Literary Analysis Study Guide for Maturity Exam
The Sorrows of Young Werther – Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Author: Johann Wolfgang Goethe, a German writer, scientist, and philosopher.
Publication Year: . This publication caused a phenomenon known as "Werther Fever," which involved a wave of suicides and a fashion trend of blue frocks and yellow vests.
Literary Category: Epic (contains a plot).
Literary Genre: Sentimental novel in letters (epistolary novel).
Themes and Motifs: * Main Theme: The unfulfilled, tragic love of a young artist for a woman who is already engaged/married, leading to his internal decay and eventual suicide. * Motifs: Nature (reflecting Werther's moods), freedom, art, social conventions (which restrict Werther), death, and friendship.
Setting and Composition: * Time and Space: Located in the fictional town of Wahlheim in Germany during the half of the century. The plot spans approximately years. * Composition: Divided into parts. * Form: Primarily written as letters from Werther to his friend Wilhelm (providing a subjective viewpoint). The conclusion is supplemented by a fictional editor who describes Werther's final days and death from an objective perspective.
Characters: * Werther: A young, educated artist (painter). He is hypersensitive, emotional, and loves nature and common people. He cannot reconcile himself with reality or societal rules. * Lotta (Lotta): The embodiment of an ideal. She is beautiful, kind, and cares for her siblings after their mother's death. She likes Werther but remains faithful to her promise and her husband. * Albert: Lotta's husband and Werther's opposite. He is rational, hardworking, calm, and reliable, though Werther finds him "boring." * Wilhelm: Werther's friend and recipient of the letters; details about him are not provided in the text.
Language and Style: * Goethe employs highly emotional and rich language consistent with the sentimentality of the era. * Archaisms and Poetisms: Includes terms like "choť," "dvé," and "lkala." * Exclamatory Sentences and Aposiopesis: Used to express Werther's agitation (e.g., "Ach, ta touha! – Kdybych jen mohl…"). * Personification: Nature is depicted as "alive" (e.g., "Hory na mě shlížely s úzkostí"). * Metaphors: Emotions compared to storms or floods. * Apostrophe: Werther frequently addresses the absent Lotta or nature ("Ó, přírodo!").
Literary-Historical Context: * Movement: Pre-romanticism (specifically the Sturm und Drang / Storm and Stress movement in Germany). It emphasizes emotion, passion, and individuality over Enlightenment rationalism. It advocates a return to nature and folk literature. * Contemporaries: Friedrich Schiller.
Plot Summary: Werther moves to the countryside to paint. At a ball, he meets Lotta and falls in love instantly, despite her engagement to Albert. He spends much time near them, but his suffering grows as he cannot have her. He briefly works at an embassy but returns after facing aristocratic pride. Finding Lotta and Albert married, his depression peaks. Under the guise of a trip, he borrows pistols from Albert and shoots himself. He is buried without a priest, as suicides were denied church burials.
Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare
Theme: A story of tragic love falling victim to the hatred between two families.
Motifs: Love, death, fate, family honor, reconciliation, and the contrast of night and light.
Setting: Italy (Verona and Mantova) during the century.
Composition: A drama in acts. It begins with a prologue in sonnet form. * Progression: Exposition (family feud), Collision (the ball/meeting), Crisis (duel/exile), Peripeteia (Juliet's faked death), Catastrophe (deaths of both).
Literary Category and Genre: Drama, Tragedy.
Characters: * Romeo: A Montague; romantic, impulsive, willing to sacrifice everything for love. * Julie (Juliet): A Capulet; young ( years old), initially obedient, but finds the courage to defy her family through her love for Romeo. * Tybalt: Juliet's cousin; aggressive and a guardian of family honor. * Merkucio (Mercutio): Romeo's friend; witty and articulate. * Otec Vavřinec (Friar Laurence): A monk who helps the lovers hoping to reconcile the families.
Language Devices: * Blank Verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter. * Oxymoron: "O těžká lehkosti! O vážná hravosti!" (expresses Romeo's inner turmoil). * Metaphor and Personification: "I smrt si vybrala tvůj sladký dech." * Contrast: Light (Juliet as the sun) vs. Night (secrecy of love).
Literary-Historical Context: * Author: William Shakespeare, the world's most significant playwright and a key figure of the English Renaissance. * Context: Elizabethan England, late century (around ). The Renaissance emphasizes the human, earthly life, and the right to love.
