The purpose of this study guide is not to indicate exactly what will be on the exam. The ideas below are intended to help organize your studying and to think about the works we've read and studied this semester. Use these ideas 1.) with your notes and own ideas to think about the poems, prose, and fiction we have read and 2.) to review the texts we've read--key passages. Don't forget the author bios, Intro. to the Victorian Age, and the Queen Victoria's Empire video give you historical and social context for many of these ideas. This is not an all-inclusive list and does not cover every idea or work that may be on the midterm exam.
A main focus should be the course themes (Course Notes) around which our course is organized. Think about how each work we've read and discussed reflects its theme. But also consider how individual works address more than one theme. The exam will cover the Intro to the Victorian Age through Jane Eyre, chapters 1-31
Write out practice responses to previous quiz questions and
questions you make up. Remember the quiz examples we went
over in class. The Russell/Mukharji card
from in-class group work should
be helpful. The Course Notes
(website) page also has info. to help you study.
Question types:
- Identifications: You will identify an unmarked passage (title of the poem,prose, or fiction piece) and explain its significance as well as its relationship to the entire work. (I will not give you obscure passages.)
- Multiple choice, matching, or fill in the blank*
- Short Answer*
*Like quiz questions.
Time for midterm: You will have the full class
period--75mins--for thinking, writing, and revising/editing)
You will also have some choices about questions you have to answer.
Below are some issues we have considered this semester. Expand on these and add works not listed here. Also, works might fit in more than one category.
You should know some basic dates (e.g., beginning and
ending of the Victorian Age) as well as key historical events [e.g., Indian
Mutiny, 1857; Elemenatary Education Act of 1870 (p 716 NA)]
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Empire
Without directly stating it, we focused our theme of empire using some postcolonial theory. (See Course Notes link.) A key idea from this theory is the idea of "cultural imperialism," a term used by critic Edward Said. Rather than the use of force--or just the use of force--this imperialism used a Eurocentric discourse (e.g., white, European values and attitudes) to define indigenous people as uncultured, primitive, impulsive, and inferior. This distinction helps to answer our questions: What are the distinctions between colonialism and imperialism? Both these terms may be captured with the term the New Imperialism. (See NA intro on empire, pp. 1637-38.) What were the implications of viewing British rule as divinely sanctioned? Is there a right and wrong way to run an empire? Is the very idea of empire a flawed or fated concept since it inherently involves colomislism? Is empire antithetical to moral and ethical human and social values? We should consider empire not only as historical but also as raising moral and ethical questions. Also, storytelling (e.g., romance) becomes a key issue. Whose story is being told? Does the storyteller (e.g., Dr. Watson, Peachy Carnehan) control and shape our view of indigineous peoples/nations or British citizens who travelled abroad in negative and positive ways (e.g., a critique of empire)? Also, how are empire and storytelling dependent on each other (e.g., the empire as a blank, open space to be filled and imagined; stories as having a narrator who shapes and interprets a story and an audience who listens. And stories as promoting adventure and cultural values that perpetuate empire or perhaps critique it. And what is the relationship between the use of force and storytelling? Are they mutally reinforcing? At odds with each other? Both?
Examples: Russell's Diary, Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King," Watson's The Purple East
Education
For this theme we explored how children are taught as well as methods of teaching. But we also considered the goals and values of education as we looked at elementary and grammar schools as well as university education. What do the texts we read reveal about Victorian attitudes about education? How do children learn best? What type of education do they need? What curriculum best serves children? Is moral and ethical instruction an important complement to core subjects? In addtion, how should teachers teach? What challenges did teachers face, and what methods were most effective? Finally, as we examined university education, we made personal connections to the purpose of a university education and what a university eduction should prepare us for, e.g., job training? careers? becoming better citizens? knowledge for the sake of knowledge? How do issues of gender and social class play into education? The background info on Victorian education is very helpful.
Examples: Hard Times, Lark Rise, The Idea of a University, Jane Eyre
Individualism and Society
During the Victorian age, a significant question was the relationship between the individual and society. How can the desires and freedom of the individual be balanced against the need for law and social order, against social codes and conventions? Is society instrumental in defining what a "self" is? What constitutes the "self"? (Our discussion of the looking glass/mirror in JE?) How does one find one's place in society? How do social class, gender, and sexuality shape notions of selfhood? Also, to what degree does a democracy require freedom? Obedience to the law? What happens when an individual exercises too much freedom? Acts on his or her desires in a way that threatens social order? And what happens when society's social codes and conventions stifle individuality, force individuals to repress elements of themselves? Another question is the idea of freedom itself. What is freedom? And what does one do with freedom when he or she has it? Finally, what responsibility does a society have to provide for its poor, disenfranchised, and voiceless members? What are the effects of poverty and no or little education?
Examples: Jane Eyre, Lark Rise, "The Man Who Would Be King"
Crossover works: What works fit in more than one category? For example, can "The Speckled Band," listed under Empire," also be listed under the Individual and Society? Does Jane Eyre fit under all three categires? Consider other possibilities.
Genre: How does short fiction, prose, and poetry allows us to experience the themes we've studies so far this semester? For example, the sonnet form in The Purple East, the prose structure of The Idea of a University, or the short stories we've read.