LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034 M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

AP 27

THIRD SEMESTER – NOV 2006

         EL 3803 – POST COLONIAL LITERATURE

 

 

Date & Time : 25-10-2006/9.00-12.00    Dept. No.                                                       Max. : 100 Marks

 

 

PART – A

 

1. Answer the following in 50 words each: (10 x 3 = 30 marks)

 

1. … You all have been a change. The last of the tribe falls and with him, a generation.

Behold the old passes away, and the new comes.

• Identify the speaker.  What forces him opine so?

 

2. FIFTH: Ah yes.  Nor proverbs nor verse, only ideograms in algebraic quantums.  If the

square of XQY (2bc) equals QA into the square root of X, then the progressive forces

must prevail over the reactionary in the span of .32 of a single generation.

• Bring out the importance of these lines.

 

3. And when a wind shook in the lines I heard

What kipping heard; the death of a great empire, the abuse

Of ignorance by Bible and by sword.

• Comment on these lines.

 

4. Then step in, step in and stay,

For her body is tired,

Tired, her milk going sour

Where many more mouths gladden the heart.

• Who is addressed this way and why?

 

5. I plead fighting underdevelopment

Tougher than combating colonialism

• What picture of Tanzania is presented here?

 

6. The condition of exile involves the idea of a separation and distancing from either a literal

homeland or from a cultural and ethnic origin.  – Comment on these lines.

 

7. The conscious or unconscious process by which Europe and European cultural

assumptions are constructed as or assumed to be, the normal, the natural or the universal.

– Explain.

 

8. Mimicry in post-colonial theory has come to describe the ambivalent relationship between

colonizer and colonized.  – Bring out the significance.

 

9. In general terms, the ‘other’ is anyone who is separate from one’s self. Illustrate.

 

10. Decolonization is the process of revealing and dismantling colonist power in all its b

forms.  – Explain.

PART – B

 

1. Answer any EIGHT of the following in 150 words each:                    (8 x 5 = 40 marks)

 

11. Comment on the themes of Ngugi wa Thiongo as seen from The Rebels and The Wound in

the Heart.

12. How do Pamela and Angira picture the postcolonial problems in their countries?
13. How does Walcott view history in Ruins of a Great House?
14. Critically review Kundi Faraja’s views on postcolonial Tanzania as seen in Saluting

Ujamaa and Development?

15. Write a critique on Abiku so as to bring out the effect of superstition on customs in West

Africa.

16. Write briefly on the salient features of Modernism and Post-Colonialism.
17. Write a short note on the linkage between Feminism and Post-colonialism.
18. How do Marxist theories appeal for Post-Colonial societies?
19. Write a paragraph on the aspect of cultural hybridism in A House for Mr. Biswas.
20. What are the forces tearing people apart during the process of partition in Ice candy Man?

 

PART – C

 

III. Answer any TWO of the following in 400 words each                                     (2 x 15 = 30 marks)

 

21. a) Critically review the themes and concerns in the study of postcolonial Literature with

enough examples.

OR

1. b) How does Soyinka register his protest in his plays to reform this society?

 

22. Consider the African and West Indian poets’ positivism in registering their negative feelings

in their postcolonial poetry.

 

23 a) Comment on the various issues that are portrayed by Michael Ondaatke in The English

Patient.

1. b) The Midnight’s Children is a long journey from Bombay to Delhi – Discuss.

 

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LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

XA 20

M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

THIRD SEMESTER – November 2008

    EL 3803 – POST COLONIAL LITERATURE

 

 

 

Date : 03-11-08                 Dept. No.                                        Max. : 100 Marks

Time : 9:00 – 12:00

PART – A

1. Answer the following in about 75 words each: (5×3=15 marks)
2. ‘Decolonization’ is the process of dismantling colonist power in all its forms. – Comment on the line.
3. ‘Mimicry’ describes the relationship between the ‘colonizer’ and the ‘colonized’. Illustrate.
4. Explain the concept of ‘native’.
5. Comment on the binary opposites of ‘colonialism’.
6. Explain the concept of the ‘other’ and the ‘self’.

