Semester Exam--Concepts of Fiction and their application to Johnny Bear and Soldiers Home

Yes, that's officially the longest title of all my blog entries. According to the Guiness Book of World Records, the song with the longest title is "I'm a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with my Honolulu Mama Doin’ Those Beat-o, Beat-o Flat-On-My-Seat-o, Hirohito Blues" written by Hoagy Carmichael in 1945 (Hoagy is the guy banging on the 88's in the photo. The woman is Lauren Bacall. The movie is To Have and To Have Not, based on a Hemingway novel). Carmichael later claimed the song title ended with "Yank" and the rest was a joke.

You've been warned. This exam is no joke.

Here's what you should review.

All notes, definitions, ideas, concepts--about art, fiction, dialogue, setting, narrative technique, points of view, description/imagery, characterization, theme, etc. I have posted the copies of your first two tests on Study Wiz for review. However, study your notes on all of these topics for the exam.

Do you have to know about each individual story or portion of a story that we studied? Yes, and no.

Yes. You should be able to recall basic important information for each story, like author, setting, importance of dialogue or summary, description, characterization, and point of view.

No. I won't ask you to recall detailed specifics from the stories, with the exception of Johnny Bear and Soldiers Home. For these stories, any question is fair game, like something as seemingly unimportant as "what does the word fumadiddle mean?"

For both stories, be able to both identify and analyze the setting, narration, dialogue, and plot (for important scenes). Know the characters and methods of characterization. Know the points of view and be able to express how they are important. Be able to recall specific lines, names of characters, bits of dialogue, and narration. Be able to discuss themes in both stories.

Know those two stories very well, especially Soldiers Home. Since I will NOT discuss this story in class with you---look up words, places, expressions, . . . that you don't know. Research some basic background biographical information on Ernest Hemingway (the story's author) that might relate to the story. Be able to express what you believe is the style of that story, using the language of style discussion found in the introduction to style in your big white book.

If you want to listen to some classic Hoagy, click on this link to hear his classic Stardust.