (C) the fact that it could take place in a remarkably short period of time. (D) the fact that it involved hundreds of workers, laboring over generations.

17. The narrator’s wife met Robert when she (A) helped him cross the road. (B) answered a “Help Wanted” ad. (C) sat next to him on an airplane. (D) joined Alcoholics Anonymous at the same time that he did.

18. Which of the following is true of the narrator’s wife’s history? (A) She had divorced two men before she married the narrator. (B) She tried to commit suicide. (C) She wrote short stories. (D) She used to work as a maid.

19. A According to the story by Carver, all of the following are true of the narrator except (A) he has nightmares (B) he worries constantly about money (C) he is dissatisfied with his job (D) he has few friends.

20. Which of the following does not describe Robert’s role in the narrator’s experience of drawing a cathedral? (A) Robert asks the narrator to get a pen and paper to draw a cathedral. (B) Robert places his hand on top of the narrator’s hand while he is drawing. (C) Robert assures the narrator that he is producing a fine drawing. (D) Robert is not present when the narrator draws the cathedral.

21. Why do authors use irony? (A) to mimic real life, or to add humor (B) to exploit differences between characters (C) to express earnestness, preserve order and stability (D) all of the above.

22. The title “Roman Fever” is an example of (A) cosmic tension (B) verbal irony (C) post traumatic irony (D) dramatic ostentation.

23. Dramatic irony occurs when (A) the author "winks" knowingly at the reader because of shared information (B) readers have information that characters do not (C) readers feel superior to characters who lack information the readers have (D) all of the above.

24. Barbara's true paternity an example of what kind of irony? (A) Situational—it goes against all expectations, especially of Mrs. Ansley (B) Verbal—the information is revealed with sarcasm (C) Cosmic—the result of cruel fate unfolding, destiny playing its ugly hand (D) Dramatic—readers knew well before Mrs. Slade knew.

25. What type of pop culture irony does "Roman Fever" represent? (A) Masquerader—a character hides her true identify causing confusion and hilarity (B) Underdog—a seemingly weaker rival defies expectations and triumphs over an outwardly stronger opponent (C) Naif—an innocent questions society's rules and in doing so exposes their absurdity (D) Debased hero—one despised by society proves worthier than her so-called betters.

26. Who does Gurov think Anna resembles in The Lady with the Dog? (A) his daughter (B) his wife. (C) a famous Russian actress (D) the empress.

27. How does The Lady with the Dog end? (A) Gurov commits suicide (B) Anna dies of tuberculosis (C) Anna and Gurov leave their spouses and live happily—ever in Yalta (D) Anna and Gurov confess their love to each other and look to the future with hope and uncertainty.

28. In “A Rose for Emily,” what color were the walls in the upstairs room where Homer Barron’s body was found? (A) rose (B) yellow (C) white (D) beige.

 

29. What did Miss Emily buy from the druggist? (A) rat poison (B) arsenic (C) asprin (D) lyme.

 

 

30. What is the name of Faulkner’s fictional county in Mississippi, in which most of his works take place? (A) Tallahatchie (B) Yocona (C) Oktibbeha (D) Yoknapatawpha.

 

II.             Identification: 1% x 20 = 20%

1.   And then I found myself thinking what a pitiful life this woman must have led. Imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one. A woman who could go on day after day and never receive the smallest compliment from her beloved.

This quotation appears near the beginning of the story when the narrator ruminates on what life must have been like for Robert’s wife, _____, before she died. This passage reveals the extent of the narrator’s self-delusion about what kind of husband he is and what really matters in a relationship…The narrator assumes that he is more capable of making his own wife happy than Robert simply because he can see. This assumption reveals that the narrator isn’t aware of the difference between seeing and understanding.

 Beulah

2.   I stared hard at the shot of the cathedral on the TV. How could I even begin to describe it? But say my life depended on it. Say my life was being threatened by an insane guy who said I had to do it or else.

This quotation appears near the end of the story when Robert asks the narrator to describe the cathedral that appears on television. Before this, the narrator has successfully described a parade in _____ in which people were dressed as devils and skeletons, but he doesn’t have any idea how to describe a cathedral…Only by drawing the cathedral with his eyes closed can the narrator bridge the gap between seeing and understanding.

Spain

3.   “I was just thinking,” she said slowing, “what different things Rome stands for to each generation of travelers. To our grandmothers, Roman fever to our mothers, sentimental dangers—how we used to be guard! To our daughters, no more dangers than the middle of Main Street. They don’t know it—but how much they’re missing!”

