Non-Western Literature, Final Exam

“Tribal: that’s what they called human from ethnic groups too remote and “uncivilized” to regularly send students to attend Oomza Uni” (Okorafor 82).

For your final exam, I want you to propose a new name for the course currently known as “Non-Western Literature.” As Okorafor suggests, this title keeps thousands of years of literature in hundreds of countries classified as “tribal” rather than placing it on an equal footing with other Western works of literature (Shakespeare, etc.). So without replacing the class (since we still need to study these works in-depth), how could you change the name and/or focus of the course to remove the “tribal” designation?

Your essay should propose a new name that captures another aspect of the class, its themes, ideas, or identities. Then choose 2-3 works from class that you can use to support this title/theme. Explain how these works would complement the course theme, and illustrate specific aspects of it. You must focus on at least 2 works from our class, though you can also suggest works we didn’t read/discuss as part of your new idea.

Remember, your title can be simple and descriptive, just like “Non-Western Literature” itself, or it can be specific and thematic, like “Literature of Diverse Women Exploring Their Identities” (don’t use this one). You also don’t need a title/class that uses all of the books in our class…your title can exclude certain books, but must include at least 2-3 from our class.

CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS:

In-Class Option: You will come to class on Friday, December 14^th @ 9:00 and write an exam on the above topic. Bring the 2-3 books you want to use in your paper with you. I will expect slightly less polish on this exam and it will have a shorter length requirement.

Take-Home Option: You will write this essay at home and turn it in no later than Friday, December 14^th by noon. No late papers will be accepted. I will expect a little more polish on this work, and it must be at least four full pages double spaced. You may e-mail me the exam at jgrasso@ecok.edu.

For Monday: Okorafor, Binti, Pages 9-58

NOTE: Since we're only going to spend two days on Binti, I won't ask you to answer any more questions for class. Instead, we'll do a Comprehension Exam on Monday--though really, it's just a simple in-class response over the first half of the book. 

Here are some ideas to consider as you read, which might be useful when you answer the question on the exam:

* Why are Binti's parent's against her going to the university? Why does her friend Dele say, "We're Himba. God has chosen our paths"? 

* What is the significance of the otjize? Why does she equate it with her soul?

* Why do the other humans look down on the Himba? What made her get death threats when she was accepted to the university? 

* What occupation does her family follow? Why might this give her an advantage going into the university?

* What is the astrolabe in the novel used for? 

* What do the Medusae think about humans in general? Why, too, do they find the edan "shameful"? 

* How does Binti relate to other characters in the stories we've read--particularly other outcasts and exiles in Lahiri's fiction? 

For Wednesday: Lahiri, “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar” and “The Third and Final Continent”

The “India” Group should answer two of the following:

Q1: When Bibi is banished to the storage room for fear of infecting the child, she tells her friends, “Don’t worry, it’s not as if they’ve locked me in here...The world begins at the bottom of the stairs. Now I am free to discover life as I please” (170). What does she mean by this, and why might this be the beginning of her “treatment”?

Q2: At the end of “The Third and Final Continent” the narrator likens himself to an astronaut: “While the astronauts, heroes forever, spent mere hours on the moon, I have remained in this new world for for nearly thirty years” (198). How can an immigrant be like an astronaut, and how else is he—and all of us, actually—heroes exploring distant worlds?

Q3: How is Bibi a lot like Boori Ma from “A Real Durwan”? Though both are outcasts, why are they also necessary to their little neighborhoods? Similarly, why are they both undervalued by those closest to them?

Q4: The narrator of “The Third and Final Continent” has an arranged marriage with Mala, which he regards “with neither objection nor enthusiasm. It was a duty expected of me, as it was expected of every man” (181). When does the marriage become more than a duty for him, and why, unlike the other marriages in this book, does this one actually seem to work?

INTEGRATING QUOTATIONS INTO YOUR PAPER, MLA STYLE

The Quote: “When I was your age I was without knowing that one day I would be so far. You are wiser than that, Eliot. You already taste the way things must be.”

I. INTRODUCE QUOTES

In Lahiri’s story, “Mrs. Sen,” the title character says...

In an important passage in “Mrs. Sen” occurs when she tells Eilot that...

Later, in the same story, Mrs. Sen tells Eilot...

II. CITE PAGE NUMBER AND/OR AUTHOR

(123) OR (Lahiri 123)

NOT (The Book), OR (The Interpreter of Maladies), OR (Jhumpa)

III. RESPOND TO THE QUOTE

In Lahiri’s story, “Mrs. Sen,” the title character tells the young boy, Eilot that, ““When I was your age I was without knowing that one day I would be so far. You are wiser than that, Eliot. You already taste the way things must be” (123). This is an important moment, since it gives Eliot his first ‘taste’ of what it means to be an exile, and why his home will never be a home to her. It also warns him that any of us can become exiles later in life, even though we can’t imagine leaving the comfortable circles of our homes and families.

IV. WORKS CITED PAGE

Lahiri, Jhumpa. “Mrs. Sen.” The Interpreter of Maladies. Boston:

        Houghton Milfflin Company, 1999.

Akutagawa, Ryunosuke. “The Story of a Head That Fell Off.” Rashomon

        and Seventeen Other Stories. New York: Penguin Books, 2006.  

For Friday: Lahiri, "Mrs. Sen's" and "This Blessed House"

The "Japan" group should answer two of the following: 

Q1: The wife in "This Blessed House," Twinkle, becomes obsessed with the Catholic left-overs in their new house--plates, statues, and even a bust of Jesus. Why does she take such interest in these relics, and why does her husband disapprove, finding it an example of "bad taste"?

