In-class midterm study guide
Engl 385
C Dickens & JK Rowling

This is a guide for the in-class portion of the midterm (Part II), but it is not a template for the exam. The ideas below, many of which we have discussed, are intended to help you think about the novels we've read and studied so far this semester. Use these ideas with your notes and own ideas to think about the novels we have read along with your review of the readings. (Consider the passages we have examined in class and those we have not.) Finally, don't forget the Course Notes page.

Focus on your notes and the texts. Write out practice responses to previous quiz questions as well as questions you make up using issues/themes below.  The card you used for group work (HPSS) in class has good notes.

Works covered:  HPSS, HPGF (Chpts 1-31, although you can use the entire novel)

**No notes or books for this part of the midterm.

Possible question types:

  1. *Multiple choice, true or false, fill in the blank, or matching
  2. *Short Answer  Think of individual works as well as comparing/contrasting works.

*Like quiz questions. You will have some choice.

Time for midterm: about 65mins although you will have 75mins. for thinking, writing, and reviewing.

Below are some issues/themes we have considered this semester while reading and discussing HPSS and HPGF (The focus is chapters 1-31, but you can reference the entire novel).  Think about each novel individually as well as comparing and contrasting the novels.  For movie clips we've viewed, think about camera angles and shots (visuals), music, and acting.  What might you add to this list?

  1. Conception of the child/childhood
  2. Search for Identity/One's Place in Society/Heroism
  3. Free will/destiny/fate
  4. S.P.E.W.--work (labor)
  5. Social Criticism: Social Class, Social Institutions -  Ministry of Magic (bureaucracy), Slavery, Poverty/Being Poor, Hunger
  6. Gender:  the role of women in society/ideas about femininity/relationship between girls and boys, men and women, masculinity (Feminism - see Course Notes)
  7. Food
  8. Role of magic, mythology, fairy tale, mystery (Gothic tradition/genre: The beginning of the movie HPGF is a perfect example--dark, forbodding Riddle House with a lone light.  The HP series features Hogwarts, a castle with winding staircases, forbidden or mysterious rooms/hallways, chambers, talking portraits, supernatural figures, etc)
  9. Parents and Parenting//Mothers and Fathers
  10. Death
  11. Education
  12. Illustrations/Relationship between illustrations and text
  13. Sports--more broadly the ideology of game playing (play theory) - competition/coopetition
  14. Good and Evil/Power
  15. "Worlds" of the Novels
  16. Writing Style
  17. Characterization
  18. What is the relationship between HPSS and HPGF (novels in a series)?  For example, think about plot, Harry's journey and maturation, and themes