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GERM 1027 Final Exam

Due Date:  Friday, April 21 (to be uploaded via Brightspace by the end of the day)

The test consists of you writing two essay responses to two of the following themes.  As you will see, the themes are broad, so a big part of your response involves you creating a clear, specific thesis about the theme you have chosen.   For each essay, I would like you to discuss the theme and pursue the thesis in relation to two of the works that we have discussed in class.  And so, I would like you to discuss two authors for the essay, e.g. one on Zweig and Brecht, one on Brecht and Kafka, etc.  As we did more than one work by Zweig, your range is a bit more open in regards to what you can choose from him.

Essay #1 - 50% and approximately 1,250 words in length

Essay #2 - 50% and approximately 1,250 words in length

Here are the themes:

Power and Powerlessness

The Individual

Self-confidence and self-abasement

Perspective and Narrative

The Corruption of Society

Love and Hatred

Love and the Abuse of Love

The Role of Class

Morality and Immorality

The Role of Irony

Justice and Injustice

Literature and History

Learning and Failing to Learn from Experience

For example, you might look at the corruption of power and The Threepenny Opera and The Trial; the individual against larger forces in ‘Mendel the Bibliophile,’ and The Trial; the nature of love in ‘Letter from an Unknown Woman’ and The Threepenny Opera; learning from experience vs. failing to learn from it in ‘Fantastic Night’ and The Trial, etc.  Some of these responses will inevitably be ‘compare and contrast’ in structure; when it comes to such essays, structure your paper in terms of ideas instead of discussing one work for half the essay and another work for the other half. As with your previous essays, you must use proper essay structure:  a clear introductory paragraph that closes with a specific, strong thesis; paragraphs organized around topics that support your thesis and that are structured in a clear, logical way; a sense of transition from point to point; evidence from the text that supports your thesis and/or supporting points; and, finally, a strong conclusion.

For the essays, you should use your books, as I would like you to quote directly from the primary texts.  As with previous essays, points will be gained or lost on the basis of how you use the texts to support your argument.  While you do not need to make use of the kind of critical secondary material that you used for Essay 3, you can quote from the lectures as a potential secondary source.  As with previous essays, points will be gained or lost on the basis of how you use the texts to support your argument.  Be sure to include the bibliographic information for the texts (print or online) that you have used at the end of the exam document.  

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.