The Mid-Term Exam
with Examples of the Best Responses
Section I: Choose
three of the following
four quotations. Identify the excerpt (author and text), then state
the significance of the quotation (10 points each; 3 X 10 = 30
points). [Note: only three of
the four quotations are here presented.]
A)
"Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create
another like yourself; equal in deformity and wickedness."
"Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have
proved yourself unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have
power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched
that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but
I am your master; --obey!"
Sample Response:
Text: Frankenstein. Author:
Mary Shelley. The first significant point this quote evokes is the
role change from master to slave or rather the non-existent role
change, as I see it. From the beginning of Victor's education at the
University, he was a slave to science, and then a slave to the
process of creating the creature. He had devoted two years of his
life as a slave worker and "deprived himself of rest and health"
(86). Never did Victor have the control of a master--not even after
the creature was created. The creature demanded more of Victor as a
master would demand of a slave to do a job: "You must create a female
for me... and I demand it of you as a right you must not refuse"
(171). The creature was still the real master in the end of the
story. He perpetrated the known punishment upon Victor for not
complying with his demand and ultimately killed Elizabeth (along with
many others). I believe this quote to be very relevant to the lack of
religion and faith in this work and time period. Evil will enter into
anything or anyone if allowed. The reader never once read of Victor
praying to the Lord, or asking forgiveness; rather, the only mention
of God was an exclamation heard at Elizabeth's death: "Great God!"
(220. As discussed in class, this time period was at the rise of the
Industrial Revolution, which led to interests in such forms of
science as Galvanism. People perhaps lost a little of their faith in
God, and turned to find answers in science. I think that perhaps
Victor learned a lesson in playing with the Almighty power the Lord
has as the real Creator. Victor Frankenstein should not meddle in
human cration, but should leave that power to the Lord. Finally, I
see the relationship of the sublime and the creature as another
important point this quote raises. In the beginning of Victor's work
in creation of the creature, he believed the creature to have "limbs
in proportion... Beautiful!" (86). The creature, on the surface, on
the outside, was beautiful. However, once the creature became a real,
living part of nature, he was feared by all-- including his creator.
His external features then changed from beautiful o that of "deformed
and wicked," and the creature thus led to a sublime effect. (Grade:
10).
B)
Where should I begin? After all, you have never been
there; or if you have, you may not have understood the significance
of what you saw, or thought you saw. A window is a window, but there
is looking out and looking in. The native you glimpsed, disappearing
behind the curtain, or into the bushes, or down the manhole in the
mainstreet--my people are shy--may have been only your reflection in
the glass. My country specializes in such illusions.
Sample Response:
This quotation was taken from
Margaret Atwood's story, "Homelanding." This story recounts many
aspects of human existence from an outside view, as if it was being
told to an alien race. This story tells about human appearance, sex
(both difference and the act of), sunbathing, sleeping, death, and
many other human functions in a scientific way. This story takes a
step away from the normal way of describing these objects. For
example, Margaret Atwood talks about eating and describes it by
saying "I destroy and assimilate certain parts of my surroundings and
change them into myself." Most people who have had human contact
their whole life consider eating putting food in their mouths,
chewing, and swallowing. This quotation at the beginning of the story
shows that the author knows that she is writing this for a human
audience. She starts this off with the line, "Where should I begin?"
This is more of a conversational style that draws the reader into
this as if she was talking directly to the reader. The human reader
is supposed to take the role of the alien race. The reader has to
take a duality of being both a human and from an alien race who has
no knowledge of anything human. The next line restates this with,
"After all you have never been there; or if you have you may not have
understood the significance of what you say or thought you saw." An
alien race would never have been to earth, yet the human reader has
spent his whole life on earth if never stopping to think of the
significance of what he is seeing. The next line is: "A window is a
window, but there is looking out and looking in." This can be seen in
all the number of times that someone sees something in someone else
that the person does not see in himself. For example, often a teacher
is responsible for helping a student develop a talent that was there
but the student did not know that he had it. This story is attempting
to do the same and show the reader characteristics that mankind has
but do not know it has. In the next line, this is reiterated with the
statement, "The native you glimpsed, disappearing behind the curtain,
or into the bushes, or down the manhole in the mainstreet--my people
are shy--may have only been your own reflection in the glass." This
shows the reader is the reflection in the glass and is seeing a
portrait of himself in the story. Storytelling is often used to teach
a lesson to the reader or listener. One of the most read examples of
this is the Bible. Jesus often spoke in parables to help teach
lessons to his listeners. This story attempts to make us take a step
away from ourselves and see ourselves in a different light so we
could possibly understand ourselves better. (Grade: 10).
