ENG 2100 Final Exam
Part I: Short Answer (25% and 30 minutes)
1. Provide a one-paragraph close reading of one of the two following passages. You should
identify and analyze at least three distinct elements of the passage, including at least one at the
most specific formal level. Remember, as with all close reading, it is most important for you to
focus on the passage itself, rather than attempting to connect it to the rest of the text, its author, or
other issues outside of what you are given.
–Option 1: [Opening of Flannery Oïnnorà(e Life You Save May Be Your Own(1955):]
The old woman and her daughter were sitting on their porch when Mr. Shiftlet came up
their road for the first time. The old woman slid to the edge of her chair and leaned forward,
shading her eyes from the piercing sunset with her hand. The daughter could not see far in front
of her and continued to play with her fingers. Although the old woman lived in this desolate spot
with only her daughter and she had never seen Mr. Shiftlet before, she could tell, even from a
distance, that he was a tramp and no one to be afraid of. His left coat sleeve was folded up to
show there was only half an arm in it and his gaunt figure listed slightly to the side as if the
breeze were pushing him. He had on a black town suit and a brown felt hat that was turned up in
the front and down in the back and he carried a tin tool box by a handle. He came on, at an amble,
up her road, his face turned toward the sun which appeared to be balancing itself on the peak of a
small mountain.
The old woman didn change her position until he was almost into her yard; then she
rose with one hand fisted on her hip. The daughter, a large girl in a short blue organdy dress, saw
him all at once and jumped up and began to stamp and point and make excited speechless sounds.
–Option 2: [Li-Young Leeà(e Gift(1986):]
To pull the metal splinter from my palm
my father recited a story in a low voice.
I watched his lovely face and not the blade.
Before the story ended, he removed
the iron sliver I thought I die from.
I can remember the tale,
but hear his voice still, a well
of dark water, a prayer.
And I recall his hands,
two measures of tenderness
he laid against my face,
the flames of discipline
he raised above my head.
Had you entered that afternoon
you would have thought you saw a man
planting something in a boyàpalm,
a silver tear, a tiny flame.
Had you followed that boy
you would have arrived here,
where I bend over my wifeàright hand.
Look how I shave her thumbnail down
so carefully she feels no pain.
Watch as I lift the splinter out.
I was seven when my father
took my hand like this,
and I did not hold that shard
between my fingers and think,
Metal that will bury me,
christen it Little Assassin,
Ore Going Deep for My Heart.
And I did not lift up my wound and cry,
Death visited here!
I did what a child does
when heàgiven something to keep.
I kissed my father.
Part II: Essay (75% and 90 minutes)
We¥ covered an awful lot of ground this semester²om Harte, James, and their fellow late
19th century writers up to Evans and Johnson from our own moment, with everything (or at least a
lot) in between. It might seem as if the differences between those authors, and all of our authors
for that matter, are so striking as to be insurmountable; and certainly reading the lit can introduce
us to the unique aspects of each period in American history. But so too can it illustrate the
ongoing questions and themes and connections between all these diverse moments and texts. For
both reasons, I think looking at texts across time periods is just as valuable an exercise as looking
at two from one period (as you did in the Long Paper).
In this essay of at least four paragraphs, you should select one author/text from
Weeks 1-2 and one author/text from Weeks 3-4 and put them in dialogue, in one of two
main ways:
1) Imagining some of what their authors might say to each other about American identity, culture,
and literature, as they represented them in their texts;
2) Or doing the same with a couple particular characters describing to each other their American
experiences and identities, as we see them in the texts.
In either case, you, be the voice in the intro and conclusion (framing your main focal
points and ideas), and then your creation of the authors/r characters0erspectives will be
the focus of the middle two evidence paragraphs. There are no right or wrong answers here;
any combination of texts and any perspective on the pairing can result in an 75-point essay. The
key is to develop your main ideas and at least two main evidence points/paragraphs through
your use of specific textual evidence (including at least one quote from each text). For
structure, you can discuss both texts in each paragraph, separate them into two distinct
paragraphs, or anything in between; whatever you do, it will undoubtedly help to outline your
essay briefly before beginning your writing. And as you think about the two texts, it would
certainly help to look back at your notes on the various historical and literary contexts for each
Unit and the specific elements and themes discussed for each text(ose can provide nice
starting points for your ideas about your pair. [PS. If you rather write a more formal miniessay analyzing authors or characters, thatàfine too!]

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