MidtermStudyGuide
From Copelco
Terms
Formalism
- Originated in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the 1920s. Focuses on formal patterns and literary devices at the exclusion of its subject matter.
Canon
- The literary canon designates those authors who have come to be recognized as "major" and to have written works often hailed as literary "classics". The canon is the product of wavering unofficial consensus and is subject to changes in its inclusions.
Literature
New Historicism
- Since 1980s, opposes formalism, attends to historical and cultural conditions of the texts production, its meanings and its effects.
Epiphany
- Sudden illumination of the significance or true meaning of a person
Post-Colonial Theory
- Critical analysis of the history, culture, literature, and modes of discourse to former colonies of European imperial powers. Rejection of the master narrative of western imperalism. Language is always an issue.
Magical Realism
- A narrative technique where writers imagine and present in combination the ordinary life and the fabulous landscape and history of Latin America.
- Gabriel Garía Márquez
Reader-Response Theory
- Practice of analyzing a literary work by describing what happens in the readers mind as he or she assimilates the text.
- Popular in 70s and 80s.
- No two readers are alike, no single fixed interpretation of any literary work.
New Critics
- New criticism focuses on the “importance of focusing on the text itself rather than being concerned with external biographical or social considerations.” (Oxford 2000). New criticism can be analyzed and discussed on it’s own, with no need for extra information. For example, when analyzing a poem, one is said to “concentrate upon the poem as poem; study the words on the page” and “to be read and analyzed ‘in itself ’; criticism that contained references to the author’s intention or the poem’s ‘affects’ in the reader is illegitimate.” (Hawthorn 1998).
Feminist Approaches to Literature
- Three common assumptions:
- Western civilization is perversely patriarchal
- Gender is a cultural construct
- Literature of the past is written by men and for men
Black Arts Movement
- African american writes whose work was shaped by the social turbulence of the 1960s. The literary movement was associated with the black power movement and representatives of the black arts put their literary writings at the service of black power social and political aims.
Realism
- Literature that seeks to present life that is lived by real people without moral agenda.
Colonization
Passage Identification
1892 - The Yellow Wallpaper
Charlotte Perkins Gilman [1890--1935]
Born in Connecticut, became concerned with issues of social inequality and the circumscribed role of of women, studied design, worked briefly as commercial artist and teacher, suffered from severe depression, divorced and remarried, afflicted by cancer, she took her own life.
Summary
The narrator and her physician husband, John, have rented a mansion for the summer so she can recuperate from neurasthenia. She rests in a former nursery room and is forbidden from working or writing. The spacious, sunlit room has yellow wallpaper‹stripped off in two places‹with a hideous, chaotic pattern. Two weeks later, the narrator's condition worsens; fortunately, their nanny, Mary, can take care of their baby, and John's sister, Jennie, is a perfect housekeeper. The narrator's irritation with the wallpaper grows; it sometimes looks like a figure is stuck in the pattern.
The narrator grows more anxious and depressed. The wallpaper provides her only stimulation as she studies its confusing patterns. The image of a woman stooping down and "creeping" (crawling) around clarifies each day. John denies the narrator's request to leave the house, and she does not open up to him about the wallpaper. By moonlight, she can see very clearly in the wallpaper the figure of a woman behind bars. The narrator grows paranoid that John and Jennie are interested in the wallpaper, too.
The narrator's health improves as her interest in the wallpaper deepens. She thinks the "yellow smell" of the wallpaper has spread over the house. At night, the woman‹or possibly many women‹in the wallpaper shakes the bars in the pattern as she tries to break through them. But the pattern has strangled the heads of many women who have tried to get through. The narrator believes she has seen the woman creeping about outside surreptitiously in the sunlight. The narrator intends to peel off the wallpaper before she leaves the house in two days.
At night, the narrator helps the shaking woman in the wallpaper by peeling off the wallpaper halfway around the room. The next day, Jennie is mildly shocked, but understands the desire to peel off the ugly wallpaper. The next night, the narrator locks her room and continues stripping the wallpaper. She hears shrieks within the wallpaper as she tears it off. She contemplates jumping out of a window, but the bars prevent that; besides, many women creep about outside. The narrator creeps around the room. John eventually gets into the room. The narrator tells him she has peeled off most of the wallpaper, and now no one can put her back inside. John faints, and the narrator continues creeping around the room over him.
