Sample Paper One: Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

White Guys and Asian Girls in Amy Tans Joy Luck Club
Every first generation American strives to be accepted into the mainstream culture that
surrounds them. When I was younger, I would eat only McDonalds, never Indian food; speak
only English, never Marathi; and wear only American clothes, never Indian. When the daughters
of Amy Tans The J oy Luck Club begin relationships with American men despite their mothers
displeasure, they are doing the adult equivalent of refusing to eat homemade palak paneer. All of
the daughters husbands are well-educated, upper class white men, and they therefore have a
societal socioeconomic advantage which their Asian wives do not. This, combined with the
already precarious and unhealthy foundations of these relationships, creates a covert oppression
of these women which causes them to realize that their heedless defiance ultimately hurts
themselves more than their mothers.
Rich appeals to the part of Waverly that is American with his unequivocal love, his
embarrassing romantic gestures (175), and his kindness, his sense of humor, and his boyish
charm (179). He takes Shoshanna on trips (167) and buys Waverly mink jackets a jacket that
Waverlys mother points out is of inferior quality (169), but as is said in America, its the
thought that counts. Waverly insists it is her mother that would sully her relationship with Rich,
as she supposedly did with Marvin, but in reality it is Waverly herself who sees these flaws,
though she does not want to, because criticizing is supposed to be her mothers job (174). These
criticisms that Waverly anticipates from her mother are more than paranoia, they are expressions
of Waverlys Chinese side, a side of Waverly that Rich does not know about, let alone
understand. This determination to have a successful relationship with a Caucasian man allows
her to ignore the fact that Rich is actually quite rude and does not even try to respect Waverlys
culture, as demonstrated when the couple had dinner with Waverlys family (178), when Rich
joked about eating cats and dogs in China (184), and when he insulted his mother-in-laws
English (179).
The overt dominance Ted possesses over Rose before his malpractice suit (and
inconspicuously afterward) was due to Roses own desire to be rescued (119), as well her
desire to be with a white man (117). After Teds feelings about decision and responsibility
changed after losing his malpractice suit, he began to get irritated at Rose about her inability to
make decisions, instead of understanding how difficult this new responsibility was for her (119).
Ted thought Rose could not make decisions because she was apathetic and stupid (120), and part
of this false notion can be attributed to Teds distraught emotional state, his personality, and the
fact that Rose simply was not used to decision making, but cultural misunderstanding is at the
root of the problem. Roses mother says that she herself was taught the Chinese way:to desire
nothing, to swallow other peoples misery, to eat [her] own bitterness and that though she
taught Rose the opposite (the American way), she still came out the same (215), with the
same Chinese humility as Rose calls it (156). Rose comes from a culture where women,
traditionally, never make important decisions, and though she was raised in America, Rose, like
a traditional Chinese woman, has never made important decisions herself. All her life, decisions
were made on her behalf by first her parents then later by Ted. In American culture, the ability to
make choices is a freedom, a privilege, a hallmark of being an adult, which is the way Ted sees
it. Rose, due to her Chinese heritage, views decision making as a burden and a grave
responsibility, so it is difficult for her to make quick decisions even about things even as
seemingly trivial as vacations (120). Ted does not realize that he and Rose differ completely in
their cultural perspectives, so he gets frustrated with her and leaves, instead of trying to
understand.
The irony in Harold and Lenas obsessive quest for equality is that it actually intensifies
the incommensurateness between them. Harold makes about seven times more than what [Lena]
makes and he actually, physically pays her salary (159). Harold is a partner at the firm that they
created together, while Lena remains an associate (155). The two keep tabs of individual
expenses compulsively, which is justified on Harolds part by saying their system eliminate[s]
false dependencies[makes them] equals[enables them to] love without obligation (162).
But Lena knows she should be an associate and she knows their monetary documentation is
neurotic and she knows that she should be getting paid just as much as Harold because [she and
Harold are] equals. She fell in love with him because she thought she was awfully lucky to be
with him he was her undeserved good fortune (156). This perpetual insecurity was largely
cultural. Growing up, Lena envied her American neighbors easy relationship with her mother
(115), used to push [her] eyes in on the sides to make them rounder presumably to make
herself look American (104), and was embarrassed by her mothers Chinese habits in public
(106). However, in her adulthood, Lena realizes that she was wrong to be insecure [she]
deserve[s] to be with someone like Harold, though perhaps Harold does not deserve to be with
someone like Lena (156).
