Introduction to Literature Test 1

Static character

A character who undergoes no change; a flat character; contrasted with a dynamic character.

The reader help create meaning

The most basic elements of a story are setting, characters, plot, conflict, and theme. Recognizing what each of these elements adds to the story helps the reader understand the structure and meaning of a short story. Understanding how these elements work together also gives the reader an appreciation for the purpose of the short story.

First person

The use of a first person speaker or narrator who tells about things that he or she has seen, done, spoken, heard, thought, and also learned about in other ways.

Central/Main Character in The Things They Carried

Tim O'Brien is both the narrator and protagonist of The Things They Carried. The work recounts his personal experience in the Vietnam War and allows him to comment on the war.

Flat character

A character, usually minor, who is not individual, but rather useful and structural, static and unchanging, distinguished from round character.

Literature is

*writing that explores the values a culture shares *that work which demands an emotional response. *can be illuminating, but it is most often enjoyable.

Dynamic character

A character who tries to assert control by recognition, adjustment, and change. Dynamic changes may be shown in (1) an action or actions, (2) the realization of new strength and therefore the affirmation of previous decisions, (3) the acceptance of new conditions and the need for making changes and improvements, (4) the discovery of unrecognized truths, or (5) the reconciliation of the character with adverse conditions. In a short story, there is usually only one dynamic character, whereas in a novel there may be many.

Irony of A&P

A&P ends in the parking lot. Sammy has just quit his job to take a stand against the no-bathing-suit policies everywhere. The three girls didn't stick around to exchange numbers with their unsung hero, and the story ends on a kind of lonely note. For one thing, Sammy is now outside the A&P, looking in. Even though he left the store of his own will, it probably feels lonely to be shut out of something he used to be a part of. he's also outside the society the girls are in, a society that might encourage daring acts like wearing bathing suits in public. But we think what contributes most the the story's sad ending (in sharp contrast to the rather upbeat beginning) is Sammy's observation of Lengzel in the last sentence: His face was dark gray and his back stiff, as if he'd just had an injection of iron, and my stomach kind of fell as I feel how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter.

Main ideas in Interpreter of Maladies

Involves a conflict between cultures. A wealthy American family, whose parents are Indian, have come to India to vacation. This family which consists of Mr. and Mrs. Das and their two sons and daughter represent a liberal but ultimately unhappy lifestyle. The children are not disciplined by their parents even when they ignore their parents' requests. The parents are not much better. We learn from Ms Das that one of her children is a product of an affair she had with a man other than her husband. The Das family is selfish, having little concern for the feelings of others in their own family for others. Mr. Kapasi is their hired driver and a part-time interpreter. He represents the traditional Indian values of home, family, discipline, self-control. He is unfailingly polite and reserved in spite of his obvious disapproval of the way the Das family acts. Unlike the Das family who has so much money and very little compassion, Mr Kapasi is struggling to make ends meet because of his son's medical bills from a disease that proved to be fatal. And he, a well educated and intelligent man, is frustrated that he has not been able to achieve what he had hope in life. This clash in Western and Eastern culture plays out in a curious way. Mr. Kapasi dreams of developing a romantic relationship with the attractive Mrs. Das, that perhaps they will engage in a lively correspondence of letters once she returns home. However, the more he learns about Mrs. Das, the less attractive she appears, and his fantasy of bridging the gap between them dissolves just as the slip of paper containing her address drifts away. Mr. Kapasi's crush could perhaps symbolize the East's attraction to the West, which only at a distance seems desirable.

Contextual/private symbols

Objects and descriptions that are not universal symbols can be symbols only if they are made so within individual works. These are contextual, private, or authorial symbols. Unlike cultural symbols, contextual symbols derive their meanings from the context and circumstances of individual works.