The Pit and the Pendulum – Edgar Allan Poe
Theme and Motifs: Physical and psychological torture of a prisoner by the Inquisition and the struggle for survival. Motifs include darkness, depth (the pit), time (the pendulum), rats, fear of death, and hope for rescue.
Setting: Toledo, Spain, in an Inquisition prison; time is unspecified but set during religious oppression.
Composition: Chronological; the plot is tight and builds to a last-second rescue.
Literary Category and Genre: Epic, horror short story.
Narrator: First-person (ich-forma) as an unknown prisoner, allowing the reader to experience horror directly.
Characters: The Narrator is a passive victim attempting logical reasoning in extreme circumstances; he represents the human will to live.
Language Devices: * Detailed Descriptions: Focus on sensory perceptions (hearing the pendulum's hiss, feeling the dungeon walls). * Gradation: Increasing tension as the pendulum nears the body. * Anafora: Repeating words to express anxiety and the monotony of waiting for death. * Archaisms: Related to the Inquisition setting.
Literary-Historical Context: * Author: Edgar Allan Poe, founder of the detective and horror genres and representative of American Romanticism. * Context: Mid- century. Poe was a "cursed poet" who influenced modern literature through his fascination with death and the darkness of the soul.
The Raven – Edgar Allan Poe
Theme and Motifs: Despair over the loss of a beloved woman and the inevitability of death. Motifs include night, a storm, the bust of Pallas Athena, Lenora, the raven, and loneliness.
Setting: The narrator's lonely room at midnight on a December night.
Composition: stanzas with verses each. Logically built from shock to curiosity to total despair.
Literary Category and Genre: Lyric-epic poem, ballad.
Lyrical Subject: A man mourning the deceased Lenora, gradually falling into madness due to the Raven's responses.
Language Devices: * Refrain: "Nevermore" (Nikdy víc) – the key word that escalates the poem’s tragedy. * Onomatopoeia: "Ťukání" (tapping), "šustění" (rustling) to build a spooky atmosphere. * Alliteration: Repetition of identical sounds for rhythmic emphasis. * Internal Rhyme: Rhyming words within a single verse. * Symbolism: The Raven as a messenger from the afterlife; black color representing death.
Literary-Historical Context: Published in . Poe explained in his essay "The Philosophy of Composition" that the poem was mathematically constructed to evoke maximum sadness and melancholy.
Kulička (Boule de Suif) – Guy de Maupassant
Theme and Motifs: Criticism of hypocrisy, philistinism, and false morality. Motifs include war, food (symbol of power/decay), sacrifice, ingratitude, and social classes.
Setting: France (traveling from Rouen to Dieppe) during the Franco-Prussian War ().
Composition: Novella. Chronological and tight plot over several days in a stagecoach and an inn.
Literary Category and Genre: Epic, novella (Realism/Naturalism).
Narrator: Third-person (er-forma), objective to highlight the cruelty of the characters.
Characters: * Kulička (Alžběta Roussetová): A prostitute who is paradoxically the most moral character. She is a sincere patriot and kind-hearted. * Passengers: Nobles, industrialists, and two nuns. Respectable on the outside, but selfish and cowardly, grateful to Kulička only when they benefit from her.
Language Devices: * Contrast: Between the noble appearance of the elite and their low character. * Irony: Mocking the "patriotism" of the wealthy who submit to the enemy to save property. * Detailed Descriptions: Naturalistic focus on food and Kulička’s physique. * Metonymy: The nickname "Kulička" refers to her figure.
Literary-Historical Context: Maupassant was a master of the French short story. Published in , the work reflects Realism's goal of truthful depiction and Naturalism's focus on instincts and environment.
The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Theme and Motifs: Search for the meaning of life, values of friendship, love, and a child's view of the world. Motifs include the journey, stars, desert, rose, fox, and death as a return.
Setting: The Sahara desert (Earth) and various fictional asteroids; time is not specific.
Composition: Modern fairy tale with a frame composition (narrator in the desert recalling the meeting). The inner story is the Prince's chronological journey.
Literary Category and Genre: Epic, philosophical fairy tale (allegorical story).
Narrator: First-person (the pilot, the author's alter ego).
