English 2112: World Literature II: Study Guide for Final Exam

Below you will find review questions for each work we've read for Test Three, which is also your final exam. Also, you will find the names of the authors and each work we read--study them carefully, writing each name and title as it appears on this page multiple times to learn the spelling, including quotation marks (" ") and italics (use underlining when writing by hand). You will be expected to provide these names and titles on the Quote ID section. As for the review questions, please consider them supplemental to the discussion questions found on each individual author page--you should re-study those as well.

Review Questions

Franz Kafka (1883-1924)

The Metamorphosis

How does this story address the definition of "human"? In what way is Gregor still human? No longer human?
How does the premise of the story (a man turning into an insect) play with the idea of a metaphor?
Should this story be read allegorically? Why? Are we better able to think about its significance if we consider it allegorical elements, or does the story function better as science-fiction curiosity?

James Joyce (1882-1941)

"The Dead"

What is free indirect discourse, and how is this technique crucial to characterization in "The Dead"?
How does Gabriel's view of his wife develop from the end of the party until his final thoughts about "the dead"?
How does this story dramatize the idea of being "thought tormented"? Does Gabriel find a way out his paralysis by the end?

T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

What kind of journey does the speaker of the poem want to take us on? Why?
Consider that the poem is Prufrock's attempt to be a poet. Does he have anything important to tell us?
What is an "objective correlative"? Does Prufrock manage to achieve this standard of poetry?

"Tradition and the Individual Talent"

What is the historical sense, and why does Eliot place so much emphasis on it?
Explain the significance of the shred of platinum in terms of writing poetry?
What is Eliot's "impersonal theory of poetry"? Why does it need to be impersonal in this way?

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

"How Should One Read a Book?"

To what extent are we responsible for the experience we have with a book? What role do we play in letting the artist's intended effect happen?
If the act of reading does in fact require us to judge, what kind of judgments are we making?
Can the act of reading have value as an end in itself? How so or how not?

Albert Camus (1913-1960)

The Stranger

The novel is clearly told from a first-person point of view, but exactly whose point of view is it? How does the novel make us question the use of first-person?
On what grounds might we sympathize with Mersault? Does he plead for sympathy, or are we invited to offer it regardless, in a more indirect way?
Why does Mersault have such a problem with execution by guillotine? How does his explanation help explain the detached tone of much of the narrative?

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Study Guide for Final Exam