LIT 1000 (ENC 1141) - INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE
Professor - Jude Ryan
LIT 1000 (ENC 1141) - INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE Professor - Jude Ryan |
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Drama Power Point | Tragedy from Greece to Shakespeare
Hamlet Notes | Dramatic Conventions in Tragedy | Preparing for the Lit 1000 Final Exam
Preparing for the Mid Term Exam in Literature:
1. Read all of the stories on our list. There could be questions about any or all of them on the exam.
2. Be familiar with the five schools of literary criticism
3. Be able to define the six parts of the short story.
4. Be able to identify the plots of plot as described on the Pyramid.
5. Be familiar with literary terminology used in class including the following:
Symbol
Allegory
Motif
Irony
Gothic Horror
Initiation Story
Stream of Consciousness
Grotesques
Christ Figure
Expatriates
Existentialism
Lost generation
Code Hero
Literary Allusion
Epiphany
Alienation
Grace under Pressure
War Between the Sexes
Intentional Ambiguity
Scapegoat Tradition
6. Be familiar with the matters discussed about each story in class in my lectures.
7. The exam will include both short answer questions (fill in the blanks, matching, quote identification) and an essay question.
8. Be familiar with significant lecture details relating to selected authors and their particular inventions or connections.
As we begin this course, there are numerous terms with which you must become familiar. In studying the short story, the following six terms must be learned in order to have a thorough grasp of the genre:
Plot
This is simply what happens in a story. It is not everything that could happen,
only what the author wants the reader to know.
Setting
This is obviously where a story takes place. Plot, therefore, is location. It
is also time of day, era or historical period, and atmosphere. Notice how for
writers such as Edgar Allan Poe atmosphere is the most important aspect of plot.
For a writer such as William Faulkner location and historical period are more
important.
Characterization
The characters in the story must possess three traits: they must be motivated,
consistent, and believable. The author may reveal these traits in three ways:
through description, through dialogue, and through characters' actions
Narrative Manner or Point
of View
Narrative manner indicates who is telling the story. Authors may choose to have
an uninvolved narrator tell a story. In this case the speaker has the luxury
of being omniscient or all knowing and can reveal the thoughts of any or all
of the characters. The second point of view is through a minor character. This
voice can only report events and comment on them; it cannot know the thoughts
of other characters. The third is the main character. Since the main character
can reveal only his or her own thoughts the point of view is called limited
omniscient.
Theme
This is the underlying understanding of the intent of the whole story. Theme
is what the story is about, not what happens in the story. Theme should not
be confused with a moral. Short stories are not designed to offer pat answers;
they are more likely to leave the reader with questions than answers.
Conflict
To discover the theme, look for the central conflict of the story. Conflict
can be internal (character versus self), or external (character versus a larger
force such as nature or society or character versus another character). Most
stories will contain both internal and external conflicts.
To find out more about the information above, consult the glossary of your literature text.
SHORT STORY LITERARY TERMINOLOGY
Terminology:
5 Schools of Literary Criticism
6 Parts of the Short Story
Irony-As the text's glossary explains, irony comes in four ways: Cosmic, Dramatic, Situational, and Verbal. See glossary for complete definitions.
Symbolism- A symbol is something which exists in the story and has a secondary larger meaning.
Motif of light and darkness- Light is suggestive of hope, knowledge, order, and heaven. Darkness suggests despair, ignorance, chaos, and hell. "Cask of Amontillado" depicts a descent into darkness. Notice that while the main character chooses to embrace the darkness and reject the light, the choice does make him ill (as he is about to finish his task), and fails to provide the great joy he had hoped to gain (suggesting that revenge may be strongly desired but fails to satisfy as the vengeful might hope).
Initiation Story: This deals with the movement of a character from childhood to adulthood, innocence to experience, and ignorance to knowledge.
Stream of Consciousness- A style of writing in which the author attempts to imitate in paper the way people really think. This technique allows the writer the freedom to follow thoughts rather than strict chronological order in unfolding the events of the story.
Grace under pressure - The Hemingway belief that in order to give meaning to life one must demonstrate a calm and mature demeanor while all around the world is falling apart.
Lost Generation - A phrase coined by Gertrude Stein to define those post World War I writers who lost faith in both religious and secular institutions and tended to view the world as an absurd place.
Code Hero - Also connected to Hemingway, this character lives up to a code of behavior and does what is right because he or she believes it to be right, not because society or authority tells him or her right from wrong.
Christ Figure - A character who sacrifices self for the good of another. For example, in "A Worn Path," Phoenix Jackson sacrifices herself for the good of the grandchild.
Grotesques - A term related to the work of Flannery O'Connor to describe characters who are not physically ugly, but who have character traits so unattractive as to make them horrifying.
Epiphany - A sudden revelation or discovery of the truth such as that experienced by the grandmother in "A Good Man is Hard to Find."
Social Satire - Closely associated with the work of James Thurber, satire is a humorous attack on the weaknesses and absurdity of a society.
War between the sexes - A phrase related to the work of James Thurber, it depicts the conflict between men and women.
Allegory- A story with two parallel levels of meaning, one literal and the other figurative. An allegory is designed to teach a moral lesson. One such example is "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Intentional Ambiguity- A technique used by Nathaniel Hawthorne in which the author suggests possibilities but leaves the decision of what something really means to the reader.
Naturalism- literary movement of the late nineteenth century, adherents believed that life should be shown realistically in literature rather than in some idealized way. Human experience is, naturalists argue, a continual and losing battle against the forces of nature. Stephen Crane is one well known writer of naturalist literature.