Characters: * The Little Prince: A pure being who questions the essence of things and doesn't understand adults. * The Pilot: An adult who rediscovers his inner child through the Prince. * The Rose: Symbol of a vain but beloved woman. * The Fox: Symbol of friendship and wisdom; teaches the Prince about "taming."
Language Devices: * Personification: Animals, flowers, and things have human traits and speak. * Symbolism: Baobabs (evil), water (spiritual thirst). * Aphorisms: "Správně vidíme jen srdcem. Co je důležité, je očím neviditelné." * Simile: "Smrt je jako stará opuštěná skořápka."
Literary-Historical Context: Published in (during World War II). Written in exile in the USA as a reaction to the dehumanization of the world by war.
The Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka
Theme and Motifs: Alienation, the absurdity of existence, inability to communicate, and guilt. Motifs include the room (prison), insect (disgust/uselessness), apple (injury from father), and money.
Setting: The urban apartment of the Samsa family in the early century.
Composition: Short story divided into parts: transformation and shock, family adaptation and Gregor's isolation, decline and death.
Literary Category and Genre: Epic, short story (Absurdist literature/Modernism).
Narrator: Third-person, but limited to Gregor's perspective (personal narrator).
Characters: * Řehoř Samsa (Gregor): A self-sacrificing son who becomes a burden after his transformation. * The Father: Strict and aggressive. The Mother: Loving but weak and disgusted. Markétka (Grete): Initial caregiver who eventually suggests getting rid of Gregor.
Language Devices: * Kafkaesque Style: Factual, sober, almost administrative language describing a bizarre event (contrast). * Symbolism: Transformation into an insect symbolizes social exclusion. * Metaphor: The story as a metaphor for how families treat the sick or "useless." * Hyperbole: Absurd exaggeration of the situation.
Literary-Historical Context: Written in by a Prague-based German-Jewish author. Kafka's work reflects the anxiety of the individual against impersonal forces.
The Man Who Planted Trees – Jean Giono
Theme and Motifs: Selflessness and individual influence on the world. Motifs include nature, patience, renewal, war as a contrast to creation, solitude, and hope.
Setting: Provence (France), at the foot of the Alps; from to (covering both World Wars).
Composition: Chronological; told as memories of a traveler returning to the same place over many years.
Literary Category and Genre: Epic, novella (modern allegorical story).
Narrator: First-person (the traveler).
Characters: Elzéard Bouffier, a shepherd who lost his family and found meaning in planting oaks. He is silent, steady, and seeks no recognition.
Language Devices: * Personification: Nature comes alive (whistling wind, singing springs). * Contrast: The initial wasteland (death/drought) vs. the blooming forest (life/water). * Metaphor: Tree planting as building a better future. * Epithet: "Vznešená samota," "neúprosný úpal." * Gradation: Describing how a few acorns became a forest and changed the regional climate.
Literary-Historical Context: Published in . Giono was a French pacifist. The story became a cult symbol for the environmental movement; many believed Bouffier was a real person.
Animal Farm – George Orwell
Theme and Motifs: Criticism of totalitarian systems and abuse of power. Motifs include revolution, tyranny, propaganda, rewriting history, manipulation, fear, and the seven commandments.
Setting: Manor Farm (later Animal Farm) in England; unspecified time (allegory for the Soviet Union).
Composition: Chronological, in chapters, following the path from hopeful revolution to total dictatorship.
Literary Category and Genre: Epic, allegorical novella/fable.
Narrator: Third-person objective with a touch of irony.
Characters: * Napoleon: A pig, symbol of Stalin; a ruthless dictator using dogs to maintain power. * Kuliš (Snowball): A pig, symbol of Trotsky; intelligent and visionary, but exiled and framed as an enemy. * Boxer: A horse, symbol of the working class; eventually betrayed and sold to the knacker. * Pištík (Squealer): A pig, symbol of propaganda; distorts truth.
Language Devices: * Allegory: The whole book (animals as social classes). * Irony: "Všechna zvířata jsou si rovna, ale některá jsou si rovnější." * Euphemism: Squealer calls hunger an "adjustment" of rations. * Symbolism: The whip (master's rule), the windmill (impossible five-year plans).
Literary-Historical Context: Published in as a reaction to Stalinism. It was banned in communist Czechoslovakia.
