Summaries and analyses of literature

The American Dream

·      Author - Edward Albee, absurdist American playwright.  Influenced by Samuel Beckett, Anton Chekov.

·      Setting - Apartment on the east coast of the U.S., could be anything from middle class to upper.

·      Characters -

Mommy: A savage, overbearing woman who bullies Daddy, Grandma, and Mrs. Barker. New American dream.

Daddy: A man who fails at being a man.  Cowed by Mommy.

Grandma: Old woman who lives in the apartment, deceives Mommy, power over the play, old American Dream.

Young Man: Comes looking for a job.  Twin brother killed by Mommy, has lost everything except his looks.

Mrs. Barker: Comes to do something, but does not know what.  Represents "They"

·      Plot - Mommy and Daddy wait for "Them" to come.  Mrs. Barker arrives, does not know why.  Grandma tells Barker about how Mommy kills the baby.  Young man comes, tells Grandma about his brother.  Grandma lets him know he can find work with Mommy and Daddy, breaks the fourth wall, ends the play.

·      Point of view - N/A

·      Tone - memories elided, facts confused, gives a sense that events are slipping away even right after they have happened.

·      Imagery - Figures of speech are literalized, become images of actual events.

·      Symbolism - Grandma's boxes.  Though nicely wrapped, they contain ordinary junk, similar to the Young Man.  Mommy and Daddy only see the wrapping.

·      Theme -  The part of modern America that is unable to think abstractly is animalized, driven by base instincts to control the present and future America when it should be looking to a past America for wisdom.
    Mommy in The American Dream is unable to see beyond concrete form.  She has lost her humanity, and tries to get satisfaction in a base manner.  She controls everyone (Daddy, Mrs. Barker, bumble, Young Man) in the same brutal way.  Real wisdom and power lie with Grandma.  She should be respected, but is not.

·      Quotes - "I no longer have the capacity to feel anything. I have no emotions. I have been drained, torn asunder disemboweled. I have, now, only my person, my body, my face."
    The deeper part of the Young Man is destroyed by the abuse of his brother.  He is left with nothing but his appearance.
       "...twisted into the shape of a complaint"
    This refers to a literal twisting of the body.  When old people and their appreciation for substance are ignored, their concrete form is twisted.

Death of a Salesman

·      Author - Arthur Miller

·      Setting - Brooklyn, 1940s

·      Characters -

Willy: A failing, aging salesman.  Creates false images of success, especially in Biff, but it is all an illusion.

Biff: Has failed at everything in the real world, but tries to find the truth and question his life.  The "Death of a Salesman" is his death.

Happy: Mindlessly continues Willy's dream in a low-level business job.

Linda: Steady figure to Willy, her function is to try to mend the family.

·      Plot - Biff returns home to the west, argues with his father about the future.  Gives in to Willy, tries to find a job and fails.  Biff confronts the failure, Willy denies, kills himself instead of really facing the truth.

·      Point of view - N/A

·      Tone - Constant struggle, fast rise and fall of hope creates confident, then tragic tones.

·      Imagery - usually pertains to the past

·      Symbolism - Red car symbolizes Willy's past, Linda's stocking symbolizes the family's stability, always trying to mend it.

·      Theme - Blind hope is not enough to achieve the American Dream.
    Willy's creation of a false religion and gods in Biff, Happy, and Ben crashes. He is unable to realize that he really has nothing.  When his hope dies, he dies.

·      Quotes - "A diamond is hard and rough to the touch."
    Willy has accomplished nothing.  The absence of material wealth does not worry him, though.
    "Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground."
    Willy's delayed realization that he has left nothing enduring.

Ceremony

·      Author - Leslie Marmon Silko

·      Setting - Laguna Pueblo Reservation, New Mexico

·      Characters -

Tayo: Mixed white and Laguna heritage, develops PTSD during World War II, cured by new Enemy Way ceremonies mixing white and Laguna culture.

Ts'eh: Represents nature, literally she is Mount Taylor, Tayo's relationship with her helps him connect with the land.

Betonie: Medicine man who practices the new ceremonies that help cure Tayo.

·      Plot - Tayo is traumatized while fighting in WWII by his cousin Rocky's death and thinks he sees his uncle Josiah in the face of a Japanese soldier who is killed.  Tayo wishes the rain away.  He returns home, sick with PTSD or Ghost Sickness, to the drought-stricken reservation.  Tayo is helped by Betonie and Ts'eh, purifies Emo's witchery.

·      Point of view - Third person omniscient.

