Synthesis of Course Material Part Six: Fundamentals

VOCABULARY

Vocabulary is essential to being able to recognize structures, patterns, irony, etc. We learned about 100 vocabulary words that can be found online to strengthen our literary analysis skills.

MULTIPLE CHOICE ON THE AP EXAM

·         Read the passage thoroughly and closely, and do not read questions first so you are not searching for the answers while reading.

·         Types of questions:

o   Rhetorical function: explain the function of a sentence, group of sentences, paragraph, lines, etc.

o   Context: Identify the meaning of a word in the context of a passage. The word that does not change the meaning of the sentence should be the best choice

o   Antecedent: Choose which antecedent the quoted word is referring to

o   Style: Consider the choices an author has made. If a two-part answer, make sure BOTH answers are correct, if not you can discard that choice

o   Tone: Identify the tone of the passage or a selection from the passage. Pay attention to whether the question is asking for the author’s tone or the speaker’s tone

ADDITIONAL TIPS:

·         Do not waste time looking for figures of speech, rhetorical devices, allusions, etc.

·         Keep a paraphrase in your head during the second reading

·         Use the process of elimination to narrow your choices

·         For any questions left unanswered, make educated guesses

Synthesis of Course Material Part Five: Comedy and Tragedy

COMEDY

“The comic is the product of a perceived incongruity between a subject matter/issue/situation/topic and its treatment/expression.”

Types of comedy

·         Low comedy

·         High comedy

·         Burlesque

·         Farce

·         Lampoon

·         Parody

·         Satire

·         Slapstick

·         Travesty

“The Comedic Ladder” (Brenden Kenney)

Comedy of Ideas: Argument of ideas like politics, religion, sex, marriage. Use of wit and clever language, satirize people and institutions

Comedy of Manners: Love affairs among upper classes, witty language, insults, cliquey society

Farce: Plot full of coincidences, mistimings, characters determined by fate, loss of identity, twins unaware of the other

Low Comedy: dirty jokes and gestures, sex, exaggeration, understatement, slapstick

COMEDY IS BASED ON IRONY!! There are several techniques to create comedy, such as sarcasm, caricature, and paradoxes.

TRAGEDY

Aristotle’s Tragedy

·         A noble hero falls from a high place

·         Fatal error (hamartia)

·         Hero has a moment of self-recognition (epiphany) or self-knowledge at which he understands his error (anagnoresis)

Humanists

·         SUPER-Aristotle

·         Must occur in a 24-hour time period, in the same setting, with one plot

·         There is a fatal FLAW

·         No murder allowed on stage

Senecan- revenge tragedies

·         Secret murder

·         Ghost visits (kinsman)

·         Murderer vs. avenger

·         Ends in a blood bath

Miller’s Tragedy

·         Noble hero= unrealistic

·         A tragedy is a common man who refuses to give up his dignity/place in society even though it’s hopeless

Synthesis of Course Material Part Four: Critical Lenses

FORMALISTS AND NEW CRITICS

Believe that literature is no more than “words on a page.”

PSYCHOANALYTICS

Concerned with the psychology of the artist and the audience. This is closely related to Freudian ideology.

·         Pleasure vs. aggression

·         Id: wants pleasure now

·         Ego: realistic and under control

·         Superego: society’s norms and values, how we’ve been taught to behave idealistically

·         Oedipus complex

POST-COLONIAL CRITICISM

Focuses on the relationship between the colonizers and the colonized. This includes response, adaptation, a new combined culture, and hegemony.

·         Subaltern: one without any access to any cultural or political power in a given social situation (like a slave)

·         Exoticism: process of assigning distance and mystique to the “other” where they differ from the norm of the colonizer

·         Demonization: process of assigning to the “other” all undesirable characteristics one does not wish to recognize in their own group

·         Alienation

·         Hegemony

·         Mimicry: adaptive survival strategy

·         Appropriation: use of cultural property (language, customs, etc) of a colonized group by the colonizer, or a conquered group by the conqueror

·         Representation: how a group is portrayed

·         Hybridity: new transcultural forms that arise from cross-cultural exchange

READER RESPONSE

The “meaning” is the interaction between the reader and the text

LITERARY DARWINISM

Texts are artifacts of a culture

NEW HISTORICISM

Text should be analyzed in the context of historical and cultural events

MYTHOLOGICAL AND ARCHETYPAL CRITICS

Texts should be analyzed according to their symbolic values

MARXIST

Importance of the movement of economic power, and the power of the masses

STRUCTURALISM

Texts should be analyzed according to cultural structures

POST-STRUCTURALISTS

Similar to reader-response, French philosophers

FEMINISM

Concerned with sex and gender roles, especially the roles of women. Also the relationship between men and women and women’s place in society.

