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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Cultural studies aim to demonstrate how people are affected by ___________.

2. What was the primary theme of "The Sorrows of Young Werther"?

3. Readers often respond emotionally to a particular use of language due to _____________.

4. In the West, most theorists believe language allows for _____________.

5. Culler explains the nature of discourse on theory as _________.

Short Essay Questions

1. When was literature used in Britain to control the masses?

2. According to Chapter 2, why was it significant that many works of English literature allowed the low class worker to surpass the aristocrat?

3. According to Chapter 2, what style and subject make up literature?

4. According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, what does language determine?

5. Why is theory a difficult subject from which to obtain an absolute, according to Culler?

6. In Chapter 3, what are the two topics on which cultural studies and literary theory attempt to compromise?

7. Compare the approach used by theorists when analyzing cultural studies versus literary theory.

8. What factors determine what will be read by a particular society?

9. What do theorists mean when they say that a reader is limited by his "horizon of expectations"?

10. According to theorists, what power does literature hold over society and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Literary theorists use poetics and hermeneutics to translate the meaning of a text. Write a brief essay examining these two methods and their function in understanding literature.

Essay Topic 2

Much English literature sought to control the masses and instill a sense of national pride. Create an argument for or against the following topic, citing specific examples from the text: Although literature sought to control the masses, this technique often backfired. Literature allowed the lower class to understand the difference in the class system. This instilled a desire for the lower class to obtain the same lifestyle as the upper class.

Essay Topic 3

Novels, like any good form of literature, offer the opportunity to educate the reader about different lifestyles and social injustice. Write an essay examining how and why the structure and delivery of a novel can achieve these objectives, citing examples from the text.

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