Dr. Tina L. Hanlon
Ferrum College,
English Department
Fall 2006
Please note: If you have questions or see mistakes in this study guide, contact the professor as soon as possible.
This study guide was refined and expanded a little this week but will not be changed again, unless someone discovers errors on it. Be sure to refresh old web pages that may be in your computer cache.
General Guidelines:
Review all readings and the introductions in anthologies and other required background material, putting emphasis on being most familiar with assignments that have received the most attention in class discussions since the midterm.
Be sure all your answers make reference to one or more specific works of literature or folklore.
You do not need to remember in detail every work we have studied, but you should know well the title, characters and plot of one or two examples to fit each category in the review list of assignments below, and you must be prepared to write about The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl and Grandfather Tales.
Write all answers in complete sentences and standard English. Test answers aren’t expected to be as polished stylistically or mechanically as out-of-class papers, but college-level writing skills must be used to make your answers clear to the reader who evaluates them.
In general, you should have a good understanding of how the literature we have studied for this test represents trends in Appalachian literature and culture or particular issues from the List of Themes as we have discussed some of those themes in class.
Don't forget that in Angel, you can set the calendar to display as a list (and print those pages if you wish), in order to view a list of the assignments for each month or week.
Short Answer Section: 6 questions (50% of test grade)
You must name the author and title of the work if there is an author and these facts are not given in the question. Only works discussed in class will appear in the short answer section but you may mention other works if that makes sense for the question. One paragraph in answer to the question should be sufficient. See the sample short answer question on the study guide for the midterm in this course.
Essay Questions (50% of test grade):
There will be two essay questions, each requiring you to write about several different works of literature or folklore we have studied.
You will have a choice of essay questions. You choose which work(s) you will discuss to answer the questions you have chosen. Be sure to use specific examples and details from the works to support the generalizations in your essay.
If questions ask for comparison/contrast, be sure you have included specific, explicit points of comparison and/or contrast in your essay.
See Pointers for Taking Essay Tests. Many writing and literature textbooks also give advice about responding to essay questions and samples of essay questions and answers..
Particular themes that may appear in exam questions (not necessarily a complete list here):
Different perceptions of progress, advantages and disadvantages of modernization, folk traditions vs. modernization
Relationship between memories of childhood/youth and realities of adult life, or nostalgia for past and coping with present realities
Cultural diversity in Appalachia
Poets' and Virginia Hamilton's treatment of conflicts caused by racism in Appalachia
Differences between oral traditions and written literature and/or between folklore and realistic literature
Relationship between historical or personal past and present realities
Strong women and strong men in Appalachian folktales and literature
Different uses of humor in Appalachian folklore, literature and culture
Sense of place in relation to home, family, or natural world
Personal identity in relation to region and different views of Appalachia
Folklore, including Folktales
Richard Chase, Grandfather Tales, especially "Mutsmag." Also "Wicked John and the Devil," "Whitebear Whittington," "How Bobtail Beat the Devil." "The Two Lost Babes," "The Old Sow and the Three Shoats," "Old Dry Frye," The Two Old Women's Bet," Like Meat Loves Salt," "Sody Sallyratus," "The Green Gourd." "Ashpet."
