Test Answers on Modern Fiction and Non-Fiction

Name:
Date: 4/16/2015
Graded Assignment
Unit Test: Modern Fiction and Nonfiction
Answer the following questions in complete sentences. You must complete it by the due date to receive full credit on this test.

(15 points)
1. Do you think that attending the concert in "A Wagner Matinee" is a positive experience for Aunt Georgiana? Why or why not? Be sure to include specific details from the story in your response.
Answer: Yes. The defining aspect of Georgiana's personality, however, is never in doubt: She is and always has been a musician and lover of music. Before marrying, Aunt Georgiana taught music at the Boston Conservatory. In Nebraska, she taught Clark the basics of keyboard music and introduced him to great composers. She remained interested enough in music, even in her isolation on the plains, to keep up with developments in the field, such as the emergence of Richard Wagner on the American musical scene.
When Clark sees Aunt Georgiana's tears, he realizes that her musical interests, long ignored on the prairie, are coming to life again. Though his realization tells readers a great deal about Georgiana, it also deepens their understanding of Clark's character. He is relieved for reasons that go deeper than simply being happy to see his beloved "kinswoman" enjoy music again.

(15 points)
2. Compare and contrast what Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston learn in their autobiographical pieces.
Answer: Richard Wright and Zora Neale learn many alternative things in their autobiographical items. Wright wrote his story once he was nineteen, and he grew abreast of a plantation, therefore it will be inferred that he learned the worth of cash and therefore the influence of race on personal opinion. Zora Neale grew up in Sunshine State, one in every of the primary African-American incorporated communities within the U.S., therefore she learned a way to treat others equally.

In this excerpt from Black Boy, Richard Wright recounts an unhappy time in his life. At the start of the piece, the young Richard is lonely, hungry, and angry. To remember such feelings may be as unpleasant as the feelings themselves. Yet the adult author Wright willingly addresses these feelings- as well as their roots and consequences- because they mattered to his development and growth as a young person. Wright's choice to address these difficult memories and to share them in an autobiography is significant. Readers learn about Wright's challenges while simultaneously seeing why his work is modern: It refuses to shy away from ugly or difficult aspects of life. Wright recognizes that uncomfortable stories are often worth telling.

"The Inside Search" depicts the nation at the turn of the twentieth century, a time when the country was a very different place. Fewer than 40 years after the Civil War, a major racial divide existed all over the nation, particularly in the South. In places like Florida, where Hurston grew up, segregation was the law. White people and black people went to different schools and different churches. They tended to live and work in different areas of a town or city. Slavery was gone, but inequality and discrimination were not. Interactions between people of different races were limited and often strained, and carried with them the threat of danger.
The opening up of the American literary canon in the early twentieth century parallels the gradual extension of educational opportunities to all kinds of people. The leveling of the educational playing field was not an easy goal. It had to be fought for, legislated, and in some cases even forced into action. Yet the recognition that intellectual curiosity exists in children and adults everywhere compelled authors to write about how education had shaped their own lives, as Zora Neale Hurston does in her autobiography.

(25 points)
3. Choose one story from this unit and explain how its themes and the behavior of its characters prove William Faulkner's assertion that great writing must deal with certain "universal truths" as well as "the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself." Incorporate specific examples and details from the text whenever possible.
Answer:
Phoenix Jackson, the grandmother from “A Worn Path”, has colossal affection and dedication for her grandson that she strolled from start to finish through town for him so much of the time that she has made a well used way. This is viewed as a tremendous penance for her in light of the fact that she is elderly and that much strolling could wind up harming her at such seniority. The readers feel compassion for her because she walks regularly for him and it seems that he doesn’t honestly need the medicine. Toward the end of everything, she does feel respected and glad for her yield rather he needs it or not. By a couple remarks you can tell she is a proud woman and has a lot of honor and heart.