1894 - The Story of an Hour
Summary
This short story is about an hour in the life of the main character, Mrs. Millard. She is afflicted with a heart problem. Bad news has come about that her husband has died in a train accident. Her sister Josephine and Richard who is her husband's friend has to break the horrifying news to her as gently as possible. They both were concerned that the news might somehow put her in great danger with her health. Ironically, Mrs. Millard reacts to the news with excitement. Even though the news is heartbreaking she is finally free from the depressing life she was living. She keeps whispering "Free! Body and soul free!". She now is happy because she doesn't have to live for anyone but herself now. At the end of the story, Mr. Millard opens the door and is surprised by Josephine's cry. Mr. Millard didn't have a faintest idea about the accident. With a quick motion, Richard tried to block Mr. Millard's view of his wife but it was too late. The doctors said she died of a heart disease. The story ends with a short phrase "of joy that kills".
Kate Chopin [1851--1904]
Raised by her mother after her father passed away, sent to catholic school, married New Orelans cotton broker, moved to a plantation in northern LA until her husband passed away, moved back to St. Louis with her six children and became a writer.
1899 - The Awakening
- Kate Chopin
- Shocking in its time for its frank portrayal of adultery, but widely praised today for its sensitive portrayal of a women's need for independence and sensual fulfillment.
- [Short Summary]
1899 - The Lady with the Dog
Summary
A forty-year-old man named Dmitri Gurov is intrigued by a young woman walking along the sea front of Yalta with her small Pomeranian dog. Dmitri dislikes his shrewish and intelligent wife and, as a result, has numerous love affairs. Although the protagonist disparages women and calls them "the lower race," he secretly acknowledges that he is more at ease in their company than in men's. One day, "the lady with the dog" sits down next to Dmitri to eat in the public gardens. The man pets her dog in order to strike up a conversation. He learns that she is called Anna Sergeyevna, that she is married, and that she has come to Yalta on vacation. Over the next week, Anna and Dmitri see a lot of each other and grow close. The older man is intrigued by the exuberant naïveté of his young partner, yet he also recognizes a trace of sadness in her character. In contrast to the elder women with whom he used to have affairs and who would occasionally display a "rapacious expression" on their beautiful faces, Anna excites Dmitri's desire with her fresh and unaffected nature. In particular, he is drawn by her "diffidence, the angularity of inexperienced youth" that reminds him of his daughter. Every evening the couple observes the sunset from the vantage point over Yalta at Oreanda and are impressed anew by the "beautiful and majestic" scenery. The only things that mar Anna's happiness is the thought that her husband, Von Diderits, will send for her and her fear that she has lost Dmitri's respect by sleeping with him. In the end, Von Diderits sends Anna a letter urging her return, and she leaves Dmitri with something like relief. When parting with Dmitri, Anna states, "It's a good thing I am going away … It's fate itself!"
The action switches to describe Dmitri's daily routine in Moscow: visiting his clubs, reading newspapers, and working at his bank. Dmitri believes that his memories of Anna will soon wane and that he can continue his everyday routine in peace and satisfaction. However, this does not happen, and soon the protagonist grows to despise the "useless pursuits and conversations" with which he is surrounded. Consequently, Dmitri resovles to visit Anna in her unspecified hometown. The protagonist takes the train to "S—-" and arrives only to pace in front of the Von Diderits' residence, futilely hoping that Anna will emerge and speak with him. When this does not happen, Dmitri decides to go to the theater that evening to see a production of the operetta "The Geisha," hoping his lover will also attend. Sure enough, the protagonist sees Anna in the audience watching the show with her obsequious and insincere-looking husband. When Von Diderits leaves the theater to smoke during the interval, Dmitri approaches Anna and confesses his love for her. The young woman tells Dmitri that she has missed him but also berates him for coming to see her. The lovers decide that Anna will visit Dmitri in Moscow, on the excuse that she has to see a gynecologist.
The story concludes with a description of Anna's visits to Moscow and the unbearable strain she feels living this lie. Although Dmitri is perfectly happy with the way things have worked out, he does admit to feeling disconcerted about the implications of falling in love for the first time. He criticizes himself for being an aging, graying old man who seduced women by pretending to be someone he was not. Dmitri comforts Anna as best he can, but he knows that there will be a long way to go before they can be freed from their "intolerable bonds" and live together openly.