Synthesis of Course Material Part Three: Poetry

“If it takes longer to explain than to read, then it’s poetry”

Poetry must be taken into special consideration when being analyzed. There are additional contributing factors that are not present in simple prose writing.

RHYME

There are several different types of rhyme, such as end-rhyme, near-rhyme, eye-rhyme, internal rhyme, which contribute to the sound of the poem. The sound of the poem affects the tone and the effect on the reader. This is important in creating the meaning of the poem.

RYTHYM

Similarly, meter contributes to the sound of the poem. Iambic pentameter, tetrameter, and blank verse all result in a very different sound to the poem. The sound affects the tone and the effect, contributing to meaning.

FORM
The way the poem looks is also important. Is it traditional? If so, does it follow or break conventions? These things are done deliberately by the author to contribute to meaning.

SYNTAX

This includes analysis of things like enjambment (run-on lines) or end-stop, the length of the poem, and caesura (pauses in the poem).

ITALIAN/ PETRARCHAN SONNET

·         14 lines

·         Iambic pentameter

·         Octave (8 lines) and sestet (6 lines)

·         Octave is written in abba abba

·         Volta occurs at the beginning of the sestet (a shift of some sort in the poem)

ENGLISH/SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET

·         14 lines

·         Iambic pentameter

·         3 quatrains (abab, cdcd, efef), ending with a heroic couplet (2 rhyming lines)

·         Volta (shift, new idea) at line 9, or at the couplet

Synthesis of Course Material Part Two: How to Write Essays

DIDLS are techniques essential to both the closed and open prompt.

DICTION: this is the analysis of single words. One must assess the elevation of the words; are they formal and sophisticated, or written colloquially? Regionalism and dialect also must be looked at; sometimes deliberate regional words and dialect are used to make an important point. Connotation is the things people associate with a certain word, while denotation is the actual dictionary meaning of a word. Concrete language is more exact, while abstract language is intangible and ambiguous. All of these things are utilized purposely by authors.

IMAGERY: Imagery appeals vividly to the senses. The pictures in the mind of the reader are fully formed, sensory, and create an interior feeling. One must pay attention to repetition of certain images.

DETAILS: Every detail in a work of literature is chosen carefully and purposefully by the author. Readers must pay attention the importance of every included detail.

LANGUAGE: Language is the devices such as similes, metaphors, and alliterations in a work. These devices are also carefully chosen by the author to contribute to the meaning or feeling of the piece.

SYNTAX: Syntax deals not with single words, but how those words are constructed into sentences. This includes simple repetition as well as things like asyndeton and polysyndeton. Syntax affects the tone, pace, and emphasis of the sentences in a work. Inverted sentences, pauses, questions, and exclamations are all part of syntax.

HOW TO WRITE

It’s extremely important that one spends time with the prompt before beginning to write the essays. It’s necessary to understand everything that’s being asked in the prompt (all of the goals), this includes techniques (DIDLS), effects, and meanings. The techniques are used to create a mood, or some effect on the reader. These effects contribute to the overall meaning of the piece. If an essay is asking for comparisons and contrasts, it’s important to do BOTH to answer the question entirely. For the open prompt the introduction should be organized as such: the first sentence should provide a general statement, a kind of introduction to the subject. The second should provide background information. The third should be the thesis, which provides an outline for the rest of the essay. It’s important to remember that THESIS ANSWERS PROMPT. The thesis should answer the question of the prompt, and the rest of the essay should provide evidence for the claims. Essays should be written in plain style: direct, clear, concise, NOT wordy. It’s also important to not structure an essay around techniques. A paragraph should not be centered on diction, but an idea and how diction contributes to this idea.

Synthesis of Course Material Part One: Things We've Read

The American Dream- Edward Albee

It helps to understand a piece of literature with a bit of background on the author. In the video we watched of Edward Albee, he explained that the purpose of this work, what he hoped it would do, was teach people to reexamine their values and not live like the people in the play. Already in the title, “The American Dream” feelings and preconceived notions about the “dream” are evoked in readers. The play presents the typical “American dream” that many Americans held sacred in the 1950’s and 1960’s. By writing this play, Albee tried to expose the shallowness and superficiality of this dream and recognize the departure of traditional “agrarian” values of the old America. The old values are represented by Grandma in the play, which seems to be the only sane character, the only one with any dignity and individualism. The corruptness of the dream is represented with the character of Mommy. Mommy is the essence of consumerist values; she is always seeking some kind of material “satisfaction” and is able to mutilate her own child (with Daddy’s help) because it wasn’t up to standards. The “new” America is represented through the character of the Young Man, who himself states that he is only the beauty of his appearance, and there is nothing inside him. This represents the shallow values of the new America.

