2190 Final exam guidelines. (Tuesday, May 5, 2-4)

The final, which is worth 20% of your grade, is designed to show that you are conversant with the major texts and the key ideas that we have been discussing this semester. It will not test your memory of minor details. The exam will consist of 5 questions, all of which, on some level, will ask you to discuss the novels in the context of women’s literature or gender. There will be a question based on each of the five novels we read, asking you to discuss the significance of a particular passage. (You will also have to identify the novel from which the passage comes, along with the author. The passages will be important ones—ones we have discussed in class; one’s you’ll probably have taken notes on, if you take good notes. ) You should be able to answer each question in a bluebook page or so—a nicely developed paragraph or two. You may consult your notes (but not the books) during the exam. You may elect NOT to do one of the novel questions. There will also be ONE question that asks you to think back to the concepts with which we initially framed the class—domesticity and exile; Woolf’s assertion that “as a woman I have no country.” Look back at the syllabus to refamiliarize yourself with these ideas. (In other words, you will do five of the six questions.)

These are the novels we have read this semester: Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë; To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf; The Awakening, Kate Chopin; Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler; Look At Me, Jennifer Egan.

Sample passage:

“…Listen to me….I’m trying to get at some kind of truth here, in this phony, sick, ludicrous world. Something pure. Releasing blood is a sacrifice. It’s the most real thing there is.”