Anton Chekhov [1860--1904]
Born in souther Russia, received medical degree from Moscow University, Russia's most famous playright, known for his sad a subtle exploration of people's inability to communicate.
1914 - Araby
Summary
he nameless narrator of the story talks about life on North Richmond Street. The former tenant of their apartment was a priest who died. Some books have been left behind, and the young boy narrator sometimes looks at them. He is raised by his aunt and uncle. One of his playmates is a boy named Mangan, and the narrator develops a crush on his friend Mangan's sister. Mangan and his sister live in a building across the street. The narrator watches her stealthily, waiting for her to leave in the mornings so that he can follow her on part of his way to school.
One day, the girl finally speaks to him, to ask if he will go to Araby. Araby is the name of an upcoming bazaar with an Arabian theme. She can't go, because she is going on a religious retreat that weekend. The narrator, full of romantic notions, says that he will go and find some kind of gift for her.
The boy can think of little but the girl, the Orientalist bazaar, and the gift he will get for her. He gets permission to go, and for days he cannot concentrate. The day finally arrives, and the boy reminds his uncle that he wishes to go to the bazaar that night. His uncle will have to get home on time to give him the money for a ride to the bazaar, as well as a bit of spending money.
That night, his uncle is late. The boy despairs of being able to go at all, but finally his uncle comes home. His uncle has forgotten about the bazaar, and by now it is quite late. But the boy still wants to go, and he takes the small sum of money for the train and heads off.
He arrives at the bazaar just as it is closing. Only a few stalls are open. He examines the goods, but they are far too expensive for him. The lights are being shut off, and the narrator despairs: "Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger."
James Joyce [1882--1941]]
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Jesuit educated in prep for priesthood, abandoned Catholicism, moved to Paris, supported his family by teaching languages and sining, fell victim to glaucoma, because of controversy surrounding his work, Joyce earned little in Royalties and often had to rely on friends for support, died after surgery for a perforated ulcer.
1915 - The Metamorphosis
Summary
Gregor Samsa wakes up to find that he has been transformed into a giant insect. Gregor briefly examines his new body, but wonders only momentarily about what has happened to him. His attention quickly switches to observing his room, which he finds very ordinary but a bit small, and a framed magazine clipping of a woman in fur hanging up on the wall. Since he can't turn on his side, Gregor cannot fall asleep, so instead he begins thinking about his job. He is a traveling salesman, and he hates traveling because he dislikes worrying and getting up early. Gregor's chief at work is extremely tyrannical, and Gregor wants to quit the job but cannot do so until he has paid off the debts that his parents owe the chief.
Gregor wants to get up to go to work, but suddenly realizes that he is already late and must have missed the alarm. He can't call in sick because he has not missed a day of work in five years and it would look suspicious. Gregor's mother calls to him, and he answers her, noticing that his voice is changing. Gregor's father and Grete, his sister, realize that he is still at home and try to enter his room, but he has locked his doors and they can't get in. Gregor attempts to get out of bed, but finds this very difficult. He realizes that he is now very late, and lies back hoping that some clear thinking will resolve the situation. Suddenly the doorbell rings and the chief clerk comes into the apartment. Angry that his firm sends the chief clerk himself if he is only a little late, Gregor finally swings himself out of bed.
As the family entreats Gregor to open the door, he refuses. Mrs. Samsa insists that Gregor must be ill or he would not be acting like this. The chief clerk loses his temper and tells Gregor that he is shocked by his attitude, insisting that his position in the company is not unassailable because his work has been poor lately. Gregor is angered by this speech, and insists that he is simply feeling slightly indisposed but will soon return to work. He retorts that his business has not been bad lately. Because of the changes in Gregor's voice, no one outside understands a word he says. Fearing he is ill, his parents send Grete and the servant girl to get the doctor and the locksmith. With great difficulty Gregor manages to open the door by himself.
