LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034 M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE
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THIRD SEMESTER – NOV 2006
EL 3804 – DRAMA (BRITISH & AMERICAN) FROM 1900
Date & Time : 27-10-2006/9.00-12.00 Dept. No. Max. : 100 Marks
PART A
Answer the following briefly (10×2=20 marks)
- “They took me by the feet and dragged me out of town and stoned me to death.”
Who is the speaker? What is the immediate impact of this revelation?
2) she doesn’t know the sound
of her own voice
her infinite beauty
Comment on the tone implicit in this observation.
- come to share out worlds witchu
we come here dancin
to be dancing
highlight the importance of dancing in this context.
- It’s very dreary and sad to be here alone in the fog with the night falling
who is the speaker? Why is she sad?
- up to take more of that god-dammed poison,is that it? You’ll be like a mad ghost before the night’s over.
What is the poison? What is the speaker’s state of mind?
- “Oh, you are a very poor solider: a chocolate cream solider”.
Comment on the tone of the speaker.
- “I should have expected more sense from you, Louka.But you’re young : you’re young”.
Does Louka deserve this reprimand?
8) “That’s the man killed his father”.
Is this a purely descriptive or an evaluative comment?
9) “Webber,you’re a fake.
How damaging is this comment to the listener?
10) “Everywhere you go these days its like a funeral”.
Identify the speaker and explain the profound implications in his
statement.
PART B
Answer any five of the following in about 200 words each. Choose at least two from each section (4×10=40 marks)
11) What is Stanley’s role in driving home the main concerns in A Street Car Named Desire?
12) Would you agree that Lorraine Hansberry’s play is a celebration of black motherhood?
13) Discuss the tragedy in A Death of a Salesman.
14) Discuss Arms and the Man as a Shavian Satire on war and love.
15)Critically examine Waiting for Godot as a dramatization of the existential dilemma
of Being without meaning.
16) Attempt a character sketch of Pegeen in The Playboy of the Western World
PART C
Answer the following in about 400 words each (2×20=40 marks)
17) Examine the significance of the title Top Girls.
Or
Write an essay of the failure of communication in A Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
18) a) Discuss Pinter’s art of characterization with reference to The Birthday Party.
Or
- b) Critically analyze Waiting for Godot as a play that portrays “the destitution
of modern man” struggling with meaninglessness.