Test Papers / Previous Question Papers of IGNOU MEG11 American Novel June 2005

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN ENGLISH
Term-End Examination

June, 2005

MEG-11 : AMERICAN NOVEL

Time: 3 hours
Maximum Marks: 100

1. Discuss the main characteristics of the 19th century American novel. 20

OR

Alice Walker calls herself not a feminist, but a 'womanist'. In what ways is The Color Purple a 'womanist' text ?

2. With reference to Scott Momaday's A House Made of Dawn discuss the crisis of identity created by the conflict between old traditions and white culture. 20

OR

In John Barth's The Floating Opera Todd arrives at an organised value system that negates all values. Discuss.

3. Comment on the significance of the title of J.D. Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye. 20

OR

Write an essay on Henry Miller's distinctive style of writing in Black Spring.

4. Analyse the character of Joe Christmas in William Faulkner's Light in August in the context of the racism of Southern America. 20

OR

Discuss the double role of Nick as narrator as well as character in F. Scoit Fitzerald's The Great Gatsby.

5. Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie is a critique of the American society of late 19^th century. Discuss. 20

OR

Comment on the landscape in James Fenlmore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans as an integral part of the narrative.