Fundação Getulio Vargas W9 Reading World Literature is Worthwhile Essay To Read: Allende, “And of Clay We Are Created” p. 1133-1141 (Vol. F) Pamuk “To Loo

Fundação Getulio Vargas W9 Reading World Literature is Worthwhile Essay To Read: Allende, “And of Clay We Are Created” p. 1133-1141 (Vol. F)

Pamuk “To Look Out the Window” p. 1170-1187 (Vol. F)

Adichie, “The Headstrong Historian” p. 1188-1200 (Vol. F)

Topic

Only readings listed on the syllabus by these authors are eligible for the exam: Rilke, Neruda, Achebe, Mahfouz, El Saadawi, Al-Shaykh, Yan, Thiep, Allende, Pamuk, and Adichie. While you have your choice of texts from the last three weeks of the course to use in this exam, at least ONE text you discuss has to come from the Week #9 readings (Allende, Pamuk, or Adichie).

As many of you are not English majors, there is always an argument to be had as to whether courses like this are worthwhile if you are not necessary reading literary texts in your day to day work. In this last exam, using texts from the last three weeks of the course, I want you to construct your answer to the question: Is reading world literature worthwhile? You won’t hurt my feelings or jeopardize your grade with a “no” answer, as long as you take the time to properly explain and support your position (which is what this exam is truly testing you on anyway). In your response, you need to use at least three specific examples from assigned texts in the final three weeks in the course (and you cannot use two poems by Rilke, for example, and count them as two of your three examples—you must use works by at least three different writers). Is reading world literature worthwhile? Why or why not? Or are some texts worth reading and some not so much? You can split your answer as well and say that there is some benefit and some lack of benefit.

Length and Content Requirements

Your essay response must be a minimum of 750 words (there is no maximum, but try to avoid writing a book).

While you may use some of an author’s biography to make your point, keep in mind that your discussion should include a discussion of the texts we have read in class and not rely solely on biographical information.

This should be entirely your own argument, and you are not allowed to use any secondary material in this exam (your textbook or the version of the assigned text you are using is your only source).

As much as these are your own arguments, you should minimize your use of “I” unless absolutely necessary.

I would also argue against cutting and pasting information from your discussion posts and using that as the core content for your essays. If you choose to do so and heavily revise that content, it can work, but some students have used it as a shortcut method for completing the exam in the past, and it tends not to work well without carefully tailoring that information to the specific question posed below.

Formatting

Your exam must be in conventional essay format (contain an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion).

Any paraphrases or direct quotations of material from the texts you are using must be properly punctuated (clear use of quotation marks for direct quotations, for example) and must contain a parenthetical citation (in MLA or APA format) noting the page number of the material. There is no need for a works cited page if you’re using the assigned textbook, but if you’re using any other version of the assigned texts, you must provide a works cited page, noting full bibliographical information for your source material, with the submitted exam.

Submission and Due Date

I prefer that your exams are attached as files to the “Exam #3” location in “Assignments” in the Canvas menu (also located in the Week #9 module). Uploading a file is a better idea all around, as I will be looking at your paragraphing and other formatting, and a file upload preserves that better so that I can see exactly what you intended. However, I have left a cut and paste option in case anyone has file compatibility issues. The papers will go through a Turnitin.com review once uploaded—I’d like to work under the premise that students always do their own work, but I often average a 5-10% plagiarism rate in these online courses that tells me that is, unfortunately, not always the case. Turnitin just helps me streamline the plagiarism checking. **Just to be safe, if you are using Apple’s Pages to type your paper, convert it to a .pdf or .rtf file while saving it to make sure I have the ability to open it once it is uploaded.**

Your exam is worth 25 points and is due no later than noon (Central Time) on Saturday, July 25th. EXAMS SUBMITTED AFTER THAT DEADLINE WILL NOT BE GRADED.

Grading Criteria

Your submission will be graded based on the proper use of essay format (clear paragraphs, a clear introduction, a thesis statement, etc.), the clarity of your writing (including proper use of spelling, punctuation, and grammar), proper punctuation/citation of any source material, the strength of your argument, and your ability to use examples from the assigned texts to strongly support your argument.

