For the midterm exam, you will be given a sheet of quotations from our readings this semester, and will have to
- identify the title of the text,
- identify the author,
- explain what is happening in the passage, and
- explain how it connect to larger issues or themes in the text
For example, if you found on the exam the following quotation:
“The joke is on you….My father was a gambler who deserted my mother, a white immigrant. It is even uncertain that they were married. As I said at first, I don’t belong here. I shall be leaving at once. This afternoon. Good-morning.”
What would help you identify it? What’s going on in the passage? How does it represent larger issues dealt with in the text?
In class, we will generate a successful answer as a guide to what you will need to do on the midterm.
For your homework, you will identify two passages from our readings that you think would be good for the midterm exam. One should come from the beginning of the class through Week 4, and the other should come from Intimate Apparel or Quicksand. In addition to the quotation, answer 1-4 for your passage. Be sure to put each quotation and answers in its own comment.
In the commenting portion of the homework, respond to two classmates’ quotations and answers, adding anything or making suggestions for how you would have answered differently.
I will use these comments as my guide as I finalize the midterm exam.
