ENG208.501 Topics in Early British Literaure: Into The Wild

Summer 2012

SHORT EXAM #4

The Tempest & Into the Wild

Figure 1. Helen Mirren as Prospero, Felicity Jones as Miranda & Djimon Hounsou as Caliban in Julie Taymor's The Tempest (2010)

Part I: Short Answer: Informational (5 questions X 10 points each = 50 points)

Please answer the following 5 questions in a full paragraph or two [a "full" paragraph being AT LEAST 5-7 sentences], and always be sure to be as concrete, specific, and detailed as possible in your answers, even including direct quotations. Be sure to consult links on the Syllabus for help with these, and you may also use material beyond what I provide on the Syllabus if you think that would help -- just always be sure to properly attribute your sources and give credit for other person's ideas and writing.

1. Who are Ariel and Caliban and what is their relationship to Prospero?

2. What does "the tempest" of the play's title refer to, and why is it important?

3. What happens between Caliban, Stephano, and Tirinculo?

4. Who is Ron Franz and why is he a significant part of Christopher McCandless's story in Into the Wild?

5. Why does Christopher McCandless go to Alaska by himself and what happens there?

Part II: Short Response: Interpretive (2 questions X 25 points each = 50 points)

Please respond to the following 2 prompts with at least TWO to THREE full paragraphs, and BE SURE to include in your responses very specific details from the works under discussion [specific scene and plot details, direct quotations of the text, etc.]. There are no right or wrong responses to the prompts below, but whatever your interpretation(s) of the narrative(s) you discuss, you MUST ground that interpretation in a very CLOSE attention to the small details and language of the work(s) under consideration.

1. What does Prospero learn about himself and the world more broadly after shipwrecking his enemies and then setting them all free again, the deciding to go back home with them?

2. Why does Christopher McCandless decide to abandon his plans for graduate school, give away most of his possessions, and set out across the country on his own? How would you judge the success or failure of his mission/adventure/quest?

This Short Exam #4 is due to the Instructor by midnight on Saturday, June 16th; please type your Exam as a Microsft Word document, saving it with either a .doc or .docx file extension, and send it to Eileen Joy as an email attachment: eileenajoy@gmail.com. It's a good idea to cut and paste the Exam questions and prompts from here into your Word document and then fill in your own responses after each one. Please save your file as: Short Exam 4_YourLastName.