Rough Draft Review

You may take advantage of writing assistance via NetTutor (there is a link via our course menu) to help you with composing, organizing, and polishing your work (although keep in mind that they do not provide instant feedback, so you need to submit a draft at least two to three days before the due date). I am also happy to review rough drafts as long as they are emailed to me no later than 72 hours before the due date and time (no later than noon on Wednesday, July 22nd—and they need to be a .doc, .pdf, .rtf, or other file type I can open). I will not proofread for you, but I will review the draft to tell you what kind of errors you are making (and how to fix those errors) and also highlight places in the text that might be confusing or that need more development. Also, my review of any exam draft is no guarantee of an “A” grade—I can provide guidance and feedback, but I do not know what that will look like after you’ve made the changes and cannot guarantee you’ll have everything perfectly corrected in your final submission. English 2206 – Kosiba
Notes for Week #9
Keep in mind throughout this course that the notes I provide for each of the readings are
intended as a supplement and guide to the reading itself and should never be used solely as a
substitute for reading the story.
Allende, “And of Clay We Are Created” p. 1133-1141 (Vol. F)
Allende is a Chilean writer (like Neruda). She is most known for using some aspects of magical
realism, like Gabriel García Márquez, particularly in her novel The House of the Spirits (1982).
On surface, this story is about a tragic volcanic eruption that takes place, but as the story
progresses, it clearly becomes about the two characters at the center. Azucena is trapped in
the mud after the eruption causes mudslides. Rolf Carlé is a reporter sent there to cover the
situation.
The story is told by the narrator, Eva Luna, who appears to be Carlé’s girlfriend or wife and who
also works in television.
Azucena’s life is tragically diminishing as they cannot get aid to help her. As he watches her die,
Carlé remembers his own tragic past during World War II and faces it again after having
suppressed it for so many years—they have a shared vulnerability (top of 1140) and Carlé
realizes what he’s been doing later on page 1140.
There is definitely some critique of bad leadership and bad politics in the description of the
President of the Republic on pages 1140-1141. For example: “He went to the Army field tents
to offer relief in the form of vague promises to crowds of the rescued, then to the impoverished
hospital to offer a word of encouragement to doctors and nurses worn down from so many
hours of tribulations. Then he asked to be taken to see Azucena, the little girl the whole world
had seen. He waved to her with a limp statesman’s hand” (1141). The leader’s “vague
promises” and his “limp” handshake imply he is a man without substance or strength—one who
is more focused on ceremony than on substance.
There is also a lot of commentary on the media and the role in can play in this story. The
critiques are both on a personal level (Rolf finds some comfort in hiding behind the lens, for
example) and on the business of media (what media profits on or privileges). I’m not going to
mark every example, as you should be reading closely enough to find many on your own. One
example of the most obvious critique of the media is that while they can’t get the materials to
the town to save Azucena, there is no trouble getting reporters and cameras there to cover the
story. As they wait for rescue equipment, Allende writes, “In the meanwhile, more television
and movie teams arrived with spools of cable, tapes, film, videos, precision lenses, recorders,
sound consoles, lights, reflecting screens, auxiliary motors, cartons of supplies, sound consoles,
English 2206 – Week #9 2
electricians, sound technicians, and cameramen” (1139). Allende doesn’t have to make her list
that long or comprehensive; she does that to emphasize how many other pieces of equipment
are able to make the journey to that site while rescue equipment is continually delayed. In
essence, what is the priority? What should the priority be?
In the critique of power and the media, there are many aspects of Allende’s story that resonate
with contemporary society.
Pamuk, “To Look Out the Window” p. 1170-1187 (Vol. F)
Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk’s writing is very centered in the city of Istanbul and in the
challenges that face that region of the world. As your text notes, his writing is “at the
crossroads of the West and Islam, Europe and the Middle East” (1171). There is a level of depth
and detail to his stories that places a reader inside that world and makes aspects of it accessible
even if you are familiar with the culture or not.
In “To Look Out the Window,” we have a fictional story (based on autobiography) that
addresses the challenges of childhood and the way we learn to interact with the world around
us.
In the first part of the story, the narrator provides us with insight into his life and routine,
although throughout his depictions we see problems and challenges. While the child narrator
notices many things, our adult reading of them provides a deeper insight than what might
solely appear on the page. In attending a football match (soccer in American English), a match
