Oral midterm examination:

For your midterm, you are going to pick one of the following questions (or a question of your choice, as long as you vet it with me) and one character from one of the texts we have read so far. Then, you will answer the question you have chosen from that character’s perspective–what would be that character’s point of view on the question? How do they enact that point of view–and are they successful in enacting it (do their actions match their perspective)? Consider what investments the character has in the issue, how the character might define concepts in the question (for example, what is “love” for Enkidu and Gilgamesh vs for Medea?), and what biases and concerns they might have.

For the midterm itself, you will present to me, one on one, the perspective of this character using passages from the text (you should bring a one-page sheet with passages from the text you plan to use). You will have 3-4 minutes to make your claims about the point of view of your character in relation to this question, so you should be prepared to be direct, to point to  and quote specific passages to find evidence and to prove that your passages support your claim by using the words/imagery/tone in the passage.

Questions (if there are other questions you want to address, suggest them to me): 

1. Right action: How does your character define what is right in complicated situations–how does your character determine what is the right thing to do? How do we learn what is right based on the character’s actions/beliefs and on the text?
2. The city/the city vs. the natural world: To your character, is the city something worthy of celebration, and why? If your character has some doubts on this issue, what are some critiques of the city, especially in light of what it does to nature and human relationship to it? What is the text trying to show about the city, and/or about the natural world, through your character?
3. Quest: For your character, what is worth seeking out, and why? How does what the character seeks define him/her? What is the text trying to illuminate, through your character and his/her quest?
4. Duty: If duty is what is “due,” then what defines what is due for your character–society, responsibility to another individual, honor? How should the character show, demonstrate, or fulfill his/her duty, and what are some complications that get in the way of fulfilling duty? How does the character respond to, fulfill, or fail to fulfill their duty/duties? What is the text trying to illuminate through your character’s relationship to (and response to) her/her duties?
5. Love: How does the text/character present love, and what is it? According to your character, does love occur between people, or does the character define love in another way (i.e., love of duty): what is worth loving, and why, according to your character, or the text through your character? According to your character, or the text through your character, what does he/she owe to what/who he/she loves, and why–what are the obligations of love?
6. Heroism: How does your character define heroism and being a hero, and why? (Alternately, how does your character define being a good leader and why?). What do you think the text is showing about being a leader/hero through your character?
7. Role of women:  What is the role of women as seen through your character’s eyes: what power/agency do the women have, and/or how do they see themselves potentially as disempowered or disadvantaged? What is the text trying to illuminate about women and their roles in society through your character? (Note: the answer to this question shouldn’t just be “women are treated as lesser”–dig deeper than that. Women have agency and authority in interesting ways in some of the works we’ve read).
8. Lesson: As we’ve seen, texts often seek to educate their readers in some way (emotionally, as future citizens of a city-state, through the education of an irresponsible king, etc). What lesson or lessons do you think are imparted through your character (through his/her actions, behavior, and general presence in the text)?

Practice beforehand: 

1. In-class practice/modeling through class debate (9/30); possible in-class practice for 10/7.
2. Group-work (10/14), where you will bring in some passages you want to refer to and, in groups of three, give each other feedback on the claims and ideas you have.
3. During midterm itself (10/21), you will sit with your group and use the time you’re waiting in to practice with each other. I’ll give 5 minutes at the top of class for the first person on the list to practice.

Due for midterm: 

• Wednesday, 10/14: Come prepared with your character, question/theme, and some passages chosen for group feedback.
• Midterm date itself, 10/21: Bring your passages on one sheet of paper with annotations (underlining, highlighting, notes in the margins, even an outline on the side of your passages), and, of course, yourself and your voice.

Grading: Since this is not a public speaking course per se, I will not be judging you on things like how often you say “um,” and if you’re a little nervous, that’s okay.  Here is what I will judge you on:

A= While you demonstrate that you understand concepts we covered in class, you also have made your own independent claim and brought in new textual evidence, or taken textual evidence we have discussed and looked at it from a different angle; you competently close read the textual evidence you quoted/mentioned to prove your claim(s).

B= You restate concepts we covered in class, but you have shown some effort to bring in a new idea and passages. You make an attempt to close read the textual evidence you quoted/mentioned to prove your claim(s).

C= You restate concepts, ideas and passages that we have covered in class, and you do it competently. You do not, however, bring in anything new, in terms of claims or passages

D= You briefly restate some ideas we have covered in class, but some claims may be inaccurate. You rarely refer to the text itself.

F= You do not state ideas we have covered in class, or are very vague about these ideas, and you make claims that may be inaccurate or too general, without referring to the text itself.

Notes:

• Note that in the case of a text like The Hymn to Aten, the “character” you choose might be the narrator.
• We may be able to make more time if some people would be around to do this in my office hours after class OR in the period the room is open before class starts (about 30 minutes before)