The term Roman fever was coined to describe m_____, outbreaks of which occurred frequently in Rome over the centuries. It is an infectious disease caused by a single-celled parasite that enters the bloodstream primarily via the bite of the female anopheles mosquito.

malaria

4.   _____, the author of “Roman Fever,” hints at the possibility that Barbara Ansley and Jenny Slade will repeat the actions of their mothers. She does so by creating the following parallels between Grace's daughter and Alida and between Alida's daughter and Grace: (1) Both girls are receiving the attentions of young men, as their mothers did twenty-five years before. (2) One of the girls, Barbara, is vivacious and very smart, as Alida was. (3) The other girl, Jenny, is very beautiful but otherwise ordinary, as Grace was. (4) Barbara is likely to become the fiancée of a promising bachelor, according to Alida. She muses that "Babs would almost certainly come back engaged to the extremely eligible Campolieri." Twenty-five years before, Alida herself was engaged to a promising bachelor.

Edith Wharton

5.   Mrs. Slade leaned back, brooding, her eyes ranging from the ruins which faced her to the long green hollow of the Forum, the fading glow of the church fronts beyond it, and the outlying immensity of the _____. Suddenly she thought: “It’s all very well to say that our girls have done away with sentiment and moonlight…” 

The action of “Roman Fever” takes place in the afternoon and evening on the terrace of a Roman restaurant with a view of the Forum, and the c____ (a great Roman amphitheater built in the first century C. E., site of lavish spectacles that included wild animals and mortal combat).

Colosseum

6.   “…Don’t look so innocent, my dear—you know he is. And I was wondering, ever so respectfully, you understand…wondering how two such exemplary character as you and Horace had managed to produce anything quite so dynamic.” Mrs. Slade laughed again, with a touch of asperity.

How do the three underlined words indicate the ambiguously intension between the speaker and Horace’s wife? Paraphrase the underlined phrases in your own words.

sour grape / bitter sweet rivalry

7.   Yes; being the Slade's widow was a dullish business after that. In living up to such a husband all her [Alida's] faculties had been engaged; now she had only her daughter to live up to, for the son who seemed to have inherited his father's gifts had died suddenly in boyhood. She had fought through that agony because her husband was there, to be helped and to help; now, after the father's death, the thought of the boy had become unbearable.

What is the meaning of the underlined words in the above paragraph from “Roman Fever?”

She became vulnerable without her hubby’s comfort

8.   The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

The above citation is from a speech: at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm on December 10, 1950, _____ delivered a now-famous speech. He is considered one of the most important writers of the Southern literature of the United States, along with Mark Twain, Harper Lee and Tennessee Williams.

William Faulkner

 

 

 

9.   Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town…

This quotation appears near the beginning of _____ (the title of the story), in section I, when the narrator describes Emily’s funeral and history in the town.

“A Rose for Emily”

 

10. Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.

These lines end the story. Emily’s secret, finally revealed, solidifies her reputation in the town as an eccentric. Her precarious mental state has led her to perform a grotesque act that surpasses the townspeople’s wildest imaginings. Emily, although she deliberately sets up a solitary existence for herself, is unable to give up the men who have shaped her life, even after they have died. She hides her dead father for three days, then permanently hides Homer Barron’s body in the upstairs bedroom. In entombing her lover, Emily keeps her fantasy of marital bliss permanently intact. Identify the significance of the underlined phrases.

Iron heart of an aged woman

11.  …A thin, acrid pall as of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere upon this room decked and furnished as for a bridal: upon the valance curtains of faded rose color, upon the rose-shaded lights, upon the dressing table, upon…

The “rose” and “iron-gray hair” cited above could be an example of i_____, a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions.

Irony

12. It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most selected street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood…now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those august names where they lay in the cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson.

Identify the significance of the repetitive “august names.”

Fading glory of the past

13. The l_____, the lover and the poet

Are of imagination all compact:

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,

That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,

Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:

The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;

And as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen

Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name.

Fill in the blank first to identify the specific kind of people that resemble some features with the lover and the poet for their imagination.

lunatic

 

14. The above passage, quoted from William Shakespeare’s _____ (the title of the play), indicates the enticing intrigue of literature and imagination.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

 

 

 

15. In the dark we lay on our beds, our narrow life rafts, and fixed our eyes on the faint light coming up the stairwell, and sang songs. Laird sang “Jingle Bells,” which he would sing any time, whether it was Christmas or not, I sang “_____.” I loved the sound of my own voice, frail and supplicating, rising in the dark. We could make out the tall frosted shapes of the windows now, gloomy and white. When I came to the part, When I am dead, as dead I well may be—a fit of shivering caused not by the cold sheets but by pleasurable emotion almost silenced me. You’ll kneel and say, an Ave there above me—What was an Ave! Every day I forgot to find out.

Identify the name of the song, a ballad written by English songwriter Frederic Weatherly and usually set to the Irish tune of the "Londonderry Air". It is most closely associated with Irish communities

Danny Boy

16. The above citation is quoted from “Boys and Girls” by _____, a Canadian author whose work has been described as having revolutionized the architecture of short stories. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013.

Alice Munro

17. “She could of shut the gate and she didn’t. She just open it up and Flora run out.”

      “Is that right?” my father said.

      Everybody at the table was looking at me. I nodded, swallowing food with great difficulty. To my shame, tears flooded my eyes.

      I did not answer. I put down my fork and waited to be sent from the table, still not looking up.