Scapegoat- This is a person, group, or thing assigned responsibility for the perceived faults of a given society. The term has many roots in the ancient world. In modern times the holocaust is often pointed to as an example of scapegoating by which 6 millions Jews were killed under direction of Adolf Hitler. Hitler played on popular sentiment in his country at the time by blaming Jews for the loss of the first world war and the economic woes of Germany.
Foreshadowing- In a story this is the presentation of people or things that appear to be essentially insignificant but later prove to be central to the story. For example, in the short story, "The Lottery," the piling of the rocks by the boys seems harmless, but the rocks take on a much more serious meaning later in the tale.
"Young Goodman Brown" - - Hawthorne
"Young Goodman Brown" is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne dealing, as do many works by this author, with the Puritans in America and their influence on society. Hawthorne was the great great grandson of a Salem judge who participated in causing the deaths of a number of women accused of being witches. The Puritans can be credited with many things that helped shape this country. Among those is the protestant or Puritan work ethic. This proposed that anyone who wants to share in the wealth of the community had to earn it through hard work and being a positive contributor to the community. Another ideal the Puritans held was that of universal literacy. They believed that in order to know God, one had to be able to read His words in the Bible. To that end, every Puritan was taught to read and to write. These ideals have been passed down in America for hundreds of years. The problem with the Puritans, as seen through the eyes of Hawthorne, was their obsession with sin. They were gifted at finding sin in everyone else but themselves. One would have to think this way in order to be able to justify burning people at the stake. This hypocrisy became a major issue for them as well as for those interested in the Puritans. In Hawthorne's story he makes numerous allusions to transgressions committed by the Puritans, including their behavior in King Phillip's War and the whipping of a woman whose sin had been to be a Quaker. Young Brown, newly married, journeys into the woods near Salem village on an evil errand-to rendezvous with the devil. Brown does not necessarily want to join the devil; he merely wants the knowledge of what goes on. He is simply curious. As he leaves for his trip, his wife, aptly named Faith, begs him not to go but to stay with her this one night of all nights of the year. Brown's urge is too strong, however, so he goes. Once in the woods, he encounters Satan in the form of his own dead grandfather, though Brown does not recognize him ( a subtle allusion to one's inability to find fault in self or by extension one's own family). Goody Cloyse clearly recognizes the image and calls the old man the grandfather of "that silly fellow that now is," meaning Brown. Brown resolves to go no further; left alone he looks to heaven, but his vision of heaven is blocked by a dark cloud from which he hears voices, most notably the voice of his wife; it is here that Brown despairs of salvation and of God and rushes headlong to the satanic meeting. As he and Faith are called forth, he finally regains his composure and resolve and shouts to her to look up to heaven with him. At that moment the scene fades, and Brown awakens the next morning alone in the woods as though from a bad dream. But this dream has power and Brown is ruined by his experience. He becomes a scowling and suspicious old man and the narrator tells the reader that Brown's "dying hour was gloom." No hopeful verse was carved upon his tombstone. Brown's life was, from the moment in the woods, one of agony and sadness. If you found this difficult to read it may be because of Hawthorne's use of a device I call Intentional Ambiguity. With this, the author never really comes out and says what has happened; he merely suggests possibilities. Was the stick actually a writhing snake? We read that it appeared to be but that this must have been "an ocular deception brought on by the uncertain light." Did Brown only dream his experience? "Be it so if you will, but it was a dream of evil omen for Goodman Brown." In this way, Hawthorne allows the reader to decide what has happened and what it all means.
The fate of Goodman Brown may seem ironic. After all, he chose God and rejected the Satan seemingly embraced by all of his townsmen and forebears. Unlike his townsmen, however, Brown is miserable for the rest of his life, they're not. But did he choose God? This story fits into a genre known as an Allegory.(See definition below.)Brown can be seen as a symbolic figure, representative of all Puritans, and able to see good only in himself and sin in all others. Brown and his wife can also be seen as Adam and Eve figures. Separated from one another, they are easy prey for Satan, just as were Adam and Eve. There are four major theories about what may have happened to Brown that night in the woods:
1. The meeting really happened.
2. It was all a dream.
3. It was an hallucination brought on by Brown's (as a Puritan) obsession with sin.
4. It was an hallucination brought on bythe Devil.
No matter which alternative seems most apt to you, the important thing to remember is that Brown believes in the fall of his townsmen and this knowledge ruins him.
Terminology:
Allegory- A story with two parallel levels of meaning, one literal and the other figurative. An allegory is designed to teach a moral lesson. One such example is "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Intentional Ambiguity- A technique used by Nathaniel Hawthorne in which the author suggests possibilities but leaves the decision of what something really means to the reader.