·      Tone - Somber

·      Imagery - Pertains to pollen, yellow things, many images contain blue and yellow (Tayo's eyes)

·      Symbolism - Mount Taylor = the land = Ts'eh.  Josiah's cattle = racial mixing is a good thing.

·      Theme - Problems cannot be solved by one racial/ethnic group alone; a mixture of these is required for a good solution.

·      Quotes - "It seems like I already heard these stories before—only thing is, the names sound different."
    The world forms a web, all stories are interconnected.  Distinctions are not fixed.
    “I will tell you something about stories . . . They aren't just entertainment. Don't be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have to fight off illness and death.”
    Stories carry power, harness the natural force.  Stories/ceremony is the solution to the problem, but they have to be done correctly.

Pride and Prejudice

·      Author - Jane Austen

·      Setting - 1811 England

·      Characters -

Mr. Bennet: Tired from his marriage, Mr. Bennet sits around in his study and is usually sarcastic.

Mrs. Bennet: Stressed from having to marry off her daughters, nervous.

Jane: "Perfect" woman stereotype.  Always thinks of others, keeps her mouth shut.

Elizabeth: Rebellious, too smart, the opposite of Jane.

Mr. Bingley: Excessively rich and bland, "Perfect" man stereotype to complement Jane.

Mr. Darcy: Proud man, personality clashes with Elizabeth until he gets to know her.

·      Plot - Bingley moves into town, causes a stir among everyone.  Shortly after there is a ball where Jane and Bingley meet.  Darcy and Elizabeth meet too, but don't like each other.  Weird Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth, she turns him down.  Elizabeth meets Wickham, who talks trash about Darcy, Elizabeth gets more mad at Darcy.  Charlotte gets married to Mr. Bingley.  Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, she refuses.  Lydia runs away with Wickham, Darcy saves the day with his money, proposes again to Elizabeth, she accepts.

·      Point of view - Third person limited

·      Tone - Attention to upper-class conventions makes the tone stiff, more passionate with Elizabeth because she rebels against her societal restrictions

·      Imagery - The novel is based in dialogue, few remarkable images.

·      Symbolism - Could not find any.

·      Theme - If you can get past a person's exterior and you see something you like, a relationship with this person is worthwhile.
    Darcy and Elizabeth both have pride and prejudice, this prevents them from being compatible.  When they are able to overcome this, they become happy in the same way that Bingley and Jane (the ideal couple) are.

·      Quotes - "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
    Reveals a goal of Jane Austin's society, this is the plot in miniature.
    "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me" (Darcy to Bingley discussing Elizabeth)
    Shows Darcy's pride.

Hamlet

·      Author - Shakespeare

·      Setting - Denmark late Middle Ages

·      Characters -

Claudius: King of Denmark.  Poisons Old Hamlet, is elected king by the nobles and creates a phantom war with Norway.

Hamlet: Prince of Denmark.  Returns home from university to attend his father's funeral, is frustrated with his mother's quick remarriage.

Polonius: Advisor to Claudius.  Shrewd politician, interested in Claudius keeping power.

Ophelia: Polonius' daughter.  In a relationship with Hamlet, father and brother disapprove.

Gertrude: Queen of Denmark, marries Claudius.  She is weak and cares only about her social status.

·      Plot - Hamlet is told that the ghost of his father has been appearing during the night.  He goes to see him, and the ghost tells him that Claudius has murdered him.  Hamlet vows revenge.  Claudius is worried about the way Hamlet has been acting, sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to figure out what is the matter, and uses Ophelia as bait to find the cause of his "madness".  Hamlet uses a band of players to test Claudius' guilt by putting on a play about the murder of a king by his brother.  Hamlet thinks he is guilty, sets off to kill him, but cannot.  Claudius orders Hamlet sent to England.  Hamlet goes to see his mother, kills Polonius, who is hiding behind a tapestry, makes the Queen feel guilty, hides the body.  Ophelia goes crazy, kills herself, Hamlet goes to see, gets Rosencrantz and Guildenstern killed.  Hamlet returns to Denmark, gets into a weird fight with Laertes in Ophelia's grave.  Hamlet and Laertes duel, everyone ends up poisoned, and Horatio is left to tell the story.

·      Point of view - N/A

·      Tone - The subject matter of the play and the frequent confusion of birth and death gives this play a dark and ironic tone overall.

·      Imagery - Gardens described as foul and rotting, Denmark's sickness.

·      Symbolism - Yorick's skull (commonness of death), flowers and their symbolic meaning (especially rue, believed to cause miscarriages.)

·      Theme - All people die the same death, no matter who they were in life.
    In all deaths in Hamlet, the person who dies retains nothing of his life.  The cause makes no difference.  Hamlet spends the entire play coming to this conclusion.

