Final Exam Review Sheet
Exam Day is Wednesday, December 14
1:40-3:45
For this exam you will interpret poems in terms of themes developed during this class. During this class we have spent a significant amount of time discussing the following themes:
- Silence and speaking out.
- Invisibility of the realities of Asian Americans, hyper-visibility of stereotypes.
- Valuing the cultures and experiences of Asian peoples and immigrants both past and present.
- Struggling for a better life for ourselves, our families and our communities.
During this exam you will analyze four out of the following five poems from the course reader:
- Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, "Making Guacamole"
- Janice Mirikitani, "Breaking Silence"
- Jeff Tagami, "Without Names"
- le thi diem thuy, "in praise of my ba, #1 vietnamese buddhist gangster"
- Ishle Park, "Sa-I-Gu"
To review for the exam you should read each of the poems and you should be able to answer the following questions:
- When was the poem written?
- Where and in what medium was the poem published?
- What group or groups of people does the poem represent? What does the poem say about one or more significant experiences for the people it represents?
- What is one detail from the poem that really brings to life the historical experience of the people it represents?
- How does the poem connect to the themes from the class listed above?
Answers to these questions should provide you with a framework for future research. Remember differences along lines of socioeconomic class, gender, sexuality, mixed heritages, and nationality.
Like the mid-term the final exam will be open book, open note, open class and open Google. The exam should take you no more than one hour to complete.