Terms!

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

"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

"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

"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

"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

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)

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

Kafka's "The Metamorphisis"

Gregor is a young hardworking business man who brings home the money and provides for his mother, father, and sister. One morning Gregor wakes up and he has suddenly transformed into a bug of some sort. After his transformation, no one pays him any attention other than his sister and that is only to feed him. Over time everyone forgets about Gregor and pays him no attention; he just stays locked inside of his room. Gregor's family is not even concerned with the fact that their son has become a bug. The only thing that concerns them is that they now must go out and get jobs and support themselves. As Gregor's neglect continues he begins to deteriorate. He is no longer fed and trash is thrown into his room. Ultimately Gregor's family decides he is not their son and he is not needed. Gregor dies from his hunger and from a broom beating from the house maid. After his death, his family continues on with their lives as though nothing happened.

Theme: One major theme of this story is to not let others walk all over you. People need love and nourishment to carry on living

The irony of the story is Gregor's family was the pests living off of him and now that he is actually a bug they want nothing to do with him and don't even consider him family.

James Joyce's "The Dead"

Overview

"The Dead" is about a young man named Gabriel who attends a Christmas dinner party with his wife and friends. He must give a dinner speech which he feels he is over qualified for. In the end of the story his wife reveals to him that she is still in love with her childhood sweetheart who in a way died for her. Gabriel knows he has never lived up to this love and quite frankly never live up to it.

Gabriel has an epiphany about his wife being in love with another man that he could never live up to.

Dead= the young boy, death= Gabriel and Gretta's marriage, cold and death jokes, dying= the aunts (old and tired)

Gabe fails to have successful encounters with women
     Miss Ivors and his wife

Setting: Christmas time with loved ones

Significance of snow- New beginnings, the snow covers the past of Michael, the dead lover, but his memory is not forgotten

Terms 3

Character
-a fictional representation of a person
Characterization
-the way writer's develop characters and reveal those character's traits to readers
-can also be revealed in characters thought and actions
Round Characters
-well developed; closely involved in the story
Flat Characters
-barely developed; stereotypes
Dynamic Characters
-grow and develop throughout the story
Static Character
-unchanging characters
Foil
-a supporting character whose role is to highlight a major character by presenting a contrast with him or her
Symbol
-a person, object, action, place, that holds deeper meaning in addition to its literal meaning

Ichiyo's "Child's Play"

Higuchi Ichiyo (1872-1896)

Historical context
-1600-1800s: Japan functioned under military dictatorship
-Edo Period: calm while leading a period of extraordinary expansion in the economy
-Tanka: ancient style of poetry that speaks to the modern soul ( written for special occasions)

CHARACTERS
Midori (main girl)
Shota
Chokicki (bad guy)
Omaki (Midori's sister)
Nobu (who Midori likes, bad guy)


"Child's Play" is about the hardships and harsh reality of no longer being a child and becoming an adult. The children in this story see adult situations and experiences but they do not understand what these things truly mean. Most of the story revolves around prostitution and the children know what it is but don't understand the severity of it. The experience new emotions with one another both good and bad. And in the end they have all had to grow up out of their childish ways.

Terms 2

Modernism
- a literary study that has a radical break with literary forms of the past in the experimental, avant-garde style of writing prevalent between WWI and WWII (the lost generation)
Post Modernism
- A literary study that turned away from modernism, emphashing the lack of profoundity- nothing can be recognized as inherently significant (must be put into context)
Modernization
-Industrial progress often associated with "westernization"(technology, industrial, political structure, & mass culture
Scientific Rationalism
-end of 19th century belief that scientific knowledge makes the universe more rational and predictable (modernism is the response to scientific rationalism)
Dadaism
-cultural movement raised during WWI primarily involved in art, literature, and graphic design that rejected prevailing standards (not intended to be liked)
Realism
-literature movement that depicts subjects as the appear in everyday life
Surrealism
-features the unexpected juxtaposition of elements

Ibsen's "The Doll House"

Historic considerations
-Ibsen: Norway's foremost dramatist
-Based on real life events
-Roles of men and women
-Tuberculosis of the spine: Syphyllis
-Women had few rights

Plot
-Exposition: new job, her friend Christine, relationship dynamics
-Complications: loan, sickness, Helmer's power
-Climax: opening and reading the letter
-Resolution: Nora leaves


"The Doll House" mainly brings up relationship themes and strongly argues the roles of men and women during this time period. Helmer, a prestigous banker, has a lot of control over his wife Nora, whom he speaks to and treats like a child. He calls her pet names and speaks down to her. The problems begin when a fellow banker, Krogstad, beings black mailing Nora for a loan she took out from him to save her husband's life. In the end of the story Helmer finds out what all Nora has been up to and becomes extremely angry with her and blames her for making him look bad. It is only when Helmer realizes everything is going to be ok and forgives Nora that she realizes how she is being treated by her husband. She realizes she is basically nothing to him and leaves, leaving Helmer alone dumbfounded.

It seems the main theme of this story is the struggle of identity and the roles of men and women. Helmer never took into consideration that Nora's actions were for him. And young and naive Nora never saw her life clearly.

Terms

Defining drama
-Tragedy
-Comedy
-Soliloquy: monologue of private thoughts
-Monologue
-Aside: brief comments that reveals thoughts by speaking directly to the audience without being heard by other characters

Plot
-Four stages of a plot
    -exposition: sets story into motion
    -complications
    -climax
    -resolution