LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

THIRD SEMESTER – NOVEMBER 2010

    EL 3804  – DRAMA (BRITISH & AMERICAN) FROM 1900

 

 

 

Date : 01-11-10                 Dept. No.                                        Max. : 100 Marks

Time : 9:00 – 12:00

PART-A

Explain with reference to the context the following and answer the questions given below:                                                                                                                                                           (10×2=20marks)

1. I’ve no ammunition. What use are cartridges in battle? Is this an illogical statement?
2. Do you have the soul of a servant Nicola? Bring out the implication here.
3. “What makes you think you exist”? Identify the situation that prompts this question.
4. “This isn’t my birthday, Meg”. Why does the speaker say so?
5. “Let’s finish and go. Get the thing done” What is the urgency conveyed through these statements?
6. “Oh, about twenty years ago… there was a man very much like Daddy, and a woman very much like Mommy, who were married to each other……”

What is the significance of these lines?

7. “Yup. Boy, you know what you are, don’t you? You’re the American Dream, that’s what you are”

Who or what is the ‘American Dream’.

8. “ I never wanted to be an actor. You forced me on the stage”.

Who could have made this statement and for what reason?

9. “It’s been heaven to me. This home has been a home again”.

Is ‘home’ really a home in the play and is it truly a heaven or hell to the principal players?

10. “At least, I’ve loved you dearly, and done the best I could – under the circumstances”. What could be the mental disposition of the speaker?

 

 

PART- B

Answer FIVE of the following questions choosing not less than two from each section:                                                                                                                                                    (5×8=40marks)

Section-1

11. Critically examine Waiting for Godot as an existentialist play.
12. Discuss the characterization in The Importance of Being Earnest.
13. How effectively does Juno and Paycock dramatize the socio-cultural aspects of the times?
14. Discuss the roles of Petey and Meg in Pinter’s The Birthday Party.

Section-2

15. “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like A Raisin in the Sun?” connect these poetic lines by Langston Hughes to the play by the same name.
16. Can we say that August Wilson’s ‘Fences’ has a moving story line and a hero almost Shakespearean in contour?
17. How does Edward Albee blend his artistic vision with an existentialist world view through his play, The American Dream?
18. Arthur Miller has redefined the tragic hero in his play, Death of a Salesman. Discuss.

PART- C

Attempt answers for the following questions in about 300 words each:                         (2×20=40marks)

19. a) Critically examine The Birthday Party as a comedy of menace.

(or)

1. b) Discuss Arms and the Man as a modern satire on love and war.

 

20. a) Trace the evolution of Eugene O’ Neil’s Long Day’s Journey into Night of old sorrow, written in tears and blood into a Journey into light – into love.

(or)

1. b) How far do you agree with the view that Tennessee Williams’ portraits of women are some of the best ever produced in American drama? How far is it true of A street Car Named Desire?

 

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LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

THIRD SEMESTER – APRIL 2011

EL 3804 – DRAMA (BRITISH & AMERICAN) FROM 1900

 

 

Date : 05-04-2011             Dept. No.                                        Max. : 100 Marks

Time : 1:00 – 4:00

PART-A

Explain with reference to the context of the following and answer the questions given below:                                                                                                                                                               (10×2=20 marks)

1. “What an army! … the officers send for their wives to keep discipline!”

Comment on the implicit satire in this statement.

2. “It’s a funny sight. It’s like slinging a handful of peas against a window pane”.

What sight is the speaker referring to?

3. I dare say you think of us as a couple of grown – up babies, don’t you?”

What occasion does warrant this statement?

4. “He needs special treatment”?

Identify the speaker and explain the context.

5. “Stan, don’t let them tell you what to do!”

Highlight the deeper meaning in this statement.

 

6. “Although I couldn’t help loving you, I would never have married you if I’ d known you drank so much”.

Does the speaker truly love him in spite of everything?

7. “He thinks money spent on a home is money wasted”.

Is the person addressed really rootless?

8. “It’s just that I wasn’t asleep when you came in my room last night”.

What does the person imply?

9. “That’s the way things are today; you just can’t get satisfaction; you just try”.

Can you get ‘satisfaction’ out of trivial things?

10. “Ambition! that’s the ticket. I have a brother who’s very much like you, Daddy…. Ambition”.

Is the statement about the great American dream?

PART- B

Answer FIVE of the following questions choosing not less than two from each section:                                                                                                                                                                                  (5×8=40marks)

Section-1

11. Comment on The Importance of Being Earnest as a comedy of manners.
12. Discuss the theme and comic elements in Juno and the Paycock.
13. What are the roles of Nicola and Louka in Arms and the Man.
14. Analyse Waiting for Godot as a play on the futility of human existence.

Section-2

15. Arthur Millers’ Death of a Salesman is a portrait of an American dreamer. Elucidate.
16. ‘Fences’ by August Wilson explores “ The dark forest of the soul”. Do you agree with the view?
17. “Never before in the entire history of the American theater has so much of the truth of Black peoples’ lives been seen on the stage”. Is it true with regard to ‘A Raisin in the Sun’?
18. Explain the tragic vision of Tenessee Williams with reference to ‘A Street Car Named Desire’.

PART- C

Attempt answers for the following questions in about 300 words each: (2×20=40marks)

19. a) Discuss Pinter’s The Birthday Party as a comedy with tragic elements.

(or)

1. b) Critically examine the delineation of Romantic Love in real life in Arms and the Man.

 

20. a) “The health of a nation, a society, can be determined by the art it demands,” so wrote Edward Albee. Consider this statement in the light of his play, ‘The American Dream’.

