Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
2202235 Reading and Analysis for the Study of English Literature
Practice Test Discussion
General Comments:
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Part I: Short Answer (5 points)
Prompt: Briefly explain (in two or three sentences) one characteristic that the following set of quotes have in common.
a.
Agh, petals maybe. How
should I know?
Which shore? Which shore?
I said petals from an appletree.
b. this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies
you
c. “Throw the first punch,” Stevie
said as they squared off.
“No,” Randy said.
“Throw the first punch,” Stevie said
again.
“No,” Randy said again.
“Throw the first punch!” Stevie said
for the third time, and Randy reared back and pitched a knuckle fastball
that broke Stevie’s nose.
Comments:
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Student L:
All three excerpts have repetition. The repeated "Which shore?" in quick succession in Williams' "Portrait of a Lady" creates an onomatopoeic effect that mimics the sound of waves hitting a shore, while Jamaica Kincaid's repeated phrase "this is how" announces the repeated terms "man" and "bully" in a different order that creates a balance between "you" as actor and object, and Alexie's repeated "Throw the first punch" and "No" create a children's dare game in which the new student proves himself by breaking the repetition. | - Good:
Immediately and correctly identifies a common characteristic in
all three excerpts - Vague: How is the word order of "man" and "bully" different? - Unclear: What does "balance" mean? How is "'you' as actor and object" creating a kind of balance? - Vague: What does the new student prove himself about by punching? |
Student S
All three quotes contain a shift despite repetitive elements; the repeated "Which shore? Which shore?" marks a break in voice that is different from what comes before and after; the two "this is how," one immediately after another, with "man" and "bully" transposed creates a shift in meaning; and the exchange sequence between Stevie and Randy occurring three times sets the story up for the surprise fastball—Randy changes his response: he no longer speaks but acts, and his answer is no longer no but yes; he breaks the repeated pattern and Stevie's nose. |
Student N
Each passage is a pocket of learning created by the tension between the sameness of repeated elements and the newness of breaks from that pattern. In the odd question-and-answer exchange at the end of William's "Portrait of a Lady," the three consecutive questions framed by answers are actually answers themselves about learning what it means to be a poet. The mother's voice in Kincaid's "Girl" repeating "this is how" teaches the young woman how to hold her own when dealing with the opposite sex. And Randy suddenly socking it to Stevie after repeated taunts teaches the narrator the benefits of hitting first. |
Part II: Essay (20 points)
Prompt: Difference figures in the works we have read this first half of the semester in a wide variety of ways. What is different? Why is that difference significant? What values are associated with which kind of dissimilarity? How are qualities of being unlike, unusual, or unfamiliar used in the works and to what effect? Choose at least two works and compare and contrast the element of difference in them.
Comments:
|
Good Responses
Notice how good responses answer the prompt right away, identify the works involved, and establish the focus and direction of the discussion that will follow.
Student F:
(20
points) Difference figures in the works we have read
this first half of the semester in a wide variety of ways.
What is different? Why is that difference significant? What
values are associated with which kind of dissimilarity? How
are qualities of being unlike, unusual, or unfamiliar used
in the works and to what effect? Choose at least two works
and compare and contrast the element of difference in them.
Unknown Country
Vladimir Nabokov's short story "Terra Incognita" and Brian Friel's play Molly Sweeney both have difference as the driving force behind the narrative. Gregson's and Vallier's expedition itself depends upon the fact that another land is different from the ones they already know, and the case of Molly Sweeney is attractive to both Frank and Mr. Rice because of her perceptive difference. In other words, difference is an unknown country in both works, and it is precisely this quality that gives value or worth to the entities being explored. |
- Clearly identifies the works to be analyzed and immediately answers what the difference is for each work - Links the two works together in addressing the prompt topic while setting up for a comparison and contrast between how difference is used in each work - Having an intriguing title is a nice bonus |
Student K:
(20
points) Difference figures in the works we have read
this first half of the semester in a wide variety of ways.
What is different? Why is that difference significant? What
values are associated with which kind of dissimilarity? How
are qualities of being unlike, unusual, or unfamiliar used
in the works and to what effect? Choose at least two works
and compare and contrast the element of difference in them.
Shock
and Awe
John Milton's Sonnet 19 speaker is different from the "Thousands at his bidding speed / And post o'er Land and Ocean without rest" and William Carlos Williams' "Portrait of a Lady" speaker or speakers are unlike any of the uncountable blason speakers since the beginning of poetry. On one hand, both poems toy with a difference in numbers, distinguishing themselves as unique from a multitude, on the other, they are playing with a more dangerous difference—that of ideas. |
- Immediately incorporates and identifies both works in responding to the prompt - Cites textual evidence and relevant literary terms to explain and illustrate what the difference is in each work - Begins to establish the comparison between the use of difference in the works and to lay out the kinds of differences that will be discussed |
(20
points) Difference figures in the works we have read
this first half of the semester in a wide variety of ways.
What is different? Why is that difference significant? What
values are associated with which kind of dissimilarity? How
are qualities of being unlike, unusual, or unfamiliar used
in the works and to what effect? Choose at least two works
and compare and contrast the element of difference in them.
