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
- Write short notes on ANY FIVE of the following in about 100 words:
(5×4 = 20)
- “Follow where you please your kindred spirits
If indoors is not enough for you”. Explain the significance of the spirits.
- “…that day
shall find many
in the invalid home”. Explain the symbolic meaning.
- “All in compassion ends
Quite differently from what the heart arranged”. What is the meaning of ‘compassion’ and ‘heart arranged’?
- “We need an image. Tomorrow being out first appearance in public, it is essential that we find an image”. Explain the significance.
- Hegemony
- Diaspora
- “The African neo-colonial Bourgeoisie”
- Colonial discourse
- Answer ANY FIVE of the following in about 250 words: (5×10 = 50)
- Employing the SEPTIC paradigm analyse the poem, Hunger.
- Identify the contradicting ideologies of the characters, Kongi and Oba.
- Critically evaluate the Yoruba beliefs with regard to Abiku.
- How do the characters in the play, The Rebels, contribute to the theme of protest?
- How would you respond to the significance of the national and regional models discussed in The Empire Writes Back in your own national context?
- Examine critically Wa Thiong’o’s arguments for him to decide to write in his native language, and clarify your stand on the issue.
- Comment on the role of writers in creating “a higher system of democracy and socialism” discussed in Decolonising the Mind.
- 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)
- Explain the conflict within Derek Walcott when he comes across the manorial house presented in his poem, The Ruins of a Great House.
OR
- Discuss the impact of colonialism and its corruption as depicted in the play Kongi’s Harvest .
- Try a postcolonial assessment of the character of Biswas in V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas.
OR
- Examine the postcolonial concerns in Michael Ondaatje’s novel, The English Patient.