UNIVERSITY OF LIBERAL ARTS BANGLADESH

Department of English and Humanities (DEH) BA Program

ENG 302: The Novel - I (Section: 1)

Final Examination Summer 2020

Total Marks: 25 Time: 2 Hours Faculty: Arifa Ghani Rahman

NAME: MD. Abdulla Asik ID:182013050

Before you begin, please save this file as ENG302_FINAL_SU20_yourID.

INSTRUCTIONS:
● Answer all the questions.
● All questions are of equal value (5 x 5 marks = 25 marks).
● Answer length: 150-200 words each.
● MA STUDENTS: Your word limit is double. Your answers should reflect your
awareness of critical theories and how they may be used to critically analyze the
texts.

1. Nwoye, and not Okonkwo, is the stronger person in Things Fall Apart. Explain.
ANSWER:

2. “He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.” Explain
how this statement in Things Fall Apart reflects the process of the downfall of the Igbos.
ANSWER:

3. When Daisy Buchanan hears that she has given birth to a girl, she comments, “I hope she'll
be a fool -- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool” (Fitzgerald
20). By closely examining Daisy’s character, explain why she might have been moved to
utter these words.
ANSWER:

4. Explain the significance of the green light in The Great Gatsby.

ANSWER:
 UNIVERSITY OF LIBERAL ARTS BANGLADESH
Department of English and Humanities (DEH) BA Program
ENG 302: The Novel - I (Section: 1)

5. What makes a tragic hero? From any of the novels we read, explain which character would
best fit this description and why.
ANSWER:

1. Nwoye is the oldest son of the protagonist Okonkwo. The relationship between father and son
is not good. Because Okonkwo sees too much of his own father Unoka’s image in his son.
Okonkwo is portrayed as a very successful man in his society with all the characteristics of a
great man, in the eyes of the clan. Nwoye however is portrayed as a lazy, sensitive and according
to Okonkwo a very “feminine” man. However, after the murder of his adoptive brother
Ikemefuna at the hand of Okonkwo, Nwoye finally starts despising him openly. When the
missionaries come to Mbanta, Nwoye finds solace in a way of life that he never knew existed. So
he converts to Christianity and finds peace in escaping the oppression of his father’s tyranny. He
forgets the old and embraces the new and finds solace. But in Okonkwo’s case things don’t go
the same. Failing to adapt with the new ways of life and driven by anger and sadness Okonkwo
takes his own life. So what was the point in having all those characteristics of great men if it did
not work in his interest! So even though the story portrays Okonkwo as a great warrior and
Nwoye being the opposite, I think Nwoye is the stronger one between the two.

2. The given statement is part of a conversation between the two characters. Okonkwo and
Obierika from the chapter 20. The conversation occurs between the two friends after the arrival
of the colonialists. Achebe addresses his own thought on colonialism through this context.
Obierika expresses his disappointment that the colonialists will never understand the Umofians.
He blames the white people for breaking the Igbo justice system. He also adds that they (white
 UNIVERSITY OF LIBERAL ARTS BANGLADESH
Department of English and Humanities (DEH) BA Program
ENG 302: The Novel - I (Section: 1)
men) came in quietly and stole his brothers and sister, as in had them converted to their side. So
he blames how own people who had converted to Christianity and abandoned the way of Igbo
culture as well. Because they are the one who severed the ties of unity among the clans and made
brothers and sisters turn on each other. So that’s what he means, the fact that their unity has been
broken and their own people are leaving them the, when he says, “a knife on the things that held
us together and we have fallen apart.” This is what eventually leads to the downfall of the Igbo
as a nation. In pursuit to the new way of life the Igbo people actually walked towards their own
downfall, as they lost their own identity till there was no Igbo left in them. Now “he” as in the
white men has” put a knife” as in broke their unity, and thus they fell apart.

3) The context was taken from the 1st chapter of the novel The Great Gatsby, where Daisy
Buchanan talks to Nick and Jordan about her hopes for her infant daughter. The novel gives it’s
readers a glimpse of 1920’s American society. The reasons behind Daisy uttering those words is
that the society back then did not care about intelligence in women. They were more like a
product of a patriarchal social environment, where the older generation of men demands
subservience and docility and the younger ones want thoughtless giddiness and pleasure-seeking
in women. Daisy’s quote in the context seems like sarcasm to me. She knows how her society
works and she thinks a woman can have a more enjoyable life if she is beautiful and simplistic.
So she wants her daughter to be a fool because her society did not value intelligence in woman.
Rather the society valued and judged women by appearance. So it is safer to be beautiful and
fool rather than facing the cruelty of the world. She does not challenge or criticize the system but
she just hopes her daughter understands the world like she does and can cope up with it.

4) The green light in Daisy’s dock plays a significant role in Gatsby’s life. Gatsby looking at the
green light across the water is one of the most memorable scene in the novel. The green light’s
significance is important as it simultaneously symbolizes Gatsby’s love and hope for Daisy,
 UNIVERSITY OF LIBERAL ARTS BANGLADESH
Department of English and Humanities (DEH) BA Program
ENG 302: The Novel - I (Section: 1)
passion for money and chasing the American dream. Now in America green is traditionally
associated with money. So to Gatsby the green light has a great significance because in his mind,
money is what will get him Daisy. Other than that Gatsby bought his house in order to be able to
see Daisy’s. But from his place he sees the green light on Daisy’s dock. He finds solace looking
at it, as if it reminds him that he and his love is in the same world. Somehow the light brings him
closer to Daisy. However when Gatsby and Daisy finally reunites and Gatsby tell her about the
light, to Nick it felt like as if the significance of the light’s symbol had vanished.

5) According to the dictionary a tragic hero is a person in a dramatic tragedy who has virtuous
and sympathetic traits but ultimately meets with suffering or defeat. Tragic heroes are typically
the protagonist of a story and have heroic traits which earns them the audience’s sympathy but
these heroic traits are often induced with flaws that ultimately leads to their downfall. To be a
tragic hero a character must have characteristics like Hamartia– the tragic flaw that causes
downfall of the hero, Hubris– the excessive pride, Peripeteia– sudden reversal of fate,
Anagnorisis– This moment happens when hero makes an important discovery in the story etc. I
think Okonkwo from Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart has a perfect match with all the
traits of a tragic hero. Okonkwo is a mainly a tragic hero because a tragic hero holds a position of
power and prestige, chooses his course of action, possesses a tragic flaw, and gains awareness of
circumstances that lead to his fall. In the novel you can see all these in Okonkwo’s actions. Like
he did not bend to the new ways, he made every decision to protect his ego, his hubris is his
tragic flaw and in the end when he learns his tribe wont back him up for the murder of the
messenger he make the most important and surprising discovery of his life, that eventually leads
to his downfall.