ENG 102 Final, Summer ’211 ENG 102: English Composition II (Each answer in Parts A.-D. of the exam is worth 1 point, for a total of 60 points. The essay in Part E. is worth 40 points.) A. Literary terms: From the list of drama and poetry terms, write the term which is illustrated in each example below. Pay attention to bold-faced type. (No term is used more than once.) sonnet meter foot octave sestet quatrain couplet rhythm assonance alliteration villanelle tercet haiku blank verse free verse imagery metaphor simile hyperbole apostrophe satire figurative language pathos rhyme scheme iambic pentameter personification Italian sonnet English sonnet hubris stage directions tragedy enjambment tragic hero internal rhyme 1. "Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings." 1. _______________________ 2. “. . . I see him there Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.” 2. _______________________ 3. “When I heard the learn'd astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me . . .” (type of verse) 3. _______________________ 4. “Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree, Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one, Yet knows its boughs more silent than before . . .” 4. _______________________ 5. "Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulder in the sun; And makes gaps even two can pass abreast." (type of meter) 5. _______________________ 6.“It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?” 6. _______________________ 7. Willy Loman’s repeated assertion to Charley: “I’ve got a job.” 7. _______________________ 8. “. . . And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil . . .” 8. _______________________ 9. “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,    So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” (Identify just what these lines are, not the type of poem.) 9. _______________________ 10. “(Their eyes meet. A look of growing comprehension, of horror. Steps are heard outside. MRS HALE slips box under quilt pieces, and sinks into her chair. Enter SHERIFF and COUNTY ATTORNEY. MRS PETERS rises.)” 10. _______________________ B. Trifles: In the spaces before each number, write the letter of the item that corresponds to each description below. Each letter is used once. a. Mr. Hale f. Mrs. Wright k. broken birdcage b. Mrs. Hale g. Sheriff Peters l. uneven sewing c. dead canary h. Mrs. Peters m. Minnie Foster d. debt i. County Attorney n. the title, Trifles e. party telephone j. singing o. broken jars of fruit preserves ____ 1. what Mr. Hale had come to discuss with John Wright when he learned of Wright’s death ____ 2. character who declares that Mrs. Wright is ...

1. ENG 102 Final, Summer ’211
ENG 102: English Composition II
(Each answer in Parts A.-D. of the exam is worth 1 point, for a
total of 60 points. The essay in Part E. is worth 40 points.)
A. Literary terms: From the list of drama and poetry terms,
write the term which is illustrated in each example below. Pay
attention to bold-faced type. (No term is used more than once.)
sonnet
meter
foot
octave
sestet
quatrain
couplet
rhythm
assonance
alliteration
villanelle
tercet
haiku
blank verse
free verse

2. imagery
metaphor
simile
hyperbole
apostrophe
satire
figurative language pathos
rhyme scheme
iambic pentameter personification
Italian sonnet
English sonnet
hubris
stage directions tragedy
enjambment
tragic hero
internal rhyme
1. "Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings."
1. _______________________
2. “. . . I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top

3. In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.”
2. _______________________
3. “When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me
. . .” (type of verse)
3. _______________________
4. “Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before . . .”
4. _______________________
5. "Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulder in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast."
(type of meter)
5. _______________________
6.“It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?”
6. _______________________

4. 7. Willy Loman’s repeated assertion to Charley: “I’ve got a
job.”
7. _______________________
8. “. . . And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil .
. .”
8. _______________________
9. “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” (Identify just
what these lines are, not the type of poem.)
9. _______________________
10. “(Their eyes meet. A look of growing comprehension, of
horror. Steps are heard outside. MRS HALE slips box under
quilt pieces, and sinks into her chair.
Enter SHERIFF and COUNTY ATTORNEY. MRS
PETERS rises.)”
10. _______________________
B. Trifles: In the spaces before each number, write the letter of
the item that corresponds to each description below. Each letter
is used once.
a. Mr. Hale
f. Mrs. Wright
k. broken birdcage