Seeing Gregor, the chief clerk backs away while his father begins to weep. Gregor begs the chief clerk to explain the situation at the office and to stand up for him. He says that he will gladly come back to work and asks the chief clerk not to leave without agreeing with him. Gregor tries to stop the clerk so as to keep him from leaving with such a negative view of things, but then his mother, backing away, knocks over a coffee pot, causing a commotion and giving the chief clerk an opportunity to get away. Gregor's father picks up a walking stick to drive Gregor back into his room. Gregor gets stuck in the doorway, and his father shoves him through, injuring him in the process, and slams the door behind him.
Gregor wakes up at twilight and smells food. He realizes that his sister had brought him milk with bread in it. Gregor attempts to drink the milk, but finds that he is repulsed by the taste. Gregor notices that his father is not reading the paper to the family as he usually does and there is complete silence in the apartment. He wants someone to come in his room, but the doors are locked from the outside and no one will enter. Gregor climbs under the couch, where he feels more comfortable, and decides that he has to help his family through this difficult situation. Gregor's sister brings him a variety of foods in order to determine what he will eat. She throws away everything he doesn't finish, even if he hasn't touched it. Gregor hides under the couch to protect Grete from having to see him.
Assuming that Gregor can't understand anything, no one talks to him directly, so he learns what is happening by listening to their conversations through the door. He finds out that the family has money saved from his father's business, which had collapsed five year ago. Gregor had not known about this money, and when his father's business fell apart, he had thrown himself into his work in order to provide for his family. The family's initial excitement of receiving his earnings had worn off, however, and he remained intimate only with Grete, whom he had wanted to send to the Conservatory to study the violin.
Gregor watches his movements carefully, since any noise he makes distracts his family. He learns from their conversations that in addition to money from the business, the family has also saved money from his salary, but it isn't enough to live off of for very long. Gregor feels deep shame every time money is mentioned. He finds that his vision is getting worse, so that he can no longer see across the street. Every time Grete walks into the room, she runs to open the window, which bothers Gregor. Realizing that his sister is uncomfortable in his presence, Gregor figures out a way to cover himself with a sheet to keep out of sight. Gregor's parents never come into his room, and when his mother begs to see her son, the others hold her back.
Gregor discovers that he enjoys climbing the walls and the ceiling. Noticing this, his sister decides to give him more space by clearing the furniture from his room, and she asks her mother to help. Gregor's mother says that this will make it look like they are giving up on Gregor's recovery, but Grete disagrees. Hearing his mother's voice, Gregor realizes the importance of the furniture to him. The noise that the women make upsets him, and he decides to come out of hiding to save the framed picture on the wall from being taken. Seeing him, his mother faints and Grete runs out of the room for medicine to revive her with. Gregor follows and when his sister sees him she runs into his room and slams the door, trapping Gregor outside. His father arrives to find him out of his room and begins throwing apples at him. One of these lodges itself in Gregor's back, almost crippling him. As he loses consciousness, his mother begs her husband to spare her son's life.
Gregor's injury makes the family decide to be more accepting of him, and they leave his door open so he can watch them. They are very quiet most of the time and extremely tired from the jobs they have taken. No one bothers with Gregor too much. They have replaced the servant girl with a charwoman. Gregor, lying in his room, resorts to his memory. The family considers moving, but can't because they don't know how to move Gregor. He becomes angry that he is being neglected. Grete barely cleans his room and doesn't bother very much with his food anymore. When his mother tries to clean the room in Grete's absence, this triggers a family fight.
The charwoman, discovering Gregor, is not repulsed but rather spends her time teasing him, which annoys him to no end. Three lodgers have moved into the apartment, and the excess furniture, as well as all superfluous junk, is moved into Gregor's room so that he barely has room to move. He also stops eating almost entirely. The door to his room is now usually kept closed because of the lodgers, but Gregor doesn't care any more and often ignores it even when it's open.
The lodgers, who are domineering and receive too much service and respect from Gregor's parents, ask Grete to play the violin in the living room when they hear her practicing. She begins to play, but the lodgers are soon tired of this and move away to show that they are disappointed with her playing. Gregor, however, is drawn to the music and crawls out of his room to get closer, dreaming of getting Grete to play for him in his room and of telling her about his plans to send her to the Conservatory. The lodgers suddenly notice Gregor and give notice immediately, saying they will not pay for the time they have lived there.
