English 11: American Literature
Final Exam 2016 Study Guide
Please note that this study guide does not include everything that will be on the final exam. It is your responsibility to review your notes and materials in preparation for the exam.
The Great Gatsby
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Identify Terms:
Eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg
Gatsby’s shirts
The Eggs
The Midwest
Gatsby’s pool
Automobiles
The green light
The summer heat
Color red
Color white
Color yellow
Autumn
Identify Characters:
Nick Caraway
Tom Buchanan
Daisy Buchanan
Jordan Baker
Jay Gatsby/James Gatz
George Wilson
Myrtle Wilson
Owl Eyes
Klipspringer
Dan Cody
Meyer Wolfsheim
Identify Quotes:
“I told her she might fool me but she couldn’t fool God. I told her to look to the window and said, ‘God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing. You may fool me, but you can’t fool God’.”
“You said a bad driver was only safe until she met another bad driver? Well, I met another bad driver, didn’t I?”
“Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!”
“They are a rotten crowd! You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”
“Civilization is going to pieces. I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things…the idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be—utterly submerged…it’s up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things.”
“I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
“What I called up about was a pair of shoes I left there. I wonder if it’d be too much trouble to have the butler send them on.”
Death of A Salesman
Author: Arthur Miller
Identify Terms:
Expressionism
Realism
Stockings
Tennis Racket
Fountain Pen
Diamonds
The jungle
Adonis
Woods on fire
Hubris
Hamartia
Anagnorisis
Peripeteia
Catharsis
Identify Characters:
Willy Loman
Linda Loman
Biff Loman
Happy Loman
Bill Oliver
Ben
Charley
Bernard
Requiem
Study Questions
What three things make up Willy’s American dream?
Which one of the brothers is ethical? Which ones isn’t?
What does Biff want from Bill Oliver?
Why did Biff stop working for Bill Oliver?
What does Willy mean when he says, “I’ll make it up to you Linda.”
Who is Ben? What does he mean when he says, “I walked into the jungle and came out rich”?
Who is Charley? What advice does he give Willy?
What is Charley’s response when Willy sends the boys to steal construction supplies?
Who said their life has been a “ridiculous lie”?
What does Willy mean when he warns his sons “the woods are burning”?
What is the guaranteed proposition Willy talks about?
Where does the story take place? How do we know when a flashback is occurring?
Who role does the past play on the present?
Who keeps asking, “I’m losing weight, Pop, you notice?”
The Road
Author: Cormac McCarthy
Identify Terms:
Polysyndetic syntax
Pajaro de Esperanza
Carrying the fire
Bloodcults
Biblical allusions (dove, garden of Eden, Biblical prophet, etc.)
Christian Allegory
Identify Characters:
The Man
The Boy
The Woman
Ely
Thief
Study Questions
What time did the clock stop and apocalypse begin?
Which direction are the Man and Boy travelling? Why?
When was the Boy born? Why is this important?
What Biblical figure does the Man allude to?
What Biblical figure does Ely allude to?
How did the wife kill herself? Why?
Where is the novel set?
What happened to Ely’s son? What did Ely think the Boy was when he first saw him?
What injury does the Man sustain?
What does the Man do to the thief?
What makes a good guy? What makes a bad guy?
What does the Man say about good and bad dreams?
What is the narration of the novel?
What was “the last hope of Christendom?”
What was the Man’s perfect day of his childhood?
What does the Man leave behind on the road?
What are the signs of Bloodcult territory?
What does it mean that the man “saw, but did not see”?
Essay Portion Study Guide: You will be asked to choose ONE of the prompts below and answer in an essay that demonstrates understanding by the use of specific examples.
- Symbolism in The Great Gatsby
- Miller’s use of combining Expressionism and Realism
- The Road as a Christian allegory