 

1. Answer any THREE of the following in about 150 words each: (3×5=15 marks)
2. Write a short note on the linakage between ‘feminism’ and ‘post-colonialism’.
3. Write the impact of ‘modernism’ on ‘post-colonialism’.
4. How do Marxist theories appeal to post-colonial societies?
5. Write a paragraph on the limitations of post-colonial theory.
6. Cull out the prevalent indigenous literary theories of India.

 

• Answer any ONE of the following in about 400 words each: (1×20= 20 marks)

11. Comment on the theme of Quest for identity in A House for Mr. Biswas.
12. The English Patient analyses the themes of ‘hybridity’, ‘interpolation’, Empowering the subaltern’ and ‘transnationalism’. – Discuss

Part – B

1. Comment on the following lines (extracts from the prescribed portions) briefly after explaining their contexts:  (5×3=15 marks)
2. That day

shall find many

in the invalid home

 

2. See ME

look!

I am

here

I am

Here

3. Ablaze with raze, I thought

Some slave is rotting in the manorial lake,

 

4. Don’t waste my time with apologies. You know who I am of course.
5. You wish to make me a laughing-stock?

 

7. Answer any two of the following in about 200 words:   (2×7.5=15 marks)
8. Analyse intensity of human suffering through Angira’s poem “Hunger”
9. How does Pamela Mordecai in her poem “Protest brothers” bring out the plight of women and the oppressed?
10. Explain Walcott’s feelings and emotions as he looks at the ‘Ruins of a Great House’?

 

• Answer any one of the following in about 400 words:                                   (20 marks)

1. Explain Soyinka’s concept of neo-colonialism through his play Kongi’s Harvest.
2. Compare and contrast the roles and characteristics of Daodu and Segi in Kongi’s Harvest.

 

 

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LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

NM 39

THIRD SEMESTER – April 2009

EL 3803 – POST COLONIAL LITERATURE

 

 

 

Date & Time: 16/04/2009 / 1:00 – 4:00       Dept. No.                                                       Max. : 100 Marks

 

 

PART – A

1. Answer the following in about 75 words each: (5×3=15 marks)
2. ‘Exile’ involves the idea of the separation and distancing from literal and cultural origin. – Comment on these lines.
3. Write a short note on the concept of ‘negritude’.
4. Bring out the significance of ‘globalization’.
5. Comment on the theme of ‘imperialism’.
6. Explain the concept of ‘neo-colonialism’.

 

1. Answer any THREE of the following in about 150 words each: (3×5=15 marks)
2. Write a short note on ‘ambivalence’.
3. Write briefly on the concept of ‘euro-centrism’.
4. Write a paragraph on ‘hybridity’.
5. How do Marxist theories appeal to post-colonial societies?
6. Comment on the theme of colonialism and nationalism.

 

• Answer any ONE of the following in about 400 words each: (1×20= 20 marks)

11. The Midnight’s Children is about ‘self’, ‘nation’, nationalism’, and ‘hybridity ’and ‘alienation’. – Discuss.
12. The English Patient analyses the themes of ‘hybridity’, ‘interpolation’, Empowering the subaltern’ and ‘transnationalism’. – Discuss

PART – B

1. Comment on the following lines (extracts from the prescribed portions) briefly after explaining their contexts: (5×3=15 marks)
2. rations

will sink

with hunger

and the coiled intestines

will straighten

2. we the people propose

the abolition of you

and us;

3. All in compassion ends so differently

from what the arranged:

4. Let me read it: Every-Ismite-Must-Do- His-Mite!
5. Men know nothing about Segi. They only sing songs about her.

 

7. Answer any two of the following in about 200 words:   (2×7.5=15 marks)
8. How does Angira capture the intensity of hunger and poverty through his poem “Hunger”
9. Explain the stand taken by Pamela Mordecai in her poem “Protest brothers” with regard to Marxist ideologies.
10. Does Walcott marvel or rebuke looking at the ‘Ruins of a great House’?

• Answer any one of the following in about 400 words:                             (20 marks)

4. Analyse the satirical elements in the play Kongi’s Harvest.
5. Compare and contrast the roles and characteristics of Danlola and Kongi.

 

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LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

THIRD SEMESTER – NOVEMBER 2010

    EL 3803  – POST COLONIAL LITERATURE

 

 

 

Date : 29-10-10                 Dept. No.                                        Max. : 100 Marks

Time : 9:00 – 12:00

1. Write short notes on ANY FIVE of the following in about 100 words:

                                        (5×4 = 20)

1. “Follow where you please your kindred spirits

If indoors is not enough for you”.  Explain the significance of the spirits.