that the father took the boys to very reluctantly, the narrator observes his father interact with
another man in the crowd. When the man asks about the boys, stating “Did you get married as
soon as you finished school?” we’re told the father replies with a brief “yes” and that “They
spoke for a while longer. The man with the purple scarf turned to my brother and me and put
an unshelled American peanut into each of our palms. When he left, my father sat down in his
seat and for a long time said nothing.” (1173) The father’s dissatisfaction with life comes
through in these descriptions. This makes it less surprising when the father makes them leave
the game and stops at a travel agency on the way home. The narrator doesn’t identify it as
one, but we’re told it was “decorated with posters of ships, big plastic airplanes, and sunny
landscapes, and it was even open on Sundays” (1174). Particularly when we see what happens
later in the story, this description is very clear. The father seems to distract the boys on the
way home by buying them the trading cards that they want so badly, and it is very indicative of
the narrator’s age that he focuses more on the cards than on his father’s behavior.
While the narrator is ignorant of some things, it is clear that he is observant enough of his
parents’ relationship to know how to manipulate situations in the end of the first part of the
story (again, note the father’s distance from the family as we’re told that he is “at the window,
staring down at the street,” page 1175). He asks his father for the paper exempting him from
the inoculation, keeping the knowledge from his mother and brother.
English 2206 – Week #9 3
In the beginning of part two, we see the narrator ducking his inoculation. The lecture that he
receives on page 1176 has much to do with the patriotism in a young Republic of Turkey (the
Republic was formed in 1923—prior to that it had been part of the Ottoman Empire—Ataturk
was the first president of the new Republic). The narrator’s early arrival at home allows him to
see his father return and pack his belongings. On page 1177, while the narrator tells his father
not to leave, his youthful perspective is focused much more on the money that his father gives
him and on his ability to buy more of the collectible trading cards that he covets.
In the description of what takes places that evening, the narrator is again focused more on
childlike details than on the larger concerns. He plays along with the idea that he had an
inoculation the same as his brother. He does as his mother tells him and doesn’t say a word
about his father, even though he sees that she’s looking for him and concerned. When
confronted with the fact that he saw his father leave that afternoon, on the top of page 1180,
the narrator denies knowledge of where his father has traveled to (despite his father clearly
telling him Paris a page or so earlier) and focuses on the fact that his father left him with
money. He only notices the seriousness of the situation when he notes that “the radio that sat
between my grandmother’s chair and my uncle’s—the radio that was always on—was silent. A
chill passed through me” (1180). And even that recognition is short lived as he and his brother
then head to the hallway to play soccer. It is only at the very end of this section of the story
that the narrator tells his mother of Paris. The confession seems to arrive after he notices the
seriousness of his father’s absence in some of the description at the bottom of page 1180 and
onto 1181. It takes a while for the significance of what’s happening to begin to impact the
children.
Part three of the story continues the navigation of the contrast between the children’s world
and the adult world. They go with their mother to visit their maternal grandmother and it
appears that their mother wants to live there rather than with her husband’s family. Their
maternal grandmother definitely seems set in her ways and/or obsessed with the past, as her
home is much more of a museum or tomb than a place to live.
What upsets the narrator most is the loss of his treasured Famous People cards as he and his
brother play games in one of the adjoining rooms while their mother visits with their
grandmother. The loss of the majority of his treasured cards leads to his lowest point of
reflection:
If only I were in a completely different place, in a completely different life.
Before I went back into my grandmother’s room, I crept quietly down the creaky
stairs, thinking about a distant relative who had worked in insurance and
committed suicide. My father’s mother had told me that suicides stayed in a
dark place underground and never went to Heaven. When I’d gone a long way
down the stairs, I stopped to stand in the darkness. I turned around and went
upstairs and sat on the last step, next to my grandmother’s room. (1185)
At the lowest point of the narrator’s despair (again, caused more by the loss of cards than other
circumstances), he toys with the idea of suicide in the way that his child mind can comprehend
English 2206 – Week #9 4
it. His grandmother had told him that it was being trapped in darkness, and he tries that for a
moment and then changes his mind. Obviously the darkness that he tests out is not the same
as the darkness his grandmother was referring to, but it is a child’s approach to processing pain