      But this did not happen. For some time nobody said anything, then Laird said matter-of-factly,” She’s crying.

      “Never mind,” my father said. He spoke with resignation, even good humor, the words which absolved and dismissed me for good. “She’s only a girl,” he said.     I did not protest that, even in my heart. Maybe it was true.

Question: To your understanding, why does the girl not protest, even in her heart?

epiphany

 

18. …She was walking alone, always wearing the same beret, and always with the same white dog; no one knew who she was, and every one called her simply “the lady with the dog.”

Identify the name of the woman.

Anna

19. He was under forty, but he had a daughter already twelve years old, and two sons at school. He had been married young, when he was a student in his second year, and by now his wife seemed half as old again as he. She was a tall, erect woman with dark eyebrows, staid and dignified, as she said of herself, intellectual. She read a great deal…and he secretly considered her unintelligent, narrow, inelegant, was afraid of her, and did not like to be at home.

Identify the name of the above character.

Gurov

 

20. And it seemed as though in a little while the solution would be found, and then a new and splendid life would begin; and it was clear to both of them that they had still a long, long road before them, and that the most complicated and difficult part of it was only just beginning.

The above citation is quoted from the final passage of one of Anton Chekhov’s most memorable short stories, ______ (title).

The Lady with the Dog

III. Term explanation: 5% x 6 = 30% https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setting_(narrative) or glossary pages

1.       Fiction

Fiction is the classification for any story created by the imagination, rather than based strictly on history or fact. It can be expressed in a variety of formats, though the term originally and most commonly refers to the major narrative forms of literature, including the novel, novella, short story, and play. For example, Jules Verne's novel From the Earth to the Moon is a fiction. Because it was published in 1865, and in 1969 astronaut Neil Armstrong landed on the moon

 

2.       Plot

Plot is the cause-and-effect relationship between events in a story. The causal events of a plot can be thought of as a series of sentences linked by "and so." It can serve as a verb and refer to a character planning future actions in the story. For example, the climax is the turning point or highest point of the story.

3.       Narration and Point of View

Narrative point of view or narrative perspective describes the position of the narrator, that is, the character of the storyteller, in relation to the story being told. It can be thought of as a camera mounted on the narrator's shoulder that can also look back inside the narrator's mind.

 

4.  Character

A character is a person in a narrative work of art. In literature, characters guide readers through their stories, helping them to understand plots and ponder themes. Characters may be flat, minor characters; or round, and major. For example, dynamic characters are the ones who change over the course of the story, while static characters remain the same throughout.

 

5.  Setting

In literature, the word ‘setting’ is used to identify and establish the time, place and mood of the events of the story. It basically helps in establishing where, when and under what circumstances the story is taking place. For example, future history is a type of setting.

 

6.  Theme

Theme is defined as a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work. Major and minor themes are two types of themes that appear in literary works. A major theme is an idea that a writer repeats in his work, making it the most significant idea in a literary work. A minor theme, on the other hand, refers to an idea that appears in a work briefly and gives way to another minor theme. Take Pride and Prejudice for example, its whole narrative revolves around the major theme of matrimony. Its minor themes are love, friendship, affectation etc.

 

 

 

 

IV. Essay: 10% x 2 = 20%

 

1.   What is literature? What are courses of literature mean to you? Why do we study literature? (p. 1-9) Find the perfect quote and thought-starters that help you develop your own point of view to float your boat. Examples may include John Keats’ “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” (p. 4), William Shakespeare’s “Shall I Compare thee to a Summer’s Day” (p. 810) as well as the citations from some of his dramatic works such as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

 

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language offers a number of definitions for the word literature, one of which is “imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artist value.” The three major kinds of “imaginative and creative writing” is the fictional stories, poems, and plays

Simon and Delyse Ryan say the quote, which help me develop my own point of view while they begin their attempt to define the word:

To discover a definition for "literature" is a road, which is much traveled, though the point of arrival, if ever reached, is seldom satisfactory. Both the definition and the concepts are broad and vague, and they inevitably change over time.

To me, study literature is the way to go deep in to that language. It is necessary to study this field if we are interesting in that related language. Sometimes, I will feel amuse while reading those article. Relishing the world which created by the author or making the deep thought of what the author are trying to express. After finished a masterpiece makes me gain a sense of achievement.

2.   The climax of “Roman Fever” occurs when Mrs. Slade reveals what she knows about Mrs. Ansley’s late-night excursion to the Colosseum twenty-five years before to rendezvous with Mrs. Slade’s fiancé, Delphin. Some readers may regard the shocking denouement of the story—revealing that Mrs. Ansley’s daughter is the child of Mrs. Slade’s late husband—as the climax. Explore the central conflict in the story that brings your idea of climax possible (p. 85).

 

I think the central conflict is that when the plot lead the reader to believe Mrs. Slade was the final winner. It turns out to be totally opposite result. When Mrs. Ansley said ‘I have Barbara.’ the whole story comes to the climax and it makes the biggest conflict between Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley.