CLEP American Literature -- Quizlet

'A Farewell to Arms'

Ernest Hemingway's war stories from driving an ambulance for the Italian army in WWI.

'Absalom, Absalom'

by William Faulkner, 1936

About incest and racial mixing

'Adventure of Huckleberry Finn'

1885, by Mark Twain

Jim (slave) Huck (rebellious boy) escape slavery, abusive father, conforming to society, oppressive aunts on the Mississippi river.

'Call of the Wild'

1903

Jack London's most famous work.

Told from POV of dog, Buck.

Removed from civilization Buck learns survival of the fittest and thrives. Becomes Alpha male of wolf pack. Symbolism: Jack London = Buck, struggling for success, Social Darwinism.

'Celebrated jumping frog of Culveras County'

By Mark Twain. Smiley = notorious gambler, trains a frog to jump. Stranger takes bet that he can find a frog which can jump higher, fills Smiley's frog with lead, Smiley loses, stranger vanishes.

'Civil Disobedience'

influence MLK and Ghandi and Nelson Mandella. Guide to peaceful protests, by: H.D Thoreau.

'Ethan Frome'

story of an impoverished farmer from Boston. Falls in love with wife's cousin, they attempt suicide by sledding into a tree, prot. = crippled, Mattie = paralyzed. by Edith Wharton

'For Whom the Bell Tolls'

Ernest Hemingway on the Spanish Civil war

'Grapes of Wrath'

by John Steinbeck, 1939

dispossed 'Okie' farmers forced immigrate to CA in the hopes for work, there is none. Tom Joad = prot. kills a man, leaves family.

combination of naturalism and symbolism.

'Great Gatsby'

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Lyrical picture of Am's values and materialism

Wilson (gas station owner) kills prot. b/c he believes prot. ran over his wife. Analyzes personal and moral corruption in a success bent society, was not famous during his lifetime.

'Kilimanjaro'

By Ernest Hemingway.

Describes F. Scott Fitzgerald's decline, depicts the guilt of a talented unfulfilled artist facing death.

'Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock'

by T.S Eliot

about a man who is unable to overcome his timidness and find his place in the world, believes that asking his dream woman to marry him will disrupt the universe.

'Maggie: A girl of the streets'

1893

Maggie (prot.) falls for Pete, He dumps her after sex. Family disowns her and refuses to house or feed her, leads to prostitution and death. Mother forgives Maggie post mortem.

Big Picture: attack on traditional christian morals. Opened 20th century theme of loss of morals.

By: Stephen Crane

'Magnalia Christi Americana'

Cotton Mather = author. 1702.

Most famous work, his views on puritan society.

'Moby Dick'

By. H. Melville. greatest novel.

Interpretations: 1. risks of trying to make nature bend to the will of man. 2. rebellion against evil and chaos. 3. Ishmael's(narrator) search for meaning in life.

Antagonist interpretations: symbol of evil, God, indifferent universe.

'Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass'

3 versions.

Theme: Slavery corrupts human spirit and robs freedom from both slave and master.

'Native Son'

by Richard Wright,1940

poor black servant (Bigger) driven to murder by white oppression. told in 4 'stories' (really chapters)

Chicago, 1930's

Book1: Fear, murders white girl and burns her body in the chimney to avoid rape accusation.

Book2: Flight, Bigger (prot) writes ransom note, they find bones in the chimney, Bigger kills his gf and hides

Book3: Fate, Commie lawyer argues it's societies fault. Bigger faces death sentence with dignity and courage.

Summary: communism in the answer to AA probs, society is the crime committer, violence = necessary.

'Of Mice and Men'

by John Steinbeck, 1937

two drifters tragic attempt at owning a farm

'Rabbit at Rest'

contemporary, John Updike, follows Henry (prot.) into the present. Pulitzer winning.

'Rabbit is Rich'

contemporary, John Updike, set in the 90's. sad and quiet, Henry (prot.) living in small town in PA, wealthy and middle age

'Rabbit Redux'

contemporary, John Updike, set in the 70's, Henry= prot, Vietnam and black revolution's effect on Henry in small PA town

'Rabbit Run'

contemporary, John Updike, set in 1950's Henry=prot. midlife crisis, longs to escape his wife, child, and community.