Césaire's A Tempest is a postcolonial response to Shakespeare's The Tempest. Caliban's speaking in the 1969 play makes him a radical challenge to colonial power. When a native language is used by the "slave" Caliban, a disruption of power is created because with this utterance, Caliban is showing that the knows more than Prospero. "Uhuru," the Kiswahili word that Caliban speaks, roughly translates as "freedom" and is a common rebellious call word in Africa during the decolonization struggle. Caliban's association with nature further shows the anti-colonial views of Césaire, one of the founding members of the Négritude movement, because of the insistence of a native identity and association with the native landscape like the lush natural environment of Césaire's hometown Martinique. |
- Brings up postcolonialism but does not show how it answers or relates to any of the prompt questions about difference - Discusses only one work instead of at least two as the prompt indicates - Ideas and sentences are somewhat disjointed - Plagiarizes Brenda McNary's "He Proclaims Uhuru—Understanding Caliban as a Speaking Subject" |
Student O:
(20
points) Difference figures in the works we have read
this first half of the semester in a wide variety of ways.
What is different? Why is that difference significant? What
values are associated with which kind of dissimilarity? How
are qualities of being unlike, unusual, or unfamiliar used
in the works and to what effect? Choose at least two works
and compare and contrast the element of difference in them.
Shakespeare's and Césaire's Tempests are different in terms of language use. Shakespeare's language is old, and Césaire's is more modern. Shakespeare writes in blank verse while Césaire writes in prose. The difference in language between the two works is significant because it makes Shakespeare hard and Césaire easier to understand. |
- The prompt asks students to "compare and contrast the element of difference" in at least two works, but Student O has changed it to "discuss the difference between two works." The essay then lists some differences in terms of language between the works instead of discussing how the element of difference within each work compares to that in the other. |
(20
points) Difference figures in the works we have read
this first half of the semester in a wide variety of ways.
What is different? Why is that difference significant? What
values are associated with which kind of dissimilarity? How
are qualities of being unlike, unusual, or unfamiliar used
in the works and to what effect? Choose at least two works
and compare and contrast the element of difference in them.
Milton begins his Sonnet 19 with the musing line "When I consider how my light is spent." He then brings up time in the form of days, darkness, and expansiveness. The speaker later introduces one Talent and is very worried that it will cause God to be angry at him if he does nothing with it. When Patience comes to the speaker's aid, it occurs just before the volta, the turn of the sonnet's argument. |
- Describes the sonnet line by line, following the argument and structure of the sonnet with no argument of the student's own. - Off-topic |
(20
points) Difference figures in the works we have read
this first half of the semester in a wide variety of ways.
What is different? Why is that difference significant? What
values are associated with which kind of dissimilarity? How
are qualities of being unlike, unusual, or unfamiliar used
in the works and to what effect? Choose at least two works
and compare and contrast the element of difference in them.
Though there are several parallels between Sonnet 19 and Misreadings, there are also many aspects of the two stories which are somewhat different. |
- Parallels between which aspects of the texts? - What are the aspects of the texts that you will examine? - The works are different in what ways? - The prompt asks you to discuss the element of difference in the two works and compare them, not the difference between the works. - Vagueness makes your essay bland, uninteresting. - Vagueness says you don't have a point to make. |
(20
points) Difference figures in the works we have read
this first half of the semester in a wide variety of ways.
What is different? Why is that difference significant? What
values are associated with which kind of dissimilarity? How
are qualities of being unlike, unusual, or unfamiliar used
in the works and to what effect? Choose at least two works
and compare and contrast the element of difference in them.
Response |
- Comments |
(20
points) Difference figures in the works we have read
this first half of the semester in a wide variety of ways.
What is different? Why is that difference significant? What
values are associated with which kind of dissimilarity? How
are qualities of being unlike, unusual, or unfamiliar used
in the works and to what effect? Choose at least two works
and compare and contrast the element of difference in them.
Response. |
- Comments |
Student V | Student U |
(20
points) Difference figures in the works we have read
this first half of the semester in a wide variety of ways.
What is different? Why is that difference significant? What
values are associated with which kind of dissimilarity? How
are qualities of being unlike, unusual, or unfamiliar used
in the works and to what effect? Choose at least two works
and compare and contrast the element of difference in them. Response. |
(20 points)
Difference figures in the works we have read this first half
of the semester in a wide variety of ways. What is
different? Why is that difference significant? What values
are associated with which kind of dissimilarity? How are
qualities of being unlike, unusual, or unfamiliar used in
the works and to what effect? Choose at least two works and
compare and contrast the element of difference in them.
Response. |
- Comments |
- Comments |
Reference
Kincaid, Jamaica. “Girl.” 1978. At the Bottom of the River. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000. 3–5. Print.
Williams, William Carlos. The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams. Vol. 1. Eds. A. Walton Litz and Christopher MacGowan. New York: New Directions, 1991. Print.
Alexie, Sherman. "Indian Education." 1993. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. New York: Grove Press, 2005. 171–80. Print.
Bush, Douglas, ed. Milton: Poetical Works. London: Oxford UP, 1974. Print.
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updated February 28, 2016