5. b. Mrs. Hale
g. Sheriff Peters
l. uneven sewing
c. dead canary
h. Mrs. Peters
m. Minnie Foster
d. debt
i. County Attorney
n. the title, Trifles
e. party telephone
j. singing
o. broken jars of fruit preserves
____ 1. what Mr. Hale had come to discuss with John Wright
when he learned of Wright’s death

6. ____ 2. character who declares that Mrs. Wright is a poor
housekeeper because of the dirty
towels in the kitchen
____ 3. what Mr. Wright lacks, leading Mrs. Peters to believe
he is a “good” man
____ 4. youthful interest of Mrs. Wright that connects her to the
bird
____ 5. character who wishes she had come to see Mrs. Wright
more often
____ 6. character who never actually appears in the play
____ 7. evidence which would have provided a definitive
motive for Mrs. Wright to have killed
her husband
____ 8. character who is initially inclined to side with the law,
but ultimately protects Mrs.
Wright
____ 9. ridicules women for “worrying over trifles”
____ 10. law official who initially responded to the Wrights’
house to investigate the murder
____ 11. symbol of the cold Wright household
____ 12. symbol of men’s attempt to dismiss women’s concerns
____ 13. symbol of Mrs. Wright’s oppressive marriage from
which she finally breaks free
____ 14. symbol of Mrs. Wright’s agitation
____ 15. symbol of Mrs. Wright’s totally different identity

7. before she was married
C. Death of a Salesman: In the spaces before each number, write
the letter of the item (person, place, or thing) that corresponds
to each description below. Each letter is used once.
a. “a $20,000 proposition
i. tape recorder
b. Uncle Ben
j. University of Virginia sneakers
c. Happy
k. rubber pipe
d. nylon stockings
l. jail
e. the Woman
m. planting seeds

8. f. Bernard
n. New York
g. Mr. Birnbaum
o. Bill Oliver
h. apartment buildings
____ 1. what Willy hates to see Linda mending because of
his own guilt
____ 2. what Linda finds in the cellar, indicating that Willy
has been trying to kill himself
____ 3. the location (city) of most of the action in Death of a
Salesman
____ 4. where Biff was for three months when he had no
address
____ 5. Biff’s former boss, who he foolishly thinks will
financially back a business
venture
____ 6. the minor character who represents Willy's ideal of
great material success with

9. minimal effort, and whom Willy regrets not following
____ 7. grows up to have two sons like Willy, further
emphasizing Willy’s personal failure
____ 8. what Biff burned in the furnace, indicating to
Bernard that "he'd given up his life"
____ 9. math teacher who Willy mistakenly believes “ruined
[Biff’s] life
____ 10. the character who, at the end of the play, still
believes in Willy's dream "to come
out number-one man"
____ 11. what surrounds the Loman home, symbolizing the
changing socio-economic times
that have left Willy behind
____ 12. symbol of life insurance policy
____ 13. symbol of Willy’s cheating, which influences similar
behavior patterns in his two sons
____ 14. “new invention” which Howard Wagner plays with
when Willy comes to see him,
symbolizing the impersonality of the modern business world
____ 15. what Willy does in the garden near the end of the

10. play, symbolizing his desperate
attempt to leave something tangible for his family
D. Quotations: Identify the source (title) and the speaker
(character who says it) of each quotation below:
1. "When I was a girl—my kitten—there was a boy took a
hatchet, and before my eyes—and before I could get there— . . .
If they hadn’t held me back, I would have— . . . hurt him."
1. Title: ______________________________
Speaker: ______________________________
2. “I know how things can be—for women. . . . We live close
together and we live far apart. We all go through the same
things—it’s all just a different kind of the same thing.”
2. Title: ______________________________
Speaker: ______________________________
3. “. . . it’s all perfectly clear except a reason for doing it. But
you know juries when it comes to women. If there was some
definite thing. Something to show—something to make a story
about it—a thing that would connect up with this strange way of
doing it—”
3. Title: ______________________________
Speaker: ______________________________
4. “I am not a leader of men, Willy, and neither are you.”

