M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION, APRIL 2017
Fourth Semester
English
AMERICAN LITERATURE
(2013 onwards)
Time 3 Hours Maximum 75 Marks
Part A (10 x 2 20)
Answer all questions.
1. What is the significance of the title American

2. In which year Philosophy of Composition'' was
written by whom?
3. What is a chamber in
4. What does Walt Whitman's poem describes?
5. Why couldn't the narrator stop for death in ''Because I
Could Not Stop for
6. Name the symbols used in ''Huckleberry
7. What is the role of the sea in Old Man and the
8. Who is the narrator of Bluest
9. What does Frank confess to Helen in Assistant''?
10. Who are the major characters in of a Salesman''?
Sub. Code
701404
RW-087
2
Ws5
Part B x 5 25)
Answer each of the following questions
choosing either or
11. Discuss the central theme of American
Scholar''.
Or
What are the important considerations for good
writing in Philosophy of Composition''?
12. Characterize the narrator's state of mind in
with examples.
Or
What are the aspects of modernism in
E.E. Cumming's poem?
13. What is ironic about the speaker's statements
concerning his neighbour's opinion of wall-building
in ''Mending
Or
Write a note on realistic portrayal of American
racism in the novel ''Huckleberry
14. Describe the novel's position on blame in
Bluest
Or
Discuss how Malamud creates the atmosphere of
the Bober's neighbourhood and of the store?
15. Write a note on the significance of Miller's narrative
technique.
Or
Discuss the symbols in Hairy
RW-087
3
Ws5
Part C x 10 30)
Answer any three of the following questions.
16. Examine the transcendentalist and romantic views
employed by Emerson.
17. Analyse the poem 'When Lilacs last in the Dooryard
Bloomed' in detail.
18. Explain Hemingway's 'iceberg' principle of writing in
relation to Old Man and the Sea
19. What is racism? Explain how racism functions in Toni
Morrison's novel.
20. Explain how does Willy's desperate quest for the
American dream resemble a religious crusade.
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