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For the final, bring a blue book and this page of questions. You will address one out of the four questions below. You will talk about four of the plays we read this semester in terms of how you see those texts dramatizing the issues raised by these questions. You can talk about It's A Wonderful Life as one of your four if you like. You can also talk about the production we saw of The Glass Menagerie.
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1. Discuss what makes these very different plays tragedies. What else makes tragedy besides an unhappy ending? Or does it even have to have an unhappy ending? Remember how slapping a "happy" ending on A Doll's House did not work in ending all that came before it. Consider this question in terms of the central character or characters' place(s) within the world. What are the outside forces the character confronts? What internal forces does he or she have at his or her disposal to confront these forces? You might, but don't have to, include what is or isn't tragic about Waiting for Godot, a tragicomedy. Or you might talk about this evening's movie as a way to contrast comedy with tragedy. What sort of world do these tragic endings leave in their wakes?
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2. Discuss the plays in terms of the struggles or statements being made about personal identity. What creates who someone is -- the individual, social forces, both, chance, fate, God? How is identity dependent upon the context in which the person is functioning? How do particular situations force individuals into "acting" or "role-playing?" To what extent is identity defined solely by these contexts? How does an individual deal with the conflicts between who he is and who he is expected to be?
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3. Discuss what it means to be a man and a woman in these plays How much of one's success or happiness is determined or limited by notions of gender? What power does the individual man or woman have available to them to circumvent or change expectations based on gender? What burdens are placed upon individuals by gender? How is gender related to the social criticisms of the plays?
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4. Discuss the plays' relationships to their audiences. What devices or conventions do the plays use to connect with the audience or t keep them at a distance? What is the relationship between the "reality" of the stage and our reality as viewers or readers of the plays? You might address this question in part in terms of how these plays' messages might possibly be working to change the reality of the audience's world. Do the plays call for social change?
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You are free and encouraged to use each other in preparing for this exam. There is nothing wrong, in my eyes, with getting together with a friend or friends (or an enemy -- someone you can't stand might spark a thought provoking debate!) to talk about any of the plays or any of these questions. Prepare for the exam by deciding on a question and the four texts you will address. But you can't bring anything written in with you to the exam.
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