CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE COLLEGE OF ENGINEE.docx

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & COMPUTER SCIENCE
Mechanical Engineering Department
ME 101/L: INTRODUCTION TO MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING
Homework # 8
Create an Excel Spreadsheet to calculate the final letter grade
for any number of students based on inputs
such as homework, test, project grades …etc. Your Excel file
should contain the proper formulas and logic
statements so that the final letter grade is automatically updated
by changing any grade for any student.
Use these percentages in your calculations:
H.W. is 30% of final grade
Midterm is 10% of final grade

Project is 20% of final grade
Final exam is 40% of final grade
You do not need to turn in a hardcopy for this exercise. You
should turn in the Excel file using
Moodle.
No Name HW#1 HW#2 HW#3 HW#4 Wt.Avg.
HW
Midterm
Exam
Wt.Avg.
Midterm
Project Wt.Avg.
Project
Final
Exam
Wt.Avg.
Final

Avg.
Grade
Semester
Grade
Max. 25 25 25 25 30 100 10 100 20 100 40 100
John 20 25 18 20 24.9 98 9.8 85 17 97 38.8 90.5 A
David 22 25 19 25 27.3 78 7.8 78 15.6 95 38 88.7 B
Sally 20 20 21 25 25.8 69 6.9 93 18.6 62 24.8 76.1 C
Paul 10 23 19 16 20.4 91 9.1 94 18.8 50 20 68.3 F
Hi Laura,
Thank you for your submission this week.
You've got a good start on this. You analyze the theme of race
and ethnicity in two pieces. Now, I would go back and revise by
adding comparison/contrast of symbol use in each text, of
metaphors and/or similes, of characterization, setting, tone,
etc.--any of the literary elements that you have not yet
discussed fully.
You spend a lot of time summarizing each piece. While it's
important to provide a brief summary, you should devote the
majority of your essay to analyzing the pieces, not summarizing
them.
In terms of organization, I would devote a paragraph to each

literary element. In terms of your conclusion, ask yourself what
you've learned or what new knowledge has been gained by
looking at these two texts, side by side.
In addition, you'll want to add more sources to strengthen your
analysis. You should be looking for outside sources that
comment on the texts you've chosen, or the authors, or some
aspect that you are writing about. Your sources should be used
to support/defend/challenge your opinions about these texts.
Use your sources as though they are participants in a
conversation about these texts. What do they think? What do
you think? Where are the differences and the similarities?
Also, be sure to review my comments within the essay itself. As
always, I'm here to help, so don't hesitate to email me with
questions. Thanks!
Prof. Markussen
(2.2 / 2.5) Comparison/Contrast: Content
Proficient - Sufficiently compares and contrasts the content in
each literary work, while developing strong connections
between the two.
(1.9 / 2.5) Comparison/Contrast: Form
Basic - Compares and contrasts the form of each literary work,
but at a somewhat superficial level. Student creates
connections between the two works, although, such connections
are somewhat limited.
(2.2 / 2.5) Comparison/Contrast: Style

Proficient - Sufficiently compares and contrasts the style in
each literary work, while developing strong connections
between the two.
(0.19 / 0.25) Written Communication: Genre and Disciplinary
Conventions
Basic - Employs some existing conventions for the specific type
of assignment, as well as for the specific type of academic field.
(0.38 / 0.5) Written Communication: Syntax and Mechanics
Basic - Displays basic comprehension of syntax and mechanics,
such as spelling and grammar. Written work contains a few
errors, which may slightly distract the reader.
(0.22 / 0.25) Reading: Analysis
Proficient - Recognizes connections among ideas, text structure,
or other textual features, to analyze how they support a
sophisticated understanding of the text as a whole.
(0.44 / 0.5) APA Formatting
Proficient - Exhibits APA formatting throughout the paper,
however, layout contains a few minor errors.
(0.44 / 0.5) Page Requirement
Proficient - The paper closely meets the page requirements

predetermined in the assignment description.
(0.38 / 0.5) Resource Requirement
Basic - Provides over half of the sources required in the
assignment instructions.
Overall Score: 8.35 / 10
Running Head: Racism in the ‘Welcome Table’ and the
‘Country Lovers’ 1
Racism in the ‘Welcome Table’ and the ‘Country Lovers’
Laura E. Knight
Eng125: Introduction to Literature
Prairie Markussen
November 3rd, 2014
- 1 -
[no notes on this page]
2

