Pygmalion Emma Exam Review

Exam identification passages:

From Pygmalion:
• P. 41 (Act Two): “Oh, don’t say that, sir: there’s more ways than one of turning a girl’s head; and nobody can do it better than Mr. Higgins, though he may not always mean it. I do hope, sir, you won’t encourage him to do anything foolish.”
• P. 43: “Oh, pay her whatever is necessary … She’ll only drink if you give her money.”
• P. 58: “I’m one of the undeserving poor: that’s what I am … and I drink a lot more.”
• P. 61: “I tell you, it’s easy to clean up here … Wish they could see what it is for the like of me.”
• P. 67 (Act Three): “What are you doing here today? It is my at-home day: you promised not to come.”
• P. 76: “Why should she die of influenza? … he kept ladling gin down her throat ‘til she came to so sudden that she bit the bowl off the spoon.”
• P. 84: “The advantages of that poor woman who was here just now? … Is that what you mean?”
• P. 104 (Act Four): “I’m sorry. I’m only a common ignorant girl … what belongs to me and what doesn’t?”
• P. 122 (Act Five): “I am not blaming him. It is his way … you always treat me as a lady, and always will.”
• P. 126: “The great secret is not having bad manners or good manners … and one soul is as good as another.”

From Emma:
• p. 1 (Vol. I, ch. I): “The real evils, indeed of Emma's ... as misfortunes with her.”
• p. 13-14 (Vol. I, ch. III): “She would notice her; she would improve ... her leisure, and powers.”
• p. 17 (Vol. I, ch. IV): “That may be – and I may have seen him … a young farmer … as in every other way he is below it.”
• p. 84-85 (Vol. I, ch. XV): "To restrain him as much as might be … Mr. Elton actually making violent love ... It really was so."
• p. 89 (Vol. I, ch. XVI): "The first error and the worst lay at her door... to do such things no more. "
• p. 100 (Vol. II, ch. I or ch. 19): "Thank you. You are so kind! … I was reading [Jane's letter] to Mrs. Cole, and, since she went away, I was reading it again ... the whole paper and crosses half."
• P. 144 (Vol. II, ch. VIII, or ch. 26): "He started ‘Thank you for rousing me,… whether she colours."
• p. 171 (Vol. II, ch. XIII or ch.31): "Emma continued to entertain no doubt... forming a thousand amusing schemes ... she refused him."
• p. 196 (Vol. II, ch. XVII or ch. 35): "I did not mean, I was not thinking ... I do not know where it lies … something that would do."
• p. 218 (Vol. III, ch. IV or ch. 39): "Such an adventure as this, --a fine young man ... as her mind had already made."
• p. 244 (Vol. III, ch. VII or ch. 43): "Happy couple! … rued it all the rest of his life! "
• p. 246 (Vol. III, ch. VII or ch. 43): "She was vexed beyond what could have been expressed ... of common kindness."
• p. 295 (Vol III, ch XV or ch. 51): " … Mr. Woodhouse taken from Hartfield! … her home, it should be his likewise. "
• p. 315 (Vol. III, ch.XVIII or ch. 54): "If not in our dispositions … so much superior to our own. "
• p. 317-318 (Vol. III, ch. XIX or ch. 55): "Harriet, necessarily drawn away … in the most gradual, natural manner. "

Vocabulary:

From Pygmalion:
gumption (11), brogue (26), bilious (27), prodigal (31), petulance (34), pathos (36), dogmatic (49), blackguard (53), remonstrate (54), incensed (64), brusque (70), straitened (70), pedantic (73), imprecation (75), extricate (75), voluble (87), cant (103), asunder (108), repudiate (116), incorrigible (123), reproach (123)

From Emma:
inducement (22), approbation (28), countenance (29), indisposed (71), incongruity (89), presumption (89), ingenuousness (92), mortification (93), insidious (102), diffidence (110), foppery (132), auspices (179), licentiousness (185), penury (185), impelled (219), reproof (230), arrear (231), abhor (247), dilatory (253), solicitude (264), tautology (268), captious (275), intimation (278), parley (285), wan (291), archly (315)

Terms:

• Didactic Literature
• Comedy of manners (or novel of manners)
• Free Indirect Discourse
• Bildungsroman
• Subtext
• Pastiche

Essay options for Pygmalion – Emma exam:
Two of the following essays will appear on your exam. You will choose to answer one. Be sure to prepare an answer that addresses each section of the question and uses specific examples from both texts.

1. George Bernard Shaw emphasizes in his preface to Pygmalion that his play is an example of “didactic art.” Could Jane Austen’s Emma be considered a didactic novel? How would you articulate the “lesson” each of these texts seeks to teach its reader? Evaluate both texts in terms of their success at convincingly conveying their respective lessons.