"A & P" -- Updike
Updike's "A&P" depicts a turning point in the life of a 19 year old who starts the day as a boy but ends as a man. Though the change is profound for Sammy, the reader will be disappointed if searching for the kind of dramatic events one might find in an adventure story. The story is set in the most mundane of places, a grocery store, but for Sammy, the girls offer a chance to see into the future, and he discovers that he is not sure that he likes what he sees. Sammy's job is a bore; he is 19, suggesting that he is finished with his formal schooling and now being prepared for his place in the working world of adults. Sammy is ready to accept this, but the girls inadvertently, and without ever knowing so, show him that he may be missing out if he simply accepts the place made for him. The fact that his boss, Lengel, and his parents are friends suggests that the parents helped Sammy secure the job as cashier. Sammy lives still at his parents' home, and each day he rises to fulfill the destiny his parents have created for him. Mother irons his white shirt each day and sends him off to work, just as he has been sent off to school every day since early childhood. Sammy is squarely a member of the working class as suggested by his recollection of the parties thrown at his parents' home: lemonade for the neighbors, Schlitz in tall glasses if the party is a more high class affair. Contrast this to the party he imagines Queenie's mother must be throwing: well dressed people eating gourmet snacks and sipping exotic drinks from frosted glasses. The class distinction is obvious, and Sammy, perhaps for the first time in his life, longs for something more than that he has been groomed to have. Of course, he longs for the girls, especially Queenie, but those hopes are dashed the moment he leaves the store. Notice that at the end of the story Sammy has rejected his role by quitting his job and stripping off the trappings of his class (represented by the bow tie and red apron with his name stitched in place). Sammy is ready to take his place on his own terms, not those of his parents or boss. He is also rejecting what Stokesie (whom Sammy sees as unlucky) has chosen: to be 22, married, and the father of 2 children. Sammy recognizes that Stokesie is now trapped. When Sammy leaves the store, he walks out into the hot sun. Remembering the motif of light and darkness, we know this is suggestive of hope and knowledge. He is also maturing. The sun may give light, but it is not soothing. Experience is a hard teacher, and learning is accompanied by difficulty and some pain, all of which Sammy will now have to endure as he makes his own way. Remember that his parents are sad for him because they know how hard, the author says, the world will be to Sammy from now on.
Terminology:
Initiation Story: This deals with the movement of a character from childhood to adulthood, innocence to experience, ignorance to knowledge, and immaturity to maturity. It involves a recognition the person had been unable to have previous to the initiating experienc
"A Clean Well Lighted Place" -- Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway's story, "A Clean Well Lighted Place," is primarily set in a cafe late in the evening as two waiters wait for their last customer to leave so they can close shop for the evening. The younger of the two waiters is impatient to get home to his wife and warm bed, the older waiter has more patience because, in part, he has no one and nothing to go home to. He will leave after closing and find himself in a bodega or bar, trying to steel himself for another night alone. The old man of the tale appears to be the protagonist as the others discuss his life, his attempt at suicide, and his loneliness. As the story evolves, it is the older waiter on whom the story turns. We see more deeply into his mind and feel his suffering. The old man has been a catalyst for the reflections of the old waiter and has reflected the same feelings the old waiter battles each evening. The darkness and sense of dread and loneliness brought on by late evening cause a rueful feeling in the older waiter. He tries to pray, but his prayers dissolve into a dark joke in which the word nada or its English translation, nothing, comes into prominent use. Clearly the older waiter has lost faith in God's ability to positively impact his life. His fear of darkness is based on his fear of what awaits him after life. He concludes that what awaits is nada also.
To really understand this story, you must have some knowledge of Hemingway, so read his biography in the text. He was a lover of all things macho such as bullfights, boxing, hunting dangerous game, and deep sea fishing. He was an ambulance driver in war and a war correspondent during the Spanish Civil War. He was always close to the action. After World War I he spent much of his adult life living outside the United States in Europe (especially Spain) and Latin America (he was in Cuba at the time of the Castro revolution). Persons who live like this are often called ex-patriates. He remained a loyal American, but found that the real action and flow of life existed elsewhere. Hemingway is remembered for his particular sharp writing style. His characters are always being tested to determine if they are brave and can measure up to a standard of behavior, not one created by the mass of society, but by each person himself. Hemingway's characters strive to demonstrate grace under pressure. The ability to do so indicates whether they have passed the test nature or society sets up for them. Passing the test depends on whether one can maintain his dignity and honor in even the most absurd of times. The matador in the ring facing a charging bull is expected to demonstrate this quality. Hemingway also invented a concept known as the code hero. This is a character who lives by a code of correct behavior. He decides on the correct way to live and then tries to live up to that standard. Society may not always recognize or respect that code, but the hero knows what is right for himself. Finally, remember the period in which Hemingway wrote: the post World War I era. This age of writers was given a special title by one of its members, Gertrude Stein. She called them the Lost Generation. This refers to those who felt that humanity had evolved over the centuries, but not improved. The wars clearly showed that man's greatest skill is in his ability to destroy himself and others. This renders all of humankind's accomplishments absurd. The belief that the world is an absurd place is often attributed to a concept known as existentialism. Certainly the older waiter in the story described above would agree with that concept.