Racism refers to the belief that one’s race is superior to another
and that one is
more able than the other. This form of discrimination has been
in existence since the
early days, in most continents. The prevalence in racism was
mostly felt in South Africa
and the United States of America. This is well depicted by the
two authors of the
‘Welcome Table’ and the ‘Country Lovers’ who narrate the
lives of two, strong, black
women of different ages in different continents, and how they
faced a lot of challenges
which were highly associated with racism. These two authors
give an in depth analysis of
the state of racism in South Africa and America and the
perspectives of the situation by
both the blacks and the whites.
‘The Welcome Table’
This is a story written of an old, black woman who staggers
slowly amidst the
freezing cold to attend an all white church. She sits on the front
steps of the church and
faces a lot of prejudice from the other members of the
congregation. This results into

some people from the congregation hurling insults at her and
looking at her with disdain
and contempt written all over their faces.
The clothes she wears make the people in the congregation to
have thoughts of the
black people they live with. The author describes her look
as,”….she wore high shoes,
polished about the tops and toes, a long rusty dress that missed
buttons and adorned with
an old corsage, a remnant of an elegant silk scarf as a head rug
that was stained with
grease stains from the many oily pig stains underneath…..”
(Bloom, 2007). When she
tries to go into the church, the ushers try to stop her. The pastor
also tells her that she is
- 2 -
1
1. Solid thesis statement.
[Prairie Markussen]
3

not part of that church and finally she is pushed out of the
church by the men in the
congregation.
‘The Country Lovers’
This is a story composed to show the racism that was present
during the apartheid
regime. The story talks about the forbidden love between a
black girl (Thebedi) and a
white boy (Paulus). Thebedi was a slave whose father worked in
Paulus’ father farm.
They grew up playing together in the fields, but as years went
by, they developed a closer
relationship. They would meet secretly in the river and soon
they became lovers. Paulus
would buy her gifts and tell her stories of school and she in turn
would make her gifts,
like, bracelets. The author shows racism when he says,
“…..Paulus would tell his friends
that the bracelet was made by the natives….’ (Smith, 2002)This
is because he did not
want their relationship to be known. As time went by, Paulus
went to veterinary school
and left Thebedi pregnant without his knowledge. Thebedi’s

parents went ahead to marry
off Thebedi to a black boy named N’jabulo. After a while,
Paulus returns only to find that
Thebedi was married and that she had given birth to a white
son. He tries to convince her
to get rid of the baby but she refuses. He then goes ahead and
kills the baby and charged
for murder. After a while, he is found not guilty and the case is
closed.
Contrast Analysis
The two stories contrast in that the ‘Country Lovers’ was
composed during the
apartheid regime, in the midst of slavery and oppression. The
author uses present tense to
depict the feelings of the two lovers’ so as to show that the era
in which the people faced
racism was in the present, while the ‘welcome Table’ was
written during the post-civil
- 3 -
1
1. ‘welcome Table’
"The Welcome Table"

[Prairie Markussen]
4
rights era showing the urge of the black people to be accepted
as equal to the white
people due to the presence of the civil rights movement.
“….they gazed nakedly upon
their own fears transferred, a fear of the black and old, a terror
of the unknown as well as
of the deeply known…”
The story in the ‘Welcome Table’ is conflict driven. This is
shown when the
members of the congregation hurled insults at the old woman
and even pushed her out of
the church premises. This is illustrated by the author when he
states that, “…some of
those who saw her there on the church steps spoke words about
her that were hardly fit to
be hard, others held their pious piece’ and some felt vague
strings of pity…” (Bloom,
2008). This is in contrast with the story in the ‘Country Lovers’
which was based on