1. “…that day

shall find many

in the invalid home”. Explain the symbolic meaning.

3. “All in compassion ends
   Quite differently from what the heart arranged”. What is the meaning of ‘compassion’ and ‘heart arranged’?

1. “We need an image.  Tomorrow being out first appearance in public, it is essential that we find an image”. Explain the significance.
2. Hegemony
3. Diaspora
4. “The African neo-colonial Bourgeoisie”
5. Colonial discourse

 

1. Answer ANY FIVE of the following in about 250 words:    (5×10 = 50)          

1. Employing the SEPTIC paradigm analyse the poem, Hunger.
2. Identify the contradicting ideologies of the characters, Kongi and Oba.
3. Critically evaluate the Yoruba beliefs with regard to Abiku.
4. How do the characters in the play, The Rebels, contribute to the theme of protest?
5. How would you respond to the significance of the national and regional models discussed in The Empire Writes Back in your own national context?
6. Examine critically Wa Thiong’o’s arguments for him to decide to write in his native language, and clarify your stand on the issue.
7. Comment on the role of writers in creating “a higher system of democracy and socialism” discussed in Decolonising the Mind.
8. For Edward Said, “… because of Orientalism the Orient was not (and is not) a free subject of thought or action.” Discuss.

 

III. Write essays in about 400 words:                                                                                  (2×15 = 30)

 

1. Explain the conflict within Derek Walcott when he comes across the manorial house presented in his poem, The Ruins of a Great House.

OR

1. Discuss the impact of colonialism and its corruption as depicted in the play Kongi’s Harvest .

 

1. Try a postcolonial assessment of the character of Biswas in V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas.

OR

1. Examine the postcolonial concerns in Michael Ondaatje’s novel, The English Patient.

 

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LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

THIRD SEMESTER – APRIL 2011

EL 3803 – POST COLONIAL LITERATURE

 

 

Date : 08-04-2011             Dept. No.                                        Max. : 100 Marks

Time : 1:00 – 4:00

 

1. Write short notes on ANY FIVE of the following in about 100 words: (5×4=20)

 

1. “Part of the continent, piece of the main”. Explain the allusion.
2. “I am abiku, calling for the first and the repeated time.” Discuss the paradoxical truth and the Yoruba myth.
3. Ism to ism for ism is ism
   Of isms and isms on absolutism. Bring out the significance of this line.
4. rations
   will sink
   with hunger
   and coiled intestines
   will straighten
5. “The cultural bomb”
6. Hybridity
7. Filiation / Affiliation
8. Euro-centrism

 

1. Answer ANY FIVE of the following in about 250 words: (5×10 = 50)  

 

9. Write about the elements of supernaturalism and Yoruba beliefs as portrayed in the poem
10. Discuss the economical condition of the Nigerians in a postcolonial era as presented by J.P. Clark.
11. Identify the significance of the New Yam Festival.
12. Write about the role of the superintendent in Kongi’s Harvest.
13. In the context of Post-colonial Studies, how would you examine and respond to the issue of language?
14. Critically assess the ‘Black-writing’ model discussed in The Empire Writes back.
15. Explain Wa Thiong’o’s idea of culture as “the set of spiritual eyeglasses” and explore its possibilities in your own culture.
16. Write a critical response to Edward Said’s observation that “human identity is not only not natural and stable, but constructed, and occasionally even invented outright.”

 

III. Write essays in about 400 words:                                                                                  (2×15 = 30)

 

17. Illustrate the conflict between tradition and modernism in a postcolonial scenario with regard to the play, Kongi’s Harvest.

OR

Discuss the imagery of grandeur and degeneration in the poem, “Ruins of a Great House”.

18. Discuss the importance of Rushdie’s The Midnight’s Children in the postcolonial / postmodern situation you live in.

OR

Examine critically the issue of partition in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Ice Candy Man from a postcolonial perspective.

 

 

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LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

THIRD SEMESTER – APRIL 2012

EL 3803 – POST COLONIAL LITERATURE

 

 

Date : 24-04-2012             Dept. No.                                        Max. : 100 Marks

Time : 1:00 – 4:00

 

1. Write short notes on any FIVE of the following in about 100 words each:       (5×4 = 20)
2. Besides, it is the custom and tradition on this our ridge. Even the white man’s wisdom and learning must conform to this law.
3. And both your ears, notched

As bondsman to this house

Are all relics of your first comings.