Terminology:
Grace under pressure - see above
Lost Generation - see above
Code hero - see above
"A Good Man is Hard to Find" -- O'Connor
Flannery O"Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" is nothing short of brutal. Vicious killers destroy an entire family for no particular reason other than meanness. It is often difficult for readers to find any redeeming social value in the work; however, O'Connor is primarily concerned with just that: redemption and social value. O'Connor is a specialist in creating a certain kind of characters; she referred to her creations as Grotesques. Grotesques are not necessarily physically horrifying to look upon as one might expect; rather, they are characters whose inner qualities are so overwhelming and unattractive as to make the entire character disgusting and unattractive. For example, while on the surface the family seems fairly "normal," they are all characters with whom any of us would find difficulty in spending even a single minute. The grandmother is the most obviously negative character. She is often perceived as pushy and obnoxious, domineering, and deceitful. The children are rude and ill-mannered while the parents are disinterested and weak. The children's mother has virtually nothing to say and is described as appearing to look like a cabbage. As the family travels through Georgia, the grandmother keeps up a running commnentary; she spots a black child standing naked in the door of a shack and comments on how picturesque the image is; ironically, she does not comment on the reality that the child is without adequate clothing. She recounts the story of her suitor, Mr. Teagarden, and how his initials in a watermelon (EAT), encouraged another person to take these as a directive and eat the melon meant for her. She does not notice that perhaps the person was merely hungry.She dresses in hat and gloves so, if found dead in the road, she will be seen as a lady by those who look upon her. Being found dead in the road is not her main concern, however. Over and over the grandmother reveals herself to be superficial and shallow; when the family encounters the misfit and his gang, she pleads for her life and offers the misfit a variety of incentives not to kill including money, reminding him of his fine background, and, when all else fails, religion in the form of prayer and Jesus. She never prays, herself, and this reveals the lack of true faith she possesses. The misfit is, in fact, more at home with the religious beliefs she espouses than is she. He calls himself a doubter but acknowledges that Jesus raised the dead; though, says the misfit, "he shouldn't have done it." Toward the end of the story, things change, however. The narrator tells readers that the grandmother's head clears for an instant. In other words, for the first time in her life, she sees things clearly. It is at this point that she calls the misfit who is responsible for the desuction of her entire family, one of her own children, one of her own babies. The misfit gets her point and shoots her three times through the chest. The point? Under the threat of death, the grandmother has a religious experience, an epiphany, which results in her seeing that she is connected ot other human beings, not superficially as she had been in the past, but through, she now believes, the saving power of Christ. The grandmother becomes the mouthpiece of God as she reaches out to the Misfit and says, "Why yuour one of my babies, one of my own children." Just as Saul had an epiphany which led to a conversion experience, and became the disciple who would spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire, even to Rome itself, the grandmother now speaks for god, the Jesus she and the Misfit had been discussing. Only God could at that point have called the Misfit one of his own children or babies. The Misfit gets the message which is why he recoils as if bitten by a snake. He sees this truth but does not want it because it means that teh wayt he has lived his life is wrong. The misfit ends by saying that he finds no real pleasure in life, but only minutes earlier he had said the only pleasure comes from doing meanness. Clearly the grandmother's epiphany has affected him also, and he can no longer deny that which he has always known to be true. O'Connor would have readers believe that the grandmother ends her life in a state of grace as a result of her sudden epiphany or conversion experience.
Terminology:
Grotesgques - Characters associated with the work of Flannery O'Connor who have within characteristics that so overwhelm them as to make them horrifying.
Epiphany - A moment of grace from which a character has a sudden revelation about the deep meaning inherent in common things. You may be aware of the use of the word epiphany in connection with St. Paul who had a conversion experience on the road to Damascus.
"Araby" -- Joyce
This short story by James Joyce is set in Ireland in a home occupied by a small, unnamed boy, and his uncle and aunt. The story is semi autobiographical, as is much of Joyce's work. An interesting aspect of the story is the fact that the boy, as well as the object of his affection, Mangan's sister, is unnamed. This suggests that the boy is insignificant. Sadly, he is: he lives on a dead-end (blind) street with relatives who are not his parents, in a home formerly occupied by a priest who is now dead. The boy longs for a pretty girl from the neighborhood, but he is awkward and uncertain if he can gain her love. He tries to get her to go with him to the Araby, a bazaar whose name is meant to suggest the exotic. When she is unable to join him because of a convent retreat (Joyce's subtle reminder that larger forces such as religion often interfere with the fondest desires of individuals. This is an excellent example of Cosmic Irony.), he promises to buy her something if he goes. The rest of his week is built on anticipating the gift he will buy for her; the gift will win her love. Unfortunately, his insignificance further frustrates the boy as his uncle is indifferent to his entreaties and comes home late the night of the great bazaar, forcing the boy to wait for the money he needs; when he gets to the Araby it is mostly closed, and the one booth he stops at is overseen by a young woman more interested in flirting with some fellows than in assisting the boy. He ends up buying nothing, and his dreams of capturing the prize that will win the girl's love are dashed. The story ends in darkness and the boy looks up (to heaven?) to realize that his wishes are truly meaningless in the great stream of things: he feels himself to be a "creature derided by vanity," for it was, he learns, vain to believe that his desires are important or that his quest would be fulfilled.
Terminology: As in the case of Faulkner, Joyce uses Stream of Consciousness in his writing. He also uses Cosmic Irony.
"A Worn Path" -- Welty
Summary:
The story of Phoenix Jackson is one of tragedy and, perhaps, triumph, depending on how one views what the protagonist accomplishes in the story. Phoenix is on a mission to secure medicine to soothe the throat pain of her grandson, the victim of a burned throat as a result of ingesting lye. Phoenix encounters numerous obstacles on her trek; some of these obstacles are placed there by nature such as the thorny bush, the hills and a ditch, and other things. Nature seems to be calling to Phoenix to stop, to rest, and, ultimately, to die. It is certainly her time; she has lived long and is to be rewarded with her eternal rest. Phoenix, however, has a responsibility to the grandson, and despite the fact that she is generally understanding and respectful of nature (note how accepting she is of the bush just "doing your appointed work. Never want to let folks pass, no sir" (page 372). In order to do what she must, Phoenix must defy nature. Another obstacle is man-made. The hunter, a destroyer as suggested by the dead birds in his bag, blocks her path. He thinks this poor old woman is going through all of this struggle to go sit on Santa Claus' knee for Christmas. This attitude is remarkable, but it reveals that the hunter is racist, sexist, and ageist. He points his gun at Phoenix to see her shake with fear, but she disappoints him. When the lying hunter drops a nickel to the ground, Phoenix first covers the coin then picks it up and slips it into her pocket, an act she calls stealing. As she pockets the money she says, "God watching me the whole time. I come to stealing." The money is needed to buy the child a Christmas present, so Phoenix goes against her natural inclination not to steal because she feels a higher calling; in other words, she now defies God through the sin of stealing. Finally Phoenix makes it to town where an apparently well off lady is enlisted to help tie Phoenix' shoes. The lady goes down before Phoenix and one might envision this act and be reminded of something like the biblical scene of the washing of the feet among Jesus, the apostles, and the prostitute Mary Magdalene. Once in the doctor's office, Phoenix gets her "charity case" medicine and a handout of four (and finally five) cents from the nurse. Phoenix now must defy her own ego or sense of pride by reducing herself to the condition of begging. Again, this is all for someone else, never for herself. Ultimately Phoenix will begin the journey home. Will she make the trip? Is the child even still alive? Even if he is alive, the comments of the nurse suggest that his end must be near. Though the future for the woman and child is grim, Phoenix does her duty and as the author points out in the note on page 378, she will as long as she is able. Through this Phoenix can be recognized as a special kind of character. She is what is known as a Christ Figure. This is someone who sacrifices his or her own well being for the good of another. We will not be likely to met such a pure character in any other of the short stories we cover this term.