forbidden love between Thebedi and Paulus. This is best
described when the author
describes how they would secretly meet in the river and when
they would secretly give
each other presents. The fact that Thebedi hid her child also
shows that their love was not
prohibited.
The style of the authors also differed in that the author in
‘Country Lovers’
mainly used simile and minor details to define the sub-themes.
This is illustrated when
the author says, “…Already at birth, there was on its head a
quantity of straight, fine
floss, like that which carries the seeds of certain weeds in the
veld…” (Topping Bazin,
1990) The weeds refer to substances that are of not of use and
should be gotten rid off.
This serves as a foreshadow of the events to come, in that, in
the near future, Paulus
would get rid of his son as he did not want to be associated with
a child born of a black
woman. This is different from the author’s use of symbolism in
the ‘Welcome Table’.
This is well depicted by the words, “…freezing, cold weather...”

to show the presence of
- 4 -
1
2
1. You need to clarify where
the simile is in this sentence.
[Prairie Markussen]
2. (Topping Bazin,
You say that the author,
Gordimer, says these words,
so why is Topping Bazin
listed here? [Prairie
Markussen]
5
inactivity and the hopelessness of the blacks during the
oppressive state of racism. Also
the use of the blue sky shows the peace that the old woman felt
when she met Jesus.

The author of ‘Welcome Table’ writes the story in a
straightforward and simple
manner which makes it easy for anyone to understand the story.
The story takes place in
one day except for the place that states, “…her body was
found….the next day…” Names
in the story are not revealed so as to offer the reader a feel of
timelessness as in “…the
old lady...” to refer to any black woman. The author of ‘Country
Lovers’ uses setting as a
technique throughout the whole story. Details are given on the
story and names are
revealed so as to allow the reader to form a connection with the
characters in the story
and to form an aspect of personalization.
Comparative Analysis
The stories in ‘Welcome Table’ and ‘Country Lovers’ have
similar aspects in
their writing. This is because both stories talk about the state of
racism, slavery and the
struggle to free the black people from their state of oppression
and allow them to have
equal rights to the white people. This is shown in ‘Country
Lovers’ when the author

states that Paulus would always tell stories about school to
Thebedi. This illustrates that
the white children got privileges like getting education while
the black children never got
the chance to study or attain higher degrees of education. The
author in ‘Walking Table’
shows how the people in the church reacted when they saw the
old woman in church.
Some of them started thinking of maids, mistresses and
prostitutes and looked at her with
contempt.
- 5 -
6
Both authors used strong characterization to illustrate the events
in their stories.
This is brought about by the description of the individuals
present, what they were doing
and saying at the time, and what others were saying about them.
“…auntie you know this

is not your church?” this statement shows that the old woman
belonged to a lower social
class than those who were at the church. Also, the description of
her dressing clearly
stated the condition in which she was living with. When the
author states that Thebedi
refused to get rid of her child, this shows that she was a strong-
willed woman and pressed
on regardless of the state in which she was in.
Both stories were told in the third person point of view. This
allows the readers to
have in-depth knowledge of the feelings of the characters in
each part of the stories. It
also shows how both stories depict the women as submissive
natures of protagonists. This
is shown when Thebedi agrees to be seeing Paulus in the river
instead of demanding to
see him in the open, for everyone to see. Both stories end
tragically, in death, in that the
old woman was found dead the next day and Thebedi’s baby was
killed by his father.
Conclusion
Analysis of these stories show the struggles that the women and
the people at

large that belonged to the black community struggled with the
oppressive state of slavery,
interracial intolerance and the urge of freeing themselves from
such a state. Therefore, it
is important to state that these stories create a relevant effect to
literature and allow
readers to understand the state in which the people faced
oppression in the pre-colonial
era.
- 6 -
1
1. church?”
Any quote taken from our
textbook should be in this
format: (Author, Year,
"Section Title," para. #)
Insert Clugston where the
author should be, and 2014
where the year should be.
The section title and

paragraph number will
depend what you're
referencing and where it is in
the textbook. Be sure to
include the commas, the
quotation marks, and the
period as it appears above.
[Prairie Markussen]
7
References
Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into Literature. San Diego,
California: Bridgepoint
Education, Inc.
- 7 -
1
1. References
You should have six sources,

along with Clugston, to
support your analysis.
For help searching for
articles, select the “Library”
tab on the left side of your
online classroom. Next, go to
Tutorials >> Using the
Ashford Library >> Searching
for Articles. This video
demonstrates how to search
for articles in the Ashford
Library databases. [Prairie
Markussen]
8
Bloom, H. (2007). Alice Walker. New York: Bloom's Literary
Criticism
Smith, P. (2002). Thematic guide to popular short stories.

