Review Questions for Cumulative Final

Final Exam Review

  1. Define modernism and give 3 examples of modernist literature   from 3 different genres and what elements make it modernist.
  2. In what ways has death been present throughout the literature of this course? List and illustrate three examples.
  3. How does modernism respond to realism?   Use examples from each period to support your ideas.
  4. The caged bird symbolism appears in various works this semester.   Discuss its meaning in at least 3 works.
  5. Define post-modernism and show how the works of Tan, Boyle, and Wilson can be identified as post-modern.
  6. Define feminism and show that three works we have read could be defined as feminist.
  7. In Fences and Tortilla Curtain,   characters are experiencing the American dream as second class citizens. Compare their attitudes about their situation and how they deal with it.   Add an additional example of a character who is portrayed as a second class citizen and add how this character deals with it.
  8. How does the poetry of realism, modernism and post-modernism reflect the aesthetic principles of each period?
  9. Compare the American Dream as presented in “Winter Dreams” and Tortilla Curtain and one other work.  
  10. Using examples from stories and poems describe the difference between modernism in prose and poetry.
  11. Describe the change in American literature from 1860 to the present. Use one work from each literary period to support your thesis.
  12. What are some of the racial issues shown in the works covered this semester?   How have attitudes towards race changed over time? [continues]

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