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Essay Instructions: Please keep in mind that when you're writing out the answers to both of these questions, that I want them to be completely separate from one another.

1) In colonial and postcolonial literatures, the relationship between language and nation intensely complicates the notion of “English Literature.” Using specific examples from these three texts: Salman Rushdie's "The Prophet's Hair," A.K. Ramanujan's "Self-Portrait," and Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" describe some of these complications in terms of literary form, political subject matter, and the positioning of the speaker.

2) Famously, the English obsess about social class structure and class divisions. Using specific examples from these three texts: Wole Soyinka's "Telephone Coversation," Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," and Jean Rhys' "Let Them Call It Jazz" how do factors of race and gender further complicate the relations of class? (You may choose to compare three texts that each interrogate race and/or gender, or you may want to compare a text that elucidates class only, to texts that bring more factors of identity.)