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Exams:
Exam One (10/12/15)
Exam One Wordbank
Exam Two
Exam Two Wordbank
Exam Three
In 3-5 paragraphs, answer ONE of the question below. Essays should have a clear thesis, use evidence (from the excerpt, readings, and lecture), and make an argument that embraces all points of the prompt.
In 1820 the English critic Sidney Smith became exasperated by the boasting of American literary nationalists, and in the pages of the Edinburgh Review he famously asked "In the four quarters of the globe, who reads an American book... Under which of the old tyrannical governments of Europe is every sixth man a Slave, whom his fellow creatures may buy and sell and torture?" For Smith, and for many people, American literature and American identity before 1865 come down to one thing: SLAVERY.
1. Just as Jefferson and the "Founding Fathers" engaged in the tradition of writing freedom in an attempt to make it so, David Walker, Sojourner Truth, Hannah Crafts and Frederick Douglass all write freedom for African Americans. Compare and contrast the arguments of these four authors. How do they use genre and rhetorical strategies to make their arguments?
2. Explore the relationship between slavery and the American rise narrative. Both Frederick Douglass and Hannah Crafts challenge the gendered expectations of the (gendered) American Dream. For example, the "American Cinderella" is based on the idea of a heroine who passively works her way into a happy ending (earning the aid of supernatural helpers) was VERY attractive to Americans (with their "Self-Made Man" and Protestant Work Ethic). How does Hannah respond to drudgery? And in the absence of magical helpers, how do plantation owners become wealthy princes and princesses at the ball?
Example Exam (from World Literature)
Exam I ANSWERS.pdf - our exam will use the MyBC software, so the options will be a little different. However tests will likely include some combination of the following questions: identification, multiple choice, matching, short answers, and essays.
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