Suggested answers for high school graduation literature exam
OFFICIAL EXAM
I. GENERAL PART FOR CANDIDATES: (5.0 points)
Question 1. (2.0 points)
In the last part of Lu Xun's short story Medicine, what was the attitude of the mother Ha Du when she saw the wreath on her son's grave? What is the meaning of the wreath?
Question 2.(3.0 points)
Write a short essay (about 400 words) expressing your thoughts on the brave act of saving people by student Nguyen Van Nam from the following information:
On the afternoon of April 30, 2013, on the bank of Lam River, the section flowing through Trung Son Commune, Do Luong District, Nghe An Province, Nguyen Van Nam (12th grade student, T7, Do Luong I High School) heard a cry for help from someone drowning in the river, he immediately ran over. Seeing a group of students struggling in the water,Nam jumped down and saved three 9th graders and one 6th grader.When the fifth child was pushed to shore,
(According to Khanh Hoan, Thanhnienonline, May 6, 2013)
II. SEPARATE PART - ELECTIVE PART: (5.0 points)
Candidates can only do one of the two questions (question 3.a or question 3.b)
Question 3.a. According to the Standard program (5.0 points)
Analyze the psychological developments and actions of the character Mi through the spring night scene where Mi wants to go out and is tied up in the work Husband and Wife A Phu - To Hoai (excerpt from Literature 12, Volume 2, Vietnam Education Publishing House - 2012).
Question 3.b. According to the Advanced program (5.0 points)
Analyze the following poem in Country (excerpt from the epic poem Road of Desire) by Nguyen Khoa Diem:
Land is where I go to school
Water is where I bathe
The Country is where we meet
The Country is where I dropped my scarf in secret memories
Land is where "the phoenix flies to the silver mountain"
Water is where "the fish claws the ocean"
Time is running out
Vast space
The country is where our people reunite
The land is where the birds return
Water is where the Dragon lives
Lac Long Quan and Au Co
Giving birth to our compatriots in an egg sac
(Literature 12 Advanced, Volume 1, Vietnamese Education Publishing House)
Test-taking tips:
Question 1: Meaning of the image detail Wreath on Ha Du's grave
- General introduction: The detail of the wreath image on Ha Du's grave is a unique artistic detail, carrying many profound meanings and artistic values, expressing the work's ideological theme and the writer's artistic talent.
- Recreating details: The detail of the wreath on Ha Du's grave appears at the end of the short story Medicine (Lu Xun). One morning during the Qingming Festival, Ha Du's mother visited her son's grave and was surprised by the image she encountered: a wreath of "pink and white" flowers lying on her son's grave. Originally the grave of a death row inmate who had been beheaded, despised, despised, and misunderstood, she was sure that no one would care about the grave and the deceased. The image of the wreath really surprised her. For a moment, she did not understand what had happened, did not know who had brought the wreath to place on her son's grave. Finally, in the climax of her emotions, she burst into tears.
- Meaning of the image:
+ Content meaning:
The wreath is an image expressing the writer Lu Xun's affection for the life, career and sacrifice of revolutionaries like Ha Du. He loved and respected that revolutionary soldier.
The wreath also represents optimism and belief in a bright future for the Chinese revolution when there are people who understand and sympathize with the revolutionary soldier. The wreath is also a good sign, an affirmation that there will be people who continue to stand up to make revolution, following the path that Ha Du and his comrades are on, completing the career that he left unfinished.
+ Artistic meaning:
The image of the wreath on Ha Du's grave is a unique artistic detail that contributes to expressing the ideological theme of the work and Lu Xun's masterful short story talent when creating an image rich in symbolic meaning. It is the final detail, closing the story but opening up to the reader many emotions and associations, creating many echoes and excitement in people's hearts. Counterbalancing the image of the steamed bun soaked in human blood, the image of the wreath on Ha Du's grave shows Lu Xun's compassion, concern and steadfast belief in the future of the revolution, in the change and awakening of the nation.
