Washington Irving,Zora Neal Hurston,Frederick Jackson Turner

Prof. Chawle 

Prof. Bharanisri 

Frederick Jackson Turner
Washington Irving,  Zora Neal Hurston,

78) Frederick Jackson Turner's1893 essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History," presented in Chicago before the American Historical Association, is one of the most important

pieces of nineteenth century writing about the west. Turner argued that the West--rather than the pro-slavery South or the anti-slavery North--was the most influential among American regions and that the frontier--rather than an imported European heritage--was responsible for the novelty of American attitudes and institutions. Significantly, his hypothesis emphasized geographical determinism, agricultural settlement, and the affirmation of democracy, Turner defined the frontier as

I)  "the meeting point between savagery and civilization." The area of constantly receding free land beyond the frontier increased democracy insofar as it relieved poverty outside the West (as a "safety-valve" for the East), and fostered economic equality on the frontier itself. Democracy was a trait of agricultural communities, Turner maintained, and therefore small landholdings were necessary to establish yeomanry.

II) It might be argued that Turner's frontier democracy is Jefferson's original agrarian ideal dressed up as historical analysis.

III)Turner's concept of civilization was all he had with which to critique American society--his own system implied that post-frontier American society contained no force tending toward democracy. With the frontier gone, where was he to find the basis for democracy in contemporary civilization

IV)The frontier hypothesis' interpretation of the West in terms of nature isolated the region from both the urban East and Europe, while the idea of civilization as a reproduction of the cultural accomplishments of Europe imposed on the West a social and cultural inferiority which hindered any acknowledgement of its own novelty in world history.

V) all

            Ans-V) all

4. “That fearful sound of ‘Fire’ and ‘Fire!’ / Let no man know is my desire

The above excerpt from Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House” can best be described as what?

I) A plea for godly strength in the face of earthly distress

II)Keeping a secret in the midst of tragedy

III)Facing one’s fear alone

IV)The speaker’s goal to be prepared for the day of judgment

V) A confession regarding tensions in the speaker’s home

            Ans - IV . In Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House,” the use of the word “fire alludes to the day of judgment, and she is acknowledging here that her goal is to be prepared.

Washington Irving

90)“The following Tale was found among the papers of the late Diedrich Knickerbocker, an old gentleman of New York, who was very curious in the Dutch history of the province, and the manners of the descendants from its primitive settlers.”

The above passages begin the story of which of the following?

I) James Fenimore Cooper’s “The Pioneers”

II) Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

III)Thomas Paine’s “The American Crisis”

IV) Sarah Kemble Knight’s “The Journal of Madam Knight”

V) Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle”

Ans-V) Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” is framed by commentary from an unknown narrator. In the first passage, this narrator explains the story’s origin to the reader.

Zora Neal Hurston

67) Zora Neal Hurston spends most of "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" talking about the ways in which she does and does not feel her color. what does she mean---

I)suggests that we are all the same (in this case, we are all bags); though we may have a different color on the outside, the "stuff" in our bags that makes up who we are is not really all that different than the "stuff" that is found in anyone else's bag. This metaphor gives us a wonderful picture of how little skin color matters and how human beings are all essentially the same, not different.

II) there is discovered a jumble of small things priceless and worthless.

III) both

IV) none

            Ans-I)

11. List – I                                                                 

I. “Because I could not stop for death

II. “O Captain ! My Captain!”                                                        

III. “Two roads diverged in a wood….”

IV. “So much depends /upon”

List – II

a. Robert   Frost

b. William Carlos Williams

c. Emily  Dickinson

  d. Walt Whitman

The correctly matched series would be :

(A) I-d; II-c; III-b; IV-a

(B) I-a; II-b; III-c; IV-d

(C) I-b; II-a; III-d; IV-c

(D) I-c; II-d; III-a; IV-b

Ans-(D) I-c; II-d; III-a; IV-b                                                       

20. Given below are two statements, one

labelled as Assertion (A) and the

other labelled as Reason (R) :

Assertion (A) : In the 1950s and 60s Baldwin and Ellison returned to universal themes and focused on innovations in literary forms.

Reason (R) : In the 1930s and 40s African and American Literature was mostly preoccupied with protest. In the context of the above statements, which one of the

following is correct ?

Code :

(A) Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).

(B) Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is not the correct explanation of (A).

(C) (A) is true, but (R) is false.