Terminology:
Christ Figure - See definition above
"Barn Burning" -- Faulkner
This story by William Faulkner is set in the post Civil War South among a family of sharecroppers who are forced to take up new residence regularly when the actions of the family patriarch force them to move on often. The main character is named Colonel Sartoris Snopes, or Sarty, and though the story is narrated by an uninvolved narrator, we see much of what happens through Sarty's eyes. His father is a man who feels cheated by the world. He has seen his condition in the world deteriorate since the war. He recognizes the class structure of his society and recognizes that before the war he was not on the lowest rung of the social ladder; despite his rugged life of that time, he could always claim to be superior to the enslaved who lacked his freedom of movement and potential to improve his lot in life. Now the father, Abner Snopes, recognizes that he is as much a slave under the sharecropping system as are the former slaves who engage in sharecropping. Much of what Abner does and which we perceive as antisocial behavior are efforts to gain recognition as a person and to rise above the station allotted to him in life. Remember that Abner believes DeSpain "owns" him, and Abner needs to feel valued. When he brings Sarty, his only truly independent child, with him to visit DeSpain's house for the first time, he points out that the grand mansion was built with "n....r sweat," and that DeSpain wants the house whiter by mixing Abner's white sweat in with it. Notice that Sarty has no real sense of his father's outrage. He sees his father's anger, but he cannot understand it or from where it comes. Sarty was not alive during or before the war, so his only frame of reference is his ten years in this sharecropping family. Sarty lives with his father, his mother, an aunt, two sisters, and a brother. Sarty is the only member of the family to truly act on his own conscience, and ultimately this separates him from the rest of the family. Sarty was prepared, if necessary, to testify against his father in the incident of the burning of the Harris barn; he, alone, tries to save DeSpain's barn by warning the Major of what is about to happen. When Sarty follows DeSpain's horse up to the burning barn, he hears gunshots in the confusion. His father was not a man of such weapons: Abner's tool and weapon was fire. Sarty trips and falls, then, seeing what he has tripped over on the ground, he runs away from the conflagration. He had been calling out "Pap, Pap." As he runs away, he calls out, "Father, Father." The story ends with Sarty separated from his family. He awakens from the chaos of the night stiff and cold from the dampness, but he realizes that as he walks the rising sun would warm him and the stiffness will go away. Sarty is now on his own.
The story asks a number of interesting questions about one's obligations to family versus obligations to the larger society. Readers may find the story difficult to follow due to Faulkner's use of Stream of Consciousness style. Notice that while Sarty runs off into darkness, a generally negative sign, the story ends in light with the coming of the warming dawn.
Terminology:
Stream of Consciousness- A style of writing in which the author attempts to imitate in paper the way people really think. This technique allows the writer the freedom to follow thoughts rather than strict chronological order in unfolding the events of the story.
"Cask of Amontillado" -- Poe
"Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe is a "Gothic Horror" story, the likes of which Americans had never heard at the time it was first published. This helps to explain why Poe gained a reputation as being insane. People had no experience with such art and assumed that someone who would write like this must be demented. Poe, of course, was far from demented; as you can see from the story, he knew exactly what he was doing in this story. Each part is important to the story's meaning and contributes to the overall effect. Of the three parts of setting (time, place, and atmosphere), the most important in this tale is atmosphere. Poe creates a mood for the reader. In addition to creating a mood, Poe is also interested in creating a story that forces us to confront some kind of moral dilemma. The main charactder of the story, Montresor, commits an unspeakable crime by burying his "enemy" alive in a crypt. Montresor wants us to understand and appreciate the fineness of his act. He justifies his behavior as retribution for some insult, but he does not ask the reader to sympathize; rather, he merely wishes us to know how well he carried out his crime and lived up to the family code of honor. Montresor simply assumes that his audience will condone his behavior. The dilemma for us is not whether Montresor is wrong to kill-virtually all readers think he has overreacted to the offense- but whether revenge is ever justified. Are there times when it is right to take matters into one's own hands? If I have been wronged, do I not have the right to mete out retribution to the offender? If someone cuts me off in traffic and I respond with an obscene gesture, is that a form of revenge? Is it wrong to react that way?
As you consider the story, pay close attention to Poe's hand in this story. Notice how the author has set up the details, everything from the time of year, the descent into the chambers below, the costume of Fortunato, Fortunato's ironic name, and other features of the story all contribute to the meaning Poe is aiming for. Recognize that while the fiction of Poe is designed to entertain or as the author wrote, "to thrill," but there is a larger inent at work as well. Poe would not be so widely read today if his work were only for entertainment purposes. There is method in Montresor's madness.