The cultural differences between couples in The J oy Luck Club invariably create strain
and tension in their relationships, which make all the Chinese women in them profoundly
unhappy. These failed relationships present a clear pattern in which Tan questions the viability of
interracial, or more specifically intercultural, couples. The daughters all catapulted themselves
into unhealthy relationships because of their enduring, ever-present cultural insecurities to
them the American men symbolized an end to their inner cultural turmoil, a lifting of the burden
they had borne their whole lives. Having American husbands gave the daughters what they
thought would be permanent cultural gratification an ultimate acceptance into American society
and a definitive departure from their Chinese one. Yet as these women find out the hard way,
their Chinese culture will continue to influence them even if they do not want it to, even if they
do not know it is affecting them. If they ignore their culture, if they ignore their sense of
injustice, as Waverly does with Rich, perhaps they can find false happiness. However when the
cultural disconnect and the injustice is as egregious as it is with Lena and Rose, the daughters
realize that they must embrace their Chinese culture, and that they deserve better.

Sample Paper 2: The Odyssey by Homer
Temptation in The Odyssey
There is probably no non-vegetarian person on Earth that can resist the temptation of
nice, juicy steak after being stranded on an island for a month with nothing to eat but fish and
birds. This is the exact situation that Odysseus men find themselves in as they wait out a storm
on the island of Helios, slowly starving to death on his order to ignore the cattle that are so
bountiful on the island. Little wonder they decided to ignore his order in the end, gorging on
Helios best cattle, enjoying that fat, juicy steak that they so craved.
However, that delicious meal on the island of the sun god came with dire consequences.
Helios, angry at the murder of his precious cattle, commands Zeus to punish Odysseus men
(12.484), to which he agrees, [making] splinters of their ship in the winedark sea (12. 497). In
the end, the foolish men were flung into the sea...bobbing...like petrels on the waves (12.530-
2) and only Odysseus, who ignored the doomed cattle, was spared.
Temptations like this are scattered throughout Homers Odyssey, barriers that Odysseus
must overcome in order to reach his homeland. Odysseus is constantly tested by one thing or
another from the time he leaves Troy to when he arrives back in Ithaka. These temptations
always come with a set of dire and nasty consequences that would prevent him from seeing his
precious homeland ever again. It is Odysseus self-control, his ability to resist those things that
have ensnared other men that saves him time and again from doom and destruction, and allows
him arrive back in Ithaka after twenty bitter years.
One would think it is unwise to taunt and bait a recently blinded and enraged thirty foot,
man eating son of the gods, but apparently not Odysseus. Tempted by his pride, he baits the
blinded Polyphemus:
O Cyclops! Would you feast on my companions?
Puny, am I, in a Cavemans hands?
How do you like the beating that we gave you,
you damned cannibal? Eater of guests
under your roof! Zeus and the gods have paid you! (9.519-23).
Polyphemus, in reply, nearly capsizes their boat with half of a hilltop. At this point, any
reasonable person would have fled, before the Cyclops had a chance to kill them with a well-
aimed boulder. Odysseus crew beseeches him Godsake, Captain! Why bait the beast
again...That tidal wave he made on the first throw all but beached us (9.537-40). But Odysseus,
prideful at his victory over the big bad giant, cannot help but boast Cyclops, if any mortal man
inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took you eye:
Laertes son, whos homes on Ithaca! (9.548-52). Big mistake. Polyphemus wastes no time
praying to his father to squash the miserable scoundrel who humiliated and blinded him. Grant
that Odysseus, raider of cities, never see his home...Let him lose all companions, and return...to
bitter days (9.578-84). It is Odysseus moment of folly that results in his bitter and tortuous
voyage; had he sucked in his pride and never revealed his name, he would have spared himself
years of trials and hardship. Later in his journeys he wisens up, learning to resist the temptations
barring his way back home
Perhaps the most eye-pleasing of all the obstacles in has path home is the seductress
Calypso, a lovely nymph...goddess most divinely made (5.90, 122), who not only saved
[Odysseus] (5.136), but fed him, loved him, sang that he should not die, nor grow old, ever, in
all the days to come (5.142-3). She lives in a beautiful hall, where Even a god who found this
place would gaze, and feel his heart beat with delight (5.79-80). Indeed, her entire island seems
designed to trap him in her clutches, to never let him leave. Everywhere there is beauty, delight,
and perfection. Outside this paradise, there is adversity...at sea (5.216), so much that had he
known, [Odysseus] would stay here, and guard this house, and be immortal (5.5.217-8). Quite
the tempting deal Calypso offers him, and many men would gladly accept. Still, Odysseus
resists. He could stay with her, of course, and be safe from the cruel and hard outside world, but
he would also lose his precious Penelope, and never see his homeland again.
