Monmouth College
Monmouth, Illinois
Second Book Exam

Luck of the Draw, by Kenneth Ruiz

• Hand in a thoughtful and thorough essay with perfect grammar and beautiful prose in answer to one of the following questions. Your essay should be no shorter than five pages--and that is five pages to the bottom of page five. This essay is due at the beginning of class on the date specified on the syllabus.
• I encourage you to work with each other on this exam. Discuss the book among yourselves, and talk through your essays.
• Do not plagiarize each other’s exams, however. If you do, both of you will be asked to rewrite your papers, and a penalty may be assessed. If you plagiarize from the book, you will also have to rewrite your paper, and a penalty may be assessed.
• Direct quotes from the book must be inside quotation marks. The page number from whence the quote came must be noted in parenthesis after the period (that is, outside of the sentence, Chicago Manual Style, not MLA). The Scots Guide contains the College’s plagiarism policy, which I follow strictly.
• If you have any questions at all, call me, e-mail me, or stop by my office. I will be happy to look at a draft of your essay. I’ll be happy to look at your thesis statement, or your outline, or your opening paragraph--whatever will help you to write a really excellent essay.
• This is a 50 point exam.

Option #1:  Write an essay that explains what the submarine Pollack and its crew did in World War II. 

To write this essay you will want to pay attention not only to the naval strategy in which the submarine participated, but also to the crew and their individual jobs.  The author does not provide an abundance of material on what the crew did during their off hours, but you should take these activities into account also, in order to provide the most well-rounded picture you can of the activities of the Pollack and its crew.

Option #2:  Write the “Hero Spotlight” column on Kenneth Ruiz for Stars and Stripes Magazine.

            Stars and Stripes is the military magazine read primarily by men and women of the U.S. armed forces.   It is 100% patriotic and almost always upbeat.  Your newspaper column will feature a brief biography of Ruiz before explaining his heroism during his WWII service.  Write descriptively so that your readers will get a real sense of Ken Ruiz—the man, his military actions (especially his victories, but also his errors), and the type, duration, and successes of his many tours.

Option #3:  Write an essay that explains the various problems that plagued the Pollack and decide whether the Pollack made it through eight tours thanks to luck or to the skill of its crew. 

Kenneth Ruiz described the submarine Pollack as having an “insistent flirtation with suicide.” (208)   Ruiz attributed the sub’s life to luck, but surely much of the successful maneuvering out of danger was because of the skill of its crew.  You will have to decide what played the biggest role in the (against-the-odds) survival of the sub, and explain and substantiate your thesis.