11. 4. Title: ______________________________
Speaker: ______________________________
5. “He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, ‘Good fences make good neighbours.’”
5. Title: ______________________________
Speaker: ______________________________
6. “‘He died of a rope round his neck . . .’”
6. Title: ______________________________
Speaker: ______________________________
7.“His name was never in the paper. He’s not the finest
character that ever lived. But he’s a human being, and a terrible
thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He’s not
to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention,
attention must be finally paid to such a person.”
7. Title: ______________________________
Speaker: ______________________________
8. “I cannot say what loves have come and gone,

12. I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.”
8. Title: ______________________________
Speaker: ______________________________
9. "That's just what I mean. Bernard can get the best marks in
school, y'understand, but when he gets out in the business
world, y'understand, you are going to be five times ahead of
him. That's why I thank Almighty God you're both built like
Adonises. Because the man who makes an appearance in the
business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the
man who gets ahead."
9. Title: ______________________________
Speaker: ______________________________
10. “. . . How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.”
10. Title: ______________________________

13. Speaker: _____________________________
E. Essay: (40 pts.)
Instructions: Choose Two of the following essay questions. You
should use your textbook, study questions, and class/lecture
notes, but do not use any outside sources. It is your ideas that
interest me. This should be a five-paragraph essay with an
introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a
concluding paragraph. Be sure to support all of your ideas with
specific examples and/or quotes from the works in question; use
at least one quotation in each body paragraph. Cite all
quotations properly in the text of the paper, but you do not need
to include a Works Cited page at the end this time.
Question #1
Several of the works we have read portray troubled or broken
marriages. Mrs. Wright in Trifles, Linda in Death of a
Salesman, Mrs. Mallard in “The Story of an Hour,” the
American wife in “Cat in the Rain,” and Mrs. Das in
“Interpreter of Maladies” all endure much as a result of their
marriages. Choose any three of these women, and discuss the
problems that resulted from her marriage, how she handles
them, and whether her choices/actions solve her problems.
Question #2
Guilt is a powerful emotion that has the capacity to destroy
someone who does not come to terms with it. For each of the
following characters, discuss the reason for his guilt, how it
affects him, and whether he accepts, overcomes, or is destroyed
by guilt: Montresor in "The Cask of Amontillado"; Lyman in
"The Red Convertible"; Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman.
Question #3

14. In literature as in life, sibling relationships are based on a deep
connection, but the close family bond is often complicated by
outside circumstances or conflicting feelings such as
resentment, anger, and guilt. The success or happiness of one
sibling sometimes comes at the expense of the other. Discuss
the following sibling relationships: Biff and Happy in Death of
a Salesman, Lyman and Henry in "The Red Convertible," and
Sister and Stella-Rondo in “Why I Live at the P.O.” For each
relationship, discuss the siblings' feelings for each other,
whether one succeeds more than the other, and the reasons for
that outcome.
Question #4
Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” Frost’s “Mending Wall,”
Updike’s “Icarus”, Glaspell’s Trifles, and Miller’s Death of a
Salesman all examine the artificial barriers that people
construct between each other. For any three of these works,
discuss the nature of the walls, the reason(s) people create
them, and the consequences of such divisions.
Question #5
The desire for revenge is the driving force in works such as
“The Cask of Amontillado,” “A Rose for Emily,” “Why I Live
at the P.O.,” Trifles, and Death of a Salesman. For any three of
these works, discuss the central character’s motive for seeking
revenge, the effect that this goal has on his/her thoughts and
actions, and whether he/she succeeds in this purpose.
Question #6
Several course readings portray children as casualties of selfish,
irresponsible adults who provide poor parental guidance and
support. For any three of the following works, discuss the
nature of the parent’s failure, the motivation for the parent’s
choices/actions, and the negative consequences for the
child/children: Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Lahiri’s
“Interpreter of Maladies,” Danticat’s “A Wall of Fire Rising,”

