For the Final Exam

The Original song "Stand By Me" with the lyrics.

I've decided to forgo multiple choice questions, and instead give you a choice of 4 essay questions to answer on the Final.  Some of you have been producing the kind of things I'm looking for in your Reading Journal, but for the exam you should be prepared to refocus your impressions into a conventionally styled essay that presents a thesis with supporting examples.

Do Not Wear This Hat

While I won't tell you what those essay prompts will be, I will give you clues and provide some study materials.  I'm happy with the discussions we had in class, and I think the timing fit nicely with watching the film afterward.  Now, as your last challenge of the year, I'd like you to take that a step further for the exam.  If you want to practice getting your thoughts in order, why not write a practice essay, guessing what I might ask you?

First of all, I don't think it will benefit you to re-read the entire novella or to watch the movie again.  But it might help you to watch "Walking The Tracks" on YouTube.

• Launching forward from this, here is an excellent university-level academic essay, which covers many of the themes we talked about in class.  As you can see at the end of the paper, the writer provides her research sources, some of which I turned up:
• A discussion of how the book became a film here. 
• A good analysis here of the themes in the story.  Scroll down to page 64.

Here are some quotes that capture the essence of the book:

Page 293: “The most important things are the hardest things to say.”

Page 310: “This business about being ignored: I could never really pin it down until I did a book report in high school on this novel called The Invisible Man.”

Page 327:  "But it was the first time I had ever really used the place I knew and the things I felt in piece of fiction, and there was a kind of dreadful exhilaration in seeing things that had troubled me for years come out in a new form, a form over which I had imposed control.”

Page 341: “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve.  Jesus, does anyone?” 
Page 381: “But kids lose everything unless somebody looks out for them and if your folks are too screwed up to do it then maybe I ought to.”
Page 393: “It was on the tip of my tongue to tell them about the deer, but I ended up not doing it.  That was the one thing I kept to myself… But for me it was the best part of that trip.  The cleanest part.” 

Page 401: “Maybe Chris and Teddy and Vern would even be alive today. “

Page 402: “There’s a high ritual to all fundamental events, the rites of passage, the magic corridor where the change happens.” 
Page 408: “The kid was can’t, don’t, won’t, never, shouldn’t, wouldn’t, couldn’t. He was the side of the battery where the terminal say NEG.” 

Page 425: "I'm never gonna get out of this town." 

Page 435: "Me? I'm a writer now.  Like I said."

Good luck! Don't over-study, but do be prepared to organize your thoughts ahead of time.  You will be allowed to bring the book with you during the exam.  :  )

As a bonus, a nice tribute video I found on YouTube. 

There are many if you look with all the songs from the film and book.  

Even the whole movie is on there if you want to watch it again.  Enjoy.