exam questions Please mark "yes" for question that you want to keep in the question pool.1. Do utopic societies exist?yesno2. Can a utopia ever have a population of more than one person? What is the line between dystopia and utopia?yesno3. How are our authors shaped by their environments and how do they shape the world around them?yesno4. Using three of our authors/characters explore and examine Abigail Adams’ questions, “How shall we be governed so as to retain our liberties? Can any government be free which is not administered by general stated laws?”yesno5. What is the relationship between the individual and the state in modern democracies? To what extent is that relationship mediated by one’s race, social class, and/or gender?yesno6. Family – one’s nuclear and/or extended family, one’s communal family, one’s national family etc.—is an important theme in many of the texts that we have read. Compare and contrast how two authors define “family” and analyze how and why they evoke it to make bigger points about society, race, gender, politics, history (choose only one or two of these). Why does family matter?yesno7. Consider the role played by cultures marked as foreign to America (including that of Native Americans). How do their experiences and histories inside and outside the borders of the United States affect what it means to be an American?yesno8. Historically, what challenges has the United States faced in becoming a diverse nation? Using three of our readings, examine those challenges and propose some possible solutions.yesno9. Standards of beauty are one way to examine what it means to be an American, how have our authors grappled with these “ideals” that for many are unattainable?yesno10. Is America more a geographic location or an idea?yesno11. Will the possibilities of America ever sync to the realities of America?yesno12. Who determines what an American is? (Note this is not asking WHO an American is.)yesno13. Many of our authors have discussed progress and the natural world. As environmentalism is one of the most pressing concerns of our time, evaluate what our authors have said about the subject, do any of them get it right?yesno14. Our works are written by and discuss people of several different genders. Explore some of the ways people of various genders are expected to act and how societal rules govern people differently depending on their gender.yesno15. What is the role of space in determining who a person becomes? You can examine the person’s space based on geography, time period, culture, etc.yesno16. What is the role of ownership in society? How does the ability to own land, objects, or even people affect other’s views of you and your view of yourself?yesno17. “All men are created equal.” Is this true?yesno18. Many of our authors experience racism. What are three different ways in which racism harms the individual and/or the community?yesno19. How does our history (of the nation, our community, our family) combine to create the person that we become?yesno20. Our authors communicate their ideas to us through various means – poetry, essay, fiction, speech, etc. – compare and contrast different forms of communication. Are certain forms better at communicating particular ideas than others?yesnoName First Last
