The purpose of this study guide is not to indicate exactly what will be on the exam. The ideas (which we have discussed in class) below are intended to help you think about the works we've read and studied this semester. Use these ideas with your notes and own ideas to think about the stories and novels we have read. Don't forget your notes about the history of detective fiction, Conan Doyle, and the critical intro. to the Penguin ed. of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Also, the Course Notes have information to help you study.
Focus on your notes and the texts. Write out practice responses to previous quiz questions and questions you make up. Remember the quiz examples we went over in class. The cards from in-class group work should be helpful.
Also, keeping the stories, adaptations, and novels straight in your mind will require you to know these works well. Go back through your notes and revise them as needed to clarify these works. Review your adaptation note sheet too.
The exam will cover everything after the midterm.
Also, there will be three carry-over works from before the
midterm: "A Case of Identity" ("ACI"); "Silver Blaze"
("SB"); "A Scandal in Bohemia" ("ASB")
Possible question types:
- Multiple choice, matching, or fill in the blank*
- Short Answer*
- Identifications: You will identify a passage (title of a story or novel) and explain its significance. (I will not give you obscure passages.) NEW
- Essay (1 1/2-2pgs) Will focus on a single work or on two works
(compare/contrast) NEW
**Like quiz questions.
For the exam, you will have some choices.
Time for final exam: 90 mins. (You will have the full class
period--2 hrs--if you wish.)
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Think about the main ideas/themes/concepts below.
Sherlock Holmes Stories & Film Adaptations
Holmes and Moriarty--antagonists/master criminal/game playing ("The Final
Problem"; "The Empty House"; clips from A Game of Shadows).
See your response to quiz 3, #1
Role of legends/rituals (clip from The Hound of the
Baskervilles)
Gender: marriage and
the position of women/masculinity ("ACI" & "ASB")
Scientific Method:
imagination and logical reasoning (induction/deduction): "SB"/(clip from The Hound of the
Baskervilles)
Some themes from the
midterm study guide will also apply here.
Also, see ideas in the guide about adaptation theory.
The Lost World (epigraph I shared with you)
Differences in four main characters and how they interact/relate to each other
Other characters--McArdle--and indigenous natives/Sambo
Romance--exploration--Malone as a knight on a quest--glory and
distinction/Gladys--false idol/goal
Malone as journalist and narrator
Life as/is a game--passages we looked at/Others?
Science and imagination
Human nature--biology/evolution--what does it mean to be human?/how have
humans/has
society evolved?
Our prediliction for violence?
Nature--ecocriticism/Empire
Plotting of the novel/genre
Writing: description/action scenes
The White Company (epigraph and final lines of the novel)
Chivalry--Games--War [role of game playing--the tournament (Chpts 23-24) as
a microcosm of life]
Personal maturation of Alleyne--quest to achieve honor--Lady Maude (Chpts
12-13; 36; novel's
final chapter)
Relationship of Alleyne, John, and Sam (muscular Christianity)
Medievalism: The view of the past
[Anglo-Saxons/Normans--church/abbey--changing medieval (14th century) world] and relationship to the
Victorian (late nineteenth century) present] (PPt slides/articles read in
class)
Sir Nigel--view of chivalry (his vows and desire for "gentle debate"/social class (e.g., peasants seige of Castle
Villefranche)/view of the church--religion (muscular Christianity)/foreign
policy
(court of Prince Edward, son of Edward III)
Adventure--plot--description of dramatic scenes--contests and battles
Women characters--gender--Masculinity
Nature of 14th century medieval daily life/social class structure
Writing: descriptions of nature/battles
Plot structure:
movement from England to France and Spain