Irony of the Lottery

One of the most direct examples of irony is "the Lottery" comes from the connotation associated with the word Lottery. Most people would associate winning a lettery with receiving a fabulous prize or millions of dollars in cash; the term lottery usually has a very positive connotation. The end of the short story strikes the reader as being very ironic, because in this instance, winning the lottery does not equate a grand prize, but rather a gruesome death by stoning. Jackson's story is all about the unexpected; she lulls the reader into a false sense of security with the seemingly positive setting, the quaint small town with its farmers discussing plows and the wives in the "houses dresses with sweaters. The setting makes the reader feel comfortable and relaxed, never supposing that this seemingly sweet tow could host such a brutal tradition. The setting is definitely another ironic twist in the story, driving home the point that even seemingly good people can contribute to something horrible for the mere sake of tradition.

Details of setting in Sonny's Blues

Sonny's Blues takes place in Harlem during the early 1950s. The city plays a pretty important role in the narrative, since part of the reason Sonny turns to drugs is to escape the feeling of being trapped by his surroundings. It's as if the Harlem streets have a life of their own and contain within them a inherent danger the lives just below the surface. This worries the narrator, since he's the one bringing Sonny back to this place, "back into the danger he had almost died trying to escape" Far from being mere background, Harlem is as much a character in this story as any of the actual people. But "sonny's blues" is also set in a smaller world within Harlem: the nightclub where Sonny plays at the end of the story. This is a far less menacing place. In fact, this dark , smoky little club is a refugee for Sonny. It's a place where he can (at least for a little while) forget about being a drug addict, forget about what awaits him outside, and face his suffering head-on by losing himself in his music. Sonny is a sort of celebrity in the club and the people there want him to be OK; they want him to play the music he's so good at playing. The club is like a tiny, shining light in the middle of darkness that surrounds Sonny everyday.

Sylvia's feelings at the end of the Lesson

Sylvia is a tough girl, who is resentful of Ms. Moore for making her and cousin miss out on their summer fun. She truly understand the lesson, and this knowledge creates an epiphany in her. She learn the lesson of class inequality and unfairness in spite of herself. By the end of the story, she learns much more about the effect of her own lifestyle. She is even more resentful that her friends are beginning to learn this lesson as well, as evidence by her friend's statement: "I think," say Sugar pushing me off her feet like she never done before cause I whip her ass in a minute, " that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don't it?" She learns that there is a difference between the rich and poor and that this different, while not being fair, is very real. As a child, Sylvia does not want to recognize her diminishing ability to dictate her life. As an intelligent young woman, she has to.

Main idea in The Lottery

The central conflict in "The Lottery" is Individual vs. Society, showing the individual's struggle against collectively accepted norms. Tessie Hutchinson refuses to accept that her family, and then she herself, has been chose for the Lottery, but her protests are ignored and overpowered by the collective assurance of the ritual's acceptance. Old Man Warner represents Society, the purpose that is condoned by the village as normal and even virtuous. Jessie represent Man, the individual who fights against norms but, in this case, is destroyed by them. Her fight comes from a selfish, personal desire for her family to be spared by the Lottery; since the society of the village expects every member to be equally invested in the outcome; her rebellion is quickly put down. The outcome of the story shows that Society, in this case, is victorious, and there is no sign that the Individual has had much effect on other opinions.

Denouement (untying) or resolution

The final stage of plot development, in which mysteries are explained, characters find their destinies, lovers are united, sanity is restored, and the work is completed. Usually the denouement is done as speedily as possible, because it occurs after all conflicts are ended, and litter that is new can be then introduced to hold the interest of the readers.

How third-person omniscient affects a story

The is the classic external-narrator POV, in which an abstract and omniscient narrator tells the reader everything that's happening. In this POV, the writer can literally show the reader anything at any time. Third-person omniscient is a great choice when you have a complex plot with several main characters and minor characters who follow multiple story lines until things meet up at the end. It is ideal if your goal is to allow the reader to watch everything unfold even though the characters aren't aware of all that's going on. However, third-person omniscient is emotionally very cold because it is the most distant from your characters. Third-person omniscient often flits about from here to there, jumping into and out of different characters heads, giving the reader a much more difficult job in forming any close emotional ties with the characters. Third-person omniscient is often the best choice for books where the plot is the central attraction.

Narrator of Speaker

The narrator of a story or poem, the point of view, often an independent character who is completely imagined and consistently maintained by the author. In addition to narrating the essential events of the work (justifying the status of narrator), the speaker may also introduce other aspects of his or her knowledge, and may express judgements and opinions. Often the character of the speaker is of as much interest in the story as the actions of incidents.