15. and Morrison’s “Recitatif.”
Write essay on questios # ______ below: (Fill in number that
you have selected.)
Of all the literary works that we read this semester, briefly
discuss how this each of the story had the greatest impact on
you , and explain why.
C The Cask of Amontillado by Poe and The Birth-Mark’ by
Hawthorne
Write your response below:
Death of a Salesman notes 1
ENG 102: English Composition II
Lecture Notes #2:
Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller (1949)
Pages 1018-1099
Social Context
The play takes place at a time when Americans are trying to
resume normal lives after years of involvement in World War II.
The surviving soldiers have returned home and are settling
down to careers and family life. The pursuit of peaceful
domestic life leads to a move away from urban centers and the
growth of suburbs, making automobile ownership more
common.
As Americans returned to the pursuit of “the American Dream,”
Miller observed that the ideal of the American Dream had
become distorted. Historically, it implied an equal opportunity
for comfort and success to those who were willing to work hard
for it. In post-World War II America, Miller felt that excessive
emphasis was being placed on competition, material goods, and
economic success at the expense of a strong work ethic and
values such as those that Willy Loman sees disappearing:

16. “respect, and comradeship, and gratitude.”
Themes
Past vs. present: Willy clearly longs for the past in both his
career and family life. The numerous flashbacks in the play all
evoke a better, happier time. However, the play also suggests
that his choices and actions from the past come back to haunt
him in the present with detrimental consequences for his family
and himself.
Resistance to change: Because of Willy’s idyllic vision of the
past, he dislikes any form of change, whether in the character of
his neighborhood or in the kind of cheese Linda buys. He
rigidly clings to his personal worldview, which contributes to
his demise.
Truth vs. illusion (or, reality vs. appearance, facts vs. dreams):
This conflict is central to the play as several characters in the
Loman family have illusions about themselves, each other, and
the world in which they live. The progression of the play is a
movement away from illusion and towards truth, for some of the
characters. As you read the play, try to identify the illusions
that some of the characters live in.
Self-knowledge: This theme is related to the one above. Coming
to know and accept the truth about oneself becomes the measure
of success in the play. As you read, consider which characters
succeed in this respect, and which do not.
The integrity of the family unit, particularly fathers and sons:
Miller felt that the family was the foundation of American
society. The breakdown of the family could have ripple effects
across successive generations of society. Therefore, the values,
lessons, and behaviors that fathers model are crucial to their
sons, grandsons, etc. in a repetitive cycle. Consider how this
theme applies to multiple examples of father/son relationships
in the play:
Fathers
Sons

17. Father, who left when Willy was three
Willy and Ben
Willy
Biff and Happy
Ben
seven sons
Charley
Bernard

18. “Old Man (Frank) Wagner”
Howard Wagner
Bernard
Bernard’s two boys (just babies)
Personal ethics/morality: Related to the above theme is that of
unethical behavior learned from some of the fathers. The play
highlights multiple examples of unethical behavior such as
abandonment, disrespect, stealing, womanizing, and cheating (in
marriage and in school). Note the differences between the ethics
of sons who had positive role models vs. those who did not.
(The Wagners appear to be an exception.)
Guilt: Willy’s guilt over his affair and the effect that Biff’s
discovery of it had on his life is a driving force of the play.
Tragedy: Death of a Salesman is often considered a 20th-
century version of a Greek tragedy. On your list of drama terms
are two key terms that pertain to tragedy, as it was conceived in
Ancient Greece.
tragic hero: protagonist who falls from greatness, or the
potential for greatness, through
some
flaw in his character or error in judgment

