Two essays

ESSAY 1

DIRECTIONS:

*Attempt only two questions.

*Question # 1, Section A, is compulsory.

*Choose one more question from Section B.

*Keep your answers clear, concise and analytical.

*Address your responses to the specific demands of each question.

*Illustrate your answers with apt references, and cite key sources used.

*Limit your responses to four, double-spaced, 12 pitch font pages per question.(There are two questions, so totally 8 pages)

*No excuses, late papers or haphazard submission of papers would be accepted.

*Your answer scripts must include questions chosen, your name, and be in MLA format.

QUESTIONS:

SECTION A

1) Explore the complexities of the term, ‘Black Literature’, and discuss how they, critically, engage certain social experiences, literary traditions, canons, racial and cultural politics.

SECTION B

2) With attention to each story’s social milieu, examine the nuanced relationships between racism and gender politics in Going to Meet the Man and Sometimes, a Motherless Child.

3) Analyze, with focus on subtleties, the critical significance of gender, childhood, community, coming-of-age and unnamed protagonists in The Hammer Man, and No Beating Like Dis One.

4) Discuss how the narrative threads of Red Hot Peppers, with regard to forms of inequalities, violations, and resistance, pose questions about identities, gender, social and power relations.

GOOD LUCK!

EXAM GRADING CRITERIA

‘A’ GRADE RANGE = 90%-100%

* Answered all aspects of the questions.

* Cogent application of lectures and readings.

* Cited other relevant materials appropriately.

* Identified characters, authors and situations aptly.

* Clear, engaging, scholarly and logical analyses.

* Avoided pointless summaries of texts.

* Hardly any spelling or grammatical errors.

* No colloquialisms (slangs and informal language).

* Kept responses within specified page limits.

* No attempts to ‘stretch’ paper, unduly (through creative pagination, font sizes, etc)

‘B’ GRADE RANGE = 80%-89

* Answered most aspects of the questions.

* Mediocre applications of lectures and readings.

* Cited other relevant materials unevenly.

* Identified characters, authors and situations aptly.

* Fairly clear, engaging, scholarly and logical analyses.

* Had some pointless summaries of texts.

* Occasional spelling and grammatical errors.

* Few, if any, colloquialisms (slangs and informal language).

* Kept responses within specified page limits.

* Probable attempts to ‘stretch’ paper, unduly (through creative pagination, font sizes, etc).

‘C’ GRADE RANGE =70%-79%

* Answered few aspects of the questions.

* Scant application of lectures and readings.

* Trivial use, if any, of other relevant materials.

* Misidentification of characters, authors and situations.

* Lacked clear, engaging, scholarly and logical analyses.

* Indulgent and artless summaries of texts.

* Plentiful spelling and grammatical errors.

* Rife with colloquialisms (slangs and informal language).

* Resourceless use of specified page limits.

* Flagrant attempts to ‘stretch’ paper, (through creative pagination, font sizes, etc)

‘D’ GRADE = 60%-69%

*Gross deficiencies, in range and scope, of a ‘C’ paper.

‘F’ GRADE = 59% and below

* Overwhelming attributes, in range and scope, of a ‘D’ paper.