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Part 1

Question 1

John Keats compares the immortality of the people curved on the urn to the mortality of people in the real world. While life in the real world is fleeting, that in the urn’s world is eternal, “When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain in midst of other woe, Than ours, a friend to man….” The immortality of the urn and the world in its carvings, will endure for generations giving comfort for many generations to come. Keats Ode of the Grecian Urn compares the perpetuity of the people and events in the carvings to the temporariness of real life. The words of the last stanza emphasize human mortality and his message by reminding the reader that their fate is to die while the events and people on the urn have the benefit of forever being frozen in the times they find themselves in.

Question 2

Flannery O’Connor’s Everything that Rises Must Converge addresses the race issue by looking at the lives of Julian and his mother. “It appeared in his dreams regularly. He would stand on the wide porch, listening to the rustle of oak leaves, then wander through the high-ceilinged hall into the parlor that opened onto it and gaze at the worn rugs and faded draperies. It occurred to him that it was he, not she, who could have appreciated it.” Julian’s grandfather’s house had been bought by a black family. Julian loved the house and the fact that a black family lived in it seemed to irk him very much despite his thinking that he was more liberal than his mother. Julian’s sheltered formative years did not allow him a lot of interaction with black people. When he joins college however, he meets a lot of black people and tries to interact with them. His interactions do not however bear much fruit. Julian uses these interactions to prove that he is better than his mother instead of interacting with people for the sake of interaction.

Question 3

“Darkling I listen; and, for many a time, I have been half in love with easeful Death…” are the words that start off John Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale. The speaker alludes to his long suffering and his inevitable mortality as he nears death. The Ode of the Nightingale is a solemn poem that speaks of an ill person. Through his sufferings, the only solace he receives is from the nightingale that sings somewhere in the distance. The singing nightingale however does not sing throughout the day which the speaker identifies as the temporary nature of life and pleasure. These words indicate the speaker’s resignation to fate and his acknowledgement and acceptance of his impending death. The speaker anticipates his end is near as his body has given up and he cannot do what he could do a while ago.

Question 4

Scott Fitzgerald’s play Babylon Revisited alludes to the things that are important and irreplaceable in life. while in pursuit of money and riches, most people forget to take care of their loved ones. While people can make money any other day, life is fleeting and relationships once lost might never be recovered. ““I Heard that you lost a lot in the crash.” ”I did,” and he added grimly, “but I lost everything I wanted in the boom.”” Charlie lost a significant sum of money and in the process lost his wife and daughter. The former died from heart failure after an argument led to her being locked out of their apartment and wandering in the cold snowy night. The later currently resided with her aunt. Although Charlie might have been justified in his relentless quest for wealth at the expense of his family, he ended up losing it all.

Question 5

Walt Whitman’s poem Crossing Brooklyn Ferry explored the intimate but unknown human interactions people share. “Closer yet I approach you, What thought you have of me now, I had as much of you- I laid in my stores in advance, I considere’d long and seriously of you before you were born” indicates that there is a certain level of profoundness to human interactions. In the grand scheme of things, everyone interacts with everyone in their surroundings just by looking at them. The assumptions and judgments we form in the privacy of our minds connects us to others even though we might not realize it. It emphasizes the importance of shared experiences and spaces. Living in the same environment, it is highly probable that everyone will at one time have the same thoughts regarding the same thing.

Part 2

Question A

Is Alive and Can Move, and Family Furnishings are short stories that cover a variety of themes. The authors used the third person perspective to ensure comprehensive address of these themes. Third person point of view gives the narrative from the eyes of the speaker and does not involve itself with discerning what the subjects could have been thinking. This enhances the narrative’s use of the limited space it has by maintaining its objectivity. “I didn’t want to bother you,” Mrs. Willens was reported to have said. “Your fly’s undone,” he said. “Here’s my young mischief,” his mother would say, and sometimes slip him a dime.” All these are reported and do not dwell on the subjects’ character.

Question B

“A true war story is never moral.” There is nothing moral about war and any war story that purports morality must be a fallacy. “If a story seems moral, do not believe it” that is because although there might be some honor during war, many soldiers give in to their carnal desires and cause irreparable destruction to the moral fabric of society. “There is no virtue” speaks to the consequences of war that strips people of their humanity causing them to act and live as beasts. “In many cases a true war story cannot be believed” indicates that the stories of war are so gruesome that most people will rather assume that they are made up than believe them to be true. “Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness.” War brings out the worst in human beings and most stories have to exaggerate some goodness to make the story palatable. “Sometimes it’s just beyond telling.” That is the harsh reality of war, that a lot of times the things that happen are better off left unsaid.