Death of a Salesman- Arthur Miller

“Death of a Salesman” by Arthur Miller is another literary work criticizing the new values of America and abandonment of the old. Willy, the main character, possesses all the characteristics that would have made him successful in the old America: hard work, perseverance, and a hunger to provide for his family. Despite these characteristics, Willy fails in the new America. This new America values the younger, more attractive employees, people who are “well liked.” Willy struggles with this because, although he recognizes these values, he can’t let go of his belief that traditional values will get you far and that he is no longer “liked” by society. Willy’s boss, Howard, represents the new America; he’s harsh and uncaring toward Willy and doesn’t care about their family connections. Willy also has great conflict with his son, Biff, who was destined to be a great football player. When Biff catches his father cheating on his mother, he loses all hope and belief in the values that his father represented. He refuses to go to summer school and really goes nowhere in life. Throughout the play, Willy not only struggles to accept his lowly place in society, but also with the failure of his son, refusing to blame himself. The play expresses Miller’s ideas about the harsh, materialistic, and shallow new America, and how irrelevant traditional values are in modern times.

Ceremony- Leslie Marmon Silko

Leslie Marmon Silko comes from a Native American reservation, Laguna, so this novel was quite different than the others. In her community, story-telling is an essential part of life. It is not just idle gossip, but bring the community together, allows them to laugh together, and learn from other people. The stories keep individuals in touch with the past, and create a time continuum. Time is not linear in this culture, but instead like a circle, where everything has happened before, just differently. This circular sense of time is a huge part of “Ceremony.” Tayo is a war veteran, who has come back extremely mentally damaged from the war after losing those most sacred to him. The novel is not the least bit linear, but instead has frequent flash backs to Tayo’s life before the war and then back to the present. The flash backs represent the non-linear time continuum. Tayo goes through healing with the help of a medicine man, who helps him realize this web of time and understand it better. Tayo also regains his relationship with the land through his relationship with Ts’eh. Tayo learns to see things in terms of the original witchery that started all the evil in the world, and avoid a complete downfall like many other veterans.

Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen

“Pride and Prejudice” was written by Jane Austen, a feminist who chose to never get married and was rather well-off living with her father. The novel is essentially a love story with two extremely unlikely lovers. Elizabeth, the main character, is not of extremely high class in English society, but her mother hopes to marry her off with a rich man to ensure her lifetime security. Her mother’s obsession with marrying off her daughters is important in that it shows that this time did not value marrying for love, but for money. When Elizabeth meets Darcy she thinks he is stuck up and rude, and Darcy does not think much of her either. However, Darcy begins to realize Elizabeth is quite attractive in that she is much unlike other women; she is intelligent, independent, and very real with her feelings. Darcy falls in love with Elizabeth and proposes, however Elizabeth has already heard quite terrible lies about Darcy from the spiteful Wickham. Elizabeth denies the proposal until she finds out the truth about Darcy from people who actually know him. The two fall in love and eventually get married, leaving readers with a “happily ever-after” ending. The title is explained throughout the book with Elizabeth’s prejudice toward Darcy, basing her opinions solely off first impressions and rumors, and Darcy’s pride; he was raised to feel better than those around him, especially those of lower classes. Once the characters overcome these flaws, they are able to shock society and live together happily.

Hamlet- Shakespeare

Hamlet is a Shakespearean revenge tragedy in which Hamlet seeks revenge against his uncle, Claudius, for the murder of his father. His father’s ghost is the one who plants the idea of revenge in Hamlet’s mind, and from then on the play continues with the downfall of nearly all the characters. “Incest” is a major part of the play because Hamlet’s mother’s hasty marriage to his uncle was considered incest in this time. Hamlet is disgusted with his mother. Hamlet’s lover, Ophelia, is ordered by her father Polonius to never speak to Hamlet again, which she agrees to readily. This makes us question how feeble a character Ophelia is, because she seems to be at the whims of others the entire play. Hamlet acts crazy the entire play in order to diffuse any ideas of his seeking revenge against his uncle. The result is that he murders Polonius, his mother drinks poison meant for himself, Claudius, Laertes, and Hamlet are all killed by the same poisoned blade, and Ophelia, mad with grief and pregnancy drowns herself in the river. The end accords with the revenge tragedy, with the blood bath at the end. This play reveals the corruptness of the “state” which is represented by the King and the subsequent betrayals and murders.

