LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

B.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

FIFTH SEMESTER – APRIL 2012

EL 5403 – TRANSITIONAL  LITERATURE

 

 

 

Date : 27-04-2012              Dept. No.                                        Max. : 100 Marks

Time : 1:00 – 4:00

PART A

 

1. Annotate or interpret the following in 50 words each: (8 x 3 = 24 marks)

 

1. Language is mediating in my very being. And this brings us to the third aspect of language as culture.
2. It had in it the scorpion’s sting

Without its poison.

3. Ah he continued, yawning again,

The pains we suffer in building the nation!

4. Then, then I packed my mystic drum

And turned away; never to beat so loud any more.

5. English was the official vehicle and the magic formula to control elitedom.
6. The child thinks she is wiser than

The cotton head of age.

7. I am not angry

With the woman with whom

I share my husband.

8. Who calls? Does someone call outside?

Bellowing winds? Wind drowns all.

 

PART B

1. Answer any SIX of the following in 150 to 200 words each:  (6 x 6 = 36 marks)

 

9. Describe the effect of The Mystic Drum.
10. 10. Critically review the theme of transition in the ‘The Voices of Transition.’
11. What is the central conflict in The Song of Lawino?
12. How does Soyinka treat the theme of conflict in The Lion and the Jewel?
13. How do the nation building activities of the two differ in Building the Nation?
14. Discuss the cultural side of Snapshots of a Wedding.
15. How does Ama Ata Aidoo feature Africa in Certain Winds from the South?
16. How does literature help building the national identity, according to Thiongo?

 

PART C

III. Answer any FOUR of the following in 350 words each:                                     (4 x 10 = 40 marks)

 

17. Consider the oral tradition as featured in Things Fall Apart.
18. How does Soyinka fuse African and western traditions in The Lion and the Jewel?
19. Analyze the African poems prescribed for your study in terms of tone, style and theme.
20. What are the various aspects of language as enumerated by Ngugi wa Thiongo?
21. Evaluate the features of African culture as seen from the texts of your study.
22. How do Okot p’Bitek, Ama Ata Aidoo and Bessie Head feature womanism in their works?

Go To Main page

LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

B.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

FIFTH SEMESTER – NOVEMBER 2012

EL 5403 – TRANSITIONAL  LITERATURE

 

 

 

Date : 10/11/2012             Dept. No.                                        Max. : 100 Marks

Time : 9:00 – 12:00

PART- A

Annotate and interpret EIGHT of the following in 60 words each:                                           (8×3=24)

 

1. My heart beats

And drums, throbs like water-pump.

2. For that, what is a jewel to pigs?
3. But standing behind a tree

with leaves around her waist

she only smiled with a shake of her head.

4. I replied looking straight ahead

And secretly smiling at his belated concern

That I had not, but was slimming!

5. The fox is said to be wise

So cunning that he stalks and dines on

New-hatched chickens.

6. Their customs are solid and not hollow

They are not thin, not easily breakable

7. She resembles the wild cat

That has dipped its mouth in blood

8. Is it right that a man should abandon his mother tongue for someone else’s?

It looks like a dreadful betrayal and produces- a guilty feeling.

9. “ …was made to carry a metal plate around the neck with inscriptions such as “I AM STUPID” or “I AM A DONKEY”

PART-B

1. Answer any SIX of the following in 200 words each: (6×6=36)
2. Discuss the ‘highly delicate diplomatic functions’ performed by the nation builders.
3. Consider The Lion and the Jewel as an attack on out-dated customs.
4. Evaluate the effect of The Mystic Drum.
5. Examine the style of Voices of Transition.
6. Do you agree that “Certain winds from the South” expresses a nihilistic longing for the end of the

world, where there would be neither sweetness nor bitterness?

15. Discuss the conflict between the tradition and modernity in Bessie Head’s Snapshots of a Wedding.
16. Enumerate the aspects of language, as identified by Ngugi Wa Thiongo.
17. Analyze the Eurocentric vision of Lawino’s husband.

 

PART-C

III. Answer any FOUR of the following in 350 words each:                                                     (4×10=40)

18. Consider the various techniques featured in The Lion and the Jewel.
19. Evaluate the unique African features revealed by some of the poems prescribed for your study.
20. Show how Ngugi wa Thiongo succeeds in driving home the message that writing in one’s own

language is important.

21. How does The Song of Lawino become a manifesto for the voiceless?
22. Discuss the oral tradition of Africa as mirrored by Chinua Achebe in Things Fall Apart.
23. Examine how Ama Ata Aidoo and Bessie Head portray the feminine feelings in their short stories.

Go To Main Page

Go To Main Page