Final Exam Review Sheet
Exam Day is Wednesday, December 14
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.