ENG 220 Final, Fall 2002

Final Exam — 22 Jan. 2003 OF BEIRUT English 220: Travel Writing ~” Dr. Syrine C. Hout Texts read: -Emily Nasrallah, Flight Against Time. -Italo Calvino, The Non-Existent Knight. -Amy Tan, “A Pair of Tickets” -Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Strange Pilgrims: “The Prologue”, “Bon Voyage, Mr. President”, “Seventeen Poisoned Englishmen”, “The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow,” -Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken” -William Stafford, “Traveling Through the Dark” -Adrienne Rich, “Transit” Please choose two of the following four tasks. For each task, you need to select two texts. You may use Marquez, if you wish, twice (but not the same story) for the same or both questions. The remaining 2 or 3 authors have to be different. Please select carefully all four texts before you respond to the two tasks you have chosen. Try to develop a cogent and original argument which you then present in an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. 1. “Home is Where the Heart Is”. How does this saying apply to two traveling characters? Define “home” in relation to “heart” and ‘homeland’ in two texts. Fear of the unknown grips the heart of many travelers we have seen. How is such fear a self-preserving and/or a self-crippling force in two texts? For some ‘writers’ we have seen, the road is a metaphor for life’s journey as well as a line (straight or otherwise) to draw on paper and thus visualize this journey. Discuss the visual aspect of life-as-motion in two texts. Does travel reinforce or help dispel stereotypes held about ‘other’ cultures and peoples? Discuss two similar or contrasting experiences from two texts. GOOD LUCK!