Paper : XVI

Time: 2 hrs. Full marks: 40

Nissim Ezekiel
1. With close reference to the poem 'Night of the Scorpion', assess the view of Nissim Ezekiel as a poet
of critical insider and outsider in Indian culture. [14] Or
2. Write an essay on the use of humour and irony in Ezekiel's poetry with reference to the
poems you have read. [14]
Or
Explain with reference to the context: [6]
3. ‘and my Hindi is not so good as my English’ Or
4. ‘My backward place is where I am.’ [6]

Jayanta Mahapatra
5. Starvation and sexual exploitation constitute two major focal points in Jayanta Mahapatra's
poems. Would you agree? Justify your view. [14]
Or
6. Consider Jayanta Mahapatra's poems as poems of self-exploration. [14] Or
7. ‘In a corner of her mind / a living green mango / drops softly to the earth.’
Examine the implications of the imagery here. [6]
Or
8. 'The little girl's hand is made of darkness / How will I hold it?'
Why is the poet-persona hesitant to hold the hand of the little girl? Briefly comment. [6]

Keki N. Daruwalla
9. The phenomenon of time plays a central role in Keki Daruwalla’s poem “What Lights
Up…?” Do you agree with this assessment? State your reasons. [14] Or
10. Elucidate the role of memory in Keki Daruwalla’s poem “Migrations”. [14]
11. What is the significance of the inclusion of names like Jhelum, Sargodha and Mianwali in
Keki Daruwalla’s poem “Migrations”? [6]
Or
12. Provide a brief historical account of the transcontinental spread of the plague mentioned
in Keki Daruwalla’s poem “Al-Azhar Lecture”. [6]

Tara – Mahesh Dattani

13. Comment on how power sourced from gender informs the dramatic world of Mahesh
Dattani’s Tara. [14]
Or
14. Based on your reading of Mahesh Dattani’s Tara, do you agree with Chandan’s admission
that he has made the play ‘his tragedy’, and that too at the expense of Tara’s experiences
associated with disability? [14]
Or
15. Locate and annotate: “I would wish for both…I would wish for two of them.” [6]
Or
16. “Tara Patel, whose recovery was nothing less than a miracle, states that her source of strength
was her mother, and of course, her brother and father.” Explain briefly. [6]
*******

Paper: XVII

Time: 2 hours Full marks: 40

1.
a. Critically discuss Things Fall Apart as a postcolonial text. [14]
 Or,
b. What are the conflicts in Things Fall Apart? What types of conflict (physical, moral, intellectual, or
emotional) are present? [14]
Or,
c. Write a short note on Obierika’s character [6]
Or,
d. Critically discuss the opening chapter of Things Fall Apart. [6]

2.
a. Why is the death of a mother remained un-mourned? Discuss with references to the text. [14]
Or,
b. “An Arab forgotten and a mother appeased’’, analyze critically with reference to the text. [14]
Or,
c. Contrast Meursault's view of society with society's expectations of Meursault from the incidents during
funeral [6]
Or,
d. What is the symbolic meaning of Salamano and his dog in The Outsider? [6]

3.
a. Write on the choice of the setting, buildings, and architecture in Franz Kafka's The Trial.
[14]
Or,
b. Why do you think the narration in Franz Kafka's The Trial teems with a vocabulary of uncertainty like
'seems', 'perhaps', and 'appears'? Discuss critically. [14]
Or,
c. Why do you think the events in Franz Kafka's The Trial take place on his thirtieth birthday? [6]
Or,
d. Write a short note on the parable of the gatekeeper in the chapter 'In the Cathedral' in
Franz Kafka's The Trial. [6]

4.
a. Compare and contrast the characters of Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale in
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter [14]
Or,
b. Critically comment on Hawthorne’s treatment of love in The Scarlet letter. [14]
Or,
c. Comment briefly on the significance of the scarlet letter in The Scarlet Letter. [6]
Or,
d. Write a short note on the prison house. [6]

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Paper : XVIII

1.
a. Give an account of Sylvia Plath’s innovations in her late poetry with reference to any two of the poems
prescribed in your syllabus. [14]
Or,
b. Critically comment on Plath’s use of the theme of senescence in the poem ‘Mirror’.
[14]
Or,
Locate and annotate:
c. My hours are married to shadow.
No longer do I listen for the scrape of a keel
On the blank stones of the landing. [6]
 Or,
d. Thirty years now I have labored
To dredge the silt from your throat.
I am none the wiser. [6]

2.
a. Is Willy Loman a man of wrong dreams? Give reasons for your answer. [14]
Or,
b. Write a note on Death of a Salesman as an ecological play. [14]
Or,
c. Write briefly on the role of Linda Loman in the play Death of a Salesman. [6]
Or,
d. Write a short note on Ben Loman. [6]

3.
a. Critically consider Neruda’s treatment of love in ‘Sonnet 17’. [14]
Or,
b. Give an account of Neruda’s innovations with particular reference to the two odes prescribed in your
syllabus. [14]
Or,
Locate and annotate:
c. But the hour of vengeance falls, and I love you
Body of skin, of moss, of eager and firm milk. [6]
Or,
d. To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture. [6]
4.
a. Though the play is named after Agamemnon, it is Clytemnestra who is the real protagonist of
Aeschylus’s drama. Would you agree? Justify your position. [14]
Or,
b. Examine the role that Cassandra plays in Agamemnon. [14]
Or,
c. Discuss the final confrontation between the Chorus and Aegisthus. [6]
Or,
d. Comment on the reaction of the Chorus to the death-cries of Agamemnon. [6]

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Paper : DSE : III

Group A

1. Answer any one of the following questions. [15×1 = 15]

a) “Literary criticism operates in terms of an uncritical acceptance of the functions that
constitute literature, and is full of answers; literary theory, on the contrary, works in terms of a
scepticism and suspicion of all those functions, and is full of questions.”— Discuss.
 b) Why does literature survey happen to be an integral part of a research project? Did you adopt
any particular strategy while shaping the literature survey for your term paper? Discuss with
reference to the research project which you had undertaken as part of that assignment.

Group B

2. Convert the following source information for each source to an MLA-style (9th edition) listing
suitable for a Works Cited page. Then write the in-text (parenthetical) citation for that same source.

[5×4 = 20]
Please pay close attention to all punctuation and capitalization. Please underline the parts that, if it were
typed, would be italicized.

a) Author of the Preface: Louis P. Masur.

Book Title: The Civil War: A Concise History
Author of the Book: Daniel Chan
Publishing Information: Oxford University Press, 2011, Page numbers: i-xxi.
The line quoted in the body of the paper: Chan has indeed undertaken a daunting task. Page number:
XX

b) Author: Gao Xingjian

Title of the Book: Aesthetics and Creation
Publisher: Cambria Press
Year of Publication: 2014
The line quoted in the body of the text: Literature in essence is divorced from utility. Page number:
34

c) Title of the article: Contemporary Visual Cultures and Contemporary Art

Author: Regina Anderson
Title of Journal: Asian Journal of Cultural Studies
Editor: Patrick Berlant
Other information: Volume 185, No. 12, May 05, 2011. Article pages: 39-62. The line quoted in the
body of the paper: At least one researcher has broken new ground on the subject.
Page number: 41

d) Book Title: The Bible

Version: Authorized King James Version.
Chapter (Book) Title: The Epistle to the Romans. Chapter number and
Verse number: 1 and 17 Publisher: Cambridge University Press.
Year of Publication: 2004.
The line quoted in the body of the paper: For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith
to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

3. Write a short note on Plagiarism.

[5]

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