Module 08 Written Assignment - Use Inference and Extrapolation to Answer Questions about a Text on Literature Smiley, Jane. (2005). In Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature. Retrieved from Credo Reference Database. S. goes straight to Middle America in its geographical, economic, and familial landscape. Nearly all of her novels are set in the Midwest in middle-upper-class rural communities in which she renders more often than not a discontented vision. What is evocative about her work is her love and knowledge of the land and her piercing portraits of the families that inhabit it; what is absent from her work is all traces of race and poverty issues. Nevertheless, she is a writer who with each turn unravels the cataclysmic within the so-called ordinary human life. Her academic background in medieval literature-seen in her epic novel, The Green-landers (1988), of 14th-c. Scandinavian frontiers people, affixes a brutality to her characters’ worlds, depicting personal and everyday adversity-lack of communication, unmet desire, and ambivalence within the family unit-as a force that shapes morality. In Barn Blind (1980), it is a mother's unnerving control over her children that leads to disaster; in The Age of Grief (1987), it is a husband trying to accept his wife's infidelity; in Ordinary Love (1989), it is a mother knowing that she has reshaped her children's lives by following her passion; in At Paradise Gate (1981), it is a woman reassessing the sacrifices she has made as a mother; in A Thousand Acres (1991), it is a family falling apart after the father gives his land to his three daughters. S.'s other work, Duplicate Keys (1984), set in New York, is a suspense story; her novel Moo (1995) is a dark comedy exposing the hypocrisy of academic life. Instructions: In a separate document, answer each of the following questions based on the above provided text. For each question, identify the most correct answer and provide a brief explanation (1-3 sentences) of why it is the most correct. 1. How would you identify Jane Smiley? a. A scholar of medieval literature and author of short stories concerned with uncovering the trials and drama of medieval Scandinavian life. b. An author deeply concerned with the Midwestern family c. Writer concerned with chronicling the underlying tensions and morality of rural, upper-middle-class families of Middle America. d. Writer with a deep love for the geography of the Midwest who uses rural, upper-middle-class characters to explore place. 2. What is the common thread connecting her body of non-period literature? a. Familial dysfunction that manifests itself in physical abuse. b. The shaping of everyday morality through failures in addressing adversity. c. Adversity and hypocrisy as the defining influences of the human experience. d. The cataclysmic effect of the geography of middle America upon the each novels main characters. 3. Which statement most agrees with what is said in the excerpt about Jan ...

1. Module 08 Written Assignment - Use Inference and
Extrapolation to Answer Questions about a Text on Literature
Smiley, Jane. (2005). In Continuum Encyclopedia of American
Literature. Retrieved from Credo Reference Database.
S. goes straight to Middle America in its geographical,
economic, and familial landscape. Nearly all of her novels are
set in the Midwest in middle-upper-class rural communities in
which she renders more often than not a discontented vision.
What is evocative about her work is her love and knowledge of
the land and her piercing portraits of the families that inhabit it;
what is absent from her work is all traces of race and poverty
issues. Nevertheless, she is a writer who with each turn unravels
the cataclysmic within the so-called ordinary human life. Her
academic background in medieval literature-seen in her epic
novel, The Green-landers (1988), of 14th-c. Scandinavian
frontiers people, affixes a brutality to her characters’ worlds,
depicting personal and everyday adversity-lack of
communication, unmet desire, and ambivalence within the
family unit-as a force that shapes morality. In Barn Blind
(1980), it is a mother's unnerving control over her children that
leads to disaster; in The Age of Grief (1987), it is a husband
trying to accept his wife's infidelity; in Ordinary Love (1989), it
is a mother knowing that she has reshaped her children's lives
by following her passion; in At Paradise Gate (1981), it is a
woman reassessing the sacrifices she has made as a mother; in
A Thousand Acres (1991), it is a family falling apart after the
father gives his land to his three daughters. S.'s other work,
Duplicate Keys (1984), set in New York, is a suspense story;
her novel Moo (1995) is a dark comedy exposing the hypocrisy
of academic life.

2. Instructions: In a separate document, answer each of the
following questions based on the above provided text. For each
question, identify the most correct answer and provide a brief
explanation (1-3 sentences) of why it is the most correct.
1. How would you identify Jane Smiley?
a. A scholar of medieval literature and author of short stories
concerned with uncovering the trials and drama of medieval
Scandinavian life.
b. An author deeply concerned with the Midwestern family
c. Writer concerned with chronicling the underlying tensions
and morality of rural, upper-middle-class families of Middle
America.
d. Writer with a deep love for the geography of the Midwest
who uses rural, upper-middle-class characters to explore place.
2. What is the common thread connecting her body of non-
period literature?
a. Familial dysfunction that manifests itself in physical abuse.
b. The shaping of everyday morality through failures in
addressing adversity.
c. Adversity and hypocrisy as the defining influences of the
human experience.
d. The cataclysmic effect of the geography of middle America
upon the each novels main characters.
3. Which statement most agrees with what is said in the excerpt
about Jane Smiley?
a. S., a writer and scholar, has a greater concern with the
internal struggles of people than the external struggles that
might arise from issues of diversity.
b. Though her body of work primarily encompasses the upper-
middle-class of middle America, S.’s greatest works are to be
found in her period novel Green-landers and the novels
Duplicate Keys and Moo.
c. Though a writer by trade, S.’s true passion lies with

3. investigating the relationship of the hero and community within
Medieval Scandinavian Literature.
d. Has made it her life’s work to expose for consideration the
dysfunctions and difficulties inherent in moral thinking within
the modern American family.
4. An academic who studied medieval literature, how is this
reflected in Smiley’s work?
a. This is reflected through the depictions of numerous
manifestations of brutality within the worlds of S.’s characters
that influences how they address challenges.
b. It is best depicted in her representation of Scandinavian
peoples as they manifest throughout her novels.
c. S.’s deep knowledge of the places her characters inhabits is a
direct result of her study of medieval literature, which is deeply
tied to place and geography.
d. The internal distress of relationships resulting in the
disintegration of the family unit is representative of a similar
trend in medieval literature and the failure of frontier
settlements.
5. What does Smiley reveal about the lives of her characters
that is of interest to readers?
a. The effect of place on people’s actions is greater than that of
morality or family.
b. She reveals that too much control on the part of the mother
will lead to disaster for her children.
c. S. shows the moral complexity and peril present in every day
life.
d. Ambivalence an un-met desire held by one or more of the
members of a family will always result in disaster.