Nume și prenume:

Numar matricol:
Anul II
Specializarea:
Adresa de e-mail instituțională
Data:

Please choose ONLY ONE of the two exam question options below. Then write a 550-600
words essay answering the questions and save your work as a Word document. The name of the
document should be your name (e.g. PopescuVeronica.docx). Upload it first on Turnitin at the
end of the 90 minutes allotted to the exam and then go back to Microsoft Teams and upload it
there and then click on return assignment. Good luck!

Option A
Read Thomas Keymer’s comments below, which suggest that Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe
reflects an imperialist mindset:
“The parodic nature of Defoe’s claims to absolute dominion and indefeasible [not to be
annulled] right over the island also has a bearing [relevance] on postcolonial criticism, in which
Robinson Crusoe has a reputation no more enviable than that of The Tempest: a megatext of
complacent [self-satisfied/self-approving] Eurocentrism, an aggressive myth of supremacy, a
rationale for imperial domination.” (“Introduction.” Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe, Oxford
Classics, p. xxxiv).
What does Keymar mean by “parodic nature of Defoe’s claims to absolute dominion and
indefeasible right over the island”? Why does Keymer describe the text as reflecting “an
aggressive myth of supremacy, a rationale for imperial domination”? How did Defoe’s
contemporaries see Robinson’s claims that he is the master, the king of the island and of Friday?
How does Defoe describe his relationship with Friday, step by step? Why does he feel entitled to
name Friday and then to “civilise” him? Can we still read Defoe’s novel the same way today,
especially after the emergence of postcolonial criticism? (Tip: Keymer’s comments reflect a
postcolonial approach, as suggested by words and phrases such as “parodic,” “complacent,”
“Eurocentrism” and “aggressive myth of supremacy.”)

Option B
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver's Travels employs different literary techniques for satirical
purposes. Please remember Book I of Gulliver's Travels and then answer the following
questions:
What did Swift mean by the following: the Emperor of Lilliput; Flimnap; the conflict
between the Tramecksans and the Slamecksans; the conflict between the people of
Lilliput (Small-endians) and Blefuscu (Big-endians)? Why did Swift use this narrative
strategy (please name it) to talk about these aspects of his contemporary England? For
fear, for fun, for both reasons? What is the function of physical distortion in this book?
How would you describe the satire in Book I, as primarily Horatian or primarily
Juvenalian? Why?