American Literature Notes: Chapter 10

living for the moment in license

Bohemian lifestyle

blames capitalism for the nation’s ills, developed into socialism and Communism

Political radicalism

living for the moment in license

Bohemian lifestyle

blames capitalism for the nation’s ills, developed into socialism and Communism

Political radicalism

strong deterministic forces in society

Naturalistic Approach

removal of conflicts between economic classes

Marxist Approach

The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck connects changes for Joan family to national changes

Most representative work

• Determined Student

  • Collected African American folklore in the South and Bahamas

• African American Anthropologist 

  • Portrayal of rural black culture

  • Criticized for perpetuation of stereotypes and not focusing on racial conflict

• Critic of the Civil Rights Movement

  • Grew politically more conservative and distanced herself from civil rights leaders

  • Wrote articles critical of desegregation and voting rights

  • Buried without a gravestone until the 1970s

Zara Nealie Hurston

many became what during the 1930s?

communist

1. Aspiring Writer 

• Won poetry contest at age 9

•  Published first article at age 12 

2. Cornerstone of the New Yorker 

• Friend and coworker of James Thurber 

• Editorials and essays keep him from being known primarily as a humorist 

3. Revered Novelist and Stylist 

• Children’s classic like Charlotte’s Web 

• Revised a writing style guide 

• Pulitzer Prize for body of work

E.B. White

a style of narration that fluidly follows the author’s (or character’s) thoughts

Stream of consciousness

• Author is E.B. White

• Father and son are at a lake that they grew up going to 

• The son goes to the lake with his own children when he grows up, and the lake and nature are the same except that it is more built up. 

• The son is nostalgic towards the lake and the experiences he had there. He is repeating the cycle of his childhood. 

  • “ I began to sustain the illusion that he was I, and therefore, by simple transposition, that I was my father.” 

Once More to the Lake

1. Poor Little Society Boy 

• Son of aristocratic father and wealthy mother 

• Wrote for school magazines and newspapers 

2. Symbol of the Roaring Twenties 

• Lavish Jazz Age lifestyling success of literary works 

• Traveled between Europe and America often 

3. Hollywood Scribe 

• Became a screenwriter while continuing to write for magazines to pay for wife’s treatment and daughter’s schooling 

• Health failed due to excessive drinking; died of a heart attack in 1940 

F. Scott Fitzgerald

explicit statements tell the reader about the character

Direct characterization

the reader must infer character traits from the information shown by the author

Indirect characterization

the reason a character behaves the way he does

Motivation

• Author is F. Scott Fitzgerald 

• Theme- empty dreams won’t bring happiness or contentment

• Dexter is always chasing success, wealth, and beauty. His motivation is materialistic goals. 

• Dexter meets Judy and she is very wealthy and beautiful. 

• Dexter chases after her, but ultimately she was only beautiful on the outside and ugly on the inside. 

• Judy was basically a player and dated lots of men. 

• Dexter gets engaged to someone else, and has an affair with Judy. 

• Dexter does not marry Judy and finds out years later that Judy got married to an alcoholic and treats her horribly. 

• Judy is no longer of any beauty and is empty inside. 

• “I’m more beautiful than anybody else,” she said brokenly,”why can’t I be happy?”

• Dexter is chasing after empty dreams that will not fulfill him. 

• “The dream was gone. Something had been taken from him.” 

Winter Dreams

1. Young Outdoorsman 

• Enjoyed dangerous sports 

• Ambulance corps and then soldier in the Italian army in WWI 

2. Expatriate in Paris 

• Foreign correspondent 

• Wrote 2 volumes of poems and sketches and on novel 

3. Spokesman for the Lost Generation 

• Big-game hunter and war correspondent 

• Lived in Key West and Cuba, producing almost a dozen books and collections of short stories 

• Moved to Idaho but, unable to write as he once had and paranoid, committed suicide 

Ernest Hemingway

whose writing style is usually short and simple sentences, similar to a journalistic style of writing?

Hemingway

• Author is Ernest Hemingway 

• The story is very pessimistic

• uses multiple symbols (machines and photographs) in order to develop the theme of the story (soldiers are both damages and isolated) 

• The machines and photographs are a false hope of recovery from the war. The soldiers are too isolated and have experienced too much emotional trauma. 

