Intro to Literary Fiction Midterm

Symbolism in "The Ones Who Walked Away From the Omelas"

The boy --> any modern issue in our world that we ignore every day for the good of our lives.

ex.

- homeless people we pass every day

The people living in the utopian society --> us, because we choose not to help the "boy" in our lives.

Symbolism in "Young Goodman Brown"

The woods --> a dark place with savages and pagans

The traveller --> the devil, trying to lure him into the dark woods

Faith --> his spiritual faith, he runs away from her, knowing he shouldn't

Symbolism in "The Minister's Black Veil"

The veil --> the sin that everyone hides inside of them (secret sin)

The theme of "The Story of An Hour"

- makes us think about our relationships and roles in relationships

- the nature of mourning, loss, and emotions (the complexity of them)

The theme of "Everyday Use"

- the importance of caring for and respecting your family, no matter your differences

- the value of using things as they were intended to be used and appreciating them in that way

The theme of "What Furniture Would Jesus Pick"

- the importance of prioritizing those whom you love (he focused on the ranch more than his family/things that really mattered)

The POV and narration of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"

- third person omniscient, this helped us to have insight into Peyton's mind, but also have an outside look at what was happening at the bridge. This narration built the tension throughout the story and made the surprise ending possible.

The POV and narration of "To Build A Fire"

- third person limited, this helped the reader to put themselves in the man's position and go through the journey with him. It helped the reader to capture every thought of the man throughout the story.

Characterization in "The Rules of the Game"

Waverly --> round, changed throughout the story - she became more independent and less reliant on her mother as the story progressed

Mother --> round, she went from teaching Waverly to be small and humble to bragging about her whenever she got the chance

Characterization in "Everyday Use"

Mother --> round, she idolized her daughter less, and finally stood up to her at the end, defending Maggie

Dee --> flat, she did not change in the story, she was stubborn and lacked empathy for Maggie and her mother.

Setting and Atmosphere in "The Things They Carried"

The Vietnam War: You can use the background knowledge of this war to infer that the story takes place in a sad point of time, where there was a lot of death for little reason. You can also infer that the characters were young and drafted, based on prior knowledge about this war. This helps set the tone of the story at the very beginning

Setting and Atmosphere in "The Yellow Wallpaper"

The 19th century --> using this background knowledge, you can gather that women were very oppressed and had many problems with that in their time.

The barred windows --> the room resembles a prison, which represents how she feels trapped in the "rest" stage

The house --> the large, isolated house resembles how she is isolated from society.

The yellow wallpaper --> this represents how her mental state is decreasing. The worse she gets, the more the wallpaper bothers her. This is, until she goes over the edge and becomes fond of it.