Set 1 Major English 421 BA First Year Practice Question Tribhuvan University

 Set 1  Major English 421    BA First Year   Practice Question

Tribhuvan University

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

BA Major English   I

First Year

Course Title: Reading, Writing, and Thinking

Course Code: ENGL 421

Full Marks: 70                                                           Pass Marks: 28

Time: 3 Hours

Section A: Long Questions

Attempt any two questions. Each question carries 15 marks. 2×15=30

 

Theme-Based Question:

1.      Discuss the theme of rebellion and conformity in William Shakespeare's "Hamlet." How do these themes influence the character development and plot progression?

 

Technique-Based Question:

2.      Analyze the use of imagery and symbolism in Robert Frost's "Out, Out—." How do these literary devices contribute to the poem's overall impact?

 

Comparative Analysis:

3.      Compare and contrast the portrayal of social issues in Gabriel García Márquez's "One of These Days" and John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath." How do the authors use their characters and settings to reflect on these issues?

 

Section B: Medium-Length Questions

Attempt any two questions. Each question carries 10 marks.2×10=20

Knowledge of Heuristics:

4.      Explain the process of close reading and its significance in literary analysis. Use examples from Emily Dickinson's "Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant" to support your explanation.

 

OR

 

Explication Based on Prompts:

Explicate the following lines from Elizabeth Alexander's "Praise Song for the Day":

"Say it plain: that many have died for this day.

Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,

who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built

brick by brick the glittering edifices

they would then keep clean and work inside of."

 

Explication Based on Prompts:

5.      Discuss the significance of the excerpt from "My Antonia" by Willa Cather in understanding the themes of the novel. How does this passage reflect the broader themes of identity and belonging?

 

OR

 

Knowledge of Heuristics:

Explain how irony is used in Shakespeare's sonnet "When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes" and its effect on the reader's understanding of the poem.

 

Section C: Short Questions  2x10=20

Short Notes on Literary Terms (ANY TWO):

6.      Write short notes on any two of the following literary terms. Each note should be around 100-150 words.

a. Metaphor

b. Alliteration

c. Symbolism

 

Short Notes on Key Concepts (ANY TWO):

7.      Write short notes on any two of the following key concepts. Each note should be around 100-150 words.

a. The role of the narrator in fiction

b. The significance of setting in drama

c. The function of tone in poetry

Let Them Drink Water - Daniel Engber Summary Question and Answer

 Let Them Drink Water 

                                                 - Daniel Engber

Summary

In "Let Them Drink Water!", the author Daniel Engber writes that in 1942 Carlson suggested that they should impose a fee about overweight. Now it's mentioned again. Though it's not accepted by the public, it has an impact on people's life already. Then Daniel uses some facts to support it. He gives an example that junk food tax will be natural like cigarettes. After that, he talks about the disadvantages of junk food by experts' ideas. He says that junk food should be regarded as drugs and he tries to make a difference between junk food and healthy food for people to choose. He also shows that imposing fat tax is benefit to the poor because some people think that it's unfair to poor people. So it's a way which can reduce obesity problems and increase the government's income so that it can be used to solve other problems. Finally, Daniel writes about the limitations of imposing the tax.

In Daniel Engber's, "Let Them Drink Water! What a Fat Tax Really Means for America", is an article trying to tie people into the idea of "fat tax." Since we are about to spend about $1 trillion on health care on our second-most expensive war, Engber's explains to us how commentators want to put tax on fat people and the junky foods and soft drinks that we eat and drink every day. They are thinking of adding tax on junk foods and soft drinks so that consumers will soon decrease their spending amounts on these items and even make the people in America with "health, wealth, and obesity." Obesity is a big problem in America and think that if they add taxes to these junky items, people will not buy them as much and overeating and diabetes rates will decline. Engber states that junk food is like cigarettes and we can get addicted to them. We sometimes just eat for pleasure and this is what makes us fat. Companies are trying to persuade the consumers to eat and buy the products and design and make the foods look good for us to want it. Engber thinks that these "sugar sweetened beverages are not necessary for survival" and we could always just drink water which is free or little cost and is not destructive like these other products we put into our bodies. Raising taxes to these things will make people not want them and will help people and their health. Daniel Engber explains that "fat tax" will mostly affect "mostly the nonwhite people who drink a lot of soft drinks and most sensitive to prices".