Westport, Conn.: Greenwood
Press.
Bloom, H. (2008). The Color Purple. New York: Infobase Pub.
Topping Bazin, N. (1990). Conversationwith Nadine Gordimer.
London: University
Press of Mississippi.
- 8 -
Running Head: Racism in the ‘Welcome Table’ and the
‘Country Lovers’ 1
2
Laura E. Knight
Eng125: Introduction to Literature
Prairie Markussen
November 3rd, 2014
Racism refers to the belief that one’s race is superior to another
and that one is more able than the other. This form of
discrimination has been in existence since the early days, in
most continents. The prevalence in racism was mostly felt in
South Africa and the United States of America. This is well
depicted by the two authors of the ‘Welcome Table’ and the
‘Country Lovers’ who narrate the lives of two, strong, black
women of different ages in different continents, and how they
faced a lot of challenges which were highly associated with
racism. These two authors give an in depth analysis of the state

of racism in South Africa and America and the perspectives of
the situation by both the blacks and the whites.
‘The Welcome Table’
This is a story written of an old, black woman who staggers
slowly amidst the freezing cold to attend an all white church.
She sits on the front steps of the church and faces a lot of
prejudice from the other members of the congregation. This
results into some people from the congregation hurling insults
at her and looking at her with disdain and contempt written all
over their faces.
The clothes she wears make the people in the congregation to
have thoughts of the black people they live with. The author
describes her look as,”….she wore high shoes, polished about
the tops and toes, a long rusty dress that missed buttons and
adorned with an old corsage, a remnant of an elegant silk scarf
as a head rug that was stained with grease stains from the many
oily pig stains underneath…..” (Bloom, 2007). When she tries
to go into the church, the ushers try to stop her. The pastor also
tells her that she is not part of that church and finally she is
pushed out of the church by the men in the congregation.
‘The Country Lovers’
This is a story composed to show the racism that was present
during the apartheid regime. The story talks about the forbidden
love between a black girl (Thebedi) and a white boy (Paulus).
Thebedi was a slave whose father worked in Paulus’ father
farm. They grew up playing together in the fields, but as years
went by, they developed a closer relationship. They would meet
secretly in the river and soon they became lovers. Paulus would
buy her gifts and tell her stories of school and she in turn would
make her gifts, like, bracelets. The author shows racism when
he says, “…..Paulus would tell his friends that the bracelet was
made by the natives….’ (Smith, 2002)This is because he did
not want their relationship to be known. As time went by,
Paulus went to veterinary school and left Thebedi pregnant

without his knowledge. Thebedi’s parents went ahead to marry
off Thebedi to a black boy named N’jabulo. After a while,
Paulus returns only to find that Thebedi was married and that
she had given birth to a white son. He tries to convince her to
get rid of the baby but she refuses. He then goes ahead and kills
the baby and charged for murder. After a while, he is found not
guilty and the case is closed.
Contrast Analysis
The two stories contrast in that the ‘Country Lovers’ was
composed during the apartheid regime, in the midst of slavery
and oppression. The author uses present tense to depict the
feelings of the two lovers’ so as to show that the era in which
the people faced racism was in the present, while the ‘welcome
Table’ was written during the post-civil rights era showing the
urge of the black people to be accepted as equal to the white
people due to the presence of the civil rights movement.
“….they gazed nakedly upon their own fears transferred, a fear
of the black and old, a terror of the unknown as well as of the
deeply known…”
The story in the ‘Welcome Table’ is conflict driven. This is
shown when the members of the congregation hurled insults at
the old woman and even pushed her out of the church premises.
This is illustrated by the author when he states that, “…some of
those who saw her there on the church steps spoke words about
her that were hardly fit to be hard, others held their pious piece’
and some felt vague strings of pity…” (Bloom, 2008). This is in
contrast with the story in the ‘Country Lovers’ which was based
on forbidden love between Thebedi and Paulus. This is best
described when the author describes how they would secretly
meet in the river and when they would secretly give each other
presents. The fact that Thebedi hid her child also shows that
their love was not prohibited.