·      Quotes - "To be or not to be, that is the question"
    Makes death academic, death is an escape from a life of suffering.
    "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark"
    Denmark is frequently compared to a body, a sick body.

Fifth Business

·      Author - Jefferson Davies

·      Setting - 20th century Canada

·      Characters -
            Padre Plazon: Spanish priest who is obsessed with saints, gives Dunstan advice about Mary                  Dempster, matches him intellectually.

Dunstan Ramsay: Fated to be always in the background of a greater story, he has an unusual obsession with saints.

Liesl: Dunstan's confidante and lover, forces him to face his own self.

Mrs. Dempster: Mentally disturbed woman who does what Dunstan considers miracles; he wants to canonize her.

Paul: Born prematurely because of the snowball that hit Mrs. Dempster in the head, he becomes a great magician.

Boy: An upper-class big shot, the opposite of Dunstan.  Boy tries his hardest to get what he wants, and cannot take failure.

·      Plot - Outraged by the way he is portrayed in a college newspaper, Dunstan decides to send the headmaster a memoir about his life.  He begins with an account of Paul's birth, then recounts his experience in WWI, rehabilitation, and near-marriage, and homecoming.  He then writes about his experiences in college and contact with Boy, his job as a schoolmaster, and his trips to Europe and Mexico where he runs into Paul and pursues his study of saints and meets Liesl, who gives him insight into his own personality.  Boy is killed by the rock in the same snowball he threw at Dunstan.

·      Point of view - First person limited

·      Tone - Dunsten's detachment from the narrative makes his tone aloof, especially when he recounts far-off memories.

·      Imagery - Stovepipe description emphasizes Dunstan's distance from events,  Madonna statue recalls Mary Dempster.

·      Symbolism - Snowball symbolizes fate, clockwork symbolizes god or god-like power.

·      Theme - History does not have to be completely factual in order to teach people about the past.
    Dunstan's account of his life, especially when recalling his childhood sacrifices some truth.  His canonization of Dempster might not be valid, but her miracles are miracles to him.

·      Quotes - "It was as though she was an exile from a world that saw things her way"
   Dempster seems exiled in Deptford, her insanity is ignored here by Dunstan.
 “Life itself is too great a miracle for us to make so much fuss about potty little reversals of what we pompously assume to be the natural order.”
   The many coincidences in the novel are not extraneous, they are the most logical progression of a story.

Open Prompt Revision #4

1975 Also. Unlike the novelist, the writer of a play does not use his own voice and only rarely uses a narrator's voice to guide the audience's responses to character and action. Select a play you have read and write an essay in which you explain the techniques the playwright uses to guide his audience's responses to the central characters and the action. You might consider the effect on the audience of things like setting, the use of comparable and contrasting characters, and the characters' responses to each other. Support your argument with specific references to the play. Do not give a plot summary.

            In a play, the author cannot narrate, instead having to get meaning across in other ways.  This is true of Edward Albee’s The American Dream, in which the characters drive the action.  Through indirect characterization, literalization, and character interaction, Albee communicates meaning without using his own voice.

            Onstage action develops the characters.  It shows Mommy as savage and childish through her treatment of Daddy and Grandma, and the excessive use of a/an in her story of a shopping trip.  She tries to control the other characters through bullying language, and forces Daddy to have a vasectomy.  Daddy is the opposite of a man's stereotypical gender role.  This can be found in his lack of desire to open the door for Mrs. Barker and his inability to fix anything in the apartment. From these stage actions we can assume that he is wishy-washy and unable to do “manly” things.  Grandma is the least absurd character in the play, as evidenced by her rebellion against Mommy’s authority and break of the fourth wall at the end of the play.

            Bringing abstract ideas into the physical world allows Albee to create a harsh tone without a narrator.  Figurative language comes up in the body throughout the play. Daddy’s “Qualms” are transferred to his scars.  Grandma comments that the bodies of old people are “twisted into the shape of a complaint”.  The mutilation of the “bumble”, itself a deformed word, is described in figurative language that is turned literal.  In the universe of The American Dream, ideas take a physical form.  This creates a materialist atmosphere that shows the audience how superficial the American Dream is: we cannot understand ideas, only objects.

            Relations between characters, especially Grandma’s interactions, allow Albee to express meaning.  Grandma, the only character who fights back against Mommy’s control, has a special power in the play’s rhythm.  She has the power to make characters leave at will, as shown by her extraction of Mrs. Barker from the stage.  When sexual rhythm is created between Mommy and Daddy, Grandma interrupts and destroys it.  This power is even taken beyond character interaction; she can change reality by hiding rooms and the apartment’s water.  Grandma is able to control the play as a director does, ending it at the time she feels it is appropriate.  This power dynamic shows that, although the old American dream may seem to lack strength at the surface, it is actually in control under everyone’s noses.

