LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

THIRD SEMESTER – APRIL 2004

EL 3802/LE 925 – AMERICAN LITERATURE – II

 

Date       : 19.04.04                                                                                                                  Max    : 100 marks

Duration : 1 – 4 pm                                                                                                                 Hours  : 3 hrs

 

1. Answer the following in about 50 words each: (10 x 2 = 20 marks)

 

1. There isn’t any corn outside Tildem! There’s no corn! Now, you must’ve either stolen this corn or you brought it.

* Is the accusation levelled against the speaker true? Substantiate.

1. Everything was cancelled out by this one mistake. This one weakness.

* What mistake is here referred to?

1. I thought I saw a face inside his face

* What is it that the speaker recognizes here?

1. Their movement sticks like a fishbone in the city’s throat.

* Explain the meaning of the line.

1. So I’ve sat on the park Benches, Hungry.

* Comment on the word ‘Hungry’.

1. They believe in Christ and Longfellow, both dead

* Comment on the significance of the last two words.

1. Let be be finale of seem

The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream

* How does the image of the ice-cream enhance the meaning of the poem?

1. What, according to Wallace Stevens is the quality of good poetry?
2. Comment on the ending of the play by Loraine Hansberry.
3. Why does the mother decide to give into her son’s request for money in A Raisin in the Sun?

What is the outcome?

 

1. Attempt any FOUR of the following in about 200 words each: (4 x 10 = 40 marks)

 

1. Justify the title of the novel, Invisible Man.
2. Critically examine the theme of war in A farewell to Arms.
3. Consider Miller’s After the fall as a quasi – auto biographical play.
4. How does Ms. Maudie influence Scout’s values?
5. Comment on the significance of the title ‘Night Mother.
6. Discuss Sylvia Plath’s poetry as an expression of her personal trauma and neurosis.

 

III. Answer the following in about 300-400 words each:                                                                     (2 x 20 = 40 marks)

 

1. Critically examine the technique used by Sam Shepard to deal with the theme of disintegration of the American family in Buried child.

(OR)

Analyse who is Afraid of Virginia woolf? as an absurd play.

1. Show how Loraine Hansberry illustrates the poitive qualities of black kinship. What is the role of the mother in effecting this?

(OR)

Show how Sethe moves from fear and hate to acceptance and happiness. What is the message that Toni Morrison has for humanity?

 

 

 

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LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034

M.A DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE

III SEMESTER – NOV. 2004

EL 3802–AMERICAN LITERATURE-II

Date        : 30.10.04                                                                             Max      : 100 marks

Duration : 1 – 4 pm                                                                             Hours    : 3 hrs

1. Answer the following in about 50 words each. (10 x 2 = 20 marks)

1. I had a son once but we buried him

Explain the irony in the statement.

1. They almost cover the stench of sin in this house.

Comment on the figure of speech used in this line.

1. I have gotta carry on the line. I’ve gotta

see to it that things keep rolling.

Explain the multiple meaning of the word ‘line’ in this passage.

1. I myself am hell;

nobody’s here

Comment on the literary echo in this passage.

1. you are my brother, black or white.

you my sister-now-today!

What, according to the speaker, is the solution to peace?

1. That money belongs to mama, Walter, and its for her to decide how

she wants to use it.

Comment on mama’s decision.

1. I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man in his limousine

and I say, “yes, sir; no, sir; very good, sir; shall I take the drive sir?”

Identify the speaker’s emotion. What does it say of his situation?

1. Let be be finale of seem

The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream

Explain the lines.

1. The Cambridge ladies live in furnished souls

How does the imagery enhance the theme of the poem?

1. What is the significance of the plant struggling for life in A Raisin In The Sun?

1. Answer any FOUR of the following in about 200 words each: (4×10 = 40 marks)

1. Consider Robert Lowell as an imagist poet
2. Consider A Farewell to Arms as an anti-war novel.
3. Comment on the technique used by Arthur Miller to bring out the autobiographical element.
4. Show how Boo Radley is a victim of societal prejudices
5. Comment on the relationship between mother and daughter in ‘Night Mother’.
6. Discuss some of the major thematic concerns in beat poetry

 

III. Answer the following in about 400 words each.                            (2 x 20 = 40 marks)

1. Compare and contrast the techniques used by Sam Shepard and Edward Albee to deal with the theme of disintegration of the American family.

[OR]

Discuss the Black experiences as portrayed in the poetry of Langston Hughes and in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man

18. Write an essay on black feminism in either A Raisin In The Sun or Beloved

 

 

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