D)
"I assure you: the cards are sufficiently
randomized."
Sample Response:
The sentence is spoken by Data in
the Star Trek: TNG episode, "Cause and Effect." The irony of
Data assuming (in this case) that the cards have been radomly
shuffled brings about the question whether or not anything in life is
"sufficiently randomized." The reason Data makes the remark is
because the crew is getting a sense that they have somehow lived
through the xact card game before. Only when several crewmembers
realize something is happening do they figure out that they are in a
temporal loop. But how does anyone know whether or not they have
lived the exact moments before? It is only due to certain
circumstances (everyone on one ship, everyone repeats the exact same
thing from the exact same time, the loop is repeated continuously
over 17 days) that the crewmembers can pick up upon the loop they are
in.
The sentence by Data also points out the self-reflexive nature of
this narrative story. Since the audience only has an hour to see the
entire problem presented and solved, then the writers can only
present the key events over the seventeen-day loop. The writers use
the format of the show to make Data's assumption ironic, because
nothing occurring in the show is "randomized" at all. It all
has a purpose and that purpose is to put forth a story with a
beginning, middle, and end. In a sense, this structure serves to
bring order to our own lives, lives that lack the definition
contained within every show on television. Only by repeating certain
events in our minds, does any sense of definitiveness come forth,
thus creating our own loop. The true randomness Data refers to happen
in everyday, quotidian life, not just in a one-hour television show.
By constantly repeating a single event (the explosion), the crew, the
show and the audience are allowed to make sense of an otherwise
tragic scenario. This allows the audience to process and give meaning
to an otherwise random event, thus randomizing the card game and
de-randomizing the crew's life up to that tragic point.
(Grade: 10).
Section II Choose
three of the following
four terms and explain the significance of each (10 points each; 3 X
10 = 30 points). [Note: only
three of the four terms are here presented.]
A)
allegory
Sample Response:
Allegory is a very important term
in the contents of this class. As defined on the guide to terms,
allegory is "a narrative in which the agents and action, and
sometimes the setting as well, are contrived to make coherent sense
on the 'literal,' or primary, level of signification, and also to
signify a second, correlated order of agents, concepts, and events."
In basic terms, a story is allegorical when characters and events in
a story parallel and present a commentary about the present time
period, or our ideology. As we have discussed, science fiction was
born about the same time of many important cultural changes including
the Industrial Revolution, Urbanization, and the rise of literacy.
Big upsets were happening in the religious world because of the
new-found belief in science, and new literary genres emerged as a
result: realism and science fiction. Science fiction explored things
that were possible but beyond our known quotidian reality. Literate
minds as well as scientific minds loved this idea. Science was always
pushing farther and trying to advance, and, on the other hand, the
science fiction writers were reflecting on these advances. In most
cases, science fiction is about ourselves. It shows us how things
could be different. For example, Star Trek: TNG incorporates gender
and cultural equality. Jordy, a black man, is in a very high
position; and Dr. Crusher is a woman. These are ideas our society is
struggling with. In many cases, these authors were hiding a warning
in an allegory. Science in many cases has become such a part of our
belief system and who we are that it takes something like science
fiction to make us step back and examine our beliefs. On this series
alone, there are many levels of attacks to our beliefs. As the
Enterprise combats different species of being, it can be viewed on
two levels. In the show, each of these species pose a serious threat
to the crew and the ship's survival; but each species also represents
an aspect of society. For example, the Vulcans represent logic and
how it operates in society. These beings show us the extreme side of
logic and the problems of depending on logic alone. Through the use
of these allegorical species, the show is thereby allowed not only to
give us an extreme example of aspects of our society; in some cases
it offers suggestions on how we could improve our society in that
area. In these ways, science fiction will continue to use allegory to
provide a commentary on our present-day society and work to improve
it. (Grade: 10)
B)
Replicant
Sample Response:
The term Replicant is used to
define the android/ cyborg creaturs in the Ridley Scott film,
Bladerunner. The first issue raised by the term is the actual
term itself. The creator, Tyrell, successfully tried to replicate not
only human appearance but actions and emotions as well. The
appearance and actions of a Replicant are so familiar to humans that
the only way to determine their nature is through a test involving
their eyes. This brings forth the notion that the "eyes are a window
to your soul" raising the question: if a being can be created in such
a way that everything is the exact duplicate of a human being then
where does the essence of being come from? The very essence we rely
upon to live comes from our memories and our experiences. When the
very things that fabricate our reality become fabricated, then the
idea of a soul becomes lost. If the sould can be constructed through
an outside medium then there is no difference between a Replicant and
a human. We can be programmed to feel a certain way (disgust at
certain actions), to act a certain way (proper attire) just like a
Replicant. So, the distinction becomes more blurred because people
are not always aware that this is taking place, just like Rachael.
