The Modern Era Class Questions

What role does the house play in the story: A Haunted House by Woolf? 

What role does the house play in the story: A Haunted House by Woolf? 

• The House acts as an environment that shows the love between the dead ghost couple. Very ironic how normal and calm the house is (“safe, safe, safe”).

• The ghosts are haunted by what they have lost

• Ironic that the house has a heartbeat

How is this story (Haunter House by Woolf) different from a typical ghost story or haunted house story?

• The story is different because it's a story about a love between a couple and how they relax with the new couple in the home where they once had all their love. 

• Tons of cataloging to show the happy memories

• Repetition and not scary

• How does the sound of the language have an overall effect in Haunted House by Woolf?

• The language is very calm and easy to understand which conveys the underlying idea of a happy afterlife for the ghost who wants to remember the time they have shared. 

• Stream of consciousness/bouncing around narration by having the ghosts talk and not the actual couple

• What Lit terms best help to describe Woolf’s language in Haunted House?

• The symbol of the ghost's love  as a treasure shows the idea that the ghost's love never died and the house will be a reminder of that love

• What is the treasure in Haunted House?

• The treasure is the ghost's actual love found in their house's memories and they reminisce on their love through the house. 

• Also could have left their house full of memories/past for the new couple

• How do you interpret “Death Was the glass” in Haunted House?

• The ghosts are still divided by this see-through event (death) 

• Direct metaphor and how the glass could be one-sided just as death could be

Theme ideas of Hanuted House by Woolf

• Love and memories have no bounds when it has a healthy relationship

• Woolf: Women in Fiction 

  • What is the main idea of ‘Women in Fiction”

• Women were isolated by the men and they do not know who they truly are

• Following Victorian norms and are unable to be a true woman because they were written by men 

• Change in attitude and topic matter in the 1920s

• Joyce: “Eveline”

• Why does Eveline decide to stay at home rather than leave with Frank?

• Eveline knows that she is unable to be successful and have the life she grew up with if she runs away with him. (possibly not wanting to live a life of regret)

• The trip from Ireland to Argentina is one way and she would be losing her life with her siblings (guilty) and the culture she knows

• The idea of escape is more appealing than actually staying in her semi-independent life

• Joyce: “Eveline”

• How does Joyce use the imagery in this story to help the reader understand Evenline’s feelings?

• Checks/maze in distress shows that she may be having a panic attack or is dying

• Eveline realizes she will miss him but has no regret about staying

• Joyce: “Eveline”

• Eveline relationship with her father?

• Her father is very violent and she tries to justify his actions. 

• She used to have good memories even though he was a horrible human being. 

• Joyce: “Eveline”

• Theme ideas

• Escaping for a lover will have consequences

• Guilt will alter one's choices in life

• Comformanty  monotony can be more comfortable than uncertain excitement 

• Isolation, and loneliness a huge traits in the modern era

Joyce Araby

• What is the relationship between the narrator and Mangan’s sister in “Araby”

• The narrator is a preteen and Mangan is a teenager (idolizes her)

• Infatuation with this teen and is not sure how

Joyce Araby

• What actually happens when the narrator gets to Araby?

• The narrator finds out the fair is totally boring, tons of events are closed because his uncle was drunk and made him late because the uncle kept talking. 

Joyce Araby

• Why is his experience there disappointing?

• He is disappointed because he is supper late and did not get to experience everything he wanted too

Joyce Araby

• The people in the shop tone towards narrator?

• They seem suspicious of the narrator and want to leave their jobs

Joyce Araby

• The ending and how the narrator feels/messge of the story

• The narrator feels negative about himself (epiphany) because he idolizes what is going to happen and then he is crushed

• His childhood was set up for disappointment 

• Modern-era tone: cynical and bitter 

Politics and the English Language (Orwell) 

• Why does Orwell think that “Political writing is bad writing”

• He believes that political language comes across as nicely worded, smart, and truthful, when in reality the writer/politician is truly saying his/her own opinions and/or lies to persuade why he/she is correct on a certain topic

• Lacking meaning in their words 

  • Machine washes them, brainwashes them, etc

• Overcompiates words and meanings to be purposeful misleading 

• Politics and the English Language (Orwell) 

  What is euphemism? What specific examples does Orwell give of euphemisms at work in his essay?

• Vageley referring or saying something (saying something bluntly)

  • EX IN TEXT: A watered-down way of what a person is saying to show it is more believable and nicer way

  • EX in 1984

    • The Vanishing (nobody knows truly  where they actually are as the government does not say)

Politics and the English Language (Orwell) 

Orwell explains that “political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murderer respectable’ (2). Given what he has said earlier in the essay, why does he think this is true?

• Orwell believes that this is a true statement because of the manipulation in political writing. This is seen with the lack of meaning in the text of lies that political writers produce. The writer manipulates the reader with fancy words and a larger vocabulary to trick the reader into believing the author's own bias. 

Politics and the English Language (Orwell) 

Where in the novel have you seen examples of party using “poltical language, designed to make lies sound truthful and murder rescteable?” List two exaples. What is the Party’s motivation to do so?