 

Question Answers

A. Comprehension :

Q.1. According to Engber, what is the public's attitude toward taxing junk food and soda? How does he support this generalization?

ANSWER : Engber says that people generally are wary of the "fat fax". He says that legislation that has been implemented on the state level has not yet resulted in reducing obesity, and that efforts to make such legislation effective on a wider scale has received too much pushback to be implemented.

Q.2. Policymakers and public health experts who support taxing junk food draw an analogy between junk food and cigarettes. According to Engber, what redefinition does the analogy require?

ANSWER : Engber says that for this analogy to work, junk food needs to be framed like a drug. Junk food's ability to rewire the brain and to become truly addictive needs to be emphasized.

Q.3. What does Engber find "ironic" about "so many advocates for healthy eating"? In paragraph 10, Engber discusses the organic food movement. How does he define its "central dogma"?

ANSWER : Engber says that the "central dogma" of the organic food movement is that it's possible to be a "foodie" and to be healthy at the same time; you just must eat real and natural foods.

B. Purpose and Audience :

Q.1. What is Engber's purpose? Is he writing to change his readers' minds, to propose a course of action, to influence public policy, to inform his readers - or to provoke them? Explain.

ANSWER : Engber's main purpose seems to be to change the way his readers think about the idea of taxing soft drinks. He does not believe that there is a problem in regulating potentially dangerous chemicals/behaviors, but wants his readers to recognize the class issue at play with such regulations.

Q.2. Where does Engber think his audience stands on the issues he discusses? Does he see them as knowledgeable or uninformed? Does he think they are more likely to eat junk food or pain au levain? How can you tell?

ANSWER : Engber seems to assume that his audience is familiar with the "fat tax" proposals on a basic level, but that they have not thought about the intricacies of the proposal in the same way that he has. He begins his essay mostly neutral and informative, coming across as lightly skeptical of the proposals he discusses; he shows that he understands the intentions of such ideas. He continues to slowly bring up problems with such solutions, then begins to discuss the problem with the double standard to which we hold foods. He likely believes that some of his audience might fall into the "pain au levain"-eaters he describes. He is quite focused on challenging the commonly-held beliefs of this group, and likely does so because he believes that he is writing to some of them.

Q.3. In paragraph 14, Engber notes a lack of clarity about the effects of "sin taxes on behavior. How does this lack of clarity strengthen his argument?

ANSWER : This strengthen's Engber's point that such a tax might have little effect on obesity rates and public health and serve only as a burden on the poor:

C. Style and structure :

Q.1. What is the purpose of paragraphs 2 and 3? Why are they important to Engber's argument?

ANSWER : Paragraphs 2 and 3 serve to demonstrate how the proposals Engber discusses are being generally received. This helps give the reader an idea of the scale and relevance of the ideas he writes about.

Q.2. In paragraph 6, Eighner states his purpose: to record what he has learned as a Dumpster diver. What additional purposes do you think he had in setting his Ideas down on paper?

ANSWER : Eighner likely wrote this essay largely as a form of self-expression; it serves as an outlet for his creativity and his feelings during his homelessness. He also may have written with the intention of lessening the stigmatization of "dumpster divers" and to provoke empathy and understanding in the reader.

Q.3. Engber ends his essay with a surprising analogy. What two things is he comparing? Is this comparison logical? What point does it make?

ANSWER : Engber compares taxing some addictive foods and not others has parallels to the government giving significantly lighter prison sentences to cocaine dealers when compared to crack dealers. This comparison makes sense. Both pomegranate juice and soda contain enough sugar to be addictive in similar ways, but one is more associated with the white and wealthy than the other. The same could be said about cocaine and crack. He is pointing out how the law tends to punish the poor for things that the wealthy are not punished equally for.