Rex Stephenson's online retelling of "Mutsmag"
James Still's nursery rhymes from An Appalachian Mother Goose (on handouts)
Cherokee tales of Selu and Kanati
Cherokee tale similar to "The Tar-Baby, " in Tales Online database: http://www.talesunlimited.com/fulltext.asp?taleid=1351&search_criteria=Cherokee,%20Native%20North%20American%20Tribe
"Marriage of the North and the South," Cherokee tale in Tales Online database, http://www.talesunlimited.com/fulltext.asp?taleid=1400&search_criteria=Cherokee,%20Native%20North%20American%20Tribe
Cherokee tales told by Carl Lambert in Higgs, vol. 1, 215-19
Poems about folklore in Higgs, vol. 2:
"Ghost Story" by Kathryn Stripling Byer, 453-43
"Death Crown" by Robert Morgan, 481
Chapter 3 in vol. 2 of Higgs, on Mythology, Folklore, and Superstition (not the essay on music)
African American Literature
Frank X Walker poems:
"Affrilachia"
"Kentucke"
"Fireproof"
"Breakfast in Hazard"
"Sara Yevo"
Patricia Johnson poems on handouts:
"Good Seed"
"My People"
"Somebody's Child" (copy incomplete in Dr. Mead's packet but you got another copy)
"Response to a Compliment from a White Friend"
"Snow Cream"
"Cornmeal Mush"
"A Place Where"
"John Henry" in Higgs (we listened to the version in AppLit in class)
Nikki Giovanni poem "knoxville, tennessee"
The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl by Virginia Hamilton
"Boyhood Days" by Booker T. Washington, pp. 60-65 (didn't discuss in class)
(See also Dr. Mead's paper on Walker, Johnson, and Wood)
Native American Literature
Karenne Wood poems on handouts (2nd half of packet distributed by Dr. Mead):
"Blue Mountains"
"Jamestown Revisited"
"My Standard Response"
"Markings on Earth"
"Smoke Dancers"
"Making Apple Butter"
Marilou Awiakta, excerpts from Selu (on reserve)
Cherokee selections in Higgs, vol. 1, chap. 6, 214-29 (didn't discuss all of this in class)
Cherokee tale similar to "The Tar-Baby, " in Tales Online database: http://www.talesunlimited.com/fulltext.asp?taleid=1351&search_criteria=Cherokee,%20Native%20North%20American%20TribeI
"Marriage of the North and the South," Cherokee tale in Tales Online database, http://www.talesunlimited.com/fulltext.asp?taleid=1400&search_criteria=Cherokee,%20Native%20North%20American%20Tribe
Marilou Awiakta, excerpts from Selu (on reserve), including:
"Where Mountain and Atom Meet," p. 72 of Selu
"When Earth Becomes an 'It'" in Higgs, vol. 1, p. 202
Awiakta poem "Mother Nature Sends a Pink Slip" is also at http://www.yvwiiusdinvnohii.net/lit/pinkpoem.htm.
Picture book No Star Nights by Anna Smucker was read in class (on childhood memories of steel town)
The Environment and Eminent Domain
"Death by Eminent Domain" in Higgs, vol. 1, pp. 195ff.
Picture book When the Whippoorwill Calls by Candice Ransom (on reserve)
Contemporary Short Stories in Higgs Anthology
Pinkney Benedict, "The Sutton Pie Safe"
Lisa Kroger, "Extended Learning"
Picture Books
My Great Aunt Arizona, picture book by Gloria Houston (on reserve in library)
When the Whippoorwill Calls by Candice Ransom (on reserve)
No Star Nights by Anna Smucker (read in class)
Other Poems on Appalachia in Higgs Anthology
P. J. Laska, poem "The Hillbilly Odyssey"
Jim Wayne Miller, poem "The Brier Losing Touch with His Traditions"
Also in vol. 1, Miller's "Brier Sermon," pp. 423-27 (didn't discuss
in class)
Jeff Daniel Marion, poem "Ebbing and Flowing Spring"
Fred Chappell, "A Prayer for the Mountains"
James Still, "Heritage," vol. 2, p. 741
(also short passage, not a poem. by James Still, "Appalachia," p. 683
Julie Pennell, "Conflict," vol. 2, p. 720 (compare with G. L. Lyon's "Where I'm From")
Read the instructions carefully and answer the number of questions required. Don't leave any blank or it will cost you too many points.
Budget your time so that you won't be forced to leave anything blank or run out of time for checking your answers at the end.
Follow any instructions you might find about not duplicating the same examples or writing about a certain number of different authors.
Select examples that you know well and that fit the question especially well.
Don't just summarize plot or rephrase the idea in the question. Be sure you stress the significance of the examples you discuss.
Include specific details as much as possible, without just summarizing plot or using up too much time on any one question.
Write clearly, legibly, and in complete sentences (for your sake as you check your answers as well as the reader of the test).
If you have time, take a mental break from working on the test and then look back over answers you wrote earlier in the test period.
12/15/2006 12:03:22 PM