The Party is motivated for complete and utter control over their civillians by brainwashing them with ideologies on what is right and wrong.

ex:TONS OF GASLIGHTING BY THE GOVERMENT

• The Party  Contraictory Slogan: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength 

• The concept of Newspeak

Politics and the English Language (Orwell) 

What is Orwell’s main argument in the part of the essay you read?

• The idea the political lanuage is a maniplative way to express ones bias opinions and hide the truth from people 

• Warning for readers to not believe all you read (chain reaction)

• Endless cycle of being told the same thing over and over again 

Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics

• A place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and conditions.

utopia

Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics

A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, and/or totalitarian control.

dystopia definition

Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics

• Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society.

• Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted.

• A figurehead or concept is worshiped by the citizens of the society.

  • Big Brother and his control on society 

• Citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance.

• Citizens have a fear of the outside world.

•  Citizens live in a dehumanized state.

• The natural world is banished and distrusted. 

• Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and dissent are bad.

  • Alienation and uniformity being forced to wear the same outfits 

• Society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world.

  • Example of Newspeak language coming to play

Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics

• One or more large corporations control society through products, advertising, and/or the media. Examples include Minority Report and Running Man.

Corporate control:

Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics

• Society is controlled by a mindless bureaucracy through a tangle of red tape, relentless regulations, and incompetent government officials. Examples in the film include Brazil.

Bureaucratic control: MAINLY IN 1984

Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics

• Society is controlled by technology—through computers, robots, and/or scientific means. Examples include The Matrix, The Terminator, and I, Robot.

technological control

Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics

• Society is controlled by philosophical or religious ideology often enforced through a dictatorship or theocratic government.

Philosophical/religious contro

Dystopias: Definition and Characte

• often feels trapped and is struggling to escape.

• questions the existing social and political systems.

• believes or feels that something is terribly wrong with the society in which he or she lives.

• helps the audience recognize the negative aspects of the dystopian world

The Dystopian Protagonist

1. What does Julia tell Winston about her attitude toward the party?

1. She hates the party and has a negative attitude towards it. 

2. “She hated the party and said so in the crudest words but made no general criticism of it.” “he noticed she never used newspeak words.”(Orwell 131)

1. How does Winston react when he sees the rat? Why?

1. He cut her short [...] I don’t like rats that’s all” 

   1. Very alarmed by the rat and disgusted 

   2. Winston is not used to seeing live animals because of their society being so devoid of nature and separated from the natural world- connecting to one of the most common dystopian traits.

1984

1. What does the Brotherhood book say that the aim of modern warfare is?

1. The aim of modern warfare includes the idea that “fighting, when there is any, takes place on the vague frontiers” and “[it] has changed its character”  from the original purpose of war (Orwell 186).

2. This means that the aim of the war is for one territory to have complete and utter control over the people in the other territories of Eastasia, Eurasia, and Oceania.

How does this aim of modern warfare line up with the principles of doublethink?

The aim of modern warfare is to use up all of the products in the war that the machine produces, so then the party can make money and will not have to have the hassle of raising the standards of life or of evenly distributing goods. It especially aligns with the principle of doublethink because the war, in this case, is keeping peace, so war is peace. 

1. Overall what does this book tell Winston about what is really happening with the war?

The “same war” in the present novel has been going on for a “few years” (Orwell 186). Oceania is always “at war with Eastasia” though the three territories are never “decisive” about who they are in “alliance with” or at “war with” (Orwell 182, 186). 

1984

In the next part of the book, what does it say about how the Party is different from any other government?

The book talks about how the Party is “cut off from contact with the outer world” as they are by themselves and “the citizen of Oceania is like a man in interstellar space.” (Orwell 198). 

• Party is consumed with pure power, no emotion, and live for the party 

• The inner circle is still kept poor and not that much better then the outer parties 

• Big Brother in the book is all-powerful, with no mistakes made, and faith as you never see him but is always there. 

  • Everyone pays attention to him and focuses on him no matter if he is real or not 

1. How does Winston react to the book? How is his reaction different from Julia’s?

1. He wants to keep reading it and Julia really does not (falls asleep)

   1. He wants to reread the book multiple times and it reassures him of his beliefs 

   2. She does not have the same level of curiosity 

1. What happens to the coral paperweight in Chapter 10? Why is this significant?

1. The coral paperweight is shattered just like Winston and Julias lives 

   1. Paperweight broken= their world destroyed 

   2. Dreams were small and then squished 

   3. End of Winston's journey for fight for better 

Why 1984 was written

1. What is happening, in Orwell’s opinion, to objective truth?

1. Objective truth is not the same for everyone as we all have different opinions on how certain events happened. “Already history has in a sense ceased to exist, [...] there is no such thing as a history of our own times which could be universally accepted” (Orwell 1).

