Things are winding down...

..So here are a few end of semester tips.

Remember, the final exam is scheduled for Tues. Dec. 12 10:45-1:15. To help you to really focus on developing your readings (and thus your final exam essays) in detail, I have decided that the final will cover only the three novels since the midterm: Dessa Rose, Middle Passage, and Beloved. The exam question will ask you to include each of these books in your answer. However, your answer should also demonstrate an awareness of the "big ideas" in our course going back to the beginning.

Next week's blog post/comments will be our last blog assignment for the semester. The deadlines and expectations are the same as always. While your final post can address the end of Morrison's Beloved, you can also use those last posts to wrap up some of the ideas in the course and to brainstorm about the final exam. As always, it may be helpful to think in terms of themes that have connected the texts--what might some of those be? I would also think in terms of each author's style--what is unique about each book, stylistically speaking? Remember that you don't want to merely describe what happens in each book. Instead, you want to ask yourself what each writer is "doing" in his/her novel? What message is he/she trying to communicate through his/her unique choices with respect to language, character, plot, setting, etc.?