'Red Badge of Courage'

Theme: Civil War, journey to manhood

Prot. = Henry Flemming, itching to get war experience.

Intent: psycholigical portrayal of fear: isolation, identity, death, failure, guilt.

Title means to be wounded in war. Impressionist.

By: Stephen Crane

'Self Reliance'

By: Ralph Waldo Emerson. Inward looking summary of how people should be independent.

'The Adventures of Augie March'

by Saul Bellow

1953 National Book award for vitality, richness, and originality

'The Awakening'

Kate Chopin. banned for sexuality. Edna Pontillier (prot) gives up money, family, respect and life in the pursuit of self realization.

'The Catcher in the Rye'

by J.D Salinger, 1951

Holden Caulfield = prot., symbol for misunderstood youth

teenager trying to make friends/way in the world, have sex, fails = mental breakdown = insane asylum

'The Invisible Man'

by Ralph Ellison, contemporary AA writer, 1952

prot= unnamed, ignoring of AA's in Am. society, prot tries to find his place, relationships=hollow, lives in solitude, finds hope.

idiomatic style

'The Last Straw'

essay protesting Mexican-Am. war. "gov't is best which governs least" by. H.D Thoreau

'The Old Man and the Sea'

by Ernest Hemingway.

Santiago = old fisherman, symbol for Jesus

Santiago spends 84 days at sea without a bite, fights largest fish for 3 days, sharks eat the fish on his return to port, other fishermen are blown away by the size of the remains.

'The Open Boat'

by Stephen Crane. plot: 4 men on a boat which sinks, take a dingy to safety

The only one with a name (Billy the Oiler) dies, despite being the strongest > Nature is random.

Humanity vs. The sea, an indifferent killer.

'The Outcasts of Poker Flat'

Setting: CA during Gold Rush 1849

2 prostitutes, 1 gambler, 1 thief are cast out, discovered by newly weds.All die in a blizzard except Tom (groom)

By Bret Harte, local color

'The Raven'

Set ground rules for 19th century poetry.

Author : Edgar Allen Poe.

Theme: man driven to madness by a raven while mourning the loss of his wife, Lenore.

'The Scarlet Letter'

1st psychological novel in Am. Hester Pryme = prot. = adultress.

Hester is put in jail and forced to wear a letter A on her chest. Rose bush is symbolism for Hester.

'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'

By James Thurbor

Middle aged man escaped his wife by making elaborate fantasies in his head.

'The Sound and the Fury'

by William Faulkner

tragedy, decline of southern family, stream of conscious, humor and sin. Told from POV of 4 narrators: 3 brothers and slave. Later added a fifth narrator.

'The Victim'

by Saul Bellow

1 week in the life of Asa Kirby (prot) naturalistic and dark, Asa is against forces bigger than himself and bigger than him.

'The Wasteland'

by T.S Eliot

Am & EU despair post WWI despair and tragedy, had strayed too far from religious roots.

'The Yellow Wallpaper'

1892. by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Woman breaks down after childbirth, believes she sees a woman in the wallpaper trying to escape. Rips wallpaper from the wall, turns out she is the one in the wallpaper.

'To Build a Fire'

By Jack London.

Foolish prospector doesn't heed advice from elders in Yukon territory and sets out despite cold weather, his dog survives and gets help, prospector dies

'To Kill a Mockingbird'

1960. By Harper Lee, Scout Finch (f) and brother Jem, widowed father/lawyer Atticus. Atticus represents AA in court, problems arise.

'Typee'

Herman Melville's adventures at sea with island cannibals and nubile slave guards

'Uncle Tom's Cabin'

By: Harriet Beecher Stowe

credited for starting civil war.

Polemic- literary piece intending to change public opinion.

most influential book of 19th century.

theme: slavery can be solved with christian love.

'Walden'

By: H.D Thoreau.

Theme: reducing life to it's simplest to understand it better, resist materialism

'When Lilac last in the dooryard bloomed'

lementing Lincoln's death, dealt with it through nature.

symbolism: lilac- everlasting spirit, poet's love for the pres.