2. Emma is clever but continually mistaken, well intentioned but capable of callous behavior. Austen commented that Emma is a heroine "no one but myself will much like." By the end of the novel, do you find Emma a likable character? Why or why not?

3. Toward the end of Emma, Mr. Knightley observes that “everything serve[s] to prove more and more the beauty of truth and sincerity in all our dealings with each other” (Vol. II, ch. 15, p. 293 or ch. 51, p. 354). Does the novel as a whole support this statement or not, and why or why not?

Remaining Emma Syllabus

Mon 2/23 Finish Emma, Ch. 17-19 (16 pp.) [53 – 55]. Vocab: sagacity (308), accession (314), archly (315, check “arch”), impudent (315). Has Emma matured? Find at least three specific passages that show that she has or has not. In what sense is this novel a “comedy”? Is this a truly happy ending? Will any or all of thevarious newly married couples be happy?

Tues 2/24 Peer edit compare-contrast essay; draft due in class

Wed 2/25 Watch Clueless (1995, dir. Amy Heckerling)

Thurs 2/26 Watch Clueless

Fri 2/27 Book talks and independent reading / Compare-contrast essay due in class

Mon 3/2 No school—parent/teacher conferences

Tues 3/3 Discuss Clueless in relation to Emma. Is this film a good adaptation of Austen’s novel into a late-twentieth-century context? Why is 1990s Beverly Hills an interesting time and place to set this story? What significant connections do you see between Clueless and Emma? Does this film convey any of the significant conflicts, ideas, or themes of the novel? Introduction to modernism.

Wed 3/4 Exam review

Thurs 3/5 Quarterly exam: Pygmalion-Emma

Fri 3/6 Book talks and independent reading

Emma Syllabus Week 4

Mon 2/9 Emma, Vol. III, Ch. 8-9 (10 pp.) [44 – 45]. Vocab: abhor (247), dilatory (253). Characterize Emma’s attitude and manner during her visit to Miss Bates. Do you see a change in her, and if so, how do you account for it? How do you interpret Jane’s illness and her responses to Emma’s repeated attempts at kindness?

Tues 2/10 Emma, Vol. III, Ch. 10-11 (15 pp.) [46 – 47]. Vocab: intreat (263, check entreat), solicitude (264), tautology (268), corroborating (268). What news does Mrs. Weston give Emma about Frank? On what subjects does this news cause Emma to revise her thinking? What does the conversation Emma has with Harriet in chapter 11 indicate about the ways that Harriet has been altered by Emma’s tutelage? What feelings of Emma’s does this conversation expose?

Wed 2/11 Emma, Vol. III, Ch. 12-13 (14 pp.) [48 – 49]. Vocab: captious (275), levity (276), intimation (278), clemency (280). Do you sympathize with Emma in her anxieties about Mr. Knightley? What is your response when they come to an understanding? Compare/contrast introduction and basic outline with evidence due – we’ll spend some time in class workshopping these outlines.

Thurs 2/12 Emma, Ch. 14-16 (18 pp.) [50 – 52]. Vocab: parley (285), caviller (287, check “caviler” or “cavil” if you can’t find “caviller”), bandied (290, check “bandy”), wan (291). Do you think Frank's letter explains and/or excuses his previous behavior? What is Emma's response to the letter? What is unconventional about the arrangement Mr. Knightley suggests in chapter 15 [52] to circumvent Emma’s having to leave her father in order to marry? How is Jane’s manner toward Emma in chapter 16 [52] different than the last time Emma attempted to visit her, and why? Emma pastiche due.

Fri 2/13 No class—preregistration activities

Emma Syllabus for Third and Fourth Periods

Students in third and fourth period Sophomore English can find your Emma syllabus at the following link. (I've created an "appendix" to Paradise Loft, to avoid cluttering up this blog.)

Emma syllabus for third and fourth period

Compare / Contrast Essay

The main purpose of this essay is to develop your ability to compose an argument that meaningfully compares two literary texts. The similarities and differences you identify should illuminate important aspects of both texts – don’t assume that a simple comparison will be interesting in and of itself. Your task is to show why it is interesting to examine these works side-by-side. Remember the comparisons we made between Pygmalion and Frankenstein—those are the meaningful types of comparisons that you are looking to make on this assignment. You may choose from one of the following topics:

1. Write an essay comparing the novel Emma with the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare’s Lysander observes that “the course of true love never did run smooth,” and Emma quotes this sentiment two centuries later, implying that at Hartfield this is not necessarily the case (p. 49). How do these texts compare in their portrayal of romantic love? Consider focusing on one of the following aspects of love in the two texts:

• How do these texts compare in their portrayal of matchmaking, and what does this seem to say about the different “worlds” the two texts are set in? For example, does the rigidly class-based social world of Emma offer a different take on matchmaking than the magic-influenced world of A Midsummer Night’s Dream?

