ENG 217 Final, Fall 2007

English 217 I.D. #___________________________ The Novel Final Exam You will have 2 hours (until 10:00 a.m.) to complete the exam. Please write legibly. I. Short responses: 20%. In the spaces below, give brief but specific answers to the following questions. Each question is worth five points. 1. Who is the author of the following statement, which appears in a preface to one of the assigned novels? (2 points) “In some of my former novels, the object proposed has been to trace the influence of circumstances upon character. In the present story I have reversed the process. The attempt made, here, is to trace the influence of character on circumstances.” How is this idea demonstrated by the plot of this author’s novel? (3 points). 2. In The Moonstone, what are some differences between Eastern and Western views of historical change? 3. In the assigned excerpt from “Modern Fiction,” on what grounds does Virginia Woolf critique the realist writing of her contemporaries? 4. What are some of the distinctive features of Woolf’s representation of time in Mrs. Dalloway? II. Longer responses: Section A: 40% Choose ONE of the following passages and write an essay discussing its relationship to the novel in which it appears. Your discussion should pay close attention both to the passage itself (including aspects of its language and form) while also placing it in a larger context. 1. How does the following passage from The Moonstone shed light on Wilkie Collins’s representation of religion? “What did it mean? Taking the worldly point of view, it appeared to mean that Mr. Godfrey had been the victim of some incomprehensible error, committed by certain unknown men. A dark conspiracy was on foot in the midst of us; and our beloved and innocent friend had been entangled in its meshes. When the Christian hero of a hundred charitable victories plunges into a pitfall that has been dug for him by mistake, oh, what a warning it is to the rest of us to be unceasingly on our guard! How soon may our own evil passions prove to be Oriental noblemen who pounce on us unawares!” 2. How does the following passage from Mrs. Dalloway shed light on Virginia Woolf’s representation of “civilization?” “Coming as he did from a respectable Anglo-Indian family which for at least three generations had administered the affairs of a continent (it’s strange, he thought, what a sentiment I have about that, disliking India, and empire, and army as he did), there were moments when civilization, even of this sort, seemed dear to him as a personal possession; moments of pride in England; in butlers; chow dogs; girls in their security. Ridiculous enough, still there it is, he thought. And the doctors and the men of business, punctual, alert, robust, seemed to him wholly admirable, good fellows, to whom one would entrust one’s life, companions in the art of living.” Section B: 40% Choose ONE of the following three questions, each of which asks you to compare two texts. Please note that you may not write about the text you chose for Section A. If your essay for section A was on The Moonstone, for example, your comparative essay may not include The Moonstone. 1. Many of the novels we have read this semester feature characters driven by ambition. Write an essay in which you compare the representation of ambition in two of the following texts: Robinson Crusoe, Northanger Abbey, and Wuthering Heights. In preparing your response, make sure to consider the following questions: What kinds of ambition are presented in the novels you have chosen? What larger claims do these novels seem to be making about this motive/ characteristic? 2. Write an essay in which you compare the representation of the English character and/or race in two of the following texts: Robinson Crusoe, Wuthering Heights, and The Moonstone. 3. Write an essay in which you compare the representation of women’s social roles in one of the following three texts: Northanger Abbey, Wuthering Heights, and Mrs. Dalloway.