Question 2. About the courage and self-sacrifice of Nguyen Van
2.1. Problem explanation: Through the story of Nguyen Van Nam's actions, readers (especially young people) need to think seriously about courage, love, and sacrifice for the community.
2.2. Comments and proofs:
- Praise examples of courage, love and sacrifice for others:
- Criticize the manifestations of selfishness, self-interest, apathy, and irresponsibility towards themselves and the community of many young people today.
2.3. Lessons of perception and action
- Lesson of awareness: It is necessary to raise awareness of responsibility towards oneself and the community, promote and honor to replicate those noble examples.
- Action lesson: Take practical action for the community.
Question 3a. Mi's mood changes
1. Introduction
- Introducing author To Hoai: an excellent prose writer of Vietnamese literature
- Introduction to the work: A Phu's Wife is a typical short story by To Hoai, excerpted from the collection Northwest Stories (the work won first prize in the 1953-1954 Literature and Arts newspaper contest, along with Nguyen Ngoc's The Country Stands Up).
- Introducing the issue to be analyzed: Mi is the central character of the work, expressing the most concentrated ideological intention and artistic talent of the writer. The development of Mi's mood and actions in the spring love night is a vivid demonstration of To Hoai's art of describing character psychology and humanity.
2. Body.
- Summary of Mi's life and fate before the spring night of love: Originally a beautiful, talented, freedom-loving girl, but because of injustice, exploitation by the feudalists in the mountains (tyrannical power) and backward customs (theocracy), Mi had to become a daughter-in-law to pay off debt, a slave to the landlord's family, exploited, tortured, and treated like an animal. It seemed that all that torture had destroyed the vitality of the young girl.
- Mi's psychological development on the spring love night: aroused by 3 catalysts: spring air, alcohol and flute sound.
+ Changes in nature: Spring comes to Hong Ngai, bringing new vitality to nature and people here (evidence: the wind blowing into the golden thatched roofs, young girls wearing flared skirts drying on rocks preparing for games, children playing in the yard...). Spring (of the earth and sky) has brought new vitality to people, blowing into the quiet life of the highland people a new wind, exposing spring love.
+ Mi's psychological developments and actions:
* Development 1: Mi hears singing (of couples in love), the sound of a flute (the sound of a flute appears many times and is described in great detail: from far to near, from the sounds of the outside world to the haunting inner world). That singing, that sound of a flute reminds Mi of a beautiful past, of a young Mi full of vitality, thirsty for life, thirsty for love. The singing, that sound of a flute is like a sound from the outside world that revives the desire that has long been hidden in the soul of a highland woman. The sound of a flute, that sound of a flute also reminds Mi of reality, of the unjust injustices she has to endure.
* Development 2: Mi drinks alcohol. This is truly a rebellious act of humanity, marking Mi's awakening process. She gulps down large bowls of alcohol, swallowing all her anger and resentment. She thinks "if others can drink, why can't Mi drink?". She has become aware of herself as a human being, giving up her life as a mute animal, an object in the landlord's house. But as soon as she becomes aware of herself, she quietly walks into the room, sits on the bed and thinks that if she had a handful of poison leaves, she would eat them right away to die. Her consciousness as a human being returns, facing the dark reality, she does not accept the life of a horse or a buffalo but hopes to find liberation. Wanting to die is also a manifestation of the desire to live, to live to the fullest.
* Development 3: Mi wants to go out. This is the second rebellious act. She walks to the corner of the house, with her skirt, rolls up a piece of fat to light the lamp to make it brighter. She wants to light up her dark, miserable life. This action shows that the vitality that has been buried for so long, hidden in Mi, has now risen up strongly. The desire for happiness has overcome the bonds of tyranny and theocracy. Wanting to go out means wanting to be free, wanting to be happy, wanting to live fully as a human being.
* Development 4: Mi was tied up by A Su. Her desire flared up but was brutally crushed. A Su returned, tied Mi tightly with a basket of jute, and wrapped her hair around a pole.