Why 1984 was written

1. In the final paragraph of his letter, why does Orwell say he supports the war?

1. Orwell says he supports “the USSR against Germany” because he believes that the “USSR cannot altogether escape its past” (Orwell 2). The USSR also “retains enough of the original ideas of the Revolution” which allows Orwell to believe that the USSR is the more intellectual choice than Nazi Germany is (Orwell 2).

2. USSR is the lesser evil choice rather than Nazi Germany

Why 1984 was written

1.  Where does he see hope? 

1. Orwell sees hope in the world as it has not gone totally totalitarian (seen in the US and Britain government) 

1984 wrap up

1) O'Brien tells Winston, "The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world" (283). What, for Winston, is this worst thing? How does he react when he is confronted with his "worst thing"?

The worst thing in the world for Winston is rats. However, when he is confronted with that trap, he gives up the hope he had to survive which was Julia. He betrayed  Julia who mattered most to him by not wanting to experience his personal fear of rats and save himself . Overall, the rats resulted in a defeated Winston saving himself over his partner. This confrontation of fear could be a theme idea of lost hope or one of selfishness by others. 

 How have Winston's ideas about his society and government changed since the beginning of the novel? What actually happens to Winston in the final paragraphs of the book? 

Winston is completely a different person and becomes just like a brainwashed and loyal citizen of the party. In the final paragraphs in the book, he comes to the realization that he truly loves the party and Big Brother. This is a complete polar opposite from Winston who questioned the Party at the beginning of the novel. Winston becomes a dynamic character at the end because of this significant change. 

 Why is Winston's final encounter with Julia so significant? How has Julia changed since we last saw her?

 The final encounter with Julia is so significant because he was fighting to see her again. When Winston sees her, she is completely petrified, quiet, and alone in the world. This state of Julia made him realize they had both lost their ways in the society they wanted to change for each other.  She informs Winston that she caved because she realized that she only cared for her own self when she was confronted in Room 101. They both agree that they truly betrayed each other and lost their own sense of self. 

1984

What theme ideas most stand out to you now that we have finished the novel? Name two theme ideas that you think are most important to the novel as a whole and explain why.

Facing true fear will completely change a person forever (seen in Room 101)

Betrayal (Winston and Julia realzing that they rather hurt one another and save themselves in Room 101)

Control (The Party controlling offers no sense of freedom or expression of a person)

“My Oedipus Complex”

Larry describes the war as the most peaceful period of his life. Why is it? What lit term(s) best apply to this idea?

1. Larry feels this because he never met with his father. This is a form of situational irony because his world is perfectly fine, but the world around him is suffering through a war. 

2. “Life never seemed so simple and clear and full of possibilities as then.” (O’Connor 2)

“My Oedipus Complex”

1. What event finally resolves the conflict between Larry and his father? Why does this event end their conflict?

1. The conflict is resolved when his baby brother, Sonny is born. The birth of the baby brings them and strengthens their bond because they both miss the moms love. 

   1. “Mother had no consideration now for anyone but that poisonous pup, Sonny.”

   2. “[He] couldn’t help feeling sorry for Father. [Larry] had been through it all myself…” (both are from O’Connor 9)

“My Oedipus Complex”

1.  Freud came up with this theory, and he said it was an important part of normal human development. Given this information, how/why is the title important to the story overall?

1. he title is important the whole story revolves around a boy fighting his dad for his mom which is what Oedipus Complex means. 

   1. “[Larry is] going to marry [his mom]” (O’Connor 8). 

Demon Lover

Why does the Drover family have to leave their house in London? Why does Mrs. Drover return to her house?

1. The Drover family was forced to leave their house due to the bombings in London. Mrs. Drover returns "to look for several things she wanted to take away" to their new home in the countryside (Bowen 1). 

Demon Lover

1. Describe the thoughts and behavior of Mrs. Drover in each of these scenes. Do you think her own mind, a supernatural force, or some combination of both causes her to act and think as she does?

● Her reaction to the mysterious letter (lines 52-65)

• Her reaction to the mysterious letter was a supernatural force because either is no way that anyone could get into the house without a key, besides a ghost

• “She drops the letter onto the bed springs, then picked it up to see the writing again- lips, beneath the remains of lipstick, beginning to go white” (Bowen 1232). 

● Her farewell meeting with her former fiance

• Her farewell meeting was closure for her and was her own mind. 

  • “Remained for an eternity eye to eye” (Bowen 1236)

    • They finally both got the closure they need to move on, it remind me of the forgive but not forget type of scenario, they can get the closure they need for the situation but they don’t have to forget each other.

● Her memories as she packs

• Her memories as she packs her own mind, kind of warning her about what is happening, “the thing was, to get out” (Bowen 1235)

Demon Lover

1. What theme idea(s) stand out most to your group from this story?

1. Some theme ideas that stood out to me were the effects of a traumatic experience, the idea of time and grief, breaking promises. 

2. “Kathleen behaved well when, some months later, her fiance was reported missing, presumed dead” (Bowen 1234).

3. “I shall be with you” he said, “sooner or later. You won’t forget that. You need to do nothing but wait” (Bowen 1233).