How third-person limited affects a story

The only difference between this POV and third-person omniscient is that you funnel the entire story through one character's viewpoint. You can show what the POV character sees, hears, thinks, believes, and feels. But you many only show those things. Nothing else. Showing anything the POV character doesn't directly experience is dis-allowed. This disciplined viewpoint give the POV character and the reader exactly the same information. It closes the emotional distance between them, and is very effective at letting the reader share the character's experience of the story. It is an excellent choice for linear plots with a single main character who experiences all the important plot events. Third-person limited offers a nice balance between a plot-driven story and a character-driven story. it is often a good choice when the outer events of your plot are closely tied to the protagonist's inner growth.

Plot

The plan or groundwork for a story or play, with the actions resulting from believable and authentic human responses to a conflict. It is causality, conflict, response, opposition, and interaction that make a plot out of a series of actions. Aristotle's word for plot is mouths, from which the word myth was derived.

Details of setting The story of an hour

The setting of this story is actually very limited, which could be used by Chopin to reflect the feelings of Mrs. Mallard being trapped in her life and almost caged in. The entire story occurs in the Mallards household, with the majority of the "action" occurring in Mrs. Mallard's room as she processes the news that she has just heard and begins to come to terms with the new state of affairs of being a widow and having lost her husband. When things happen outside, they are only referred to, but the entire focus of the story is on the Mallard house and what Mrs. Mallard can see through her window in her room as far as the setting goes. However, what is interesting to note is the way that as Mrs. Mallard begins to contemplate a happy future without her husband, her imagination takes her out of this setting as she imagines the things that she will be able to do: Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sort of days that would be her own. Ironically, though, the return of her husband to the house, safe and sound after all, rapidly reduces the setting once more to the family household and curtails these dreams of freedom, which is what kills Mrs. Mallard.

How first-person affects a story

This is when a character is the narrator of his or her own story, relayed in present tense as it unfolds or in past tense from after the events have transpired. Because of the reliance on a single main character, first-person stories usually require the same type of linear plots as third-person limited POV. First-person POV presents the smallest emotional distance between the reader and the main character. Thus, first-person is a great choice when the story is more about the inner character arc than it is about the outer plot. It is also the hardest POV to write well because it demands a very strong, compelling voice.

Protagonist in The Things They Carried

Tim O'Brien is both the narrator and protagonist of The Things They Carried. The work recounts his personal experience in the Vietnam War and allows him to comment on the war.

Relationship between story's central conflict and resolution

Usually occurs at the beginning of a short story. Here the characters are introduced. We also learn about the setting of the story. Most importantly, we are introduced to the main conflict (main problem). The story begins to develop the conflict(s). A building of interest or suspense occurs and leads to the climax. Complications arise. The turning point of the story is usually the main character comes face to face with a conflict. The main character will change in some way. This is the most intense moment. Action that follows the climax and ultimately leads to the resolution.

irony in The story of an hour

is a masterpiece of the literary technique of irony; even the title itself is ironic in that so much that is unexpected happens in the life of Louise Mallard in just sixty minutes. *Situational irony- Since irony always involves an incongruity, this type of irony is one in which the expectation and the fulfillment are not what is expected. Perhaps the most salient example of situational irony is the turn of events in the hour that suggest the Bentley Mallard is dead and Mrs. Lousie Mallard has fully come alive. For, incogruoudly the narrative abruptly changes and it is Mr. Mallard who lives while Mrs. Mallard, who with "triumph in her eyes" as she descends the stairs from her room in which she has "breathed a quick prayer that life might be long; Perceives her husband as he comes through the door, and with a "piercing cry" abruptly dies. Verbal irony -chopin the use of "a heart trouble' at the beginning of the narrative. It seems that the phrase denotes a physical ailment, but Chopin does not intended for "heart" to denote the organ of the body. Instead, the reader later discerns, "heart" connotes the figurative heart; that is, the soul. Mrs. Mallard suffers from repression, a trouble of the soul. dramatic irony - when Mrs. Mallard will not allow Josephine to help her upstairs, it seems that she is so grief-stricken that she wishes to be alone. however, unbeknownst to the character of Josephine, the reader learns that Louise Mallard wishes to be alone so that she can full comprehend the freedom from her repression as a Victorian wife.

