The Final Exam: Friday, May 6th @ 9:00

FINAL EXAM FOR BRITISH LIT FROM 1800

Part One: Passages

I will give you a passage from each book (and maybe 2 or 3 from the Romantic Poetry book): you have to identify the author OR the work, and then discuss the significance of the passage—in other words, why I’m quoting it here. These will all be significant passages we discussed in class, so no surprises.

Part Two: The Essay

I carefully, consciously chose the works we read in class as a representation of British Literature from 1800. I also specifically focused on a single century, the 19th, and stopped at the very end of it—1898. Why these works, why only this period (no 20th century)? Because I wanted to tell a specific story that only these works could tell, that necessarily excludes many other stories I might have told. However, I felt that if you could see how this narrative is shared by a few key works, you would learn something useful about the literature and the period.

Q: For your essay, I want you to write an Introduction to this our course: not just British Literature from 1800, but the specific version of this course. Imagine that you’re writing a Forward to a book: explain what the general story is, and how the individual works contribute to this story. There can be several themes and ideas or one overarching one, that’s your decision. However, you should help students ‘see’ the invisible threads connecting one work to another, and how each work is responding to similar ideas and expressing the zeitgeist of the era. You must quote from several works to support your ideas, and you may quote from the passages in Part I. However, if these are the only quotes you use, you won’t get full points. I want to see how much you’ve read and how well you can make it ‘speak’ in this essay. So be specific; the more vague you are, the more I’ll wonder how much time you spent reading Spark Notes! :)

You may write the essay before the exam and simply bring it with you, or you can write in in-class. However, everyone has to attend the exam to do Part I in class. Our Final Exam day is Friday, May 6^th @ 9:00 (not 8, as the schedule says).

For Monday: Wells, The War of the Worlds, Part II (Last Questions!)

Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: In Chapter 2, “From the Ruined House,” the narrator discusses Martian anatomy and evolution, explaining (among other things), that “is it quite credible that the Martians may be descended from beings not unlike ourselves, by a gradual development of brain and hands...at the expense of the rest of the body” (127). Why is this passage significant for the metaphor of Wells’ book? What fate does this predict for mankind if it continues along current lines of development?

Q2: In a shocking passage, the narrator more or less kills the Curate. Why does he do this, and does this symbolize the last gasp of civilization for the narrator (and mankind)? Have the laws of God and man finally broken down in this passage—and have the Martians ‘won’?

Q3: At one point, the Man on Putney Hill wants to create a secret stash of books, but "not novels and poetry swipes, but ideas, science books" (Ch.7).  Why does he place so little value on imaginative literature and so great a value on scientific literature?  If there was a global catastrophe, should we save the art as well as the science? 

Q4: In the Epilogue, the narrator reflects that "We have learned now that we cannot regard this planet as being fenced in and a secure abiding-place for Man; we can never anticipate the unseen good or evil that may come upon us suddenly from space."  Though talking about Mars, how might this also reflect on Britain?  Why might this Epilogue be a metaphor for seeing England as an 'earth' itself? 

For Friday: Wells, The War of the Worlds, Chs.11-17 (to the end of Book I)

 Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: Given what we know of the "future" (for 1898), how are these chapters prophetic of modern warfare?  What trends and ideas was Wells capturing that would come to fruition in the first decades of the 20th century?

Q2: In general, does English civilization fall or triumph in retaliation to the Martians? In what way do English values either stand firm or crumble away in the face of a superior invader?  Consider the narrator's remark, "Did they grasp that we in our millions were organized, disciplined, working together?"   

Q3: What purpose does the Curate serve in the novel?  How does his reaction to these terrible events represent turn-of-the-century feelings about religion/establishment figures in general? You might also consider how the narrator reacts to him in particular. 

Q4: How does the narrator try to understand the Martians' purpose and origins?  What prevents him--and his society--from seeing their true threat and intentions (especially when the reader divines them much quicker)?  What might this say about late 19th century English society? 