Grete steps forward and tells her parents that they have to get rid of Gregor. He is persecuting them and trying to drive them out of the apartment and, if he really were Gregor, he would have left of his own accord and let them live their lives in peace. Suddenly realizing that he feels only love and tenderness for his family, Gregor understands that his sister is right and he should disappear. He returns to his room, waits until sunrise, and dies.
Gregor's family is happy, but they also mourn his passing. Mr. Samsa instantly kicks the lodgers out and the family decides to take the day off from work and go for a stroll. They feel relieved and the future seems bright to them. The parents notice that their daughter has grown up and decide that it is time to find her a husband. At the end of their trip, she is the first to stand up and stretch.
Franz Kafka
Born in Prague, studied law, worked slowly so he couldn't earn enough money as a writer, he passed away with little published and his friend published everything for him.
1927 - Hills Like White Elephants
Summary
In the early 1920s, an American man and a girl, probably nineteen or twenty years old, are waiting at a Spanish railway station for the express train that will take them to Madrid. They drink beer as well as two licorice-tasting anis drinks, and finally more beer, sitting in the hot shade and discussing what the American man says will be “a simple operation” for the girl.
The tension between the two is almost as sizzling as the heat of the Spanish sun. The man, while urging the girl to have the operation, says again and again that he really doesn’t want her to do it if she really doesn’t want to. However, he clearly is insisting that she do so. The girl is trying to be brave and nonchalant but is clearly frightened of committing herself to having the operation. She tosses out a conversational, fanciful figure of speech—noting that the hills beyond the train station “look like white elephants”—hoping that the figure of speech will please the man, but he resents her ploy. He insists on talking even more about the operation and the fact that, according to what he’s heard, it’s “natural” and “not really an operation at all.”
Finally, the express train arrives and the two prepare to board. The girl tells the man that she’s “fine.” She’s lying, acquiescing to what he wants, hoping to quiet him. Nothing has been solved. The tension remains, coiled and tight, as they prepare to leave for Madrid. The girl is hurt by the man’s fraudulent, patronizing empathy, and she is also deeply apprehensive about the operation that she will undergo in Madrid.
Ernest Hemingway [1899--1961]
1939 - Barn Burning
Summary
"Barn Burning" is a short story by William Faulkner, which appeared in Harper's in 1938. The story deals with class conflicts, the influence of fathers, and vengeance as viewed through the third-person perspective of a young, influential child.
The story opens with Abner Snopes, the father of young Sartoris Snopes, being driven out of town after burning down a neighboring farmer's barn. No palpable proof can point to Abner as the culprit, which allows him to evade the usually severe punishment for such a grave crime. The Snopes family simply moves along to begin life anew, but Abner Snopes cannot seem to control his pyromania and hatred for society. Consequentially, he moves to exact his revenge and assert his superiority at the cost of his current landlord and aristocrat, Major de Spain. Sartoris warns Major de Spain of his father's intentions to burn down his barn, yet flees when he realizes "the white man" was moving to get his gun. Narrowly escaping, the young Sartoris hears the sound of two gun shots perhaps indicating his father's murder and potentially that of his older brother, an accomplice. However, as Faulkner often does, he makes references to the characters in a later work, revealing that neither the father nor the brother were killed by the gunshots. Profoundly affected by his father's legacy, the boy does not return to his family but rather continues on with his life alone.
