Here you will find information about Quiz 4 and your upcoming midterm examination.
Before you take the quiz, please watch the following video that covers in twenty minutes the twenty-five questions--you will have until midnight Sunday, September 13, too complete the quiz:
Do not mind my green hair I got colored for Dr. Seuss a few years ago!
This video also mentions the midterm examination--note that contrary to what the video has to say, you will not write an essay for this midterm but will write an essay eventually, and I will supply potential topics. What the video says about the essay component points to essay topics about which you can write before the start of Week Seven if you wish to revise.
More on this information later.
The midterm examination will remain open from Monday, September 14 until Friday, September 18. See Assignments in Blackboard for further information about the Essay and potential topics.
For the midterm examination, you will respond to five prompts our of a pool of nine covering the three novels. Each prompt will offer you a choice of two or three characters about whom to write. In your response, address in a couple paragraphs (as you have practiced on the discussion threads) the significance of the character for what strikes you as the novels central concerns.
You must write on two novels.
Here is a couple pretty good responses for a prompt about Michael Horse:
Michael Horse is a character in which the duality of the Native American way of life is centered upon. Horse lives outside of town in a teepee, signifying the traditional way to live, but it's interesting as well because he takes advantage of payments he receives from oil rights on his land. Horse then splurges to receive the pleasures that life has to offer, such as a golden car. Horse has more importance for the Osage tribe people because he is the tender to the fire of his people; a flame that needs to keep burning as long as he is the carer for it. Another important role that Horse fills is that he journals prolifically, and that comes in handy later in the story as he is able to show Red Hawk later about the violent acts that have been committed against his people the last few years. This in turn helps Red Hawk and his own investigation that's affiliated with his office in Washington D.C. Overall, Horse is symbolic for the Native American people and how they're caught in the middle between their traditional lives and the modern age in which they lived.
For Mean Spirit, discuss the significance of Michael Horse.
Horse’s main role in Mean Spirit is as a foreteller who watches over a special, ancient flame. Whenever he cannot watch over the flame, he calls for a neighbor to tend to it, meaning the flame is very important to Horse and the Osage tribe. Horse’s foretelling skills are not as up to par as they used to be. He questions his predictions throughout the novel, especially after he wrongly predicts John Thomas’ death. Thomas does end up dead, but we hear about John Stink’s death first, which confuses and saddens Horse greatly. Horse also acts as a secondary detective, much like other Osage Indians in the novel. He keeps track of the murders and the Osage people in the community, which mirrors the care he exhibits with the ancient flame, meaning Horse cares about and sees the importance in caring for past and present Osage Indians. Horse writes letters to Washington, D.C., along with Moses Graycloud, to get someone from the US government to investigate the murders. So, Horse can take partial credit for getting Stace Red Hawk to come to their community. By the end of the novel, Horse disappears from the Osage village to go live among the Hill Indians, as do most of the characters who survive. Lastly, in a bit of irony, Horse acquires a horse through trade, but he is unable to ride it successfully, even though his name suggests otherwise.