• How do the relationships between men and women compare in each text? Do women and men seem to have a more equal level of power and status in one text than the other? Does one text offer a more optimistic view of romantic love than the other?

2. Write an essay comparing Emma and Pygmalion. Both revolve around an upper-class character shaping and molding a character of a lower social class in order to raise that character’s class status. How is Higgins’s “project” with Eliza different from and similar to Emma’s “undertaking” with Harriet Smith? Consider addressing one or more of the following questions in your comparison:

• How do Higgins’s and Emma’s motives compare, and how does this affect the way we view their different projects as teachers/benefactors? How are their relationships with their student/ protégé similar and/or different?

• What are the outcomes of the two projects, and how do they compare in the help or harm they bring to the student/protégé? How does this affect our view of any or all of the characters involved?

• To what extent do Higgins and Emma learn from their mistakes involving their protégés? Do they repent, change for the better, and/or increase in self-awareness? How does this affect our view of these characters, comparatively?

3. Compare the early nineteenth-century science-fiction/horror novel Frankenstein with the late nineteenth-century science-fiction/horror novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Consider drawing on one of the following areas to focus your comparison:

• Victor Frankenstein and Henry Jekyll: how are they similar and how different, and what might this comparison lead you to say about science, technology, good and evil, ambition, sanity and insanity, secrets, honesty and dishonesty, human relationships, and/or work in these books?

• Frankenstein’s creature and Edward Hyde: what light do these “creations” shed on their creators? (the words apply better to Frankenstein’s creature… feel free to come up with another word to describe Hyde, or to describe both) What light do they shed on the communities they are part of (and in the creature’s case, become part of or pass through)? Are the relationships between the two creators and creations similar in any ways? If so, what do these similarities (and the inevitable differences) suggest about the role of creator, the responsibilities of scientific experimentation, or anything else? Is there a common human failing or flaw that these stories both bring to light? A common philosophical or ethical idea they both speak to?

• The frame narrative and its usefulness in telling a story; the characters of Walton and Utterson and their respective role in each story; the role of women (or lack thereof) in each book and/or the way each represents masculinity; each book as an early example of science fiction . . .

4. Compare Emma to its companion novel Jane Fairfax by Joan Aiken. Written in the twentieth century but set in early nineteenth-century Highbury, Jane Fairfax tells the story of Emma from the perspective of Jane Fairfax. Evaluate Aiken’s novel as a companion to Emma: does Aiken effectively imitate Austen’s style? Are the characters recognizable from from Emma? Does Jane Fairfax take this story in interesting and worthwhile directions, or is it merely redundant with Emma? Compare this story as told from the perspectives of these two very different characters. How does each novel reflect differently on the same (or related) characters and events? What might Aiken’s purpose be in offering us this companion piece to Austen’s novel?

5. Choose a comparison topic of your own, using one of the books we’ve read so far this year and another book you think would make an interesting comparison. If you’re interested in this option, email me with a specific topic by the end of the school day on Tuesday 2/3 for approval.

Specifications: Your paper should have an introductory paragraph that mentions the titles (underlined or italicized) and authors of all the texts you plan to discuss and a clearly stated thesis statement somewhere in the first paragraph or two. No comparison is inherently worthwhile for its own sake: the thesis should say specifically what is interesting about this comparison and how it helps us better understand both texts. Cite specific evidence and numerous examples from both texts to support each point throughout the essay (as always, use MLA citation style). Be sure to develop smooth transitions between paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph that offers a definite sense of closure to your overall argument. The paper should be about three to four pages long, double-spaced.

• Sign up for a topic by: Wednesday 2/4
• Introductory paragraph and preliminary outline of your argument with evidence due for in-class workshop: Wednesday 2/11
• Complete rough draft (typed) due for in-class peer-edit: Tuesday 2/24
• Final draft due (typed, stapled, including all peer-edited drafts): Friday 2/27

Emma Syllabus Week 3 Linder

Mon 2/2 Emma, Vol. II, Ch. 12-14 (16 pp.) [30-32](Ch 9-11 optional – If you are not able to read 9-11, some developments: Emma feels uneasy after the Coles’s party because she has indiscreetly shared with Frank Churchill her suspicions of Jane's feelings for Mr. Dixon (she also dwells a bit on her own musical inferiority to Jane); Harriet is still thinking about Mr. Martin; Frank teases Jane Fairfax about the pianoforte and though Emma thinks Jane is secretly “cherishing reprehensible feelings” for the anonymous giver (who Emma assumes is Mr. Dixon), she is “half ashamed” because Frank has teased Jane about it in a most unseemly manner; Frank and Emma plan a ball, and all are excited at the prospect of it.) For Ch. 12-14 [31-32], vocab: allusion (171), perusal (172), reproof (174), auspices (179), pert (181). Why does Emma find Mrs. Elton an “insufferable woman”? Try to find a couple of examples of Mrs. Elton’s most egregious offenses in Emma’s eyes.

