The End Is Near!

Good Saturday afternoon and Happy Easter to those of you who are inclined towards one.

With classes now over and final exams coming up in a couple of days, there’s some stuff that needs to be said, as well as repeated.

First: The English 1101 exam is in the Physical Education gymnasium at 3 p.m. on Monday afternoon (it's 2.5 hours long). If you’ve been in class in the last few days of classes (as well as all semester long), you’re already fairly well prepared for the exam itself. Make sure that you sit in the right exam area because that will mean that you are writing the appropriate exam. The question sheet should be canary yellow, and my name (Dr. G. Collins) appears at the top.

On the exam, there are two sections (A and B) and there are four questions in each section. You must answer one (1) question from each section, two essays in total. Do not use the same novel in two different questions. Most questions give you a short quote and then a question, asking you to discuss a particular topic.

Mark the question number (e.g. Section A, Question #3) at the beginning of your essay.

The best way to approach something like that is to brainstorm some ideas first. Try to figure out what the question is asking you. What is required by the question? Why is this quote significant? Try to phrase your thesis statement so that you’re not just repeating the quote. There’s not really wrong with doing that, except it sounds stale and repetitive, as if you couldn’t think of anything else to say (which is probably true if that’s what you did). If all else fails, fine, just incorporate the quote into your thesis statement. The main thing is to just get started.

Divide your time equally. Make sure you leave sufficient time to answer the second question. I’ve seen way too many final exams over the years that have gotten an “A” on the first essay, but barely managed a pass on the second essay because the person wrote only a couple of paragraphs or so. Write two complete essays.

Leave time at the end to go back over your essays. If you know there are certain problems you’ve had all semester long (if you’ve been reading the many comments I’ve been making on your essays), then go back and fix as many of those as you can. It could do wonders for your grades.

Oh, and it doesn’t matter if you single-space or double-space.

I won’t go into discussing the novels here because I’ve done that enough in class all semester long and re-capped everything in the last class of the semester. What I would suggest, though, is that you know the characters in each novel really well. Figure out what each one represents. Consider the relationships of these characters to the main character. What do they have to do with what the novel is about and, in particular (when you’re writing the exam), what do they have to do with the idea you’re writing about? Again, brainstorming some ideas will help with this. It might be helpful to discuss each character one at a time, in a separate paragraph for each.

Also, feel free to bring in some other ideas, such as setting and symbolism or, if you’re feeling really brave, narrative technique. I’ve already told you that I’m not asking questions specifically about literary techniques, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use them in responding to exam questions. Bonus points for you if you are able to do so, as long as you’re comfortable talking about them. But it won’t be expected. The focus really is on theme and characterization, but when you're asked about a certain subject, feel free to discuss how that subject is represented in the novel, whether that's through characters, dialogue, setting, narrative point of view, imagery, or symbolism, or whatever.

Still feeling nervous? Don’t over-think it. Just make sure you can visualize the entire novel that you’re going to be discussing. Before you begin writing, try to remember the beginning (the very first scene) and then the ending (the very last image that we get). Think about what changes have occurred for the main characters on that journey and how they got there. Try to recall some of the key moments, images, and scenes. Also, are there any choice bits of dialogue, even a word or phrase, that stuck with you because it perfectly typifies who that character is and what they represent? Most of you, for example, remember Aunt Phil and when she lies to Draper about what the Doberman is doing. That scene says so much about her ability to achieve a kind of false truth of her own through denial, which is what Aunt Phil is all about: it’s power and authority through her own version of the truth, which no one else can see. But is there another moment when we see this too? How about when Draper sees the ghost and we are told that only Aunt Phil is an “authority” on apparitions. In other words, try to build on what you already know for sure by adding another scene or image (or more) to your repertoire of things you can talk about. Whatever parts of the novel you choose to discuss, just make sure it's something that you can use to go into some depth with, showing how it's a scene, image, or moment that relates to what the novel (and/or that character) is about overall.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’ll be in my office for a while before the exam on Monday, in case anyone wants their essays and revised essays returned. I’ve still got quite a lot of them, and I won’t be holding onto them past the end of April.

I’ll be writing a bit more tomorrow, and I’ll certainly have more to say next week, after you write the exam.

Beyond that, I don’t mind answering e-mail questions, provided that they don’t require me to write an essay of my own.

Good luck on the exam! I imagine you’ll be glad when it’s over.

See you Monday!

Gerard