American Culture -- Winter, 2015, These questions will appear .docx

American Culture -- Winter, 2015,
These questions will appear on the final exam. Read them
carefully so you’ll be sure to adequately address what is being
asked. The final exam will be held as scheduled on the
university final exam schedule--on Monday, March 16 at 6:30
(NOTE HALF-HOUR TIME CHANGE) in our regular
classroom, HEC 305. This is a 75-minute exam, so you should
be finished by about 7:45-8:00.
(1) What are the two most important issues facing American
society today? Explain why these are crucial or important. How
should we address or resolve these issues? Explain your
answer, drawing on discussions and materials we have used in
this course – readings, films, articles presented, lecture and
discussion. The issues you think are most important do not
have to be ones we discusses specifically in class, but your
answer should be based broadly on what you have learned and
discussed about American society and its conflicting values, the
functionality of institutions, etc. Support your statements with
reasoned culturally-based argument or evidence. NO uneducated
emotional venting, please.
(2) I will select some of the following terms for the final exam,
and within that selection you may have choices. For each term
on the exam, the questions will be: What does the term mean?
Describe or explain its relevance to American culture or
American society, perhaps even in a specific historical period or
with reference to a specific major issue in American society, if
you can. This list is taken entirely from our class lectures and
discussions, films, and/or readings. In studying these, I suggest
you start with those you know or think you know, first. Don’t
spend all your time on the (very) few you don’t recognize.
· Culture

· Individualism
· Prejudice
· Discrimination
· Extended family
· Nativism
· Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
· Mexican Revolution
· Libertarianism
· Liberalism –utilitarian, moral, economic, political/social
· Rosie the Riveter
· Civil Rights Act (1964)
· Security (its different meanings, and as an issue)
· Hamburger University
· Church-state separation
· Diversity and multiculturalism
· Equality (its different meanings)
· Affirmative Action
· Desegregation
· States’ rights
· Browning of America
· Globalization
· Family values
· Racial stereotypes
· Consumer society
ENG125: Introduction to Literature
List of Literary Techniques

Technique Description
Allusion
A reference to a recognized literary work, person, historic
event, artistic achievement, etc. that enhances the
meaning of a detail in a literary work.
Climax
The crisis or high point of tension that becomes the story’s
turning point—the point at which the outcome of the
conflict is determined.
Conflict The struggle that shapes the plot in a story.
Dramatic irony
When the reader or audience knows more about the
action than the character involved.
Epiphany
A profound and sudden personal discovery.
Exposition
Setting and essential background information presented at

the beginning of a story or play.
Falling action
A reduction in intensity following the climax in a story or
play, allowing the various complications to be worked out.
Fate
An outside source that determines human events.
Figurative language
Language used in a non-literal way to convey images and
ideas.
Figures of speech
The main tools of figurative language; include similes and
metaphors..
First-person point of view
Occurs when the narrator is a character in the story and
tells the story from his or her perspective.
Flashback
The description of an event that occurred prior to the
action in the story.

Foreshadowing
A technique a writer uses to hint or suggest what the
outcome of an important conflict or situation in a narrative
will be.
Imagery
A distinct representation of something that can be
experienced and understood through the senses (sight,
hearing, touch, smell, and taste), or the representation of
an idea.
Irony
A contradiction in words or actions. There are three types
of irony: verbal, situational, and dramatic.
Limited omniscient point of
view

Occurs when a narrator has access to the thoughts and
feelings of only one character in a story.
Metaphor
A figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made
between one object and another that is different from it.
Objective point of view
A detached point of view, evident when an external
narrator does not enter into the mind of any character in a
story but takes an objective stance, often to create a
dramatic effect.
Omniscient point of view
An all-knowing point of view, evident when an external
narrator has access to the thoughts and feelings of all the
characters in a story.
Persona
Literally, in Latin, “a mask.”