For Monday: Wells, The War of the Worlds, Chs.1-10

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In Chapter Nine, a group of soldiers are conversing about the Martians: one calls them “octopuses,” and another remarks, “It ain’t no murder killing beasts like that” (39). If aliens are always a metaphor for mankind, why did Wells make them so grotesque and octopus-like? In other words, why stress their inhumanity to the reader?

Q2: One of the most important elements of science fiction is what we call verisimilitude, the quality of making something appear real—or what Coleridge termed the “suspension of disbelief.” The more we believe the events of science fiction are possible, the more we fall under their spell and ultimately unlock their metaphors. How does Wells accomplish this in the opening chapters of The War of the Worlds? How does he attempt to blur fact and fiction? (note: those of you who read A Journal of the Plague Year last semester might find a connection between that work and this one).

Q3: How does the public react to the growing threat of the Martians? Remember that the media didn’t have the power or influence in his day as it does in ours, and yet newspapers picked up stories quickly and disseminated them. What might the public’s response say about Wells’ views of England—or humanity in general?

Q4: How might Mars and the Martians represent some of England’s colonial fears, much in the same way that vampires and “Mr. Hydes” did in other stories? Consider the opening chapter, which notes that “[Mars] must be...older than our world; and long before this earth ceased to be molten, life upon its surface must have begun its course” (8). 

For Wednesday: Finish The Jungle Book!

Read the last three stories for Wednesday: "Quiquern," "Red Dog," and "The Spring Running." We'll end our discussion of Kipling with an in-class response which, I hope, will give you some ideas for your third paper. 

ALSO: here's a link to an article about Kipling's house in Vermont, Naulahka, where he wrote The Jungle Books in the twilight days of the 19th century. A possible road trip (or flight trip) for the summer? I actually have friends in Vermont and plan to visit his house sometime in the near future...

https://vtdigger.org/2016/04/10/introducing-rudyard-kipling-hometown-hero/

For Monday: Kipling, The Second Jungle Book

“Letting in the Jungle,” “The Undertakers,” “The King’s Ankus”

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In “Letting in the Jungle,” Mowgli denounces the Man-Pack in no uncertain terms: “They are idle, senseless, and cruel; they plan with their mouths, and they do not kill the weaker for food, but for sport...I hate them!” (196). In a sense, does Man teach Mowgli to become a killer, someone who has smelled blood and vows revenge? Does his education parallel the Creature’s (from Frankenstein)?

Q2: Somewhat related to Q1, Mowgli is a complete innocent (like the Creature) and is mystified by the ways of man. How does Kipling use his perspective as a true innocent—not just a child, but a wolf-child—to satirize the ideas of the Man-Pack? Are these native or British ideas? Or simply ‘human’ ones?

Q3: The strange tale of “The Undertakers” seems to be a fable about British progress as told from the perspective of a crocodile. How has progress affected the Mugger of the Ghaut, and how does it ironically end his career by the story’s conclusion?

Q4: The White Cobra warns Mowgli, “See, then, that the thing does not kill thee at last. It is Death! Remember, it is Death!” (236). Why is the King’s Ankus death to all men who touch it? How might elements of this story parallel certain works by J.R.R. Tolkein, who certainly knew his Kipling well (Kipling wrote in the generation just before Tolkein, so he would have grown up reading The Jungle Books, etc.).

For Friday: More on Kipling (see below)

For Friday, there's nothing to read--play catch-up instead--but we do have class: we're going to explore some ideas that inform Kipling's India. In other words, I'll bring the reading to class. We'll read the next three stories for Monday with questions to follow.

