Midterm: July 30th

You have from 12.30-2 to complete the following sections. Spend 1/4 of your time on section one, 1/4 of your time on section two, and 1/2 of your time on the section three. Jot down notes and perhaps outline your answers before you begin writing -- that time could prove invaluable to you.

SECTION ONE
Directions: Read the following exchange from The Importance of Being Earnest, and explain what it means. Focus on why the characters are saying it, why it make senses in the play, and whether or not it's supposed to be funny -- and why. (25 points)

The Importance of Being Earnest

Jack: I know nothing, Lady Bracknell.
Lady Bracknell: I am pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.

SECTION TWO
Directions: Read the following poem and analyze it. Say what you think the major "idea" in the poem could be, and give supporting evidence for it. The supporting evidence can be images, lines, or words from the poem that you explain. Your explanation of these moments in the poem should help you support your reading. Read the poem carefully and go with your instincts -- consider who the speaker could be, what mood he or she could be in, what they might be feeling, and what "conflict" might be in the poem. (25 points)

Lunch Poems

Poem

Instand coffee with slightly sour cream
in it, and a phone call to be beyond
which doesn't seem to be coming any nearer.
"Ah daddy, I wanna stay drunk many days"
on the poetry of a new friend
my life held precariously in the seeing
hands of others, their and my impossibilities.
Is this love, now that the first love
has finally died, where there were no impossibilities?

SECTION THREE
Directions: Read the following passage and analyze it. Say what you think the major "idea" in the passage could be, and give supporting evidence for it. The supporting evidence can be images, lines, or words from the passage that you explain. Your explanation can be expanded to include a discussion of anything relevant from the novel you think relates to the passage. Consider, too, this question: how does the main idea here intersect (connect) with the big events of the novel? (50 points)

If He Hollers

"But I knew I'd wake up someday and say to hell with it, I didn't want to be the biggest Negro who ever lived,neither Toussaint L'Ouverture nor Walter White. Because deep inside of me, where the white folks couldn't see, it didn't mean a thing. If you couldn't swing down Hollywood Boulevard and know that you belonged; if you couldn't make a polite pass at Lana Turner at Ciro's without having the gendarmes beat the black off you for getting out of your place; if you couldn't eat a thirty-dollar dinner at an hotel without choking on the insults, being a great big "Mister" nigger didn't mean a thing." (153)