The style of the authors also differed in that the author in
‘Country Lovers’ mainly used simile and minor details to define
the sub-themes. This is illustrated when the author says,
“…Already at birth, there was on its head a quantity of straight,
fine floss, like that which carries the seeds of certain weeds in
the veld…” (Topping Bazin, 1990) The weeds refer to
substances that are of not of use and should be gotten rid off.
This serves as a foreshadow of the events to come, in that, in
the near future, Paulus would get rid of his son as he did not
want to be associated with a child born of a black woman. This
is different from the author’s use of symbolism in the ‘Welcome
Table’. This is well depicted by the words, “…freezing, cold
weather...” to show the presence of inactivity and the
hopelessness of the blacks during the oppressive state of racism.
Also the use of the blue sky shows the peace that the old woman
felt when she met Jesus.
The author of ‘Welcome Table’ writes the story in a
straightforward and simple manner which makes it easy for
anyone to understand the story. The story takes place in one day
except for the place that states, “…her body was found….the
next day…” Names in the story are not revealed so as to offer
the reader a feel of timelessness as in “…the old lady...” to
refer to any black woman. The author of ‘Country Lovers’ uses
setting as a technique throughout the whole story. Details are
given on the story and names are revealed so as to allow the
reader to form a connection with the characters in the story and
to form an aspect of personalization.
Comparative Analysis
The stories in ‘Welcome Table’ and ‘Country Lovers’ have
similar aspects in their writing. This is because both stories talk
about the state of racism, slavery and the struggle to free the
black people from their state of oppression and allow them to
have equal rights to the white people. This is shown in ‘Country

Lovers’ when the author states that Paulus would always tell
stories about school to Thebedi. This illustrates that the white
children got privileges like getting education while the black
children never got the chance to study or attain higher degrees
of education. The author in ‘Walking Table’ shows how the
people in the church reacted when they saw the old woman in
church. Some of them started thinking of maids, mistresses and
prostitutes and looked at her with contempt.
Both authors used strong characterization to illustrate the events
in their stories. This is brought about by the description of the
individuals present, what they were doing and saying at the
time, and what others were saying about them. “…auntie you
know this is not your church?” this statement shows that the old
woman belonged to a lower social class than those who were at
the church. Also, the description of her dressing clearly stated
the condition in which she was living with. When the author
states that Thebedi refused to get rid of her child, this shows
that she was a strong-willed woman and pressed on regardless
of the state in which she was in.
Both stories were told in the third person point of view. This
allows the readers to have in-depth knowledge of the feelings of
the characters in each part of the stories. It also shows how both
stories depict the women as submissive natures of protagonists.
This is shown when Thebedi agrees to be seeing Paulus in the
river instead of demanding to see him in the open, for everyone
to see. Both stories end tragically, in death, in that the old
woman was found dead the next day and Thebedi’s baby was
killed by his father.
Conclusion
Analysis of these stories show the struggles that the women and
the people at large that belonged to the black community
struggled with the oppressive state of slavery, interracial

intolerance and the urge of freeing themselves from such a
state. Therefore, it is important to state that these stories create
a relevant effect to literature and allow readers to understand
the state in which the people faced oppression in the pre-
colonial era.
References
(Clugston R W 2010 Journey into Literature)Clugston, R. W.
(2010). Journey into Literature. San Diego, California:
Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Bloom, H. (2007). Alice Walker. New York: Bloom's Literary
Criticism
Smith, P. (2002). Thematic guide to popular short stories.
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
Bloom, H. (2008). The Color Purple. New York: Infobase Pub.
Topping Bazin, N. (1990). Conversationwith Nadine Gordimer.
London: University Press of Mississippi.

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