Bildungs roman- coming of age novel; protagonist comes to learn who they are (identity plot)
ID plot has 5 major elements:
- Narrative revoles around the question of how to define and understand a character identity
- The character must be a member of a minority within a larger society
- The character is at odds with the minority group which he/she is a part of
- The character needs to be conflicted about his/her difference from the majority about his/her differences from the minority
- Authenticity and origin are always at stake in the character's quest for personal identity, even when these are absent, their absence alone signifies something crucial to the character's identity
Variations:
- Character may seem to be a member of the majority group -Character is not conflicted about membership to a minority group (will or won't betray the group)
- Characters resist having an identity that is stable
- May be multiple people whose identities are at stake
- Variations of fiction based on fact
- Identity is not based on race of ethnicity
- personal differences
Monday, November 21, 2011
"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Plot:
- Pelayo discovers a dirty man in the mud with large wings
- The man and his wife place the winged man in chicken coop to be shown off
- A neighbor informed them that the man is an angel and has come for their sick child
- In the end, the man regains his strength and leaves the house
Characters:
- Old Man/ Angel
- Pelayo- Father
- Elisenda- Mother
- Father Gonzaga- Priest who is unsure if the man is an angel but investigates whether or not he is
- Neighbor woman- Tells Pelayo and Elisenda that the man is an angel and he has come to take away their sick child
- The Spider Girl- Steals thunder from winged man, turned into a spider because she snuck out of her house
Theory 1:
- Marques is discussing the topic of human nature: our own nature and how we tend to react to life's miracles
Theory 2:
- This is a simple story of a fallen angle that is completely open to interpretation
- Wings symbolize freedom
- Pelayo discovers a dirty man in the mud with large wings
- The man and his wife place the winged man in chicken coop to be shown off
- A neighbor informed them that the man is an angel and has come for their sick child
- In the end, the man regains his strength and leaves the house
Characters:
- Old Man/ Angel
- Pelayo- Father
- Elisenda- Mother
- Father Gonzaga- Priest who is unsure if the man is an angel but investigates whether or not he is
- Neighbor woman- Tells Pelayo and Elisenda that the man is an angel and he has come to take away their sick child
- The Spider Girl- Steals thunder from winged man, turned into a spider because she snuck out of her house
Theory 1:
- Marques is discussing the topic of human nature: our own nature and how we tend to react to life's miracles
Theory 2:
- This is a simple story of a fallen angle that is completely open to interpretation
- Wings symbolize freedom
"The Yellow Woman" Leslie Marmon Silko
Laguna Pueblo Culture
- Oral storytelling
- TYW was the focus of female fantasy stories
- Both heroic and sexual, TYW protects the Pueblos
- YW tales embody both male and female qualities: aggressive sexuality (male) and traditional object of female desire
- A woman courageous in the service of her people and usually achieving success through sexuality rather than destruction
Theory 1: Independence
- TYW often lives on her own away from the village and behaves differently than the norm
- This shows how Silko's life may have been; her family lived on the outside of their reservations and therefore were excluded from Pueblo rituals
Theory 2: Illustration of TYW
- Female liberation
- Independence, sexual freedom,and heroism
- TYW has the power which physical sensations and desire have to blot out the thought of home, family, and responsibilities
- Oral storytelling
- TYW was the focus of female fantasy stories
- Both heroic and sexual, TYW protects the Pueblos
- YW tales embody both male and female qualities: aggressive sexuality (male) and traditional object of female desire
- A woman courageous in the service of her people and usually achieving success through sexuality rather than destruction
Theory 1: Independence
- TYW often lives on her own away from the village and behaves differently than the norm
- This shows how Silko's life may have been; her family lived on the outside of their reservations and therefore were excluded from Pueblo rituals
Theory 2: Illustration of TYW
- Female liberation
- Independence, sexual freedom,and heroism
- TYW has the power which physical sensations and desire have to blot out the thought of home, family, and responsibilities
"Things Fall Apart" Chinua Achebe
Achebe
- Born in 1930 in Ogidi, Nigeria
- Christian upbringing
- Multicultural Background
Igbo Culture
- Southeastern Nigeria
- Igbo vocab in text
- "agbala"= "woman" or "man with no titles"
- "Umuofia kwenu"= "United Umuofia"
- "osugo"= "low status person"
- "enzinma"= "true beauty"
Characters:
- Okonkwo- central character
- Unoka- Okonkwo's father
- Nwoye- OK's oldest son, son of his first wife
- Ikemefuna- OK's "adopted" son
- Ekwefi- OK's second and probably favorite wife out of the three
- Ezinma- OK's daughter, daughter of Ekwefi
- Nwakibie- an elder who gives OK his first yam seeds to start his life
- Obieka- OK's best friend but polar opposite
- Ezeuda- an elder who gives OK advice about Ikemefuma
- Uchendu- OK's uncle
- Mr. Brown- British missionary
- Rev. Mr. Smith- a British government official and judge
Division of parts (setting)
- Umuofia: things in place, with OK as representative of his culture
- Mbanta: things out of place, with OK in exile
- Umuofia: things begin to fall apart
- Born in 1930 in Ogidi, Nigeria
- Christian upbringing
- Multicultural Background
Igbo Culture
- Southeastern Nigeria
- Igbo vocab in text
- "agbala"= "woman" or "man with no titles"
- "Umuofia kwenu"= "United Umuofia"
- "osugo"= "low status person"
- "enzinma"= "true beauty"
Characters:
- Okonkwo- central character
- Unoka- Okonkwo's father
- Nwoye- OK's oldest son, son of his first wife
- Ikemefuna- OK's "adopted" son
- Ekwefi- OK's second and probably favorite wife out of the three
- Ezinma- OK's daughter, daughter of Ekwefi
- Nwakibie- an elder who gives OK his first yam seeds to start his life
- Obieka- OK's best friend but polar opposite
- Ezeuda- an elder who gives OK advice about Ikemefuma
- Uchendu- OK's uncle
- Mr. Brown- British missionary
- Rev. Mr. Smith- a British government official and judge
Division of parts (setting)
- Umuofia: things in place, with OK as representative of his culture
- Mbanta: things out of place, with OK in exile
- Umuofia: things begin to fall apart
"The Guest" Albert Camus
Albert Camus
- 1913-1962
- Born in Mondovi, Algeria
- Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957
"The Guest"
- Takes place on the eve of the Algerian war
- Depicts Daru's struggle with what's morally right
- Daru treats the Arab as a guest, but my choose his fate of being set free or being sent to prison
- When given the choice, the Arab chooses prison
Theory 1:
- Because of differing cultures, the characters have different views on crime
- Each character has their own moral code; Arab is not a hostile murderous person, Daru treats him as a guest not a criminal
- Daru cannot send the man to prison because of his moral code, so he leaves the decision up to him.
