10th Grade World Literature

Final Exam Outline – Spring 2009

From Literature of Greece and Rome…

I.  Homer’s “The Iliad”

  1. Book 1
  2. themes – rage of Achilles; connections between gods and humans.
  3. Achilles attitude toward Athena’s words.
  4. Achilles’ efforts to reassure Calchas – “no one will lay his heavy hands on you by the hollow ships.”
  5. Book 6
  6. conflict between Hector and Andromache – needs of country v. needs of family
  7. Hector’s attitude toward his son
  8. Book 22
  9. image used to describe Achilles’ attack – swooping and screaming hawk
  10. how Athena convinces Hector to fight Achilles
  11. Book 24
  12. Apollo’s criticism of Achilles – Apollo sees him as having no shame
  13. emotional connection between Priam and Achilles
  14. change in Achilles – anger to compassion
  15. Hector’s funeral – how do the Trojans demonstrate their love for Hector

II.  Oedipus the King

  1. the effect of the chorus on Oedipus throughout the play
  2. Part I
  3. opens with widespread disease in Thebes – effort to elicit pity from the audience
  4. tone of Oedipus speech to citizens about finding Laius’s murderer
  5. Oedipus’s assumptions about Creon that lead him to turn against Creon
  6. Oedipus’s weakness that is demonstrated in Part I
  7. function of the chorus in Part I – provide commentary on the action
  8. Part II
  9. dramatic irony – when an audience knows something the character doesn’t know – Oedipus’s expectation that the herdsman will reassure him when audience knows the opposite will be true
  10. herdsman – why he does not want to speak the truth
  11. Jocasta – motivation for suicide – ashamed of what has happened
  12. Oedipus – motivation for blinding himself – effort at self punishment

From The Middle Ages…

I.  “Perceval’s The Grail”

  1. Who Perceval blames when he can’t find the castle.
  2. Most amazing feature of the grail
  3. Affect of the feast on Perceval – distraction from the grail procession
  4. quest story – the search for spiritual maturity

II.  “Song of Roland”

  1. natural event that disturbs the earth during the defeat of the French
  2. trait of a good military officer that Roland failed to demonstrate
  3. difference between medieval epic heroes and other epic heroes – medieval heroes are not perfect
  4. Ganalon’s efforts to mislead Charles
  5. medieval value – respect and honor for the power of swords – Durendal

III.  Dante’s “Inferno”

  1. Canto I
  2. “the straight road” as a symbol for pure spirit
  3. three raging beasts – symbols of sin
  4. Virgil’s role in the journey
  5. Dante’s hope that readers will react in terror to spirits “in endless pain”
  6. Dante’s mood as he departs
  7. appeal to sense of sight – lion with an “enormous head held high”
  8. Canto III
  9. appeal to sense of sound – “sighs and cries” quote
  10. Charon’s job
  11. “grim shore” – symbol for ______
  12. sights and sounds – show dark side of the human soul
  13. Canto V
  14. direct characterization
  15. description of Minos
  16. Dante’s attitude toward those being punished for giving in to passion
  17. souls that gave into appetites – experience great pain
  18. Dante the poet – attitude toward Paolo and Francesca
  19. Canto XXXIV (34)
  20. Dante’s reaction to seeing Satan
  21. indirect characterization – Satan’s actions
  22. description of the departure from hell
from Siddhartha…
I.  Buddhism background
  1. The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism – what are they?
  2. Samsara – what is is it? how does it work?

II.  Siddhartha

  1. Siddhartha
  2. belief in achieving goals – must be able to do these three things
  3. conclusion he makes about teachers – enlightenment cannot come through teaching
  4. Kamala
  5. the art she teaches Siddhartha
  6. prevented from completing her journey – snakebite by the river
  7. Siddhatha’s son
  8. attitude toward his new lifestyle after Kamala dies
  9. Kamaswami
  10. teaches Siddhartha how to acquire wealth
  11. Vasudeva (The ferryman)
  12. his primary belief
  13. his greatest virtue
  14. Govinda
  15. Siddhartha’s childhood friend
  16. watches over Siddhartha when he sleeps by the river

from Anthem...

I.  The Unmentionable Times – when was it

II.  Characters

  1. Equality 7-2521
  2. his job
  3. location of his meeting with the Golden One
  4. why he is sent to the Palace of Corrective Detention.
  5. what Equality renames himself as after his escape
  6. the word he rediscovers after escaping
  7. The Golden One
  8. her job

from Night…

I.  Before the Concentration Camp

  1. Attitude of Sighet’s Jews

II.  Characters

  1. Moshe the Beadle
  2. Elie
  3. dehumanized by tattoo on arm
  4. mistakes he made during his experience with the Nazis
  5. love for his father, his humanity, his faith in God – what do these have in common for Elie
  6. feelings about his father’s death
  7. Juliek
  8. playing the violin before he dies

III.  Concentration camps

  1. selection process – What occurs? What selections are made?
  2. Auschwitz
  3. words on the front gate

from Latin American literature…

I.  “The Handsomest Drowned Man” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

  1. response of the village women to the dead man
  2. magical realism – change in the hearts and souls of the villagers as a result of the dead man

II.  “Two Words” by Isabel Allende

  1. Belisa’s profession – what is it?
  2. El Mulato’s accusation at the end of the story

III.  “Night Face Up,” by Julio Cortazar

  1. conflict between reality and dream
  2. who is chasing the main character in reality?

IV.  “Tell Them Not to Kill Me” by Juan Rulfo

  1. crime committed by Juvencio Nava
  2. points of view – first and third person
  3. reasons Juvencio Nava gives for why he should be set free

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