Please answer the essay prompt below in as much detail as you deem appropriate. Be sure to provide, wherever possible and necessary, examples (quotations!) from the literary texts we have read, research you have conducted individually or together with your group, material your peers presented in class, and information conveyed in class lectures and/or covered during class discussions to support your argument. Your answer should take the form of a well-developed essay, complete with introduction, body, and conclusion.Support your claims thoroughly and utilize the material covered in class effectively and convincingly.

Structurally, your essay needs to be a minimum of three (3) pages long, typed, double-spaced, font 12p, Times New Roman, max. 1" margin all around. You have two hours, so please plan accordingly and leave yourself 15 minutes at the end for proofreading. You are on the honors system: Please, indicate a starting and an ending time on your answer sheet. A hard copy of your essay is due in my office (or a box outside my office) by 5pm on Tuesday, May 6.

Good luck, folks, and thank you very much for a great semester! It has been a pleasure and a privilege to meet and work with you. Have a terrific summer, y'all!

Essay Prompt: In order to gain a deeper understanding of literature, our priority this semester has been 1) to engage with a variety of different literatures, from different cultures and of various genres; 2) to familiarize ourselves with the structure of literary texts and the terminology employed by literary critics; 3) to identify stylistic devices by which our reading of a text can be guided and influenced; 4) to encounter old texts anew and from a different, heretofore unexplored perspective; 5) to learn about the culture, time period, and social history within which the literature originated, and, finally; 6) to read, experience, and interpret texts by drawing upon stylistic devices, authorial techniques, biographical information, or social and historical contexts—or a combination of a few of these.

Reading novels, novellas, poems, essays, short stories, and plays, we talked about the ways in which these literary texts were carefully composed by their authors and how they can and should be experienced by their intended audiences. In our journey through the literary universe, we tested a number of interpretative techniques: 1) In class, we worked in groups, practiced literary analysis, and discussed and compared our results; 2) outside of class and as a group, you researched two texts of your choice as well as relevant literary criticism and presented your findings to your peers; 3) in addition, you experimented with literary analysis in three short reflective papers; 4) the midterm asked you to demonstrate your command of literary terminology and to bring out-of-class and in-class research, discussion, and experimentations together by scanning and interpreting a poem/passage from Shakespeare and by composing two short essays that critically engaged with a few of the literary texts we had studied.

For your final exam, I would like to tap into your knowledge pools one last time and ask you to explore and demonstrate your learning achievement. Please choose three literary texts that we read this semester and discuss the ways in which your reading and understanding of these texts has been impacted, adjusted, revised, or informed by the ways in which we approached and studied literature this semester. In response to this prompt, I need you to recall class discussions, group presentations, guest lecturers, Theile-talks, movie nights in order to illustrate the ways in which your analysis of a text was affected by a technique, device, or interpretative approach.

For example, explain how a movie's portrayal of a text presented a new, interesting, possibly contrasting interpretation; discuss how the focus on a specific literary device informed your understanding of a previously difficult seeming text; show how a discussion of a text's historical, social, political background revised your earlier understanding of this text; demonstrate how a structural analysis of a text brought to light hidden aspects of a text; describe an instance in which the analysis of a text surprised you with its findings; highlight how your listening to a presentation, watching of a movie, attendance of a play or poetry reading, or your writing or talking about a text with your peers or instructor(s), in your groups, in class, or at home illuminated previously undiscovered aspects of a text, affected your comprehension of a text, or led you to a greater appreciation of an author or a text.

Your task, then, is to write an essay that explores and demonstrates your learning achievement in this course. You need not limit your discussion to just one genre, nor do you need to attempt to cover several. Choose the texts (3 of them and regardless of genre, i.e. you could discuss two poems and one short story; two short stories and one play; two novels and one movie) that best help you illustrate your encounter with literature this semester, the approach you appreciated best, the discussion that helped you most, and the insight you have gained through your focused study of literature in this course. Show me what you learned, how you learned this, and how this learning has affected and, hopefully, will continue to affect your reading of other texts or your approach to literature more generally.

Remember to use textual support wherever possible and cite your sources according to MLA guidelines. A Works Cited page is a must and not part of the page count.

Remember, too, that you are on the honors system: Please, act accordingly and refrain from using Internet resources or any of the various forms of Notes. I will be rather upset if I have to waste my time double-checking the authenticity of your work. Plagiarism, collution, or any type of collaboration on this project will lead to an automatic F for this final as well as for the course as a whole. Nothing anybody else has to say is more valuable than that with which you yourself might come up. It is you and your own unique experience of the literature we have studied this semester about which I would like to hear.

Burn your Sparks Notes and turn off your Wireless! Mark a starting time on top of your page and type away!


Essay Prompt – Option #2: If you feel uncomfortable with the personal essay of prompt one above, consider answering this question here instead. Many of the stories we have studied this semester thrive on their authors’ ability to engage the reader with their unique and often surprising narrative techniques. The narrator of a story can take on many different forms and speak in a variety of voices, each one carrying its own implications and serving a specific purpose. A story’s point of view thus leads the reader, guiding him or her to read a story in rather specific ways, forcing him or her to notice certain aspects right away and subtly tricking him or her to overlook other aspects, at least temporarily. The study guide to your midterm exam defines point of view as follows:

Point of View: In short fiction, who tells the story and how it is told are critical issues for an author to decide. The tone and feel of the story, and even its meaning, can change radically depending on who is telling the story. Remember, someone is always between the reader and the action of the story. That someone is telling the story from his or her own point of view. This angle of vision, the point of view from which the people, events, and details of a story are viewed, is important to consider when reading a story. As you are reading, ask yourself: How does the point of view affect your responses to the characters? How is your response influenced by how much the narrator knows and how objective s/he is? First person narrators are not always trustworthy. It is up to you to determine what the truth is and what is not. The following are the most common points of view that we encounter in short stories:

• Third Person Point of View
  Here the narrator does not participate in the action of the story as one of the characters, but lets us know exactly how the characters feel. We learn about the characters through this outside voice.

• First Person Point of View
  In the first person point of view, the narrator does participate in the action of the story. When reading stories in the first person, we need to realize that what the narrator is recounting might not be the objective truth. We should question the trustworthiness of the accounting.

• Omniscient Point of View
  A narrator who knows everything about all the characters; s/he is all knowing, or omniscient.

• Limited Omniscient Point of View
  A narrator whose knowledge is limited to one character, either major or minor, has a limited omniscient point of view.

Notice that often several narrative perspectives overlap. Typically, we encounter a first person, limited omniscient narrator; a third person, limited omniscient narrator; or some such combination. Please choose three stories from the course and discuss the ways in which narrative perspective impacts how the reader perceives and understands the story, feels about its characters, and derives meaning from its plot. You may pick any three stories from the selection of poems, short stories, novellas, plays, or novels that we have read this semester. As you compose your response to this prompt, be sure to show how the author manipulates what the reader learns and how s/he perceives truth within the story, and, please, quote the text wherever possible and necessary to support your claims.

Note, too, that the same guidelines apply to both prompts: You are expected to write a well-developed 3-page essay which draws heavily for its factual support on the texts we have read, the discussions we have had in class, as well as on presentations, etc. Follow MLA style format closely and document all outside influences (your discussion, lecture, and presentations notes, the textbooks, novels, as well as the Handbook to Literature). GOOD LUCK, Folks!