LITR 4333: American Immigrant Literature
University of Houston-Clear Lake

Midterm exam, fall 2003

Date: Thursday, 2 October

Format: Open-book, open-notebook (but not a cure-all; emphasis shifted from memory to critical and compositional skills)

2 options for taking exam

·        in-class: 7-9:50; write in ink in bluebook or on notebook paper (fronts and backs of pages okay; single-spacing okay)

·        email: 2 hours and 50 minutes between 6:45pm and 11pm; write in word processing file; attach and paste into email message to whitec@uhcl.edu (or just reply to my email); include log of starts and stops, total time spent

Contents and attachments: Try both of the following

·        Paste the contents of the appropriate word processing file directly into the email message.

·        “Attach” your word processing file to an email message. (My computer and most of its programs work off of Microsoft Word 2000. The only word processing program my computer appears unable to translate is Microsoft Works, though Microsoft Word is fine, as are most others.  If in doubt, save your word processing file in "Rich Text Format" or a “text only” format.)

·       Email address: Send all emails to whitec@uhcl.edu. Note the "c" at the end of "whitec." If you send the email to "white" only, it goes to the wrong professor.

Around 6:45pm, the exam will be emailed to all the class's email addresses and will be posted to the course webpage under the “Model Assignments” tab. (Link will be near the top of that page, listed as something like "Midterm Exam Copy 2003.")

Total time: Since there’s only one essay question & answer instead of the two planned, you should spend at least an hour and a half answering this question, but you may spend the entire 2 hours and 50 minutes if helpful. If you spend less than an hour and a half writing, you’re probably not developing enough material.

"Immigrant / Minority" Essay (1 hour & ½)

Assignment: Write an essay centering on the following questions and also addressing the sub-points below.

How successfully, and in what ways, does the Immigrant Narrative (as presented by this course’s texts) provide a yardstick or criterion for investigating American multicultural identities and literature?

Specifically, referring to texts specified below, how well does the Immigrant Narrative or American Dream story provide materials for comprehending and evaluating the behaviors and values of the dominant culture, of minority cultures, and of other cultures that may fall or move back and forth between immigrant and minority status?

In your review of these texts, consider some of the following issues as signs, symptoms, or determinants of such identities or status:

·        Language and literacy

·        Family structure / individualism

·        Color coding

·        Original relation with USA & resulting Social Contract

·        Attitudes toward the law or other dominant-culture institutions

·        Assimilation or resistance

·        Style of appearance; marked or unmarked

Keep in mind the language and emphases of the relevant course objectives:

·        “The Immigrant Narrative” (background to all course objectives)

·        Literary Objective 1 (story of immigration as a fundamental narrative of American literature and culture)

·        Cultural Objective 1a (American Dream versus American Nightmare: To compare and contrast the immigrant narrative with the minority narrative.)

·        Welcome to refer and connect to other objectives

As a conclusion, summarize your “learning curve” in handling terms and concepts such as immigrants and minorities. As Americans we sometimes dodge or wish to simplify such issues

Above all, try to write a unified essay, even though the material is diverse. Try to make connections, comparisons, and contrasts between the different texts and categories. Try to keep everything on a single “path of learning.”

Text requirements:

Your essay should refer to at least 6 texts from the assigned readings

·        Of these 6 texts, two should exemplify the immigrant narrative, two should exemplify the minority narrative, and two should involve features of both narratives.

·        Of the two texts exemplifying the minority narrative, one should be African American and one should be Native American Indian.

·        Of the two texts involving features of both narratives, one should be Afro-Caribbean and one should be Mexican American.

·        Of the 6 texts, at least four should be prose pieces from Imagining America or Visions of America; that is, two of the texts may be poems presented from Unsettling America. However, you may use all prose texts if you prefer.

·        (These are only minimal requirements. Of course you may refer briefly or allusively to more.)

·        You must refer at least once to something you learned from a previous midterm posted on the course webpage.

Texts from which to choose

Immigrant narratives

Anzia Yezierska, “Soap and Water” (IA 105-110) [handout]; Nicholasa Mohr, “The English Lesson” (IA 21-34); Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, “Going Home: Brooklyn Revisited” (VA 158-169); June Jordan, “Report from the Bahamas” (VA 305-315)

Poetry: Joseph Papaleo, “American Dream: First Report,” UA 88

Handout: page from Yezierska’s Bread Givers

Online: Crevecoeur, Notes from an American Farmer (1782), esp. “What is an American?” http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/CREV/home.html

Minority Narratives

James Baldwin, from No Name in the Street (VA 284-290); Jewell Gomez, “Don’t Explain” (182-190); Toni Cade Bambara, “The Lesson” (IA 145-152); Leslie Marmon Silko, “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” (IA 205-209); Louise Erdrich, "American Horse" (IA 210-220); Sherman Alexie, “A Drug Called Tradition” (IA 387-394).

Poetry: Patricia Smith, “Blonde White Women,” UA 77; Chrystos, “I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government,” UA 304

Handout: Olaudah Equiano, Interesting Narrative of the Life of Gustavus Vassa, or Olaudah Equiano, the African

Hispanic, Caribbean, or Mexican-American narratives that may fall or move somewhere in between

Junot Diaz, "How to Date a Browngirl . . . “ (IA 276-279); Edwidge Danticat, “Children of the Sea” (IA 98-112); Judith Ortiz Cofer, "Silent Dancing" (VA 179-186) Paule Marshall, “The Making of a Writer: From the Poets in the Kitchen” (VA 82-89); Paule Marshall, “To Da-Duh, in Memoriam” (IA 368-377)

Richard Rodriguez, from Hunger of Memory (VA 229-235); Gary Soto, “Like Mexicans” (VA 301-304); Nash Candelaria, "El Patron" (IA 221-228); Sandra Cisneros, "Barbie-Q" (IA 252-253)

Poetry: Martin Espada, “Coca-Cola and Coco Frio,” UA 124; Pat Mora, “Immigrants,” UA 119