Revised posts

(Revised post #1)

1997. Novels and plays often include scenes of weddings, funerals, parties, and other social occasions. Such scenes may reveal the values of the characters and the society in which they live. Select a novel or play that includes such a scene and, in a focused essay, discuss the contribution the scene makes to the meaning of the work as a whole. You may choose a work from the list below or another novel or play of literary merit.

While scenes of important events are often used as the climax or turning point in novels, they can also be used to expose the values of characters and their society. In the case of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway attends a party with his rich friends and realizes how much their shallow values contrast with his own. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald effectively uses the scene of a party to demonstrate the superficial morals of the upper class and to reinforce the negative picture of these affluent people.

                When Nick attends this lavish party in New York City, he finds himself more disgusted with these affluent people than ever before. Nick already disapproved of Tom’s affair with Myrtle, and was truly unhappy to find himself in the company of more people quite like them. Nick describes that he had been “drunk just twice in my life,” the second being at the party: reflecting that drinking and alcohol is one of the many shallow values of this upper class Nick is associating himself with. As the party goes on, Nick finds himself feeling utter disdain for these people and their talk of the meaninglessness of marriage, learning that many couples at the party cannot stand their significant others. The values of these people clash violently with the more traditional values Nick holds and makes a statement about this class in general and the shallow values they possess.

            F. Scott Fitzgerald effectively uses this party scene to convey the superficial life of the upper class. Fitzgerald points out adultery among the upper class when the party is held at the house of Tom’s lover. This detail shows the loss of value of marriage and the acceptability of disloyalty among this class. The details of the pointless conversation and excessive drinking further support the negative picture of the upper class that Fitzgerald is portraying in the novel. Collectively, the party scene sums up the message of the novel. Fitzgerald incorporates adultery, alcohol, violence, and superfluity into one scene and contrasts it with the unhappy party goer: Nick Carraway. This scene contributes to the work as a whole by making the reader feel the same disgust that Nick feels, and enabling the reader to see the upper class the way Fitzgerald is intending- as superficial and shallow people with little regards for anyone but themselves.

            A major theme in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is that the “new money” is shallow and inconsiderate, and Fitzgerald cements this theme with the party scene.. The scene demonstrates the most important values of these affluent people and how they contrast dramatically with someone from outside the social circle. Fitzgerald uses this scene to summarize the shallow values of the upper class and to make the reader feel the same disdain he does towards the people.

(Revised post #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 end of a piece of literature is crucial in that it leaves the reader with thoughts to ponder, unanswered questions to obsess over, or something conclusive to tie up the work. In Albee’s “The American Dream”, he leaves readers wondering what the future holds for the strange family that cannot seem to reach their desired “satisfaction”. In “The American Dream” by Edward Albee, an inconclusive ending leaves questions unanswered and readers thinking about the materialistic values of their society.

            The end of Albee’s play concludes in a seemingly odd place that does not leave readers with a resolution but instead some ideas to think about. The play ends in an odd place because the Young Man has just been introduced as a very deep and troubled character. In the Young Man’s long monologue towards the end, he explains that he “can feel nothing” and he is only what you see and “will always be thus.”  Through this character, Albee is making a statement about the new “American Dream” and how it is shallow and superficial. Although the Young Man’s character answers some questions about the mutilated child of Mommy and Daddy, it also poses new questions that are not answered. Will Mommy and Daddy find imperfections in the Young Man and treat him as they did his twin? Have Mommy and Daddy finally achieved the satisfaction they were constantly pursuing? Grandma concludes the work by saying “Let’s leave things as they are right now...while everybody’s got what he wants…or everybody’s got what he thinks he wants.” This explains that the play will be ended at this point where it appears that everyone is happy and makes the reader wonder how long this happiness will last and what will become of the strange family.

            The inconclusive ending of Albee’s play is appropriate because it contributes to the meaning of the play. A motif throughout the work is Mommy and Daddy’s constant pursuit of satisfaction. The two often state that they just “can’t get satisfaction” these days, although are temporarily subdued by consumer purchases such as Mommy’s beige or wheat hat debacle. The syntax Albee uses in the repetition of “satisfaction” shows its importance to the meaning of the work; American society is constantly pursuing material satisfaction but can never be truly satisfied because it is so superficial. The ending of the play therefore contributes to the meaning. While Mommy and Daddy are satisfied at the moment because they’ve got something new and shiny to obsess over, Grandma’s lines make the readers think that this is only temporary and the Young Man will be replaced just like everything else. This also makes readers wonder about society and whether Americans will ever be able to find satisfaction or if they will constantly be in pursuit of such and never truly be satisfied.