(or)

1. b) ‘Long Days’ Journey Into Night’ is one unending psychological journey for most of the characters. Substantiate the view.

 

 

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LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

THIRD SEMESTER – APRIL 2012

EL 3804 – DRAMA (BRITISH & AMERICAN) FROM 1900

 

 

Date : 17-04-2012             Dept. No.                                        Max. : 100 Marks

Time : 1:00 – 4:00

 

PART-A

Explain with reference to the context the following and answer the questions given below:   10×2=20

1. “I believe you would rather be my servant than my husband.”

What prompts the speaker to make this assessment?

2. “Yes: that’s Don Quixote: not a doubt of it.”

Who is referred to as Quixotic here and why?

3. “A man who has spoiled all his chances in life through an incurably romantic disposition.” Identify the speaker and the occasion that warrants this confession.
4. “Oh, Meg, two men came up to me on the beach last night.”

Is there anything more to this statement of a fact?

05..      Everywhere you go these days it’s like a funeral.”

Explain the significance of this statement.

6. “Now that you’re here, I don’t suppose you could go away and maybe come back some other time”. Explain the ridiculousness of the situation.
7. “There’s too much hostility in the world these days as it is”.

How is hostility at home related to hostility in the world?

8. “It’s been heaven to me. This home has been a home again”.

Is it home, sweet home, for all concerned?

9. “How can anyone of us forget?… that’s what makes it so hard – for all of us. We can’t forget. Why has the speaker not learnt the art of forgetting?
10. “Only the past when you were happy is real”. What is the pet philosophy of the speaker?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PART- B

Answer  any FIVE of the following questions choosing not less than two from each section:   5×8=40

Section-1

11.Discuss the characterization in Waiting for Godot .

12.Examine the theme and wit in The Importance of Being Earnest.

13.Critique Juno and  Paycock  as a comedy of manners.

14.Discuss the role of Lulu in Pinter’s The Birthday Party.

Section-2

15. Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” is a portrait of an American dreamer. Substantiate this view.
16. Like all of Wilson’s characters, Maxson in “Fences” is a complex man who, while having moral

lapses, also worked hard to provide for his family. Do you agree with the view?

17. What is your impression of the character of Blanche?
18. “What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

Like a raisin in the sun?”

Connect these lines of Langston Hughes’ poem with Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun”

PART- C

Attempt answers for the following questions in about 300 words each:                                  2×20=40

19. a) Critically examine The Birthday Party as an Absurd play.

(or)

1. b) Discuss Arms and the Man as a debate on Idealism and Realism in love and war.

 

20. a) In Edward Albee’s “The American Dream,” there is an undercurrent of compassion for the fellow

human beings underneath the aggressive text. Discuss.

(or)

1. b) Eugene O’ Neill, like Abraham Lincoln, has portrayed the tragic vision of America, through his

magnum opus, “A Long Day’s Journey Into Night”. Do elucidate.

 

 

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LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

THIRD SEMESTER – NOVEMBER 2012

EL 3804 – DRAMA (BRITISH & AMERICAN) FROM 1900

 

 

Date : 03/11/2012            Dept. No.                                        Max. : 100 Marks

Time : 9:00 – 12:00

    PART-A

 

Explain the following  with reference to the context  and answer the questions given below:

(10×2=20marks)

1. “I have no ammunition…I always carry chocolate instead;”

Explain the context and the message in this statement.

2. “Witty as well as pretty.”

What is the motive behind this compliment?

3. “As for her, she’s a liar, and her fine airs are a cheat;”

Comment on this accusation.

4. ”You know, there’s a lot in your eyes.”

Identify the language game used by the speaker.

5. ”We are taking him to Monty.”

Can this statement be taken at its face value?

6. “Oh, about twenty years ago… there was a man very much like Daddy, and a woman very much like Mommy, who were married to each other……”

Explain the irony in these lines.

7. “Have you called the van people to come and take me away?”

Is the speaker aware of the ensuing eventuality?

8. “I never wanted to be an actor. You forced me on the stage”.

Who is the speaker and why he/she makes this statement?

9. “I forgot all about becoming a nun or concert pianist. All I wanted was to be his wife”.

What aspect of the character of the speaker is brought out here?

10. “At least, I’ve loved you dearly, and done the best I could – under the circumstances”. What best thing has the speaker done under the given circumstances?

 

PART- B

Answer FIVE of the following questions choosing not less than two from each section:                                     (5×8=40marks)

 

Section-1

 

11. Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is a socio-cultural documentary of its times. Discuss with textual evidence.
12. Critically examine the theme and message of Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock?
13. How does Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Gildernstern are Dead qualify as a philosophical play.
14. How effectively does Beckett dramatize silence in Waiting for Godot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Section-2

15. Explicate the theme of motherhood in Long Day’s Journey into Night.
16. Comment on the theme of racial discrimination in A Raisin in the Sun?
17. Discuss the significance of the title, Fences, as it relates to characters and themes of the play.
18. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is an indictment on American Dream. Illustrate.

 

 

PART- C

 

Attempt answers for the following questions in about 300 words each:                       (2×20=40marks)

 

19. a) Discuss the Shavian wit on a variety of topics in Arms and the Man  with textual evidence.

Or

1. b) Pinter’s The Birthday Party is a tragedy with comic elements. Discuss with textual support.

 

 

20. a) What are the major conflicts in O’ Neil’s Long Day’s Journey into Night? How, if at all, are they resolved?

(or)

1. b) For Edward Albee, the American dream seems to be hollow and artificial. Illustrate

 

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