English 462
Study Guide for Exam II

I. Format. The exam will take 50 minutes and will consist of two parts: an identification and analysis section, and an essay.  The analysis and identification part may take the form of multiple choice or short answer questions this time.  The two questions in the first part may be drawn from the terms listed below, from selected passages from the works, or from materials covered during class lectures and discussions.

II. Works Covered.

• Chesnutt, “The Sheriff’s Children,” ARR 170-185
• Dunbar, “The Lynching of Jube Benson” ARR 524-531
• Kate Chopin, “Desirée’s Baby” ARR 269-274
• London, “To Build a Fire” ARR 537-551
• Crane, Maggie
• Norris, McTeague
• Greed and The Land Beyond the Sunset (films)
• Dreiser, Sister Carrie
• Wharton, The House of Mirth
  

III. Terms  and Concepts

• Naturalism
• Local color
• Material from reports
• Color line
• “one-drop rule”
• Creole and Cajun
• Tragic mulatto

IV. Issues

• Material culture, the importance of objects
• Social class, status, establishing class hierarchies
• Money, circulation, exchange, gambling, sales, prostitution, consumption, desire
• The body: gesture, language of the body, clothing, dismemberment, sexuality, etc.
• Issues of race and representation
• Images and symbols within particular works or stories; imagery of naturalism (Darwinian/scientific, etc.)
• Issues in naturalism: competition, struggle, violence, heredity, environment
• Style, point of view, and structure in various works
• Gender issues