            By ending the play in such a way that poses more questions to the readers than are actually answered, Albee effectively ends his play and enforces the meaning of the work. Readers are left to wonder about the family as well as their own values and the values of the American society they live in. This ending may trigger readers to think introspectively and reevaluate their lifestyles.

(Revised post #3)

1995. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Choose a novel or a play in which such a character plays a significant role and show how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's assumptions or moral values.

Women have long been held to a certain standard by men- expected to stay in the subordinate domestic sphere, take care of the family, all the while maintaining their virture and perfection. In Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Tess struggles to overcome the subordinate position placed upon her by the traditions of society and often feels isolated because of her failure to meet men’s expectations. Hardy’s novel, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, isolates Tess in order to highlight society’s impossibly high expectations of women in 19th century England.

One aspect of society that Hardy demonstrates in the novel is the expectation of women to get married and fulfill the traditionally female roles in the home. He does so with Tess’s parents, Joan and John Durbeyfield. These characters are constantly pushing Tess to get married, not for love but to live up to society’s standards. Initially, the Durbeyfields send Tess off to a distant town in hopes of finding her a potential suitor. Joan and John do not worry about Tess’s safety or desires for her own future, just that she will soon be a traditional wife. Tess feels alienated when she fails to meet these expectations because her lover, Angel, leaves her. Tess’s mother is not upset over Tess’s heartbreak, but instead worries about how disappointed her father will be when he finds out. Tess is not physically alienated, but feels very isolated in her own mind. She feels that she has failed those close to her and that she does not deserve to be happy.

Hardy further demonstrates 19th century England’s moral values and assumptions through Tess’s loss of innocence and lack of virtue. Tess loses her virtue at a young age, when she is raped by Alec d’Urberville. Tess feels shame as she stays in to take care of her child, and feels even more isolated when her child dies. The child is only there for a very short part of the novel, and serves merely to alienate Tess from the normal life she once lived. The moral values of the society are demonstrated through Angel’s abandonment of Tess when she comes clean about her loss of virtue. This shows the double standard of men and women in this society because Tess is punished for something that is of no fault of her own, while Angel does not think twice about asking another farm girl, Izz, to accompany him on his travels. Angel knows it is wrong but never compares his wrong actions to Tess’s innocent mistake. Tess feels completely alone, having failed both Angel and her family. She demonstrates her feeling of worthlessness by stating that she’s rather die than to live her unworthy life. Tess constantly at the mercy of the desires of the male characters in the novel shows women’s subordinate position and reliance on men in this society.

In Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Hardy demonstrates 19th century England’s expectations and assumptions of women through Tess’s struggle to get married and to please her male counterparts. Hardy alienates Tess with her failure to achieve these expectations and her constant feeling of inadequateness.

(Revised post #4)

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.

This day in age, people like to pretend stereotypes don’t exist; that society has erased these evil judgements.  However, in literature stereotypes are not ignored, but can be used to portray a message. In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, he uses  typical stereotypes of both Jim and Huck in order to convey a message. By using stereotypical characters in his novel, Twain effectively sends an opinionated message that slavery may be over, but african americans are still treated no differently than they were while slavery was legal.

Although Twain wrote the novel several years after slavery was abolished, he set the story in an earlier time when slavery still existed. By doing this, Twain shows how minutely the situation has changed for slaves, and the inequality of the world they still lived in. Jim and Huck are extremely stereotypical. Jim, an escaped slave, is characterized as the typical slave: separated from his family and in desperate need of escape and salvation in the north. Huck is a young white boy who comes from a low level of society because he has been abandoned, and therefore is not as well-behaved as other boys of his age. Throughout the novel, other stereotypes are used, such as those of the affluent whites and racists. By using these stereotypes, Twain sets up the novel to make a statement that, although years have passed since slavery existed, the life of many blacks have not changed. Readers of the time would be able to assess their current situation in comparison to this novel, and probably not find many differences.

Despite the stereotypical characters, the friendship between Jim and Huck is not typical of the times. Through their adventures together, Jim and Huck form a bond that is not often seen between a black slave and a white boy. By the end of the novel, readers may believe that Huck has learned a valuable lesson and has rethought his judgment of blacks because of his newfound friendship. However, readers must keep in mind that Huck is young and probably does not see all blacks the way he sees his friend Jim. Huck may have befriended one black man, but that doesn’t mean he is stripped of the racism he has grown up with. This situation can be compared to the actual status of slavery when the book was published. Although some may have thought everything was different because the slaves were free, the reality was that hardly anything had changed.

Twain uses stereotypical characters of Jim and Huck, as well as others, in order to make a statement about  the unchanged status of slavery in the United States. Many situations of the novel can be compared with real life and make readers rethink the status of African Americans in society.