• “Beyond the old hospital were the new brick pavilions, and there we met every afternoon and were all very polite and interested in what was the matter, and sat in the machines that were to make so much difference.”

• The major did not think the machines were going to make much difference because he did think they were of much use. 

• The major had a very pessimistic view of life after the war. His wife had died of pneumonia. 

• “I always understood we were the first to use the machines. The photographs did not make much difference to the major because he only looked out of the window.”

• The only thing that connected the soldiers was their trauma. 

• “He had lived a very long time with death and was a little detached. We were all a little detached, and there was nothing that held us together except that we met every afternoon at the hospital.” 

In Another Country

1. Teacher and Soldier 

• Taught high school and college for 16 years 

• Served in both World Wars 

2. Skilled Novelists 

• Published novels first, but best known for his plays 

3. Popular Playwright 

• Became widely known for his nonrealistic staging technique 

• Variety of setting but same human experience regardless of time or place 

• Ordinary, sympathetic characters

Thornton Wilder

divisions of a play

Acts

division of an act

Scenes

identifies the roles in the play

Cast of Characters

set off in italics, help to situate the action and indicate actions carried out on stage

Stage directions

text spoken aloud on stage by the characters

Dialogue

• Author is Thornton Wilder 

• The Journey in this play is a symbol for the journey of life; life has ups and downs 

• Ma is spiritually mature and the one guiding the family on the trip. Ma values people over money; she loves her family and cares for them more than money. 

• The family is heading to Trenton and Camden to visit a funeral and go see Beulah whose baby was born and died. 

• When they arrive at Beulah’s house, the mother continues to take care of her even though Beulah is grown up. 

• The mother reinforces the theme of death being sad, but not dwelling on it

The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden

1. California Kid 

• Only interest in becoming a writer 

2. Social-Ideals Novelist 

• Wrote several books in quick succession 

• The Grapes of Wrath reflects his concerns but generated much controversy 

3. Fading Star 

• Retreated from fiction to write nonfiction and pursue journalism 

• Return to fiction with varied genre and themes 

• Never regained literary favor of the 1930s

John Steinbeck

descriptive words or phrases that appeals to sense perceptions

Imagery

a series of events arranged to produce a definite sense of movement toward a specific goal

Plot

introduces setting, characters, and situation

Exposition

even that introduces the conflict and sets it in motion 

Inciting incident

presents various obstacles or complications that the central character must overcome

Rising action

major turning point for the protagonist

Crisis

point at which plot reaches the moment of highest emotional intensity

Climax

contains events that unfold the results of the crisis and lead to conclusion

Falling action

resolution, final outcome to the story

Denouement

• Author is John Steinbeck 

• Theme is maturity and loss of innocence

• Story about a boy named Pepe who went to town to get medicine and killed a man because he was not saying nice words. Pepe then “becomes a man” and has to flee from his home because of his crime. During the journey he is often lost and in the unknown. During the journey he is often associated with a snake because he is dangerous and kills somebody. Pepe is killed during his journey because of his crime. Pepe getting shot resolves the conflict of him becoming a man. 

• His father’s coat that he wears is a symbol of his fight to become a man. 

• “A boy gets to be a man when a man is needed.”

Flight

1. Lived most of her life in the Mississippi Delta region 

2. Journalist and photographer 

3. One of the modern master of the short-story form 

4. Powerful sense of place, culture, and real characters

Eudora Welty

an element— such as an object, image, description or theme—that repeats throughout literature of a specific work

Motif

a sketch or short story that deals primarily with developing character

Character study

• Author is Eudora Welty 

• A character study

• Bird imagery- sense of freedom and her name (Phoenix) 

• Hand reaching up- accepts help 

• The color black- idea of death because she is elderly

• Phoenix represents bravery and loyalty 

• “He not able to help himself. So the time come around, and I go on another trip for the soothing medicine.” – shows her love for her grandson and her bravery to go on this trip even though she was old and had dementia. 

• Story about an elderly lady who is on a journey to get medicine for her grandson. On her journey she encounters a hunter who points a gun at her, but helps her out of ditch. When she gets to the doctor’s office, the nurse is rude to her because Phoenix has dementia and cannot remember why she went on her journey. Another nurse reminds Phoenix why she is there and helps her get medicine for her grandson. 

• Phoenix accepts help from others instead of being too proud for help. 

Worn Path