Terminology:
Irony-As the text's glossary explains, irony comes in four ways: Cosmic, Dramatic, Situational, and Verbal.
Symbolism- A symbol is something which exists in the story and has a secondary larger meaning.
Motif of light and darkness- Light is suggestive of hope, knowledge, order, and heaven. Darkness suggests despair, ignorance, chaos, and hell. This tale depicts a descent into darkness. Notice that while the main character chooses to embrace the darkness and reject the light, the choice does make him ill (as he is about to finish his task), and fails to provide the great joy he had hoped to gain (suggesting that revenge may be strongly desired but fails to satisfy as the vengeful might hope).
"Hills Like White Elephants" -- Hemingway
This short story focuses on two people, one of whom goes unnamed, as they debate a life changing event. Each seems exasperated wtih the situation and at times with each other. This is a fine example of "Lost Generation" writing for which Hemingway is well known. The characters are superficial people, wandering Europe in search of something which in reality is nothing. Jig observes that all they do is see new places and try new drinks. Their decision about the operation will surely determine their futures, whether they remain together or apart. If they choose one path, the couple will be embracing that represented by the distant and fertile side of the valley with its greenness and the promise of rain. If they choose the other path, barrenness. The choice is not all that simple, however. Hemingway joined with those who saw the almost total destructive power of World War I. What kind of world had humans managed to create for themselves? Does such a world even make sense? If it makes no sense, as many had come to believe, why would anyone want to be a part of it? Hemingway struggles with these questions in his story and leaves them unresolved.
Teminology: Please refer to terminology from "A Clean Well-Lighted Place."
"The Catbird Seat" -- Thurber
"The Catbird Seat" by James Thurber is a humorous piece pitting a small and seemingly powerless man, Mr. Irwin Martin, against a whirlwind of an opponent, the loud and overbearing Mrs. Ulgine Barrows. Martin has worked 22 years for the F&S Corporation; he has shown himself to be a loyal and dedicated employee, so precise and given to routine that the owner of the firm, Mr. Fitweiler, says of him: "Man is fallible; Martin is not." When Barrows shows up in the workplace, her employment the product of a social relationship she has struck up with the boss, she immediately sets about disrupting the office, all in the name of efficiency. Martin watches in horror as she goes from department to department, leaving in her wake unemployed people whose jobs have been deleted. When Barrows begins eyeing Martin's department, the filing room, and suggesting that his precious file cabinets might be sold as scrap metal (to help the war effort, scrap metal was widely collected during World War II. Note that the story was first published in 1942, the height of that war.), Martin knows that he must act. He plans to "rub out" the unwelcome Barrows and plans her murder in his usual meticulous way. However, when he arrives at her apartment, Martin discovers a better way to rid himself of this pest. He convinces Barrows that he is an anarchist intent on blowing up the boss. When Barrows dutifully reports this the next work day, Martin is called in to defend himself, but his long history of punctuality and precision speak for him. Fitweiler concludes that Barrows is insane, and she ends her career with the firm being carried away by men in white coats. The ending is satisfactory to readers because is relies on a clever device to rid the office of the threat rather than on an inappropriate brutal conclusion.
Thurber's story can and should be seen as a funny tale, but the reader may see something somewhat deeper at work here. During World War II, many women entered the workplace to help the war effort and replace the men who had gone off to battle. Their presence was in unprecedented large numbers, and they would remain in the workplace long after the war ended. Women were welcome because of need, but they stayed because they were found to be competent, they could be paid less than men were paid, and because they chose to stay in the workplace. This is a profound change in America, and it became a threat to men who were used to a male dominated and oriented workplace. Notice that Mr. Martin's success is built on dedication and hard work. Mrs. Barrows? She achieves her success through seduction of the boss. What does that suggest about the difference between men and women? If Thurber is suggesting that men are successful by their work and women are successful as a product of their attractiveness, he is being nothing short of sexist. Thurber may, however, simply be remarking on the prevailing attitude of the time. Barrows is only a threat because she has power over men like Martin. Kept in her place, she would not be such a problem. Notice that Barrows is loud and often uses cliches taken from baseball announcer Red Barber. These traits might be tolerable in a man, but a woman might be characterized negatively for such excesses. Thurber took great pleasure in writing about what is known as the "war between the sexes." Since his time, many people have found this "war" less humorous than in Thurber's day. Thurber is also writing in a certain style. He is creating social satire. Satire comes to us from the ancient Romans who relied heavily on the art form. Satire is a literary attack on a society's absurdities or follies. The attack is intended to be humorous and to act as a corrective for the wrong being parodied.
Terminology:
Social Satire - see above. Closely associated with the work of James Thurber.
War between the sexes - see above.