Plot
A connecting element in fiction; a sequence of interrelated,
conflicting actions and events that typically build to a
climax and bring about a resolution
Point of view
The perspective of the narrator who will present the action
to the reader.
Resolution The outcome of the action in a story or play.
Rising action
Conflicts and circumstances that build to a high point of
tension in a story or play.
Situational irony
When the outcome in a situation is the opposite of what is
expected.
Simile
A figure of speech that compares two objects or ideas that

are not ordinarily considered to be similar, linked by using
like or as.
Song
A lyrical musical expression, a source of emotional outlet
common in ancient communities and still influential in
contemporary culture.
Symbol
An object, person, or action that conveys two meanings: its
literal meaning and something it stands for.
Third-person point of view
Occurs when the narrator tells the story using third-person
pronouns (he, she, they) to refer to the characters.
Tone
In a literary work, the speaker’s attitude toward the reader
or the subject.
Verbal irony
When words are used to convey a meaning that is opposite
of their literal meaning.

List of Literary Works
For your Literary Analysis, select at least two works from the
list below that share the same type(s) of
conflict(s). Remember, one of them must be a short story. You
can either compare two short stories, a
short story and a poem, or a short story and a play.
o “Country Lovers” (Gordimer, 1975)
o “Hills Like White Elephants” ( Hemingway, 1927)
o “Good Country People” (O’Connor, 1953)
o “The Things They Carried” (O’Brien, 1990)
o “No Name Woman” (Kingston, 1975)
o “Sonny’s Blues” ( Baldwin, 1957)
o “Sweat” (Hurston, 1926)

o “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” (Oates,
1966)
o “A Rock Trying to Be a Stone” (Troncoso, 1997)
o “Greasy Lake” (Boyle, 1985)
o “What You Pawn, I Will Redeem” (Alexie, 2003)
o “Let America Be America Again” (Hughes, 1935)
o “What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl” (Smith, 1991)
o “Child of the Americas” (Morales, 1986)
o “To Live in the Borderlands” (Anzaldua, 1987)
o “A Point West of San Bernardino” (Delgado, 2013)
o “America” (Blanco, 1998)
o “Oranges” (Soto, 1995)
o “Poetry” (Neruda, 1982)
o “Burial” (Che, 2014)
o “Ways of Talking” (Jin, 1996)
o “Bright Copper Kettles” (Seshadri, 2010)
o “Blood” (Nye, 1986)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YCpWdAG29ub0xMKHg
Ra3fYQuxpThVL9tG-u0Nl3Vp1A/edit?pli=1
http://macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/seminar1fall2010hong/file
s/2010/08/Baldwin-Sonnys-Blues.pdf
http://biblioklept.org/2013/01/21/sweat-zora-neale-hurston/
https://www.d.umn.edu/~csigler/PDF%20files/oates_going.pdf
http://sergiotroncoso.com/stories/rock/index.htm
http://teacherweb.com/WA/CloverParkHighSchool/MsSelby/Gre
asy-Lake.pdf
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/04/21/what-you-
pawn-i-will-redeem?currentPage=all
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/247372
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/burial-1
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/28203
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/240830
o “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” (Thomas, 1952)
o “My Last Duchess” (Browning, 1842)
o “The Boxer” (Simon, 1968)
o “Grief Calls Us to the Things of This World” (Alexie, 2009)
o “The Raven” (Poe, 1845)
o Macbeth (Shakespeare, 1606)
o A Midsummer’s Night Dream, (Shakespeare, 1590)

o Mistaken Identity (Cooper, 2008)
o The Importance of Being Earnest (Wilde, 1895)
Running head: CONFLICT ANALYSIS 1
Conflict Analysis
ENG/125 Introduction to Literature
Grelika White
Instructor: Jason Vinson
February 28, 2015
- 1 -
[no notes on this page]
CONFLICT ANALYSIS 2
Conflict
The things they carry and country lovers are two short stories
centered on the same theme
of conflicts between love and war. In the things they carried,

lieutenant jimmy cross is attached
to his love fantasy with Martha, but the war period does not
allow the two to be together. He
holds on to her memories, carrying her photos and other
personal effects which reminds him of
her every time. The love results in a lot of pain when lavender
is shot as a result of his
carelessness.
All his memories are centered towards his painful love with
Martha and this affects the
manner in which he grief the death of lavender. Country lovers’
story touches on the forbidden
love between Paulus and Thebedi. Thebedi is a black woman,
and she is not supposed to
associate with the whites in any way during the war period.
However, the two get a secret
rendezvous point where they exchange their intimate desires in
secret. This results in a painful
love later, when Thebedi gets pregnant and Paulus comes to
realize it later. He terminates the life
of the child, and even when Thebedi has the evidence to prove
that, the whites have power and
she does not bring forth the evidence in court.