- The Arab's moral code leaves him with no option to go to prison
Theory 2:
- The Arab never runs even though he knows he is being transported to prison
- The Arab wants Daru to come to his trial to stand up for him
- Due to Daru's hospitality, the Arab cannot take the thought of his host being punished if he gets free, so he proceeds to prison
- Irony in the title (guests are treated well)
- Compares colonized and colonizers
- 1913-1962
- Born in Mondovi, Algeria
- Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957
"The Guest"
- Takes place on the eve of the Algerian war
- Depicts Daru's struggle with what's morally right
- Daru treats the Arab as a guest, but my choose his fate of being set free or being sent to prison
- When given the choice, the Arab chooses prison
Theory 1:
- Because of differing cultures, the characters have different views on crime
- Each character has their own moral code; Arab is not a hostile murderous person, Daru treats him as a guest not a criminal
- Daru cannot send the man to prison because of his moral code, so he leaves the decision up to him.
- The Arab's moral code leaves him with no option to go to prison
Theory 2:
- The Arab never runs even though he knows he is being transported to prison
- The Arab wants Daru to come to his trial to stand up for him
- Due to Daru's hospitality, the Arab cannot take the thought of his host being punished if he gets free, so he proceeds to prison
- Irony in the title (guests are treated well)
- Compares colonized and colonizers
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Essay Help!
Parent/Child Relationships: "The Shawl"(Rosa & Magda) and "The Metamorphosis" (Gregor & family)
Gender Conflicts: "Child's Play" (growing into adulthood) and "Doll House" (roles of men & women)
Love and Relationships: "Doll House" (Helmer & Nora) and "The Dead" (Gretta's love for Michael and Gabe)
Revenge and Honor: "Child's Play" (inevitable growth into "traditions")
Power/Powerlessness: "Ladies and Gentlemen" (Jews & Nazis) and "The Fly" (the fly and the boss) and "Dolls House" (Helmer & Nora)
Death/Mortality: "Ladies/Gentlemen," "The Dead,"(death of love and marriage) and "The Fly"(death of fly, son, 'boss')
Changing Traditions: "Dolls House,"(Nora leaving) and "The Metamorphosis"(Gregor's family fending for themselves)
Gender Conflicts: "Child's Play" (growing into adulthood) and "Doll House" (roles of men & women)
Love and Relationships: "Doll House" (Helmer & Nora) and "The Dead" (Gretta's love for Michael and Gabe)
Revenge and Honor: "Child's Play" (inevitable growth into "traditions")
Power/Powerlessness: "Ladies and Gentlemen" (Jews & Nazis) and "The Fly" (the fly and the boss) and "Dolls House" (Helmer & Nora)
Death/Mortality: "Ladies/Gentlemen," "The Dead,"(death of love and marriage) and "The Fly"(death of fly, son, 'boss')
Changing Traditions: "Dolls House,"(Nora leaving) and "The Metamorphosis"(Gregor's family fending for themselves)
Mansfield's "The Fly"
A boss and an old man spend some time together and the boss's son who died in WWI is brought up.
The boss tries to resurface old feelings of anger and guilt but he can't; he tries to cry but he is unable.
He sees a fly drowning in ink and saves it once yet continues to drop ink on it until it dies.
After all of this he cannot remember "for the life of [him]" what he was thinking about.
Theory:
The fly is the son and the boss is inevitable fate at war
The boss is unable to cry because of his anger and past draining emotions. He is lost
Woodfield (old man) is a reminder of the past
Themes:
You shouldn't forget what is lost.
Some one can only take so much struggling until they can't go on
Power vs. Powerlessness
-The boss
-The people
-will & determination; fate & death
The boss tries to resurface old feelings of anger and guilt but he can't; he tries to cry but he is unable.
He sees a fly drowning in ink and saves it once yet continues to drop ink on it until it dies.
After all of this he cannot remember "for the life of [him]" what he was thinking about.
Theory:
The fly is the son and the boss is inevitable fate at war
The boss is unable to cry because of his anger and past draining emotions. He is lost
Woodfield (old man) is a reminder of the past
Themes:
You shouldn't forget what is lost.
Some one can only take so much struggling until they can't go on
Power vs. Powerlessness
-The boss
-The people
-will & determination; fate & death
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