"The Chrysanthemums" -- Steinbeck
John Steinbeck's "The Chrysanthemums" is a story set in the Salinas Valley of California, a fertile farmland settled in large part by westward moving "Okies" or midwesterners who had lost their homes and farms in the Great Depression of the 1930's. The Allen farm is prosperous enough, and Henry announces to his wife that he has just sold enough cattle to deserve a celebration of dinner and a movie in town. Elisa is then left alone in her flower garden when a traveling tinker comes along, looking for work. Elisa initially views him as a threat and looks for her husband or the farmhand Scotty, but neither is around. She reaches into her deep apron pocket and finds the scissors she uses in the garden; she may need them for protection. The traveler is not a physical threat; however, he only wants some work to do, but Elisa initially rebuffs him, hoping he will be on his way. The tinker is in no hurry to leave empty handed, so he compliments Elisa's beautiful flowers, pointing out that another customer would love to have such skill in growing. His compliment seduces Elisa and she finally gives in and finds some pots for the tinker to repair. As she teaches the tinker about her plants, she also begins to look at him differently. Initially he is only a scruffy and dirty fellow in an old wagon and clearly short on funds. However, his interest in Elisa's flowers causes her to see him differently, and as she talks, she begins to imagine the romantic side of a life on the road, a life of freedom. She can overlook the deprivation of such a life, she thinks, and could possibly exchange her security for the risks of the road. Here she has all she could ever need; out there she might go hungry asthe tinker sometimes does. Here she is, however, trapped. She is fenced in by her garden fence, by her marriage (though, it appears, to a very good man), and by her gender. The tinker points out that his life is no kind of life for a woman. It is the tinker's interest in her flowers that gets Elisa to feel these feelings that at any other itme would remain safely submerged within her. As she talks, the narrator says, her voice grows husky; her breast swells passionately, and she reaches out, almost touching the tinker's pant leg. Elisa is feeling things that ordinarily she would not even admit she feels. When the tinker leaves he carries a pot with a flower sprout for the customer down the road. Elisa feels elated by the exchange and as she changes for dinner she blooms to such a point that her husband notices the change. He calls her strong and, oddly, strong enough to break a calf over her knee and eat it like a watermelon. An odd compliment, but Henry admires her strength. He admires her green thumb and wishes she could turn it to making the apples grow better. While he means only kindness by this compliment, it does have a down side. Making flowers is nice-just not very useful. On the way to town Elisa sees the sprout lying in the road. The tinker had kept the pot-that could be turned for profit, but the flower means nothing to him, so he tosses it. Elisa sees that she has been used and is so hurt that she begins to cry, but she must hide the tears from her husband because he might see that she is not so strong as he had said. She cries into her coat weakly, like an old woman. And the division between husband and wife grows ever so slightly wider.
This story is about a woman who has all she seems to need but little of what she might have. Elisa is faced with a dilemma. Should she be content to accept the security of the farm and husband, though it clearly offers her little romance (and, no children), or should she long for freedom-a freedom that could have great cost and no guarantee of happiness? Elisa is not necessarily tragic, but her story should make us contemplate the choices we make in our own lives. Do we settle for material comfort at the expense of what might be if we took some risks?
"The Lottery" -- Jackson
"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson was originally published in 1948 in the New Yorker magazine, one of the most important literary magazines in American culture. After its publication, "The Lottery" is reported to have generated more negative letters from readers than any other story previously published by the magazine. Readers were offended by the work and its suggestion that evil could be so easily and commonly carried out. The story first appears to be set in a rural village out of America's past, but one will notice that Jackson has included enough clues to indicate that the story is, in fact, set in comtemporary America. The members of the town collectively form a character from whose midst a sacrifice will emerge. This sacrifice, or scapegoat, will be selected by lot, though readers will not immediately perceive the full power of what is happening. After all, we have been conditioned to think of a lottery as a good thing. On close inspection the reader will discover, however, that Jackson has suggested by the method of foreshadowing that this is not a festive occasion. The people talk of giving up the lottery as some other counties have; some are anxious, not for the event, but for it to be over; the young boys of the village collect and pile rocks. Most readers blithely ignore these clues as Jackson draws them into her web. Ultimately the harsh truth is revealed as the family and then the single victim is selected. The victim struggles for delay and suggests a re-drawing of the lots, but she is hushed by her husband and by others and the story reaches its dramatic conclusion. To be certain, the poeple do have a reason for the lottery. Old Man Warner enunciates the reason with his adage, "Lottery in June; corn heavy soon." Of course, many of the people are not farmers, but this is not relevant. They carry on the tradition because it is tradition and they are unwilling to risk going without it. In many ways Bill, the victim's husband, can be seen as the most dangerous character in the story. When his wife complains, he rebukes her with, "Shut up, Tessie." Bill wold risk his life and those of his family rather than be perceived as a bad neighbor. At the end of the story Jackson makes certain that the tradition is carried into the next generation as the victim's child, Davey, is handed a few pebbles to help in carrying out the lottery's climax.
One may well wonder why audiences were so offended by this work; it would be simplistic to suggest that the readers were any narrower in their thinking than are contemporary readers. More likely, readers at the time of initial publication were still reeling from the events of World War II. Proud of America's effort to help put an end to fascism, we saw ourselves as the world's beacon of hope. Jackson challenges such a view. The single most remarkable aspect of Nazi Germany was the holocaust which resulted in the deaths of 6,000,000 Jews who had committed no crime, but were punished for their religious persuasion. Americans had come to believe that such a thing could ever happen here and that we had acted to stop such atrocities. Of course, we had and deserve praise for our efforts in suppresing Hitler and Fascism. However, America must wrestle with its demons too. We had concentration camps in this country; Americans of Japanese descent were rounded up on the west coast and moved to concentration camps out of fear that they would act against America in support of our war time enemy Japan. Note that German-Americans and Italian-Americans were not so treated, suggesting that racism played a huge role in the decision to incarcerate thee people. By reminding Americans that evil is common to the human condition and not something only other people do, Jackson held a mirror up to her country, but it took time before the country was ready to look into the mirror.
Terminology:
Scapegoat- This is a person, group, or thing assigned reponsibility for the perceived faults of a given society. The term has many roots in the ancient world. In modern times the holocaust is often pointed to as an example of scapegoating by which 6 millions Jews were killed under direction of Adolf Hitler. Hitler played on popular sentiment in his country at the time by blaming Jews for the loss of the first world war and the economic woes of Germany.
