Literary Works Test

How does an author create suspense?

By slowing down the story and not giving a lot of information during an important and exciting part. The author can also only show one point of view.

What are the different literary points of view?

1st person limited 1st person omniscient 3rd person limited 3rd person omniscient

How does point of view affect a story?

It determines what side of the story the reader can experience

What are the five methods of characterization?

speech thoughts/feelings emotions actions looks

What is hubris?

Excessive pride

How does it usually affect characters?

It causes characters to sacrifice things in order to keep their pride

What is the purpose of an exposition in a story?

To give background information

Why do short story authors sometimes eliminate it and instead start their stories en medias res?

so the reader can form their own background story

What is the difference between mood and tone?

Mood is the feeling that you get from the story and tone is the author's attitude while writing the story.

What is irony?

When something happens that you don't expect

What do the 60 Minutes video and the story "Man in the Well" by Ira Sher teach the reader about the inherent good and evil in children? Explain.

Both the video and the story tell how children inherently believe in giving revenge to people who have done something wrong. In the video, the babies liked the puppet more who didn't help the mean puppet. This shows that they believed that the mean puppet shouldn't be treated kindly. The story says, "We all watched him, trembling, our faces the faces I had seen pasted on the spectators at the freak tent." The young children let their fear get the best of them. Without evidence, they thought that man may had done something wrong to get down in the well, and the kids were too afraid to tell anyone of him. Not only do children know the difference between good and evil, but they also have their own beliefs that evil people don't deserve a chance to change to being good.

What is the extended metaphor in "The Poison Tree" and how does it relate to revenge? Explain.

The extended metaphor in "The Poison Tree" is that growing tree and the apple in the story is symbolizing growing anger and sin. The poem says, "I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow." Instead of confronting his enemy, the narrator held in his anger and let it build up into a hateful grudge. This led the narrator to want revenge and to hurt his enemy. In the end, the narrator killed his enemy through commiting a sin.

How is the title of "Lamb to the Slaughter" ironic and how is the story itself ironic? Explain.

The title is ironic because an actual leg of lamb is used as the story's murder weapon. The story itself is ironic because the wife killed her husband. The story says, "And as he spoke he did an unusual thing." The story gives the reader the impression that Mary's husband is suspicious and may hurt the wife. As the reader, I did not expect the wife to kill her husband. The story is also ironic when the police officers eat the murder weapon. The story says, "It's probably right under our noses." Dramatic irony can be when the reader knows something the charcters don't. I, the reader, knew that the lamb leg was used to murder Mary's husband, but the police officers didn't.

Think of the exposition in both "The Necklace'' and "Spellbound". How do the expositions show the theme of jealousy in each? Explain.

In both the expositions of "The Necklace" and "Spellbound," the theme of jealousy is expressed by never being fulfilled with what you have. Even with having a standard life, Madame Loisel thought that she deserved better. The exposition of "The Necklace states, "She suffered endlessly, feeling herself born for every delicacy and luxury." Madame Loisel was so obsessed with the fact of not having luxurious goods that couldn't even talk to one of her rich friends in fear of being depressed when she returned to her home. The little girl in Spellbound experiences similar feelings to Madame Loisel. The little girl is not satisfied with her awards because she believes that her sister is better. This causes her to produce anger at her sister, who did nothing wrong. Overall, both of these works give examples of the negative effects of jealousy.

How does the author create suspense in "Lather and Nothing Else"? Describe at least three ways he creates suspense.

The author of "Lather and Nothing Else" creates suspense in many ways in his story. One way is by only letting the reader see one point of view. Hernando Tellez writes in 1st person omniscient and only allows us to understand the barber's thoughts and feelings. Another way that the author creates suspense is by having the barber hesitate on his decision. This causes the reader to get more anxious about what the barber is going to do. In addition, the author adds a lot of imagery and detail into his story. Not only does this allow the reader to get a deeper understanding about what the barber is feeling but it also puts a lot of pressure on the scene. The story says, "But I'm shaking like a regular murderer. From his throat a stream of blood on the sheet, over the chair, down my hands, onto the floor." This line helps the reader feel what the barber is going through. Overall the suspense in the story creates more tension and engages the reader more.

Explain how "The Stanford Prison Experiment" demonstrates both mob mentality and inherent evil in humans.

"The Stanford Prison Experiment" demonstrates that people in the experiment follow mob mentality and have inherent evil. Neither the gaurds nor the prisoners tried to "rise up" against the hierarchy that formed in the experimental prison. In the article, it states, "Within a very short time both gaurds and prisoners were settling into their new roles, with the guards adopting theirs quickly and easily" (McLeod 2) While in the prison, all of the participants forgot that they weren't much different than one another. The gaurds also started to believe that they needed to punish the prisoners, even though the prisoners didn't do anything wrong. The guards felt as if it were their duty to be in charge of the prisoners. Most of the guards didn't even realize that the were being "evil" because this "evilness" came out of them like second-nature. In the article, it states, "One gaurd said, 'I was surprised at myself" (McLeod 3) Overall, this article demonstrates that people's inherent evil and ability to follow mob mentality can be expressed under high pressured situations.

How is hubris the downfall for Adela Strangeworth in "The Possibility of Evil"? Explain.

Adela Strangeworth believes that it is her duty to protect the citizens of her town. While trying to help them, Mrs. Strangeworth gets too caught up in the gossip of the town and not worrying about the citizen's feeling. Instead of politely talking to the citizens, Mrs. Strangeworth has too much pride and believes that she knows the only way to fix the citizen's "problems." The story says, "There were so many wicked people in the world and only one Strangeworth left in town."When her town realizes that Mrs. Strangeworth, the nice, old lady, has been writing harsh and rude letters, the citizens start to hate Mrs. Strangeworth. Overall, the reason why Mrs. Strangeworth lost respect was because she was too worried about herself and her pride.

How does "On Good and Evil" show selfishness as the root of evil? Explain.

The poem "On Good and Evil" adresses the fact that focusing too much on someone;s "goodness" can make them evil. Most evilness starts from being too worried about always being good. The story says, "For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?" The poem talks about how being perfect in someone's good ways can cause them an obsession that leads to being evil. Overall, this poem expresses the idea of being self-absorbed as a leading cause to evilness.

What argument does Elie Weisel make against the bystander principle in "The Perils of Indifference"? Explain.

In Elie Weisel’s speech, he argues that indifference can make a big impact on a bad situation. The bystander principle is being indifferent and not doing anything to fix the bad situation. In his speech, Elie Weisel talks about how indifference is the line between “cruelty and compassion.” He gives examples on how indifference during the Holocaust made the event even worse. Overall, Elie Weisel uses literary texts and sound devices to tell his point that the bystander principle is the way to betray humanity and cause bigger problems.