University of California, Davis

ENL 160

English 160, Spring 2013

Quiz 1

1)Consider the episode of Deadwood that we saw in class in relation to the typical or “classic” Hollywood Western (of the 1930s through the 1960s). Which “classic” Western genre traits does Deadwood appear most to follow and which ones does it most break away from?

2. Jane Tompkins in her book West of Everything discusses “the language of men” in Westerns. Briefly describe the traits of this language, and then cite examples from two films and/or sequences seen in class that illustrate—or undercut—her claims.

3. In West of Everything, Tompkins argues that “Westerns pay practically no attention to women’s experience.” This may also be true for Thomas Berger’s novel Little Big Man. Your challenge for this question is to identify two women characters in the novel, and then to pair them with two women characters—or stereotypes—that we have seen on film that you would say each most closely resembles. (It’s OK if you don’t remember the film characters’ names; just describe them.)

4. Consider the African American character “Lavender” in Little Big Man. As best you can recall it, outline his life history and suggest any ways that his life parallels that of the novel’s main character, Jack Crabb.

5. Hine and Faragher’s Frontiers outlines a number of nineteenth-century historical events or processes that are given fictional representations in Little Big Man. Choose one from among the following of their subjects and briefly describe in which ways the true history seems to be accurately represented in the novel and in which ways, if any, it seems to be altered: The “mining frontier”; the building of the transcontinental railroad; the Indian wars; buffalo hunting; the Mormon migration.