Once home, he faces a final set of temptations, this time in the form of the suitors. They
are a motley lot, eating his food and ruining his household. On occasion, they bait and taunt him,
going so far as to [Let a stool fly] that hit the mans right shoulder (17.605). Odysseus has
even seen with his own eyes a covey of women laughing as they slipped out, arm in arm, as
many a night before, to the suitors beds (20.8-10), as anger took him like a wave to leap into
their midst and kill them, every one (20.11-12). On each occasion, he manages to calm down
containing thoughts of bloody work (17. 608-9) until His rage held hard in leash, submitted to
his mind (20.23-4). In fact, in these instances, self-control is absolutely imperative. Odysseus
could have easily chosen to stand and reveal himself, to smash Antinoos to bloody bits with his
fists. But he could not let slip his true identity lest months of careful plans for bloody retribution
come to waste in his moment of rage. The suitors would have taken his wife then, and burned his
house with him inside.
Temptation is an ever-present obstacle in the Odyssey, one that Odysseus must transcend
in order to get back to his home in Ithaka and exact revenge upon the suitors. Only by remaining
in perfect self-control can he avoid the disastrous consequences of giving in, learning of the dire
results first hand outside Polyphemos cave. His ultimate test lay at home, with the suitors
driving him into a rage with their very presence. His iron will and rigid self-control were the only
things that kept him hidden and concealed, the only things that made his bloody revenge
possible. This Odyssean ability to constantly resist the pull of temptation in favor of rational
thought was an essential and highly valued characteristic in Ancient Greek culture. The ability to
restrain ones impulses is key, after all, in a culture where ignoring ones foolish impulses in
favor of logical actions was a virtue of the highest order.


Sample Paper 3: The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Power and Colonialism in Shakespeares The Tempest
Power, Lisa Dupit contends in her book Other Peoples Children, consists of five aspects,
the fifth of which states that those with power are frequently least aware of or least willing to
acknowledge its existence and that those with less power are often more aware of its
existence. Four hundred years ago, Shakespeare reached the same conclusionsperhaps not
consciously, but his recognition of these natural human instincts is evident in Prospero. At the
beginning of The Tempest, Prospero recounts the family history to Miranda, describing how he
was once a prince of power (I.ii.55). But without acknowledging the value of this power,
Prospero chose to study his books and ceded power to his brother, and ultimate usurper, Antonio.
Now stranded on an island lacking all influence in the world from which he came, Prospero is
fully aware of the power that he let slip from his hands and desperately wants this power back.
Dupit later expands on her power analysis, explaining that when acknowledging and
expressing power, one tends towards explicitness, while when deemphasizing power, there is a
move towards indirect communication. Although Prospero has influence on the island, the fact
that he explicitly denounces Ariel and gives his servant orders, commanding, Go! Hence with
diligence! (I.ii.305) and Come, thou tortoise, indicates that he still finds himself lacking
control (I.ii.316). Through Prosperos outright demands for power, Shakespeare sets up a plot in
which Prospero seeks influence through any means and lays the foundation for an ultimate
realization on the realities of gaining, losing, and exerting power.