Internal conflicts

psychological struggle within the mind of a literary or dramatic character, the resolution of which creates the plot's suspense.

Objects important in setting of Everyday Use

the important settings objects are the butter churn and dasher. They are used everyday, however when Dee comes to visit she sees them as more of a display because they are part of her heritage. The objects in this story, described with loving detail by Mama, are used to enhance the setting of a story about the worth of everyday items to different types of people. As these items are described, they become significant to the reader, and the reader can identify with the value of them to both Mama and Dee. The author uses every day items to symbolize the story's focus on the beauty and worth of plain objects and average people, over that which is flashy, stylish, and ultimately useless.

Readers read literature

to explore the values our culture shares to explore other time and other places writers write to bring us into those worlds to explore society that is around them and the society that surrounds other cultures and other times and places but at the same time, they read for the sheer pleasure of it.

Tone refers

to the methods by which writers and speakers reveal attitudes or feelings - toward the material, toward their readers, and toward the general situation they are describing or analyzing. When we speak of tone here, we refer to a variety of similar and dissimilar attitudes, but in addition, and more importantly, we stress those modes of expression that create and shape those attitudes. Style refers to the ways in which writers assemble words to tell the story, to develop the argument, to dramatize the play or to compose the poem.

Public and private places

together with various possessions, are important in fiction as in life. To reveal or highlight qualities of character, and also to make literature lifelike, authors include many details about objects and places of human manufacture, construction, and maintenance.

Antagonist (one who struggles against)

The person, idea, force, or general set of circumstances opposing the protagonist; an essential element of plot.

Conflicts in Blue Winds Dancing

* Internal conflict: the young Native American is conflicted with whether to return home from university. He is worried about how his family would receive him after being taught by the white man. Internal conflict: Upon returning home and being received by his family with open arms, his father asks him to go to the lodge and wait for him. He pauses at the door of the lodge worrying if he is now too much a white man to enter. He does a quick test on whether or not he still hears the woman under the ice. If he was white, he would not believe in such things. He heard the woman, so he enters the lodge. * External conflict: Individual vs. cultural society - the young man is struggling to understand why the white man is trying to teach him of acquiring material things. He ponders why there are only a few that want the simpler things in life such as a job, a wife, and a home. Society is telling him that he should want more from life, and his heritage is more about the simpler things.

Stock character

A flat character in a standard role with standard traits, such as the irate police captain, the bored hotel clerk, the sadistic criminal, etc; a stereotype.

Irony

A major aspect of literary tone, a means of indirection, based on multiple ways. Irony therefore deals with contradictions and ambiguities- the shadows underlying human existence. It is conveyed through indirection both in situations and in language. Verbal irony is language that states the opposite of what is intended. Dramatic irony describes the condition of characters, who do not know the nature, seriousness, and extent of their circumstances.

Symbolism

A specific word, idea, or object that may stand for ideas, values, persons, or ways of life. A symbol creates a direct meaningful equation between (1) a specific object, scene, character, or action and (2) ideas, values, persons, or ways of life. In effect, a symbol is a substitute for the elements being signified, much as the flag stands for the ideals of the nation.

Limited omniscient

A third-person narration in which the actions and thoughts of the protagonist are the primary focus of attention.

Omniscient

A third-person narrative in which the speaker or narrator, whit no apparent limitations, may describe intentions, actions, reactions, locations, and speeches of any or all of the characters, and may also describe their innermost thoughts (when necessary for the development of the plot.)

Situational irony

A type of irony emphasizing that human beings are enmeshed in forces that greatly exceed their perception, comprehension, and control.

Flashback

Also called selective recollection. A method of narration in which past events are introduced into present action.

Theme of Interpreter of Maladies

In Interpreter of Maladies, Lahiri suggest that there are gaps in communication, even between people who speak the same language. She also suggests that people often struggle to balance cultural differences.

