Midterm

University of Puerto Rico

English Department

INGL 3104

Prof. Carmen Milagros Torres

Test: The Firefly Letters (100 points)

Instructions: Answer each question in paragraph or essay form.  If the test is answered in HANDWRITTEN form, you must use LOOSE LEAF PAPER and leave a line IN BLANK.  It must be answered in INK that is BLUE or BLACK.  Tests answered in PENCIL will receive a ZER (0).  If using a word processing program answer using a font like ARIAL or TIMES NEW ROMAN 12 pt and DOUBLE SPACE your answers.

1.      Beni is presented as a minor character in the story.  Most of this participation is of reference because he is Cecilia’s husband.  As mentioned on page 35 “If I had been free/ to choose my own wife,/ I would have married the girl/ I loved so long ago/ before I was captured/ by men with guns”

Your assignment is to write Beni’s story before he was captured and made a slave.  You can tell his story through verse (by writing  a series of poems similar to the is presented in the book) or narrate it.  The story must be at least one page long and must present at least one scene of his life in Africa, just before being captured.  Include other characters like the girl he had planned to marry. (20)

2.      Cecilia also had life before being captured and brought to Cuba.  She was betrayed by her father who sold her to the slave traders.  She yearns to be with her mother and this is a trauma is carries all her life.  Go back with Cecilia and tell the story of her life with her mother.  Write a scene presenting the relationship Cecilia and her mother had.  What name did Cecilia have?  What activities did she do with her mother?  How did she feel living in the Congo?  Tell her story through poetry or narrate it.  The scene must be at least one page long. (20 points)

3.      Write the scene where Elena makes the decision of selling all her dowry to help Cecilia.  Why does Elena make the decision?  How does she contact Frederika without her mother’s noticing this?  How does Frederika react?  How is Frederika convinced?  Are they two alone or is there someone else present when this scene takes place?  Present this scene. (20 points)

4.      After the last page of the story is read, the story still continues on, for we as readers only get a glimpse of the whole story.  In a short essay, tell us what happens to all these characters after the last page of the story is read.  Justify what you speculate citing from the novel as evidence as well as the readings assigned previously (articles). (25 points)

5.      Write a short letter to the author expressing why you liked or didn’t like the novel.  Mention what was for you the most memorable scene.  State also if you consider that writing the novel in verse made it easier or more challenging for you as a reader.

Also include what you would have done differently, if you had written the novel.  Explain why. (15 points)

THE TEST WILL BE HANDED-IN ON THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2011  DURING THE CLASS PERIOD.  LATE WORK WILL LOSE 15 POINTS.