It is Calibanthe native whose island Prospero colonizedover whom Prospero
exercises the most muscle, openly insulting him and giving him menial tasks to complete under
threat of the pains of urchins, bees, and side-cramps. Caliban describes how Prospero
manipulated him: When thou camst firstI loved thee and showed thee all the qualities o
thisle[but now] I am all the subjects that you have, which first was mine own king; and here
you sty me in this hard rock (I.ii.332-343). An unaware, nave Caliban welcomed his colonizer
and mapped out the island for him, giving Prospero the initial power to eventually take control.
J ust as fiercely as he loathes Prospero, however, Caliban begins to idolize the newest powers of
the island, Stephano and Trinculo. Caliban offers to show Stephano every fertile inch o
thisland, as he originally did for Prospero (II.ii.144). With their wine, Stephano and Trinculo
have full power over Caliban, and just as Prospero did, they abuse it, referring to Caliban as a
monster. From their perspective, Caliban likely did come off as a monsterangry, bitter, and
from an entirely unknown, foreign background. Prospero refers to Caliban, his thing of
darkness, (V.i.275) as got by the devil himself (I.ii.319). Like Stephano and Trinculo,
Prospero saw Caliban as an uncivilized, primitive species lacking dignity and religion.
As the play draws to a close, Caliban delivers his final line: Ill be wise hereafter,/ And
seek for grace (V.i.295-96). He puts aside his drunken gods and uncivilized, monster-like ways,
pledging to transform into the Christian figures he sees in Prospero and Stephano. Prosperos
colonization of the island has resulted in the molding of the islands natives to his own ways,
effectively stripping Caliban of his own gods and culture. Continuing, Caliban says, What a
thrice-double ass/ Was I to take this drunkard for a god/ And worship this dull fool! (V.i.295-
98). In this case, he is speaking of Trinculo and Stephano, but his words apply to Prospero as
well, for he let all three claim power over him. Although Caliban didnt directly acknowledge his
conversion to religion, he was aware of his own naivet in letting himself be under the power of
men he now perceives as fools.
Through Calibans understanding of his oblivion to the forces of Stephano, Trinculo, and
Prospero, Shakespeare highlights the superficiality of Calibans interactions with his colonizer.
Calibans stark realization that the figures under whom he finds himself subject are nothing more
than bodies with books and bottles of wine shows that colonized peoples lack of power does not
run deep; it is not rooted in their lives. However, as Shakespeare highlights, the power of the
colonizers is no more definite or secure. Over the course of the play, Caliban rejects the rule of
Prospero only to welcome Stephano, then shuns Stephano in favor of a pardon from Prospero,
who he originally planned to kill. Although Prosperos magic and Stephanos drinks may have
controlled Caliban for certain periods of time, neither ever established permanent power over the
monster. This superficiality extends to Prosperos magic and Stephanos wine, for neither
character was able to hold on to their tools, and therefore, neither was able to hold onto their
power. After freeing Arieleffectively giving up his magicProspero admits, Now my charms
are all oerthrown/ And what strength I haves mine own/ Which is most faint (Ep.1-3)
Amidst the superficiality of Calibans submission to his colonizer and masters and their
power over him lay one truth: the effect of Calibans interactions with Stephano and Prospero on
his own culture and identity. Caliban has undeniably changed from a primitive monster to a
civilized Christian, and these changes will forever define him. The power of a colonizer will
subside, and the ties of colonization will be broken, but the effectsthe erasure of the colonys
culture to some degreecannot be reversed. Shakespeares reflections on the realities of
colonization mirror his own recognition of the superficiality of the stage, and his role as the
god of the theatre. Shakespeares words give him power, and now that he is bidding farewell to
the theatre, he sees that he is giving up a power that was never truly his. Shakespeare
manipulates the stage with actors, words, and props just as Prospero and Stephano manipulated
Caliban with magic and alcohol. All three found power through manipulation, which in the end,
resulted not in established power over the stage or established power over land and people, as
Prospero sought, but in a passing window through which they left a lasting impact on the lives
and cultures of the colonized. Prospero, Stephano, and Shakespeares curtains will inevitably
close, but the scenes that their fleeting powers bring to life behind the fabric will never go dark.