3. You may begin

By not shouting

We are tired of noise.

4. English became the main determinant of a child’s progress up the ladder formal education.

1. A spade below dead leaves will ring the bone

Of some dead animal or human thing

Fallen from evil days, from evil times.

6. “…that day

shall find many

in the invalid home”.

7. “Part of the continent, piece of the main”.
8. Ism to ism for ism is ism

Of isms and isms on absolutism.

 

1. Answer any FIVE of the following in about 250 words each: (5×10 = 50)    
2. How does Abiku bring out the African tradition and beliefs?
3. Discuss how The Rebels becomes the manifesto for a modern Africa.
4. Bring out the humour in Jero’s Metamorphosis.
5. Comment on the style of Midnight’s Children.
6. Discuss the allegorical significance of the poem,

1. Write a paragraph on the aspect of cultural hybridity in A House for Mr. Biswas.

15. Discuss the postcolonial themes presented in The English Patient.
16. Analyze any work of art prescribed in the syllabus from the postcolonial perspective.

 

 

III. Answer any TWO of the following in about 400 words each:                                   (2×15 = 30)

17. Discuss the themes and issues involved in studying Postcolonial Literature.
18. How do Rushdie and Sarasuleri handle the themes of penance and expiation in their novels?
19. “Human identity is not only not natural and stable, but constructed, and occasionally even invented outright” – Edward Said. Discuss the statement with regard to the play, Kongi’s Harvest.
20. Evaluate the symbolic depiction of the greatness and the decay of the Colonial Empire in the poem, Ruins of a Great House, by Derek Walcott.

 

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LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

THIRD SEMESTER – NOVEMBER 2012

EL 3803 – POST COLONIAL LITERATURE

 

 

Date : 01/11/2012            Dept. No.                                        Max. : 100 Marks

Time : 9:00 – 12:00

 

1. Annotate and interpret any FIVE of the following in 100 words each: (5X4 = 20)

 

1. You may begin

by not shouting-

we are tired of noise.

 

2. English became the main determinant of a child’s progress up the ladder of formal

education.

 

3. My ways are his ways. He knows my will. And custom will and must be respected.

 

4. And at harmattan, the bamboo walls

Are ready tinder for the fire

That dries the fresh fish up on the rack.

 

5. The maize will grow/once when/long rains have come/and army worms have gone.

 

6. And when a wind shook in the limes I heard/What Kipling heard, the death of a great empire, the

abuse/ of ignorance by Bible and by sword.

 

7.none but the king/ takes the oil from the crossroads/ and rubs in his “awuje”/ the king is a god.

 

8.Comment on the role of the English language in reclaiming cultural identity.

 

1. Answer any FIVE of the following in 250 words each: (5 x 10 = 50)

 

9. How does Dennis Brutus’ Robben Island Sequence vindicate the violence by one race against

the other?

 

10. How does Rushdie fictionalize history and naturalize myth in Midnight’s Children?

 

11. Enumerate Sneja Gunew’s views on ‘Deculturalizing Cultural Nationalism’? Explain with

internal evidence from the essay.

 

12. Bring out the themes of identity erosion, misuse of power and exploitation, and alienation

in The English Patient.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13. Examine the concept of dislocation in Ice- candy Man.

 

14. Show how a feminist perspective brings out the experience of colonization in any one of the essays

by Gayathri Spivak.

 

15. Bring out the postcolonial concerns in the story of Michael K.

 

16. Comment on the life and times of Mr.Biswas.

 

III. Answer any TWO of the following in 400 words each:                                                           (2 x 15 = 30)

 

17. How do Rushdie and Sarasuleri differ in their religious sentiments and views as seen from

their works prescribed for your study.

 

18. Compare the reformist tendencies of Thiong’o and Soyinka as seen from their plays.

 

19. Do you agree that Kongi’s Harvest is a cynical yet realistic commentary on contemporary African

politics.

20. Explain postcolonialism. What are some of the major, contemporary concerns it seeks to address?

Answer with reference to the plays prescribed for study.

 

 

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