Open Prompt Revision #3

1975. Although literary critics have tended to praise the unique in literary characterizations, many authors have employed the stereotyped character successfully. Select one work of acknowledged literary merit and in a well-written essay, show how the conventional or stereotyped character or characters function to achieve the author's purpose.

While bland, the generic can sometimes be used effectively.  In The American Dream, Edward Albee creates the characters Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma all as stock characters, designed on purpose to be "types".  Albee uses these stereotypical characters to create a broad image of America; this makes the play’s message relatable to as many people as possible.

         Albee uses indirect characterization to give the characters as little dimension as possible.  The characters call each other “Mommy” “Daddy” and “Grandma”.  These are titles, not specific names corresponding to family roles, which each character acts out generically.  Daddy is the stereotypical henpecked husband who just wants peace, Mommy is a gold digger who tries to control everything, and Grandma is the wise old person no one listens to.  While absurd, their formal manner is basically what someone would expect from the typical household in the late 1950s.  They seem to have money, but may only be putting on airs.  This makes the characters even more ambiguous because even their social class, which we should be able to identify easily, is obscure.

         The author uses his stereotypical characters to widen the scope of The American Dream’s meaning.  Albee’s message is that the American dream is hollow, but by definition it is open to everyone.  Because of this, Albee must use stereotypical characters to reach as many people as possible.  The play will more likely move people who are similar in some way to the family on stage.  Since this group is large, manny people experience the power of The AMerican Dream.  If it weren't, Albee’s purpose would become less powerful, revealing a truth about a part of society instead of the whole.

Open prompt response #2

1973. An effective literary work does not merely stop or cease; it concludes. In the view of some critics, a work that does not provide the pleasure of significant closure has terminated with an artistic fault. A satisfactory ending is not, however, always conclusive in every sense; significant closure may require the reader to abide with or adjust to ambiguity and uncertainty. In an essay, discuss the ending of a novel or play of acknowledged literary merit. Explain precisely how and why the ending appropriately or inappropriately concludes the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.

            The endings of literary works usually reveal something about their meaning.  This is true about the ending of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. Sinclair's story about the lives of a group of poor Lithuanian immigrants to Chicago’s meatpacking district suddenly changes to an argue for socialism at the end of the book.  Sinclair’s shift away from the characters and overuse of political rhetoric create a preachy tone that ends the novel with a single-minded argument for socialism. This is not appropriate in the context of the whole work.

            At the end of the novel, Sinclair breaks from his narrative and begins to make the case for socialism.  He abandons the main character Jurgis, and makes his perspective too general, mentioning things that Jurgis has never encountered in the story.  The work seems to really be only about Jurgis becoming a socialist.  This hurts Jurgis' complexity, simplifying him into a launching pad for a completely new argument.  During these final chapters, Sinclair only writes about socialism.  The same rhetoric is repeated so much that it quickly gets boring, and pulls the ending of The Jungle further away from the rest of the story.

            The tone of the last few chapters suffers from the use of these techniques.  Sinclair writes the beginning and middle of his novel in a dark tone.  It seems fitting during descriptions of the abuse of workers and Jurgis’ trials and tribulations in Chicago, but for no reason the ending quickly switches to an ultra-hopeful and radical tone that, at best, does not follow and reads as an advertisement.  This makes the ending even more disappointing by destroying the weighty narrative and distracting the reader from the meaning of the beginning and middle sections of the book.

            The Jungle's meaning is wasted by its ending, an inappropriate and extreme argument for socialism.  What could have been an ending that put forward a stance on the improvement of industrial class relations instead became a political pamphlet.  Sinclair's goal with The Jungle was never to create meaning, it was only to spread his ideology.

Open Prompt Revision 1

 The prisoner's greatest hope is freedom.  Winston, the main character in George Orwell’s 1984, is a prisoner in the dystopian society of Oceania.  There, the state controls the thoughts of the people with psychological manipulation. Winston wants to break this control by defying the government.  Like the single prisoner who tries to break out, Oceania's government eventually captures and returns him to his cell.  Winston responds to the rules of his society, challenging the authorities for a while by trying to rediscover the past, but his will is broken and he again willingly conforms to the standards of Oceania.