Theme of Sonny's Blues

In Sonny's Blues, Baldwin suggests that drugs destroys lives of not only the individual, but also that of their families. He also suggests that growing up in an oppressive environment leads to people looking to ways of escaping their reality.

Theme of The Lesson

In The Lesson, Bambara suggests that there is a unbalance in society with people who have too much and people who have so very little. Bambara also suggest that it is important for people to understand the wealth and poverty in American society.

Theme of The Lottery

In The Lottery, Jackson suggests that it is dangerous to blindly accept actions as just custom or tradition.

Point of view of A&P

It is told from the first person point of view of Sammy. The story is about the brief experience of three young women in bathing suits in the A&P story where Sammy worked as a cashier. The story shows us much about Sammy and how he views the world. This view of Sammy is made more complete because the story is told from his point of view. This enables the reader to see what he is thinking and to have a better understanding of how he may be feeling.

Protagonist in Two Kinds

Jing-mei woo (June) is the narrator as well as the protagonist. After being pushed by her mother to become a prodigy, she develops a rebellious attitude toward her mother. Mr. Chong is Jing-mei's piano teacher. He is deaf and has poor eyesight.

Cultural/Universal symbols

Many symbols are generally or universally recognized and are therefore cultural (also called universal). They embody ideas and emotions that writers and readers share as heirs of the same historical and cultural traditions. When using cultural symbols, a writer assumes that readers already know what the symbols represent.

Details of setting in Everyday Use

Most of the story in Everyday Use takes place in the narrator's yard so she wastes no time helping us getting familiar with the place. Right from the get go, she tells us: A yard like this is more comfortable than most people know. It is not just a yard. It is like an extended living room. When the hard clay is swept clean as a floor and the fine sand around the hard edges lined tiny, irregular grooves, anyone can come and sit and look up into the elm tree and wait for the breeze that never come inside the house. Our clever narrator isn't just plopping down a description of the story's setting for us. She is drawing us in and inviting us to get comfortable becofer she starts bringing on all the uncomfortable stuff (i.e. racism, traumatic memories, ugly quilt fights) that the story deals with. At the same time, the narrator doesn't complete romantic the place. Later in the story, she points out that her house has "no real windows, just some holes cut in the sides, like the portholes in a ship, but not round and not square, with rawhide holding the shutters up on the outside. This description gives us a pretty good understanding of the economic hardships the narrator and her daughters have had to face. Our only real clues are that the house itself is located in a pasture and the narrator mentions that she raised money to send Dee to school in Augusta. The time period is around the 1960s, thanks to the reference of Johnny Carson. This is a time for a shift in race relations, from Civil Rights to the Black Power and Black Pride Movements.

Differentiate between subject matter and theme

Most stories have many ideas. When one of the ideas seems to bee the major one, which reoccurs throughout the work, it is called the theme. The words them and major idea are the same.

Poe's theory of short story

Poe was convinced that "worldly interests" prevented people from gaining the "totality" of comprehension and response that he believed reading should provide. A short concentrated story (he called it "a brief prose tale" that could be read at a single setting) was ideal for producing such a strong impression.

Protagonist in A&P

Sammy is the story's main character, narrator, and overall good guy. Although he seems a little shifty at first, he proves he's a hero by quitting his job to protest his boss' rude treatment of the bathing suit clad beauties who come into the grocery store.

Center/Main Character in A&P

Sammy, the narrator of A&P is an opinion, sarcastic, disaffected teenager with a healthy interest in the opposite sex and a keen observational sense.

Three basic types of settings

Settings may be indoor please that are either private or public, together with all outdoor places. In addition we may also consider historical and cultural circumstances as a vital aspect of setting.

Cosmic Irony (irony of fate)

Situational irony that reveals a fatalistic or pessimistic view of life. Although individual characters may struggle with great tenacity, their efforts are doomed right from the start ( plans cannot be carried out; sickness occurs expectantly; friends go back on their words; promises are not kept; meanings are misunderstood; else tales are told.

State the antagonist in "A&P"

The antagonist in A&P is Lengel who is Sammy's boss, the manager of A&P. He is the party pooper, or antagonist, because he spoils everybody's good time by telling the girls they aren't dressed "decently". He directly antagonizes or protagonist Sammy by threatening him with a ruined reputation if he quits his job.

