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EN102 (Spring 2010) Midterm Exam

Page history last edited by Tonya Howe 14 years, 1 month ago

 

For this exam, you will be constructing a thesis-driven essay about the excerpt from the film Safety Last!, which I’ve made available on our course site. Your essay should make use of the tools of close description from Assignment 1, evidentiary support and argumentation from Assignment 2, and MLA documentation. Read the plot summary of Safety Last! below, and watch the YouTube excerpt of the film <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEcTjhUN_7U> as many times as you like before class. You may bring in your plot summary when you take the exam. You may also bring in a 3x5” notecard with any handwritten information you feel is necessary to compose your essay, short of the essay itself. On the date of the exam, you will be responsible for crafting an essay in which you construct and support a thesis suggesting the relationship of this film to a major characteristic of the 1920s, as described in your textbook, The Modern Temper. Your primary focus should be the film. You will have an hour to write your essay. You are on your honor to complete this exam in an ethically responsible manner—in terms of both citation and broader use of resources.

 

In evaluating the success of this essay, I am looking for the following things:

  • A strong thesis statement that shapes your essay throughout
  • Clear organization and effective transitions between ideas, both within and between paragraphs
  • Active, precise, concise prose that describes the key supporting images and ideas in the film for your purposes
  • Effective use of Dumenil’s textbook and the summary, below, in which you have not plagiarized and have completely introduced and documented your sources with in-text citations
  • Clear and fully-articulated connections made between the film and the larger ideas you’re working with, whether drawn from Dumenil or the summary below

 

Extra credit: Craft a correct works cited page for all your sources (you should have three, including the summary and the YouTube clip. It is your responsibility to discover how to cite these diverse resources properly.

 

Below is a summary of Safety Last! from Wikipedia. You may use this source, but you may not plagiarize. All use of it must be in support of your thesis, so consider what is most relevant for your ideas!

 

The film opens in 1922 with Harold Lloyd (the character has the same name as the actor) behind bars. His mother and his girlfriend, Mildred, consoling him as a somber official and priest show up. The three of them walk toward what looks like a noose. It then becomes obvious they are at a train station and the "noose" is actually a trackside pickup hoop used by train crews to receive orders without stopping, and the bars are merely the ticket barrier. He promises to send for his girlfriend so they can get married once he has "made good" in the big city. Then he is off. [P1]

 

He gets a job as a salesclerk at the De Vore Department Store, where he has to pull various stunts to get out of trouble with the picky head floorwalker, Mr. Stubbs. He shares a rented room with his pal "Limpy" Bill, a construction worker. [P2]

 

When Harold finishes his shift, he sees an old friend from his hometown who is now a policeman walking the beat. After he leaves, Bill shows up. Bragging to Bill about his influence with the police department, he persuades Bill to knock the policeman backwards over him while the man is using a callbox. When Bill does so, he knocks over the wrong policeman. To escape, he climbs up the façade of a building. The policeman tries to follow, but cannot get past the first floor; in frustration, he shouts at Bill, "YOU'LL DO TIME FOR THIS! THE FIRST TIME I LAY EYES ON YOU AGAIN, I'LL PINCH YOU!" [P3]

 

Meanwhile, Harold has been hiding his lack of success by sending his girlfriend expensive presents he cannot really afford. She mistakenly thinks he is successful enough to support a family and, with his mother's encouragement, takes a train to join him. In his embarrassment, he has to pretend to be the general manager, even succeeding to impersonating him to get back at Stubbs. While going to retrieve her purse (which Mildred left in the manager's office), he overhears the real general manager say he would give $1,000 to anyone who could attract people to the store. He remembers Bill's talent and pitches the idea of having a man climb the 12-story Bolton building which De Vore's occupies. He gets Bill to agree to do it by offering him $500. The stunt is highly publicized and a large crowd gathers the next day. [P4]

 

When a drunkard shows "The Law" (the policeman who was pushed over) a newspaper story about the event, the lawman suspects Bill is going to be the climber. He waits at the starting point despite Harold's frantic efforts to get him to leave. Finally, unable to wait any longer, Bill suggests Harold climb the first story himself and then switch his hat and coat with Bill, who will continue on from there. After Harold starts up, the policeman spots Bill and chases him into the building. Every time Harold tries to switch places with Bill, the policeman appears and chases Bill away. Each time, Bill tells his friend he will meet him on the next floor up. Eventually, Harold reaches the top, despite his troubles with the clock and some hungry pigeons, and kisses his girl. [P5]

 

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