Literature Question

Part I

Fill in the blank with the name of the critical theory being referred to in the description (20%):

1. _________ challenges the idea that certain texts should be privileged in our society while others are ignored or marginalized. Some practitioners seek to elevate the writing of historically disadvantaged groups while others seek to erase the distinction between “high” art and “low” art in the mind of the literary establishment.

2. _________ emphasizes theories of class struggle and examines how texts either reflect or contest ideologies of socioeconomic inequality through representations of privileged oppressors exploiting the working classes and oppressed workers losing their sense of individual humanity.

3. _________ focuses on the history and resounding effects of imperialist exploitation and seeks to recover and celebrate cultures of storytelling, drama, and poetry that were historically ignored and suppressed by imperial rule.

4. _________ interprets a work of literature by focusing on the text itself, ignoring extratextual considerations such as the author, the reader, history, culture, and the relationship of the text to other texts. The central interest is how the elements of an individual work of literature relate to each other and to the whole.

5. _________ focuses on symbolism and the influence of subconscious motivations, the collective unconscious, and universal architypes as a basis of interpreting a literary text.

Part II

6. Respond to the following prompt with a formal thesis-and-support essay, 750 words minimum, in complete sentences and paragraphs. Include 1. a creative and relevant title, 2. an introduction paragraph with a well-developed and well-focused (on the novel) orientation that builds up to a complete and interpretive thesis statement interpreting the novel specifically, 3. at least four supporting paragraphs with formal topic sentences that address the novel, and 4. a conclusion paragraph with closing remarks.

Also, incorporate at least four effective and representative quotations (twofrom each part of the novel) into the evidence sentences of your supporting paragraphs (at least one quote in each supporting paragraph), be mindful of mechanics of quotation, and give in-text citations with page numbers.

Remember whenever you are asked for your interpretation, you are being asked to determine what you think the literature says about real life. Without the connection among the stories and real life, an interpretation, an analysis, and a thesis statement would all be incomplete. (80%)

Although Molloy has been interpreted from many perspectives, including Jungian, Freudian, Christian, and existential, Beckett has made it impossible for any one theory entirely to explain his novel. He has deliberately created an ambiguous text, which, although it includes mythic and philosophical aspects, constantly subverts the attempt to secure clarity and order. Beckett blends irony, despair, lyrical poetry, tragedy, and an anarchic comedy in a narrative that is both realistic and dreamlike. The work can appear to be both about everything that matters and about nothing at all. How is the novel apparently meaningful and meaningless at the same time? How is it about everything that matters and about nothing? What is the novel Molloy saying about human nature and the human condition? Addressing these ideas and pointing to the text as evidence, explain your interpretation.