Frequently used tones

The attitude of an author, as opposed to a Narrator or Persona, toward her subject matter and/or audience. Tone is closely linked to Mood, but tends to be associated more with Voice. The tone of Theodore Roethke's poem My Papa's Waltz- about a boy and his drunk father --for example, is sad, sentimental, and Ironic.

Protagonist

The central character and focus of interest in a narrative or drama.

Action

The events or occurrences in a work

Conflict

The opposition or conflict between two characters, between large groups of people, or between protagonists and larger forces such as natural objects, ideas, modes of behavior, public opinion, and the like. Conflict may also be internal and psychological, involving choices facing a protagonist. The resolution of conflict is the essence of the plot.

Central/Main Character in Two Kinds

The short story outlines the main character Jing-mei Woo's childhood and the effects of her mother's high expectations for her life.

Point of view

The speaker, voice, narrator, or persona of a work; the position from which details are perceived and related; a centralizing mind or intelligence; not to be confused with opinion or belief.

Theme/main idea

The theme is the central, general message, the main idea, the controlling topic about life or people the author wants to get across through a literary work. To discover the them of a story, think big. What big message is the author trying to say about how life works, or how people behave? (1) The major or central idea of a work. (2) An essay, a short composition developing an interpretation or advancing an argument. (3) The main point or idea that a writer of an essay asserts and illustrates.

Dramatic

a third-person narration reporting speech and action, but excluding commentary on the actions and thoughts of the characters.

Reading serious literature

anyone can read for content, but if you also focus on how certain patterns are repeated then you can start to see how other parts produce meaning in addition to just the reference of the words. *form is everything - the meaning is deduced from form and the form is the genre itself. *finding meaning in the story is not always easy, but if you don't understand the writers point, you can't really appreciate the works *read it through twice *read other's thoughts on the book

Cultural and Historical circumstances

are often important in literature. Just as physical settings influence characters, so do historical and cultural conditions and assumptions. The hard cultural setting of Jackson's "The Lottery' is built on the persistence of a primitive belief despite the sophistication of our own modern and scientific age.

Tone is created

by what is said and how it is said. This is a combination of the diction (the words used), the details that the author focuses on, the images, the way the characters are described and what they say. Here is a list of what to look for to identify the tone and other evidence to support it: *Look for words that tend to have emotions attached to them. *Look for how the narrator describes things and people. *Identify the Theme firs then ask yourself what the narrator thinks about that theme. *Focus on your own response to the piece. How did it make you feel; what passages were memorable to you/ Look for clues about tone in those.

Setting

is the natural, manufactured, political, cultural, and temporal environment, including everything that characters know, own and otherwise experience. Characters may be either helped or hurt by their surroundings, and they may oppose each other and even fight about possessions and goals. Further, as characters speak with each other, they reveal the degree to which they share the customs and ideas of their times.

Point of view of Interpreter of Maladies

is told from third-person limited point of view - that is, the story is told by an objective narrator who reveals the perceptions of Mr. Kapasi's perceptions but not those of the other characters. Events unfold primarily as Mr. Kaspasi, not Mrs. Das, sees them.

Point of view of The Things They Carried

is told in third person point of view.

Outdoor places are

scenes of may fictional actions. The natural world is an obvious location for the action of many narratives and plays. It is important to note natural surroundings (hills, shorelines, valleys, etc.) , living creatures (birds, dogs, horses, etc), and also the times, seasons, and conditions in which things happen (morning or night, summer or winter, etc.) Any or all which may influence and interact with character, motivation, and conduct.

External conflicts

struggle between a literary character and an outside force such as nature or another character.

Objects important in the setting of The Story of an Hour

the important setting objects are the comfortable chair and the window.

Objects important in setting of Sonny's Blues

the important setting objects are the newspaper that held the story of Sonny getting arrested, and the piano at Isabel's parents' house.

Importance of supporting evidence

usually there is not one interpretation of text, but what is important is the supporting interpretation with evidence from the text. Because everyone interprets the story differently. The challenge is to validate our meaning in the text.