For those of you who missed today's class because of OCTE, the in-class writing follows (you can bring it to class or post it here):

Kipling, The Jungle Books

“Servants of the Queen,” “How the Fear Came,” and “The Miracle of Purun Bhagat”

In-Class Response:

Each one of these stories is about the origins of something that has always existed: why animals fight in wars, how fear came to the jungle, and where holy men come from. Also in each story, the knowledge is hidden from man, known only to the animals and to the narrator, who apparently understands the ‘beast language’ (at least in “The Servants of the Queen”). How do these stories challenge or critique the balance between man and animal, OR between Indian and British? Does Kipling use these stories to support the fundamental order of the British empire and the English way of life (the way of “man”)? Or is he critiquing the “laws” the rule the land in favor or more ancient rules—ones that predate anything English or British? 

For Wednesday: Kipling, The Jungle Book

For Wednesday, read the following 3 stories for class: "Servants of the Queen," "How the Fear Came," and "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat." There are no questions, but we will have an in-class response based on some idea from the stories. 

Also, I assigned Paper #3 in class which is due the Friday after next. The assignment sheet is pasted below: 

Paper #3: Metaphors of Empire

Think, in this batter’d Caravanserai

Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,

    How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp

Abode his Hour or two, and went his way (XVI, The Rubaiyat)

In the mid to late 19^th century, England was at the height of its power. At this time, it could truly be said that “the sun never sets on the British empire.” However, many writers found their relationship with British colonialism an uneasy one, since it took a profound amount of arrogance, ignorance, and sheer racist belief to maintain England’s superiority over the Eastern world. Our two writers from class, Fitzgerald and Kipling, use Eastern ideas and imagery to challenge our idea of England itself. Instead of criticizing England, they bring England to the Orient, disguising her ideas and values amidst exotic jungles and palaces.

For your Third Paper, I want you to examine how both authors use the Orient as a metaphor to examine England and English values. While we can read Fitzgerald’s poetry as merely Epicurean, and Kipling’s stories and charming animal fables, each one probes deeper, disguising a critique of society within its Eastern imagery. Where can we find these messages, and how does each author give clues to unlock their secrets? Which animals help us see English problems in a new light—the Bandar-log? The seals? The elephants? Though man is the king of the jungle, what are his limitations? What can only a creature of both worlds see and understand about the British world? Similarly, how can Fitzgerald ‘translate’ age-old poetry to reveal hidden truths about English nature? What advice does Omar Khayaam (a mask for Fitzgerald himself) offer to the Victorian colonialist who thinks he/she is the pinnacle of creation? Can the English empire ever die? Will it follow other empires who have long since vanished into dust?

Requirements

• At least 4-5 pages, double spaced
• Use examples from The Rubaiyat and a few of Kipling’s poems or stories
• Outside sources optional for this paper: focus on a careful close reading of the poems and stories
• DUE Friday, April 15^th by 5pm

For Monday: Kipling, The Jungle Book

Read the following 3 stories: “The White Seal,” “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,” “Toomai of the Elephants”

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: How do the heroes of these stories, such as Little Toomai, Kotick, and even Rikki-Tikki-Tavi relate to Mowgli? What characteristics do they all share, and why might Kipling choose them as the heroes of his animal fables set in the British empire? You might choose a specific tale to illustrate this.

Q2: “The White Seal,” written in 1890, was a specific response to the rampant commercial hunting of seals in the Northern Pacific. How might this story—and to a lesser extent, “Toomai” and “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”—be written to raise awareness for British readers (and especially, young British readers, who might grow up to make a difference)?

Q3: Do colonialist (or even racist) views sometimes cloud Kipling’s stories and depiction of the jungle world? Where do we see this, and could this be simply a record of how people at the time thought and spoke? Is it satiric? Or does it reflect the author’s views of racial hierarchies?

Q4: What is the role of man in each of the three stories? Is man still the king of the jungle, its ultimate protector or destroyer? Or is man seen more like the opening chapter of the book, “the weakest and most defenseless of all living things” (7)? Why is this significant for Kipling’s message of nature vs. civilization in The Jungle Books?