DM 35

LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

THIRD SEMESTER – APRIL 2008

EL 3804 – DRAMA (BRITISH & AMERICAN) FROM 1900

 

 

 

Date : 02-05-08                  Dept. No.                                        Max. : 100 Marks

Time : 9:00 – 12:00

PART – A

                                                                                                (10 x 2 = 20 marks)

Answer the following briefly:

1. “Well, you are the walking playboy of the western world”.

Is this statement a compliment or an insult?

1. “It was my own son hit me”.

Why is this confession important to the play?

1. “Oh, War! War! the dream of patriots and heroes! A fraud… A hollow sham like love”.

Establish the connection between ‘dream’ and ‘fraud’ with reference to love and war.

1. “All those years I lived in Basinstoke. I never stepped outside the door”.

What is so unusual about the speaker?

1. “I’m telling you … you’re a washout”.

Is this statement a damaging one?

1. “But I did truly have beautiful hair once, didn’t I, James?”

Comment on the character of the speaker.

1. “All I’ve felt was distrust and spying and suspicion”.

Comment on the relationship among the members of Tyrone’s family.

1. “You’ll be like a mad ghost before the night’s over”.

Explain the meaning of the above line.

1. “When you get so old, all that happens is that people talk to you that way”. How are old people treated in America?
2. “You made up your mind; you were firm; you were masculine and decisive”. Comment on the tone of the speaker.

 

PART – B

                                                                                    (4 x 10 = 40 marks)

Answer any FOUR of the following in about 200 words each. Choose atleast two from each section.

SECTION 1

1. How important is the role of Lulu in The Birthday Party?
2. Discuss Nicola and Louka as Shavian sub-altern characters.
3. Examine a Death of a Salesman as a critique of American Society.

 

SECTION 2

1. Discuss a Raisin in the Sun as a sympathetic examination of the economic, educational and racial concerns of a ‘black family’.
2. Examine A Street Car Named Desire as a portrayal of the lost and self-punishing individuals.
3. Sketch the character of Mary in Long Day’s Journey into Night.

 

PART – C

                                    (2 x 20 = 40 marks)

Answer the following in about 400 words each:

1. a) “Stanley is the artist whom society claims back from a comfortable bohemian opt-out existence”.

Discuss The Birthday Party in the light of this comment.

or

1. b) “Waiting For Godot is a play about enduring life. Nothing happens in it

twice”.

Critically examine the play from an existential perspective.

1. a) The American Dream is an allegory of the “American Scene”. Illustrate with textual evidence.

or

1. b) Comment on the title of the play Long Day’s Journey into Night

by O’Neil.

 

 

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