Literary techniques in the things they carried
The author in the story makes use of themes, motifs and
symbols to give the reader a
deeper meaning of the text, and at the same time make it more
interesting. The theme of Physical
and emotional burdens is brought out well, and it is what results
in the conflict described above.
The soldiers are forced to carry some physical items, which they
need to survive. Moreover, they
carry emotional burdens of their love life, and this ends up
affecting their performance while at
- 2 -
1
2
1. things they carry
Proper nouns are capitalized:
Please be sure to capitalized
proper nouns. Please see the
following for more
information:
http://grammar.yourdictionary.

com/capitalization/rules-for-
capitalizing-proper-
nouns.html [Jason Vinson]
2. towards
toward [Jason Vinson]
CONFLICT ANALYSIS 3
war. An example of a motif in the story is lonely and isolation,
which the soldiers have to
undergo while at war.
Even after the war, the soldiers do not get what they really
want. For instance, jimmy
cross had the fantasy of getting closer to his lover Martha after
the war period, but this is not the
case because he ends up losing lavender and this tarnished the
fantasies he had with Martha. The
symbols are used by the author to represent abstract ideas in the
book. An example of this is
Linda, who is used to represent past elements which can be
brought back to life through
imagination. Even though Linda was long dead, her presence in

the story indicates memories
which can be brought back even after years of diminishing.
Literary techniques in country lovers
The author makes use of themes, symbols and illustrations to
show the concept of
racisms and painful love in the story. The theme of racism is
quite clear to every reader, as the
story is centered on the love of a black and a white woman. This
was during the apartheid era in
South Africa and the law was against the union of black and
white people. Thebedi gets herself
trapped with Paulus baby, but keeps it a secret from him.
However, he later realizes the existence
of the child and went ahead to kill him, because he did not want
to be associated with a black
woman.
The belt that Njabulo buys to the baby is a symbol of love, and
that he wants to create a
good relationship with him. He also plays gold, a game that is
associated with the white people at
that time. This is an illustration that Njabulo would prefer to
lead a lifestyle of the white people
and he tries his best to imitate them. It is an indication that the

society has been dominated by the
- 3 -
1
1. country lovers
Proper nouns are capitalized:
Please be sure to capitalized
proper nouns. Please see the
following for more
information:
http://grammar.yourdictionary.
com/capitalization/rules-for-
capitalizing-proper-
nouns.html [Jason Vinson]
CONFLICT ANALYSIS 4
whites and the blacks find it easy to be associated with them.
Assimilating the lifestyle of the
whites thus makes it easier for people to lead a better life.
Similarities and differences

The two stories are based on love, and the main characters have
troubled relationships
and many conflicts result from love. However, the scenarios are
very different, but the two
stories are based on the war period. As a result of the war, the
love life of the characters is
affected in different ways. In the first story, jimmy cross goes
to Vietnam with the hope of
coming back to reunite with his love, only to realize that it was
a mere dream that could not be
fulfilled. In the second story, Thebedi falls in love with a white
man but the apartheid period does
not allow their association to last for long. It ends up in a
painful closure because the child dies
in a mysterious way, but Thebedi does not have a say in the
society at that time, even if she
knows what caused the death of her baby. The conflicts in both
stories are resolved differently, as
jimmy cross ends up burning his memories and Thebedi ends up
losing her baby. Death comes
and this marks the end of conflicts in both stories.
References
- 4 -

CONFLICT ANALYSIS 5
Gordimer, N. (1979). Town and country lovers. Los Angeles,
Calif: Sylvester & Orphanos.
O'Brien, T. (1990). The things they carried: A work of fiction.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
- 5 -
CONFLICT ANALYSIS 5
Conflict Analysis
Grelika White
February 28, 2015