Q2: After one of her driving lessons, Mrs. Sen exclaims, "Everyone, this people, too much in their world" (121). What terrifies or disturbs her most about life in America? What doesn't make sense to her here, and makes it difficult to her adapt to this new way of life?

Q3: Why can we read "This Blessed House" as another variation on the themes of Wide Sargasso Sea, particularly between Rochester and Antoinette? What brought them together, and what has happened to them post-honeymoon? Is this another story of circles and ideals?  

Q4: How does Mrs. Sen expand Eliot's 'circle' and change the way he perceives his own day-to-day world? What ideas does she 'translate' for him that he never even considered or understood before? Do these ideas come from Mrs. Sen's Indian identity, or is she simply showing him a woman's point of view?

For Monday: Lahiri, “A Real Durwan” and “Sexy”

NOTE: Be sure to see the Paper #2 assignment below if you missed class on Friday

The “China” group should answer two of the following:

Q1: Why does Rohin tell Miranda that the word sexy means “loving someone you don’t know” (107)? Why would a child misunderstand this definition, but why is it—at least for Miranda—somewhat close to the mark?

Q2: How do modern conveniences change the residents and break up the community? Why does Boori Ma no longer fit into this world?

Q3: Why is Boori Ma accepted as a “durwan” even though “under normal circumstances this was no job for a woman” (73)? What makes her able to break the social norms?

Q4: How does Miranda try to translate herself into an Indian and a mistress? Do these things seem to make a difference to Dev? Does she understand his attraction and interest in her?

Non-Western Literature, Paper #2: The Individual vs. Society

“Fortunately, however, society rarely offers critical comment regarding the way a person dies. The way a person lives is what evokes criticism” (Akutagawa, “Horse Legs”)

For this paper, I want you to compare two works that discuss the conflict of identity vs. society in a similar way. In other words, what happens when someone’s dreams, desires, and sense of self is at odds with how their society expects them to act or appear to others? This is all the more important in these “Non-Western” works, since a sense of cultural or racial identity depends on who you are—and who you present yourself to be.

We see this theme throughout our last three books: in Akutagawa, many of the characters are in conflict with the norms of their society and its conceptions of religion and honor; in Wide Sargasso Sea, being “English” means something very specific, since it is a standard of conduct and civilization; and in The Interpreter of Maladies, we see characters adjusting to life in a new country, while still part of the life of the old one. What does it mean to find yourself when society wants you to be different—especially in a society whose laws you don’t agree with or didn’t seem invented for you?

Choose ONLY two works—by which I mean individual short stories, or ONE part of Wide Sargasso Sea (don’t focus on the entire work). For example, you could use “Horse Legs” (which I quoted above) and “The Interpreter of Maladies,” or Part One of Wide Sargasso Sea and “O-Gin.” Any combination works so long as you can find some connection between the two that shows people struggling against similar values or ideas, or that shows different responses/approaches to dealing with these conflicts. Be sure that the stories are connected somehow—in other words, that there’s a reason you’re looking at both of them together.

REQUIREMENTS

• 3-4 pages, double spaced
• Use no more than two stories/parts in your discussion
• You must quote from each story (as much as you want) to illustrate your ideas and show us how each author documents this struggle of identity
• Cite quotations according to MLA format and include WC page
• PLEASE E-MAIL YOUR PAPER TO jgrasso@ecok.edu (you can also turn in a hard copy to be safe, but this time, I want to grade electronic copies] 
• Due Monday, November 12 by 5pm [no class that day]

For Friday: Lahiri, "The Interpreter of Maladies" (pp.43-69)

The "Egypt" group should answer TWO of the following: 

Q1: The Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy, once wrote “All happy families are alike but an unhappy family is unhappy after its own fashion.” Why do you think happiness is universal but unhappiness is singular? How does this story seem to shed illustrate this idea?

Q2: Mr. Kapasi observes early on that Mr. Das “looked exactly like a magnified version of Ronny. He had a sapphire blue visor, and was dressed in shorts, sneakers, and a T-shirt. The camera slung around his neck...was the only complicated thing he wore” (44). Why does Mr. Kapasi disapprove of the family, and the parents in particular? What makes them strange and “alien” to him?

Q3: When Mr. Kapasi dismisses his day job as "a job like any other," Mrs. Das exclaims, "But so romantic" (50). Why does she find it romantic, and why does she suddenly decide to make him her confidant? How does she also change for him in this instant? 

Q4: How is this also a story about the clash between East and West, and why ‘translation’ is so difficult? Why is culture more than language and custom? What is Mr. Kapasi unable to translate for Mrs. Das and for himself?

For Wednesday: Lahiri, "A Temporary Matter" and "When Mr. Pirzada Came To Dine" (from The Interpreter of Maladies)

The "Africa" group (or whoever wants to!) should answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In “When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine,” the narrator writes, “Most of all I remeber the three of them operating during that time as if they were a single person, sharing a single meal, a single body, a single silence, a single fear” (41). What does this memory of his parents and Mr. Pirzada as a child say about the immigrant experience? Why did the three of them become “one”?

Q2: The narrators of both stories are the second generation, “Indians” but also “Americans.” What does being “Indian” mean to them, and do you feel it’s even how they seem themselves? What makes it difficult to maintain their identity in the new world?

Q3: Why do you think the power outage allows Shukumar and Shoba to finally stop avoiding each other and tell teach other the truth? Ironically, what about darkness helps them to ‘see’ each other after all this time?

Q4: Why do you think the narrator remembers Mr. Pirzada after all this time, especially since he was only part of their lives for a short time? What does he come to represent about her heritage, but also her childhood?