 

 Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrast

Bruce Catton

Summary / Question Answers              

Both Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee were men of integrity, determination, passion and great skill. Bruce Catton wrote about the two men in the essay, "Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts". Catton, a Pulitzer Prize winning author and Civil War Historian, provides a brief character analysis of both men in this essay. The beliefs that Grant embraced as a frontiersman was more admirable than those aristocratic beliefs of Lee, and more men and women of today should understand and follow Grant's principles.

Social inequality was one of the fundamental differences between the two men. Lee was an aristocrat who believed in traditional chivalry. He believed that this social class of privileged aristocrats is where leaders should be chosen. Catton, Lee firmly believed that social inequality has its own advantages and dividing the society into leisure class and common class is necessary.

Grant was a Westerner who supported modern ways of life, while Lee was a Virginia aristocrat who represented traditional American life. Catton points out many distinct contrasts between these two generals. For example, their backgrounds and personalities were complete opposites of each other. Despite their many differences, there were similarities between Grant and Lee. Catton makes it clear that both these men were strong and were highly supportive of their beliefs.

In short, General, Ulysses S. Grant, had aspirations for America that were the polar opposite of Lee's. General Grant was a man who came up the hard way in the rugged Western frontier. He was not born into privilege. He fought hard for the country's growth and expansion, and felt it was important to uphold a democratic society. Grant looked toward the future and paid no mind to the past.
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Question Answers of Grant and Lee: A study in Contrast

A. Comprehensive:

Q.1. What took place at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865? Why did the meeting at Appomattox signal the closing of "a great chapter in American life"?

ANSWER : General Grant and General Lee met to discuss the terms of the surrender of General Lee's army. It was a great chapter in American life because the civil war ended.

Q.2. How does Robert Lee represent aristocracy? How does Ulysses S. Grant represent Lee's opposite?

ANSWER : Lee was born into the Virginia aristocracy and was apart of society. Grant was born in the west so he had to work to survive.

Q.3. According to Catton, where is it that "the contrast between Grant and Lee becomes most striking" (10)?

ANSWER : Grant was the modern man emerging and Lee might have ridden down from the old age of chivalry.

Q.4. What similarities does Catton see between the two men?

ANSWER : Each man begins with the utter tenacity and fidelity and also both men were daring and resourcefulness

Q.5. Why, according to Catton, are "succeeding generations of Americans" indebt to Grant and Lee?

ANSWER : Because no part of either man's life became him more than the part he played in his brief meeting in the McLean house of Appomattox.

B. Purpose and Audience :

1. Catton's purpose in contrasting Grant and Lee is to make a statement about the differences between two currents in American history. Summarize these differences. Do you think the differences still exist today ?explain.

ANSWER : Lee was family oriented and Grant not. Lee was born in Virginia and Grant was born in the west. Lee was rich and Grant wasn't. I think that these two differences exists today because there are people that don't have to work to have a good life and others need to work to buy essential things.

Q.2. Is Catton's purpose in comparing Grant and Lee the same as his purpose in contrasting them? That is, do their similarities also make a statement about U.S. history? Explain.

ANSWER : Catton wanted to show how similar two generals that are enemies and how different they were. Their similarities made a statement in US history because those two generals fought for what they believe and they don't give up but the good general had to win the war.

Q.3. State the essay's thesis in your own words.

ANSWER : A great chapter in America came to an end and a new chapter started when Lee and Grant met at Appomattox so that Lee surrender to end the war.

C. Style and Structure :

Q.1. Does Catton use subject-by-subject or point comparison? Why do you think he chooses the strategy he does?

ANSWER : Catton uses point comparison and he chose this strategy to let us know how similar and how different they were. In the essay, topic sentences are extremely helpful to the reader.

Q.2. Explain the functions of the following sentences: "Grant... was everything Lee was not"; "so Grant and Lee were in complete contrast". "Yet it was not all contrast, after all"; and "Lastly, and perhaps greatest of all...".

ANSWER : The function of all this topic sentence is to inform the reader that the paragraph is going to be about comparing Lee and Grant.