and despair.
The mother’s despair has obviously increased, as she’s been left by her husband, is not well
liked by her husband’s family, and has been denied any assistance by her own mother. But the
boys are oblivious to this as they ride back home on the streetcar, continuing to play their card
game. Pamuk highlights the perceptions of childhood in his description of the scenes on their
ride:
I looked sadly out the window as the streetcar moaned and slowly gathered
speed, and I watched them pass us by, all those people and places that are gone
forever: the little sewing shops, the bakeries, the pudding shops with their
awnings, the Tan cinema where we saw those films about ancient Rome, the
children standing against the wall next to the front selling used comics, the
barber with the sharp scissors who scared me so, and the half-naked
neighborhood madman, always standing in the barbershop door. (1187)
This passage nostalgically contrasts childhood perceptions with adult reflections. We return to
the ideas of childhood in the narrator’s last few actions, as he taunts his brother with one of the
treasured Famous People cards and forces his mother to have to break up their fight. While the
boys’ satisfaction is in hurting each other with their gestures and actions, they are unaware of
the hurt that their mother is feeling. The mother’s silent crying at the end is a reflection of her
feeling the weight of caring for her children and herself in the absence of her husband, a much
more adult concern than anything shared by the boys.
Overall, Pamuk’s story is a wonderfully reflective piece paralleling the innocence of childhood
(even when it’s not always innocent—such as when the narrator lies or manipulates) and the
weight of the adult world. It speaks to the weight of memories and responsibilities and the
wonderfully light perception of children in the midst of turmoil.
Adichie, “The Headstrong Historian” p. 1188-1200 (Vol. F)
Nigerian-born Adichie writes with a strong consciousness of the Nigerian literary tradition that
came before her. We see that particularly in a story like “The Headstrong Historian,” which is
written as a form of response to the work of famous Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe and his
novel Things Fall Apart (1958). Adichie’s work has a strong focus on women’s lives and the
issues they face, and that feminism appears in all her writing. As she examines the world, “she
tends to see the complexity of social issues as they intersect with questions of personal
identity” (1189).
Where Achebe’s novel had a male protagonist, Adichie’s story has a female in the lead, and we
see things through her concerns and experiences. Nwamgba faces judgement and bias from
her family for being more outgoing than a girl typically should be. When Nwamgba approaches
English 2206 – Week #9 5
her father to declare her choice to marry Obierika, Adichie explains, “Her father found her
exhausting, this sharp-tongued, headstrong daughter who had once wrestled her brother to the
ground” (1190). Nwamgba continues to be a non-traditional woman in many ways even after
she marries Obierika. While she wants desperately to have children and faces continued
miscarriages, she continues to be outspoken and independent.
Like Achebe’s novel, Adichie is writing about the class of civilization when the white
missionaries, traders, and officials began to intrude upon native African cultures. We see the
evolution of the stereotypes that the Igbo people have about the white people that they
encounter, and we also see the potential negative impacts that the mixing of cultures can have
(such as the destruction of the village on page 1193 when the one clan refused to adhere to the
white traders’ policies). In covering this from a female perspective, however, we see more than
just the literal day to day transitions or changes. We also see how those influences complicated
native cultures in more complex ways. Nwamgba sees the white influence as a potential
positive in that it can help her to gain back the land and resources that Obierika’s cousins steal
from her after her husband’s death. However, we also see how the white culture essentially
takes her son away from her as he gains a preference for the religion of the missionaries and
refuses to acknowledge any of the old ways. Adichie highlights many of Nwamgba’s maternal
concerns.
The loss of traditions is deeply felt by Nwamgba, but there is a positive note at the end when it
appears that Grace/Afamefuna embraces her Igbo cultural heritage despite her religious
training and her experience with other cultures. Afamefuna becomes the one who reclaims the
cultural aspects that white culture has attempted to erase, still seeing poetry in her
grandmother’s call and response patterns (1199) and recognizing a need for an African history
(1200). Both Nwamgba and Afamefuna become, potentially, the “headstrong historians” of the
story, as Nwamgba fights to maintain Igbo traditions and to pass them to the following
generations and Afamefuna becomes the one to ultimately believe in those teachings and see
the value they contain.
Overall, this story is very much about the change that can take place between generations, the
impact of a dominant culture on a less-dominant one, and the impact of family history and
influence.

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