LITR 4333: American Immigrant Literature

Sample Student Midterm Answers 2001

(Assignment)

Part 1. Identify and Signify (Quotations)

  • Identify and comment on 4 of the following 6 quotations overall. These requirements are distributed across two categories.
  • Answer 1 of the 2 poetry options.
  • Answer 3 of the 4 prose options.
  • Spend at least 40 minutes (app. 10 minutes per item) on this section.

Poetry options

  • Choose 1 of the following 2 selections from the poems we've read in Unsettling America.
  • Identify the author and title of the poem.
  • Relate the themes of the poem to course objectives or lecture / discussion plus any additional or new insights.
  • Comment on the style or poetic techniques. If poetry says what mere prose can't, how has this passage of poetry taken you beyond a flat exposition of content?

Ready Reference: Poems presented up to midterm (in order of presentation):
Joseph Papaleo, "American Dream: First Report," UA 88
Patricia Smith, "Blonde White Women," UA 77
Chrystos, "I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government," UA 304
Martin Espada, "Coca-Cola and Coco Frio," UA 124
Jose Angel Villalongo, Sr., "In the Good Old U. S. A.," UA 328
Pat Mora, "Immigrants," UA 119
Tino Villanueva, "Haciendo Apenas la Recoleccion," UA 191

(answer 1 of the following 2 poetry selections)

Poetry selection 1.

You've had your fun now go home we're tired . . . .
WHAT are you still doing here Go somewhere else and
build a McDonald's We're going to tear all this ugly mess
down now We revoke your immigration papers
your assimilation soap suds your stories are no good . . .
Go so far away we won't remember you ever came here
Take these words back with you 

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Poetry selection 2.

Who would have guessed that the end
of those voyages, the agony of steerage,
insults from the Yankees, the tenement rooms
without windows, like fish cans,
the penny pinching and fear of the bosses
would end this way, as well-dressed citizens
devoted to the disinfection of our carpets . . . .

Click Here for Sample Answers from Student Midterms