Modern
& Contemporary Literature: Privilege and Society
Midterm
Exam
To demonstrate your engagement with our reading,
discussion, and topics of study thus far, please respond to the following
prompts and questions on a separate sheet of paper. This exam is worth 200 pts.
of your total grade; each prompt is valued at the number of points listed in
bold beside it.
1) Compare and contrast
the following pairs of characters from The
Tortilla Curtain. Consider their personal attributes, philosophies,
actions, and worldviews.
- Delaney & Cándido
- Kyra & América
- Jack Jardine, Jr. & José Navidád
2) In traditional
literature, there is typically a protagonist (good guy) and antagonist (bad
guy). However, as we first discovered in “The Love of My Life,” T.C. Boyle
blurs the lines of morality to create a much more realistic portrayal of his
characters—human beings are never all
good or all bad. What attributes and
actions make Delaney the protagonist? What attributes and actions make Cándido
the protagonist? What attributes and actions make Cándido the antagonist? What
attributes and actions make Delaney the antagonist?
3) How does Maslow’s
hierarchy apply to the following excerpt of The
Tortilla Curtain? How do América’s needs and aspirations frame the concept
of suffering? How does this connect
to the concept of privilege?
“She
was tired, that was all. Her shoulders ached and her fingers burned where the
skin was peeling back from her nails. And she was hungry, always hungry. If
she’d stayed in Tepoztlán through all the gray days of her life she would have
had enough to eat, as long as her father was alive and she jumped like a slave
every time he snapped his fingers, but she would never have had anything more,
not even a husband, because all the men in the village, all the decent ones,
went North nine months a year. Or ten months. Or permanently. To succeed, to
make the leap, you had to suffer. And her suffering was nothing compared to the
tribulations of the saints or the people living in the streets of Mexico City
and Tijuana, crippled and abandoned by God and man alike. So what if she had to
live in a hut in the woods? It wouldn’t be for long. She had Cándido and she’d
earned her first money and now Cándido was able to work again and the nightmare
of the past few weeks was over. They’d have a place by the time the rains came
in the fall, he’d promised her, and then they’d look back on all this as an
adventure, a funny story, something to tell their grandchildren. Cándido, she would say, do you remember the time the car hit you,
the time we camped out like Indians and cooked over the open fire, remember?
Maybe they’d have a picnic here someday, with their son and maybe a daughter
too” (139/___).
4) Read “Putting up the
Gates” by Edward J. Blakely and Mary Gail Snyder. Reflect on the use of a gate
in Arroyo Blanco Estates using evidence from the novel and from the reading.
Journal-- How do male figures in The Tortilla Curtain exact male privilege/dominance toward América?
In groups of three, students constructed a bridge to span 9 inches between two desks using only materials provided to his or her group. This activity will be discussed and reflected upon next class.
