The exam will consist of two essays. You will be given three possibilities to choose from. The longer essays will run from three pages upward to ten (it all depends on how much you want to write!). Success in both the short answer and the essay sections of the exam will depend on you providing support for your assertions drawn from lectures and readings. You will also be graded on your ability to make an argument and support it, not for the elegance with which you compose your answers (translated, this means I will not be counting off for spelling or grammar errors, although I will expect clarity).

Essay questions--answer two of the following in concise essays. Be sure to provide examples and to draw from your readings whenever possible.

1) What is "women's writing?" How does women's writing tend to differ from men's writing? How do Herland and The Color Purple represent the tradition of women's writing?

2) Writing can be a revolutionary act, an act of resistance and empowerment, especially when one is not supposed to write. How do Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Alice Walker make their writing into a revolutionary act? How do they use things like form (utopian fiction; use of epistolary--meaning that Celie mostly tells her story to God), language (especially in dialogue), and causation (that things seem to happen as if by "magic") to carry out that revolutionary act?

3) What are the strengths and powers that the women in Herland have? How is the change that Esperanza undergoes in the course of the Zinc strike in Salt of the Earth a depiction of her trying to gain the powers that the women of Herland have?

4) Discuss the powers that Walker depicts female characters as having in The Color Purple. What are the forms of power that the women characters have, especially Celie, Shug, Sofia, and Nettie? How does Celie come to gather within herself all the varieties of power Walker depicts the group of women characters as having by the end of the story in The Color Purple? 4) Two criticisms of The Color Purple arise over and over again: that Walker downplays the limitations that racism apply to African-American women, and that Alice Walker is unduly harsh in her criticisms of African-American men. After reading The Color Purple, do you feel these criticisms are valid? Why or why not? How does Walker's criticism of African-American men and her view of race relations compare to Michael Wilson's perspective on sexism and racism? What are the reasons for the differences and similarities you detect?

5) One of the reasons that many people oppose feminism is that they perceive the struggle for women's equality as a "zero-sum game" in which women can gain power over their own lives only by taking it away from men. Using Salt of the Earth, Herland, and The Color Purple, discuss the validity of this assertion. Is it a zero-sum game? Why or why not?

6) Comparing Salt of the Earth, Herland, and The Color Purple, discuss the strategies of resistance against patriarchy chosen by female characters in these fictional accounts. How are the strategies women chose alike and different? What explains these continuities and differences? (For example, in what ways are Esperanza and Celie alike?)