William Faulkner [1897--1962]
1952 - Battle Royal
Summary
The chapter focuses on a gathering of the town's most influential white citizens held the day after the narrator's graduation. Because of the narrator's well-received oration at graduation, he is asked to repeat his speech at the gathering, which he deems a great honor. Upon arriving at the fancy ballroom, he learns that before his speech he must first participate in the "battle royal" to be fought by several black boys hired for the occasion. The boys are led into the main hall where the narrator is shocked at the drunkenness of many of the town's most respected members. Half naked, the boys are only part of the night's entertainment. Pushed to the front of the hall, they are brought into full view of a naked, blond woman who is expected to dance for the crowd. The incredible humiliation of the scene causes most of the boys to want to run away but they are kept in place as the white men of the group chase the terrified woman around the room. The next event of the night directly involves the narrator and other boys; they are all made to wear blindfolds and enter the boxing ring. Covered in darkness, voices from the smoky room yell jeers and taunts to the boys until they are incited to fight. The fighting becomes hysterical and crazed, though slightly less tortuous for the narrator when he maneuvers his blindfold in such a manner to allow a little vision and more control over his fights. Suddenly, however, he is left in the ring as one of the final two who must fight until one wins. The narrator is mostly concerned that he will not get a chance to relay his speech, finally deciding to just fall to the floor with one of Tatlock's punches. The boys are then taunted one last time when the white men throw gold coins onto a carpet and encourage them to grab for the money. The carpet turns out to be electrified, and a jolt is received by anyone touching a coin. The narrator attempts to grab as many coins as possible without touching the carpet and does so, almost throwing a seated white man onto the carpet by holding onto his chair leg. The narrator is then finally allowed to give his speech during which the men do not even bother to listen. Regardless, the narrator receives a scholarship at the end of the night and is so pleased that he ignores the earlier shame and the voice of his dying grandfather which continues to haunt him in his dreams.
Ralph Ellison [1914--1994]
1961 - I Stand Here Ironing
Summary
The narrator stands working at her ironing board, responding mentally to a request someone (a teacher? a social worker?) makes of her regarding her daughter Emily, "I wish you could manage the time to come in and talk with me . . . She's a youngster who needs help." The woman's thoughts go back to Emily's birth during the Depression when she was only 19, and her thoughts range forward, haltingly, in piecemeal fashion, through her daughter's difficult childhood.
Due to the wages of loss, poverty and dislocation, a wall has grown up between mother and daughter--she has always wanted to love the sickly, awkward, stiff, and isolated girl, but has not been able to penetrate the wall. And then, she recalls, out of nowhere Emily won first prize in her school amateur show. The girl is a natural performer, a wonderful comedienne, who now is in demand throughout the city and state.
Suddenly, Emily appears on the scene. "Aren't you ever going to finish the ironing, mother?" She says that she wants to sleep in the morning, even though this will make her late for mid-term exams. Near the end of the story the narrator imagines telling her interlocutor, "Why were you so concerned? She will find her way." But then she implores, "Only help her to know--help make it so there is cause for her to know--that she is more than this dress on the ironing board, helpless before the iron."
Tillie Olsen [1913]
1961 - A&P
Summary
Sammy, a teenage clerk in an A&P grocery, is working the cash register on a hot summer day when three young women about his age enter, barefoot and clad only in swimsuits, to purchase some herring snacks.
Although they are improperly dressed, Sammy allows the girls to continue shopping while he views them sexually. He repeatedly makes generalizations about the girls based on their physical appearance alone. Lengel, the prudish manager of the store, feels that the girls are not clothed appropriately considering the store's atmosphere. He admonishes them that this isn't the beach and that they must come in properly dressed next time.
Sammy is offended by this mistreatment of these customers' dignity, and as a gesture, ceremoniously removes his store apron and resigns on the spot, despite the mention by the manager of the lengths to which Sammy's father had gone to get him this summer job. Sammy then leaves the store, seemingly in expectation of some display of affection or appreciation from the young women involved, only to find that they've already left, apparently oblivious to his presence. Sammy's disappointment in this development strikes a very typical Updike theme.
John Updike [1932]
1965 - Everything That Rises Must Converge
Summary
The story is told from the perspective of Julian, a recent college graduate who appears to be waiting for employment commensurate with his education; he lives at home with his solicitous widowed mother. The setting is the recently integrated South of the 1960’s. Events unfold during a ride on an integrated bus, in which all of the story’s complex relationships are played out: the vindictive, self-deluding dependency of Julian on his mother; the insightless yet well-intentioned doting of his mother, who is tied to the societal conventions in which she was raised; the condescension of "enlightened" whites toward blacks; the resentment of blacks toward well-meaning whites- all depicted with great skill and humor.
The crisis occurs in a confrontation between Julian’s mother and a black woman wearing the same hat, when the mother tries to give a penny to her counterpart’s child. In the incident, Julian’s mother suffers a stroke to which Julian is at first oblivious, being so consumed with fury at his mother’s (to him inappropriate) gesture to the child. When he realizes how disabled his mother is, Julian is overwhelmed with grief and fear; the extent of his self-deception is fully confirmed.
