The purpose of this study guide is not to indicate exactly what will be on the midterm exam. The ideas below (which we've discussed in class) are intended to help you to organize your studying and to think about the works we've read and studied so far this semester. Use these study guide ideas with 1.) your notes from class discussions and your own notes/ideas to think about the stories we have read along with 2.) your review of the stories. Don't forget the author bios, the study questions at the end of each story, and Course Notes links for The Lost World. Also, our Course Notes page has notes for some stories, including course themes. All of these will give you helpful context and background about specific works.
The midterm will be based on works from the beginning of the semester through The Lost World. The entire novella will be in play.
No notes or books will be used during the exam.
You should review your quizzes and write out practice responses to questions
you make up, e.g., What is a theme of the story . . . ? Be sure to
review your in-class card for "Shoeless Joe and
scene worksheet for
TLW."
Question types:
- New: Identifications: You will identify an unmarked passage from a story: You will state the title and explain the passage's significance along with its relationship to the story as a whole. You should consider content and style. I will not give you short, obscure passages.
- Multiple choice, fill in the blank, true or false, or matching*
- Short Answer: Think of individual works as well as connections among works.*
*Like quiz questions.
Also, you will have some choices.
Time for midterm: 75 mins--the entire class period--for thinking,
writing, and reviewing. You will write the exam on notebook paper, so
bring several sheets to class.
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Key terms/conepts: Four elements/features of fiction we began the semester
with, short story, novella, grotesque, storytelling, game theory
(features of games--sports/hunting, baseball), unequal distribution of
wealth (or the income
gap--social and economic inequality vs equal
opportunity), scientific method (induction, deduction).
Midterm Questions: Below are some (not all) ideas concerning our two course
themes so far this semester.
Consider these themes (see syllabus) and how some stories may cross over these
themes, e.g.,
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" - The Extraordinary & Fantastic and
the Individual & Society. Stories listed here are select examples;
think of others too. See Course Themes link (Course Notes)
The Individual and Society
1. Individualism & The Need for/Dangers of Society/Community: How does
one balance one's individual desires and needs with the demands/requirements
of belonging to society or a community? Is this possible without
selling out or compromising one's own values, beliefs, and feelings?
What if society creates unjust or unfair conditions? Or shapes an
individual in negative ways? Causes "madness"? What do
individuals in the stories we've read need? What
responsibility does one have to society? Is withdrawing
from society a feasible solution sometimes? Can an individual just
reject society and do his or her own thing? What would happen if
everyone did this? Do we need society to establish moral and ethical
values to keep our humanity? Consider these questions in stories such
as "Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa," "The Curious Case of Benjamin
Button," "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona," and TLW.
2. Game playing: "The Most Dangerous Game," "Shoeless Joe,"
and TLW are examples of stories that discuss game playing
(or more broadly "play.") What does it mean to play a game?
Games of skill
versus games of chance? Are games
always playful? Why do these stories invoke game playing?
As a metaphor? Or some stronger connection/attraction--our individual desire for
purpose, meaning, control, and order (sports as a microcosm of life)? The
differnce between viewing life as a game vs believing it is a
game/contest? What does
our attraction to/obsession with game playing reveal about the societies in
these stories? Our own society? For TLW, consider, for
example, Malone's description of Lord John Roxton's character on page 128.
How is Lord Roxton's view of life shaped by sporting contests? Does
Malone try to adopt this belief? What about the view of Darwinian
evolution on the plateau--survival of the fittest?
3. Gender: What is the role of men and women in these stories? What can
you say about the nature of masculine worlds? What qualities define
masculinity? Does masculinity tie
into other issues--individualism, game playing? What about the role and position of women in the
stories we've read? What qualities define femininity? Consider "A Rose for Emily," "Shoeless
Joe," and
"The Worn Path." In TLW, how are Mrs. Challenger (Jessie) and
Gladys portrayed? What role do they serve in the narrative? Are
they developed in the same way male characters are?
4. Storytelling: Why do we love stories--narratives? What role do stories serve? What ways are there to tell stories (e.g., plot structure, narrative voice, and characterization/language), and how do these ways each affect how a story is told and received? Consider "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona." Also, "The Lesson" and "Two Questions." TLW--Malone as narrator and journalist/writer? Also consider the effects of the stories you have read this semester on you!
Extraordinary and Fantastic
1. Understanding the Mysterious and Fantastic--How do we react to the
mysterious? Unusual? What do mysterious events or occurences reveal about
how we understand our society? About what we really can know? Consider
our definitions of
"extraordinary" and "fantastic." (See Course Themes link.) How do we view people and situations who/that are
extraordinary? With fear? Uncertainty? Disgust? Curiosity? Consider these questions using, for example,
TLW and "Shoeless
Joe." TLW: Negative views of Professor Challenger by
society? The scientific community? Malone? Malone's early
observations and reactions? How his perceptions change throughout the
story? "Shoeless Joe": The voice: "If you build it, he will come." Magical
ballfield where players appear? Also, "The Curious Case of Benjamin
Button would seem to fit under this theme. In what ways? Implications?
2. Scientific Method: How does TLW present ideas about scientific method? Why is scientific method an important concept in the novella? This theme also raises questions about human nature. What makes one human, e.g., ape-men, Accala Indians, and our European adventurers? Nature vs civilization?
Other ideas/themes you can think of that fall under our two main themes?
Think of how some stories might fit under both themes.
How Short Stories are Written
1. Consider how a well-crafted short story
integrates plot (and setting), character, point of view, and theme.
One example is "The Most Dangerous Game." Consider Poe's defintion of a short story (Course
Notes--excerpt from his review of Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales).
Be able to discuss the relevant ideas concerning the four main elements of a
story listed above. How is TLW, a novella, related to a short story:
Its similarities and differences?