19. tragic flaw: the weakness in character or error in judgment that
causes the tragic hero's
downfall (hamartia in Aristotle's Poetics)
Key to ancient Greek tragedy is the concept that the tragic hero
is responsible for his own downfall; he is not some innocent
victim or bystander. Character flaws or mistakes he makes
contribute to his fate. Consider who in the play might be a 20th-
century tragic hero. Does more than one character meet this
description?
Symbols: Several symbols are used throughout the play to
reinforce the above themes.
Apartment buildings: The new apartment buildings that
surround the Loman house represent progress and modern
development literally closing in on Willy. Note his repeated
references to being unable to grow his garden anymore because
the new construction has blocked out the sun.
Tape recorder: The tape recorder that Howard Wagner is
playing with when Willy goes to see him about his job serves a
similar function. It is a “new” technological development that
clearly takes precedence to Howard over Willy’s desperation.
Again, it is the new replacing the old.
Nylon stockings: Linda is frequently seen at home mending her
stockings, which enrages Willy. The stockings are a reminder of
Willy’s guilt over the affair he had in Boston with the “Woman”
to whom he gave brand new stockings from the clothing line he
sells. (Nylon stockings would have been an expensive item in
post-World War II America.)
Uncle Ben: Throughout the play, Ben repeats variations of this
line: “. . . when I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and
when I was twenty-one I walked out . . . And by God I was
rich.” Ben represents Willy’s ideal of a get-rich-quick scheme,
what Miller viewed as a distortion of the American Dream.
Flute music: Flute music in the stage directions usually signals

20. a flashback to the past. This is because according to Ben,
Willy’s father was a “[g]reat inventor” who made and sold
flutes. It is also a reference to working with one’s hands, a
preference that Biff expresses over going into business.
The West: Biff repeatedly expresses a desire to work outside on
a ranch out West rather than to compete in the rat-race of the
business world in New York. In the early days of the nation,
young men were urged to “go West” in search of fortune and
adventure. The West represents this lost American ideal.
Rubber pipe: This small rubber tube that Linda finds in the
cellar which can be connected to the gas pipe indicates Willy’s
thoughts about committing suicide.
A “twenty-thousand-dollar proposition”: Another indication of
Willy’s thoughts about committing suicide, this refers to the
payout from life insurance that the family would receive upon
his death. After Howard fires him, Willy increasingly thinks of
this “proposition” as the solution to his problems.
Cars: Cars have multiple connotations throughout the play.
They are a sign of financial success; Willy speaks of a red
Chevy that he owned in 1928, a time when not every American
family had a car. Cars also evoke happier times as Willy fondly
recalls how Biff used to simonize (wax) the car. In the present
time of the play, cars represent Willy’s deteriorating condition,
as he has had increasing difficulties driving, resulting in
numerous car accidents. Ultimately, cars will be associated with
his final fate.
University of Virginia sneakers: Biff prints “University of
Virginia” on his sneakers. Of the three schools that have offered
him a football scholarship, that is the one that he plans to go to.
After his disastrous trip to Boston to tell Willy that he failed
math and cannot graduate, he burns the sneakers in the furnace,
thus ending his own and Willy’s dream.
Dave Singleman and his green velvet slippers: He is an 84-year-
old salesman that Willy met who became Willy’s ideal of the
salesman:

21. “And old Dave, he’d go up to his room, y’understand, put on his
green velvet slippers—I’ll never
forget—and pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without
ever leaving his room, at the age
of eighty-four, he made a living. . . . what could be more
satisfying than to be able to go, at the
age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and
pick up his phone and be remembered
and loved and helped by so many different people? Do you
know? when he died—and by the way
he died the death of a salesman, in his green velvet slippers in
the smoker of the New York,
New Haven and Hartford, going into Boston—when he died,
hundreds of salesmen and buyers
were at his funeral.”
Notice that this ideal of success depends upon making money
with relative ease, not working terribly hard, and being well
liked. Also note that the title of the play comes from these lines.
Seeds: Seeds become a symbol of laying the groundwork for
something that will yield “fruit,” results, in the future. Towards
the end of the play, Willy repeatedly says, “Nothing’s planted.”
He is referring to not having anything to leave behind for his
family, especially Biff.
Biff’s thefts: a football from school; carton of basketballs from
Bill Oliver; materials from a construction site (which Willy
tells him to take); a suit in Kansas City, for which he is jailed; a
fountain pen from Bill Oliver. These all reflect the sense of
entitlement that Willy instilled in Biff. The play suggests that
these thefts end after the Bill Oliver meeting when Biff realizes,
“Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be?”
Mortgage: Linda makes the last payment on the 25-year
mortgage on the house on the day that Willy dies, “[a]nd

22. there’ll be nobody home.” This suggests the futility of Willy’s
life and dreams.