Rachael is the Replicant that is not aware (until Deckard shows her)
that she is in fact a Replicant. The film plays the role of Deckard
warning humanity that they can potentially become Rachael, an
unwitting victim of being programmed.
The ability to replicate everything human has, allows the film to
critique the "superiority" of technology as falling short of
providing a soul. This then shows the major pitfall of technology. No
matter how great and powerful it can become, there is a lack of soul
from which to draw upon. This lack of soul allows the technology to
take on a sense of coldness. The coldness translates to a lack of
appreciation for life that can become terribly dangerous if allowed
to acquire consciousness. The coldness relates directly to
Frankenstein's creature. The creation was a ruthless, calculating
being that was brought to "life" through the accumulation of
different people's body parts. When Mary Chelley wrote it, the
creation was seen as the epitome of technological feats. Victor
Frankenstein gave life to an otherwise inanimate object. Tyrell is
the parallel of Victor Frankenstein. The Replicants are used as a
modern-day Frankenstein creation, giving life to an otherwise
inanimate object.
The commentary on our ability to think for ourselves is questioned
throughout the film. The film is making the point that if technology
is allowed to grow so large taht beings are created that are the same
as us, and we do not have the ability to question it, the technology
will take over by thinking and acting superior to us.
(Grade: 10)
D)
the photograph
Sample Response:
The photograph is significant in
this class because it is hard evidence. We have examined the line
between reality and fiction, but the photograph pushes that question
further. In the movie Bladerunner, and the novel 1984
by George Orwell the photgraph is a big focus. It is used to judge
what is real and what is not. In the novel, there is a major theme:
he who controls the past, controls the present, and he who controls
the present, controls the future. In this sense, photographs are very
touchy subjects. A photograph is a living moment in the past which is
now dead. In the book, whenever the party wants the public to believe
something new, they change all records in the past concerning that
event. In a sense, they erase that part of the past by destroying the
evidence: a photograph. A specific example is the photograph Winston
has of three men who betrayed the party. he is asked to change the
old newspaper documents. After these men have been reformed, they are
executed and "vaporized" from society. No record of them will exist
and, in doing so, they never existed. This ideology is very hard for
Winston to swallow. He held a photograph of these three men in his
hand. He knew they existed, but, after their death, no one else did.
The idea of the party changing the past by erasing hard evidence
gives us an example of the blurred line between fact and fiction. By
removing the evidence, their existence is fictional. It is Winston's
word against the party's. The idea of controlling the past to control
the future is also present in Bladerunner. In the movie, this
Bladerunner looks to his photographs to remember his past. They
represent hard evidence of the life he has led. But he begins to
realize that these may not be real picturs. They may not be his
memories. Like the memories of Rachael, they may simply be implanted
in his head to make him feel human. It sllows the humans on earth to
possess a perfect weapon against the run-away Replicants: create one
that thinks he is human to catch others of his kind without feeling
guilty about killing its own kind. In the end, that is the case. The
blurred line between reality and fiction lies completely in the
photograph with the hidden motive of control by the ruling class, and
also the allegorical sense of reality versus fiction is our
postmodern society. As Jose Chung states, "truth is as subjective as
reality." (Grade: 10).
Section III Choose
one of the following
two questions and write a detailed response in essay form. (40
points). [Note: I am here
presenting the best response to question A since about 90% of the
class chose to write on this topic. Click on the following text to
access the essay.]
A) Donna Haraway states
that "Monsters have always defined the limits of community in Western
imaginations" (180). And yet, we are presented in this course with
"monsters" that are little different from ourselves: the aliens that
turn out to be government agents in "Jose Chung's
From Outer Space"; the
Borg who could be read as a reflection of the Federation or as the
evil double of Data; the serial killer in "Clyde Bruckman's Final
Repose" who is as "scripted" as anyone else in the episode;
Bladerunner's
Replicants who are, as Tyrell states, "more human than human"; and,
of course, Victor Frankenstein's creature in Mary Shelley's novel.
Discussing three
works, explain why these examples of science fiction move away from
the tendency (for example in fantasy) to represent monsters as the
opposite of that which is human. What is significant about this
alignment of monsters with ourselves? Click on this colored text for
two sample responses.
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