Week 15 Exam

Week Fifteen Exam

Topic: Nineteen Eighty-Four 

Six-page Essay, due Friday, 12/7/2012

For this exam, you are to turn in a six-page essay that presents a critical analysis of Orwell's novel.

I will be focusing on the following aspects when grading the essay:

1. Essay presents a thesis that is logically supported through an analysis of the novel. Over the course of the semester we have used many different tools to analyze the different texts we've read. In fact, most of the research prompts presented serve as productive starting points for a critical analysis essay.

2. Your writing should be simple and straightforward. Fancy or casual language detracts from the power of your own ideas. Instead of using special words, informal tone, or idiomatic expressions, write out your thoughts. Playing with language by trying to sound smart or trying to be funny destroys the power of your logic. It should be easy to understand why one sentence follows the next.

3. Essays are most successful when you draw bold inferences from your reading and then search out ways in which the text supports your inferences. Doing this will make for an engaging essay.

4. Formatting and Length. The essay should be six full pages and should follow MLA formatting guidelines. Basic elements include: a works cited page, parenthetical documentation, page numbers, doubled spaced lines, twelve point font, etc.

Optional Prompt

Nineteen Eighty-four and the Body

Throughout the novel, different scenes and dialog give symbolic meaning to the body and physicality. Interpret just one of the following motifs in order to explain how the text uses the body or physicality.
1. the mortal body (aging, strong, sickly, starving, etc.)
2. the female body (clothing, make up, sex, etc.)
3. the sexual body (intercourse, clothing, family or professional role, etc.)
4. the social body (class, stature, movement, cleanliness, etc.)



First Published 11/27/2012
Updated 11/30/2012