Conflict
The things they carry and country lovers are two short stories
centered on the same theme of conflicts between love and war.
In the things they carried, lieutenant jimmy cross is attached to
his love fantasy with Martha, but the war period does not allow
the two to be together. He holds on to her memories, carrying
her photos and other personal effects which reminds him of her
every time. The love results in a lot of pain when lavender is
shot as a result of his carelessness.
All his memories are centered towards his painful love with
Martha and this affects the manner in which he grief the death
of lavender. Country lovers’ story touches on the forbidden love
between Paulus and Thebedi. Thebedi is a black woman, and she
is not supposed to associate with the whites in any way during
the war period. However, the two get a secret rendezvous point
where they exchange their intimate desires in secret. This
results in a painful love later, when Thebedi gets pregnant and
Paulus comes to realize it later. He terminates the life of the
child, and even when Thebedi has the evidence to prove that,
the whites have power and she does not bring forth the evidence
in court.
Literary techniques in the things they carried
The author in the story makes use of themes, motifs and
symbols to give the reader a deeper meaning of the text, and at
the same time make it more interesting. The theme of Physical
and emotional burdens is brought out well, and it is what results
in the conflict described above. The soldiers are forced to carry
some physical items, which they need to survive. Moreover,
they carry emotional burdens of their love life, and this ends up
affecting their performance while at war. An example of a motif
in the story is lonely and isolation, which the soldiers have to
undergo while at war.
Even after the war, the soldiers do not get what they really
want. For instance, jimmy cross had the fantasy of getting

closer to his lover Martha after the war period, but this is not
the case because he ends up losing lavender and this tarnished
the fantasies he had with Martha. The symbols are used by the
author to represent abstract ideas in the book. An example of
this is Linda, who is used to represent past elements which can
be brought back to life through imagination. Even though Linda
was long dead, her presence in the story indicates memories
which can be brought back even after years of diminishing.
Literary techniques in country lovers
The author makes use of themes, symbols and illustrations to
show the concept of racisms and painful love in the story. The
theme of racism is quite clear to every reader, as the story is
centered on the love of a black and a white woman. This was
during the apartheid era in South Africa and the law was against
the union of black and white people. Thebedi gets herself
trapped with Paulus baby, but keeps it a secret from him.
However, he later realizes the existence of the child and went
ahead to kill him, because he did not want to be associated with
a black woman.
The belt that Njabulo buys to the baby is a symbol of love, and
that he wants to create a good relationship with him. He also
plays gold, a game that is associated with the white people at
that time. This is an illustration that Njabulo would prefer to
lead a lifestyle of the white people and he tries his best to
imitate them. It is an indication that the society has been
dominated by the whites and the blacks find it easy to be
associated with them. Assimilating the lifestyle of the whites
thus makes it easier for people to lead a better life.
Similarities and differences
The two stories are based on love, and the main characters have
troubled relationships and many conflicts result from love.
However, the scenarios are very different, but the two stories
are based on the war period. As a result of the war, the love life
of the characters is affected in different ways. In the first story,
jimmy cross goes to Vietnam with the hope of coming back to
reunite with his love, only to realize that it was a mere dream

that could not be fulfilled. In the second story, Thebedi falls in
love with a white man but the apartheid period does not allow
their association to last for long. It ends up in a painful closure
because the child dies in a mysterious way, but Thebedi does
not have a say in the society at that time, even if she knows
what caused the death of her baby. The conflicts in both stories
are resolved differently, as jimmy cross ends up burning his
memories and Thebedi ends up losing her baby. Death comes
and this marks the end of conflicts in both stories.
References
Gordimer, N. (1979). Town and country lovers. Los Angeles,
Calif: Sylvester & Orphanos.
O'Brien, T. (1990). The things they carried: A work of fiction.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Running head: CONFLICT ANALYSIS
1
Conflict Analysis
ENG/125 Intro
duction to Literature

Grelika White
February 28, 2015
Conflict Analysis
Grelika White
February 28, 2015

American Culture -- Winter, 2015, These questions will appear .docx

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