                  In the society of Oceania, extremism rules.  Oceania’s leaders have changed history to make their Party legitimate, and put the youth through programs which encourage frenzied support of the government.  The people are kept chaste to an extreme.  They channel their sexual energy toward rallies  that encourage support of the government.  The Party encourages citizens to spy on each other.  Every room has a camera watching the people there.  The words “Big brother is watching” are everywhere, reminding people that they are being spied on.  The people accept the concept of Doublethink, or contradiction.  An example of this of the official slogan of the party: “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength”.  Newspeak is a simplified language designed by the Party to make thought narrower. This speech makes it more difficult to express rebellious thoughts.  In Oceania, extremism and contradiction rule.

                  Winston defies the standards of his society by obsessing over the past, but his rebellion fails when the Party catches him and breaks his will.  Winston uses an old book to write an anti-Party entry in which he writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” repeatedly.  When he is living with Julia in an old room above an antique shop, Winston is able remember his childhood.  He becomes obsessed with old things, most noticeably the room he hides out in and a glass paperweight, which let him escape from his society.  When the thought police catch Winston, the paperweight breaks, representing the beginning of the failure of his rebellion.  After his capture, he quickly gives in to torture and Party officials make him into an average citizen again.  Winston’s easy break under torture shows the inevitable triumph of the establishment over the defiance of an individual.

AP test taking

• Multiple Choice

1. Read the passage before answering any of the questions. Only if running out of time should you do otherwise.
2. Read questions and think about possible answers before looking at the choices.
3. Don't let the vocabulary in the question throw you.
4. Question types

          -Rhetorical function - What does this part of the passage do?

          -Context - What does this word or phrase mean in the context of the passage (keep in mind the author's intent)

          -Antecedent - what does the quote refer to?

          -Style - what techniques does the author use?

          -Tone - What is the tone of the section? is it the author's tone or the speaker's tone?

• Essays

1. Thoroughly read and understand the prompt. Misunderstanding the prompt is the most common mistake.
2. skim, then do thorough reading of the selection
3. mark it up, apply DIDLS
4. helps to memorize a few meaningful quotes for the open prompts

DIDLS

• Diction

1. The author's choice of words
2. check for double meaning
3. honorific or pejorative?
4. level of education of the author or speaker
5. Denotation or Connotation
6. Number of syllables

• Imagery

1. the verbal expression of a sensory experience

     -Emotive
     -auditory
     -touch
     -smell
     -"taste" - less frequent

• Details

1. information about what the author includes about the story

• Language

1. unlike diction, describes a larger body of text

     -informal or formal

     -esoteric (official style), or plain (plain style)

     -exact or inexact

     -what is this saying about the author/speaker?

1. Rhetorical devices

     -repetition

     -irony

     -platitude

     -tautology

• Syntax

1. How a sentence is put together gramatically

     -look for sentence length

     -unusual punctuation

     -conjunctions

     -voice (active, passive)

     -parentheticals - these often function as aside-like structures

     -where are the details? before or after the subject? at the end?

     

Writing

Writing

• Styles

1. Plain style - writing with few and short words. Makes complicated things easier to understand, eliminates clutter.
2. Official style - many long words and sentences, makes even simple concepts hard to grasp.  Easy to bury bad ideas under a mess of writing.

• Writing structure

1. Introduction - begins with a broad theme and narrows to a thesis
2. Thesis - effect and meaning only, include all goals
3. Body paragraphs - topic sentence must have something to do with the thesis, at least three pieces of evidence, quotes integrated
4. Conclusion - wrap up points, So what?

Analysis

Reading

• Active reading

1. First read - find unfamiliar words, note questions, underline significant parts of the text
2. Second read - beyond observation, analyze, comment on theme, persistent patterns in the text

• Important groups of literary devices

1. Irony

          -situational (circumstances ironic)

          -verbal (words are the opposite of what is meant)

          -dramatic (audience knows important information that a character does not            know)

1. Repetition

          -parallelism (repeated pattern of syntax)

          -epizeuxis (repetition of words in immediate succession)

          -diacope (repetition with one or two words between)

          -anaphora (repetition of words at the beginning a line or clause)

          -polysyndeton (repetition of conjunctions)

          -antistrophe (repetition at the end of clauses)

• Critical lenses

1. Archetypal - Archetypal similarities in literature reflect a universal set of patterns.
2. Feminist - Women are seen as the "Other" by our patriarchal society.
3. Marxist - Focuses of class relations in literature.
4. Structuralism - Text and only text.
5. Psychoanalytic - How do authors express their psychology on literatire?
6. Reader response - BYOM. Bring your own meaning, because literature has none on its own.
7. Deconstructionist - Language means nothing, so literature means nothing.
8. Historical - Explains literature by looking at the culture of the time.