* Development 5: Mi gradually wakes up and painfully returns to reality. Tied up on the pole, Mi's head still echoes with the sound of the flute and the song calling for her lover. But she soon returns to reality when she struggles to walk and encounters the ropes tightening around her skin. The sound of horse hooves at the front of the house reminds her of her status as a horse or a buffalo. Mi thinks she is not as good as a buffalo or a horse. She bows her head in resignation. But once the flame of life has flared up, it cannot be extinguished. The rope can only bind her body but cannot bind her freedom-loving soul.
- Artistic meaning: The psychological developments and actions of Mi show the writer's compassion when discovering and appreciating the desire to live of people despite being cruelly tortured. It also shows To Hoai's masterful talent in describing the character's psychology.
=> General assessment: Through the psychological development of the character Mi in the spring love night, readers realize the profound humanistic value and realistic value (denouncing the feudal forces in the mountains) of the work. At the same time, it once again proves the artistic talent of the writer.
Mi's psychological developments and actions during the spring love night are the premise for the "rebellion" during the winter night on the highlands.
3. Conclusion.
- General assessment of To Hoai's artistic talent in describing the character's psychological developments while affirming the writer's profound humanitarian ideology.
Question 3b. The Country of Nguyen Khoa Diem
1. Introduction
- Author introduction: Nguyen Khoa Diem is a typical face of modern Vietnamese literature, with a vibrant poetic voice, typical of the youth generation in temporarily occupied urban areas during the most fierce period of the resistance war against the US. Nguyen Khoa Diem's poetry has a smooth combination of abundant emotions and extremely profound thoughts and contemplations.
- Introduction to the work: The excerpt "The Country" is taken from chapter V of the epic poem "The Road of Aspiration", composed in the Tri Thien war zone during the days when the movement to fight against the US and the puppet regime was boiling. The work expresses the poet's profound thoughts about the origin of the Country as the basis for patriotism, for the belief in the inevitable victory of the struggle.
- Introduction to the excerpt: The poetic excerpt needs to be analyzed focusing on explaining the Country in geographical space with many folk cultural materials.
2. Body:
- General overview of the first part of the poem: general perception of Nguyen Khoa Diem's Country
- The poem uses a unique form to explain and interpret the Country: word separation (philosophy).
- The Country appears in many different spaces:
+ Familiar spaces: school, river.
+ The country appears in the space of love and affection (where we met, where you dropped the scarf in secret longing) => Analyze the image of the scarf: a symbol of longing (evidence in folk songs)
+ The country appears through the majestic, magnificent space of the country's brocade: "silver mountain", "ocean water" ...
+ The Country is also a living space, a gathering place and a place for the whole community to live and work: "where our people reunite", where dragons live, where birds return => the origin of the nation through the retelling of the legend of Lac Long Quan and Au Co
- The country is closely associated with the activities, cultural activities, simple, intimate and sacred production labor of people: studying, working, producing, loving, making a living, starting a business, ... Along with that are the noble traditions of the nation: the tradition of studiousness, affection, solidarity, awareness of origin ...
==> The country is both familiar and great, evoking in us love and pride.
- Artistic features:
+ Free verse with long and short lines interwoven like the flow of a story, sometimes whispering feelings, sometimes surging emotions like the endless flow of time, like the immense scope of the country's space.
+ Lyrical and political tone
+ The art of contrast and repetition creates musicality for the poem.
+ The philosophical way of defining brings a new, multi-dimensional perspective to the concept of Country.
+ Extremely effective use of folk cultural materials: Folk songs, myths, legends... to once again affirm the consistent idea: The Country of the People.
- Link to other works about the Country (The Country by Nguyen Dinh Thi)
=> Love for homeland and country lingers in the poet's emotions
- Contact me
3. Conclusion
- General assessment of the successes and unique features in the content and art of the excerpt
Reporter group (synthesis)