Art 222 Midterm One

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MIDTERM ONE

Answer one question from each of the following three sections. Your typed, double-spaced and stapled essays are due in class on Monday, February 26th. In preparing your answers, feel free to discuss these questions with other members of the class or anyone else. However, the work you turn in should be completely your own. You can acknowledge class texts in brief references "As Silverberg points out..."). Any other texts you use should be fully cited in a WORKS CONSULTED page. Although I will not engage in discussion of these questions, please feel free to ask if there are questions or problems. No penalty for asking.

Part I

Answer ONE of the following questions, in a longer essay (3-4 pages of meaningful discussion).

1. Ishmael refers specifically to the Hopewell, more broadly to early peoples of North America and quite generally about two overarching categories of people who are either Leavers or Takers. According to what we learned about Moundbuilders from Silverberg and the PBS video, is Ishmael's interpretation and labelling of them correct? Note references in Section 6.6 (p. 109) and in 8.10 (p. 147), 12.9 (p. 244)
2. What "myths" (or explanatory narratives) do we currently tell about moundbuilders and other early peoples? Consider Daniel Quinn's Ishmael as an example of one of our myths and Silverberg's final chapters as another. Include our other contemporary beliefs if you are able.
3. Ishmael explains certain Biblical stories at great length. How might he fit other stories we have considered into the Taker-Leaver paradigm? Consider the story of Enkidu, of Gilgamesh, of Christ, of the Moundbuilders, or of the Mayans.
4. Our guest speaker Dr. Challener claimed that the Mayans were "living in the cycle of time." Did you find their obsession with time unusual? What factors do you think caused early peoples to develop a noticeable conception of time and their place in the universe? What do our Modern Labors of the Month tell us about our own life "in the cycle of time"?

Part II.

Choose one of the following artistic monuments and discuss what it tells us about that society's relationship to nature? What defined these works and places as sacred? Your answer should be a solid paragraph, no more than a page in length.

1. Lascaux caves
2. Woman of Willendorf
3. Stonehenge
4. Newgrange
5. Chatal Huyuk: Painting of Volcano
6. Ur (or Uruk), Ziggurat
7. Serpent Mound
8. Cahokia
9. El Castillo at Chichen Itza

Part III.

Discuss one passage (paragraph, poem) of a literary text that we have read in class. What insights might these give us about relationships between the society that produced it and nature. Consider that even short passages can often yield a great deal upon analysis. The following are a few possible examples.

"Archeology is the white man's invention."
"The harlot opened her mouth, saying to Enkidu: Eat the bread Enkidu, essential to life, drink the ale, the lot of the land."
"The flower in my heart blossoms and spreads abroad in the middle of the night."
"Cursed is the earth in thy work; with labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the day of thy life."
"Agriculture doesn't have to be a war waged on all life that doesn't support your growth."

http://merlin.alleg.edu/employee/a/acarr/art222/midterm1.html
Posted February 16, 2001