Tues 2/3 Emma, Vol. II, Ch. 15-18 (21 pp.) [33-36] Vocab: conjugal (183), licentiousness (185), penury (185), appellation (188). Find two specific passages regarding Mrs. Elton that offer some insight into Emma's distaste for her. Do other people seem to find Mrs. Elton objectionable? Do you? Consider a possible subtext in the discussion of Frank Churchill's handwriting at the end of chapter 16 [34]. Does there seem to be more at stake than his script? Characterize Jane Fairfax's attitude toward being a governess. What analogy does she use to describe the business of placing governesses in chapter 17 [35], and what does her choice of words say about her feelings toward her future profession? What is ironic about the conversation Mr. Weston and Mrs. Elton have about Mrs. Churchill in chapter 18 [36]?

Wed 2/4 Emma, Vol. III, Ch. 1-4 (18 pp.) [37 – 40]. Vocab: eminent (206), expeditious(209), reprobation (215), impelled (219). In what way does Mr. Elton insult Harriet in chapter 2 [38], and how does this reflect on him and Mrs. Elton? What do you think the narrator means when she calls Emma an "imaginist" (Ch. 3, p. 218)? Do you think Emma understands herself to be an imaginist? Look carefully at the paragraph and consider whether this seems to be the narrator's perspective strictly, or Emma's also. What does Harriet’s “confession” to Emma in Ch. 4 tell us about her? (note: our footnote says “court plaister” is adhesive tape. It’s more like a primitive form of band-aid). Emma pastiche assigned.

Thurs 2/5 Emma, Vol. III, Ch. 5-7 (23 pp.) [41-43]. Vocab: disingenuousness (227), reproof (230), arrear (231), fagged (246). What "blunder" does Frank make in chapter 5 [41]? Find the slip he makes early in the chapter, which he refers to later during the alphabet game. Consider the tense but constrained conflicts in chapter 6 between Mrs. Elton and Mr. Knightley, and later between Emma and Jane. What seems to be underneath each of these terse discussions, and which of the participants appears more favorably in each? In what way does Emma insult Miss Bates in chapter 7? Why does Mr. Knightley find this not only rude, but cruel? How does his criticism affect Emma?

Fri 2/6 Book talks and independent reading.

Letter of Introduction

Students,

Hello! My name is Ms. Bluhm and I will be working with you in Ms. Linder’s classes for the next several weeks. I am currently a student at the University of Illinois here in Champaign-Urbana and in my last semester of my undergraduate studies. I am pursuing a major in English and a minor in Secondary Education. To complete my student teaching required for certification (and also to get some great professional experience), I will be working at Uni High for the first half of the semester and then moving on to Jefferson Middle School in Champaign.

Though I’ve lived in Champaign-Urbana for the better part of the last four years while earning my degree, I did not grow up in the area. I am from a northwest suburb of Chicago and still return to the area frequently to visit my family. I have an older brother who also attended the University of Illinois and a younger sister who is currently in eighth grade.

I love to read and write. Between my completing my English coursework and pursuing these interests outside of school, much of my time is taken up with literary activities. Academically, I recently finished my senior thesis on Jeffrey Eugenides’s Middlesex and Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, arguing for an intertextual link that imagines non-normative sexuality as social monstrosity. Over winter break, my sister convinced me to read Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight (with which I’m sure many of you are familiar); I consequently bought and read the latter three books in the series. As you can see, the range of my literary interests is wide and non-discriminatory. I also love to discuss and analyze literature and look forward to hearing what you have to say, whether your contemplations are on in-class readings or outside texts that excite you. I even love grammar (yes, really). English is truly my calling and my love, and I hope that truth is evident in our interactions this semester.

My involvement here at Uni will be a learning experience for us both. It is my hope that I will be able to challenge you and ignite your literary curiosity. And, in turn, it is my expectation that you will challenge my thinking with regard to both literature and teaching. I believe that we will learn best from each other with open lines of communication. For that reason, I hope you will feel comfortable coming to me with any questions, concerns, comments, etc. about course material or classroom proceedings.

Again, I am genuinely excited for all that this semester has in store for us. I look forward to meeting you all on Monday; however, if you’d like to introduce yourself before then, feel free to shoot me an email!

Thanks in advance for a wonderful experience.

Sincerely,

Ms. Bluhm