Foreshadowing- In a story this is the presentation of people or things that appear to be essentially insignificant but later prove to be central to the story. For example, the piling of the rocks by the boys seems harmless, but the rocks take on a much more serious meaning later in the tale.
"The Storm" -- Chopin
"The Storm," by Kate Chopin, deals with a one time adulterous affair between two people who are thrown together by nature. Alcee and Calixta had known each other years earlier, but to protect her honor and knowing that their passion would overwhelm them, Alcee left her and their lives took different paths to marriage and children. Alcee represents the romantic ideal. He is dashing and wealthier that Calixta's husband. Even his name (Alcee Laballiere) is in sharp contrast to the sound of the name of Calixta's husband (Bobinot). Thanks to a series of natural events, the couple finds temselves together but away from the rest of the world. They consummate long repressed longings and afterward part to resume their own lives. The irony of the story is that the expected negative repercussions of their acts never take place. Life resumes its pace, only in some ways it is better for all concerned. Alcee advises his wife and children to continue their summer vacation, and they do. The author even shows us the delighted reaction of Clarisse to her husband's letter. Calixta is happy when her husband and son return, a contrast to the anger Bobinot had expected. Calixta embraces her family and they share a joyous meal and their laughter can be heard all the way to Laballiere's house that evening. The laughter is carried on the wind. What I think is interesting here is that the initial reaction to this story is often that the author is endorsing adultery by this story. I think that is not her point, however. The author believes in "natural love," the idea that to love others, regardless of one's marital status, might be a natural act. In fact, such a view implies that marriage is unnatural; the idea that one should cleave for all time to only one other may go against the natural order. Of course, humans have the natural gift of judgement and logic, and we learn to temper our natural impulses for a greater good. Just as we avoid eating a half gallon of ice cream every night before bed, we learn that there is something to be said for long term monogamy. Chopin is simply questioning this contention. The ending shows that she is not necessarily endorsing the behavior of Calixta and Alcee. Calixta has learned from her experience that she is happy at home with her family. She took a great risk to discover this truth, however.
"The Yellow Wall-Paper" -- Gilman
In 1898, Charlotte Perkins Gilman published a book entitled Women and Economics, today considered a major feminist work. In this book she argues that women in her society should break free of the second class status in which they are bound and assert their own economic independence by having paying jobs and contributing to the overall economy. Women who were restricted by the requirements of home and family would be helped, Gilman argued, by centralized nurseries and cooperative kitchens to care for the needs of the children while their mothers worked. These radical ideas of the time were ridiculed by many, but Gilman is now seen as a visionary as millions of American children are being raised in part with the help of day care centers, and food preparation is now possible in any number of ways including fast food outlets and microwave instant meals. Gilman was passionate about the need for women to gain equal status with men. Her story, "The Yellow Wall-Paper" is a partly autobiographical examination of the status of women. Gilman herself suffered from postpartum depression after the birth of a child, and the treatment prescribed for her closely parallels that given to the main character in the story. Gilman said that the only thing that saved her mental health was a secret stash of papers and writing instruments she kept. Though told not to write for fear that too much activity might make her condition worse, Gilman wrote anyway in secret, and, she says, only this preserved her sanity. In the story, the character loses her sanity due in large part to the forced inactivity prescribed by her husband/doctor and his brother who is also a physician. The woman begins to see other women, some in the garden and at least one in the wallpaper of her room. As she descends into madness, she tries to free the woman in the paper by scraping the paper from the walls. At the end she believes she has set the woman free. The woman in the paper may, in fact, be the main character herself. She is trapped by a loving husband who makes decisions for her and by a society that sees her more as a child than as an adult. Though it is obviously something else, the room in which she stays is said to have been a children's nursery. The furniture and decor suggest it must have been some kind of asylum, as it is now. Gilman's purpose is to expose the damage done to women by a paternalistic society that cannot hope to fully understand them. A century later, we continue to debate the roles of women in our society and in their own homes.
"This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" -- Alexie
This short story is a good example of seeing the world through the eyes of the alienated, in this case, Native Americans. The two major characters are Thomas Builds the Fire and Victor. The two young men are engaged in a quest to go to Phoenix and recover Victor's inheritance. On their journey the two have a chance to talk with one another, something they do not ordinarily do, though they see one another often on their reservation. Victor is the main character who must come to terms with who he is and where he fits in the world. Thomas is more comfortable with himself and his society. He dreams meaningful dreams, interprets the dreams, and tells stories to anyone who will listen. Thomas has embraced the ways of his forebears and is not troubled byh the problems of his life. He desires to share his inner peace with Victor, but Victor has no interest in the old ways. He can see that these ways have amounted to nothing for himself and his people. Surrounded by failure as exhibited by poverty, drunkenness, loss of manhood, and isolation. Victor has essentially given up hope. His beating of Thomas while drunk is an indicator of how much Victor is trying to put out of his mind the things which so diminish his life. Victor is a man of many conflicts, among them:
Victor vs. his father and his father's desertion of him and his mother.
Victor vs. the elders who are unable or unwilling to give him all the help he needs.
Victor vs. Thomas who represents the past and foolish idealism.
Victor vs. white society which Victor blames for his problems.
Victor vs. the Indian world in which a man can no longer be a warior (though, curiously, a woman can).
Victor vs, himself.
By the end of the story Thomas has helped Victor recover the truck, but Victor must still find his own way. They split up the ashes of Victor's father, and Thomas, ever hopeful, will take his share and spread them on the water, allowing the spirit of Victor's father to rise. Victor agrees that at least once he will stop and listen to one of Thomas' stories. It is the hopeful beginning of Victor's catharsis.
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