The White Disease (Bílá nemoc) – Karel Čapek
Theme and Motifs: Warning against fascism, war, and fanaticism. Motifs include an unknown disease (white spot), medicine, pacifism, power, and mass psychosis.
Setting: An unspecified country resembling Germany, just before the outbreak of a world war.
Composition: Drama in acts.
Literary Category and Genre: Drama, Tragedy.
Characters: * Dr. Galén: Humanist with the cure; will only give it if leaders sign for peace. * The Marshal: Dictator, embodiment of power-hunger and war. * Baron Krüg: Armament factory owner representing industry serving war.
Language Devices: * Contrast: Galén’s humanism vs. Marshal’s aggression. * Rhetorical Questions: Regarding life and power. * Symbolism: The disease as a symbol of moral decay and the "infection" of fascism.
Literary-Historical Context: Published in as a direct response to the threat of Nazi Germany to Czechoslovakia.
The Mother (Matka) – Karel Čapek
Theme and Motifs: Conflict between the female principle (preserving life) and the male principle (honor, country, science, fight). Motifs include death, talking with the dead, the rifle, and sacrifice.
Setting: Unspecified country hit by civil then foreign war; a room in the mother's house; created in the .
Composition: Drama in acts; builds to a final tragic decision.
Characters: * Mother (Dolores): Lost her husband and four sons; tries to save her last son, Toni. * Father and sons (Ondra, Jiří, Kornel, Petr): Ghosts who died for different ideals. * Toni: The youngest, sensitive, longing to fight like his brothers.
Language Devices: * Symbolism: The rifle (death vs. defense), the radio (news of children being killed as a turning point). * Apostrophe: Addressing the dead. * Gradation: The final scene where the mother gives Toni the rifle, saying "Jdi!" (Go!).
Literary-Historical Context: Published in after the Spanish Civil War. Čapek moves away from pure pacifism, suggesting defense against evil is necessary.
The Cremator (Spalovač mrtvol) – Ladislav Fuks
Theme and Motifs: Transformation of a respectable man into a murdering monster under ideology. Motifs include death, the crematorium, distorted Tibetan philosophy, and racial purity.
Setting: Prague, around the Munich Agreement and start of occupation ().
Composition: Chronological; shifts from bizarre calm to madness.
Literary Category and Genre: Epic, psychological novella with horror/grotesque elements.
Narrator: Third-person but heavily focused on the character's internal visions ("unclean" narrator).
Characters: Karel Kopfrkingl, a crematorium worker who becomes a Nazi; Lakmé, his wife (Jewish origin) whom he murders out of "love."
Language Devices: * Euphemism: Death called "transition," "sublime silence," or "liberation." * Repetition: Motifs like "Moje něžná, nadpozemská." * Irony and Grotesque: Horrific acts described in a sweet tone. * Symbolism: Black glasses, timetable of death.
Literary-Historical Context: Published in ; reflects the Holocaust through the psychology of a perpetrator.
The Blissful Years of Lousy Living – Michal Viewegh
Theme and Motifs: Family saga during the Normalization in Czechoslovakia. Motifs include childhood, writing a diary, depression, and surviving an absurd regime.
Setting: Prague and Sázava; to .
Composition: Retrospective and chronological; frame is a conversation between adult Kvido and an editor.
Literary Category and Genre: Epic, autobiographical humorous novel.
Narrator: First-person (Kvido), who often speaks of himself in the third person.
Characters: Kvido (precocious boy), The Father (intellectual who breaks under the regime and builds a coffin), The Mother (actress holding the family together).
Language Devices: Irony, hyperbole, combination of styles (letters, plays, diaries).
Literary-Historical Context: Published in ; one of the first books to view the communist era with humor.
Closely Watched Trains – Bohumil Hrabal
Theme and Motifs: Coming of age against the backdrop of war. Motifs include trains, uniforms, erotica, stamps, and death.
Setting: Kostomlaty station at the end of WWII ().
Composition: Novela with numerous retrospectives (suicide attempt, family).
Narrator: First-person (Miloš Hrma).
Characters: Miloš Hrma (sensitive trainee), Dispatcher Hubička (rebel and womanizer who stamps Zdenička's backside).
Language Devices: "Pábení" (loving life/stories), contrast (erotic troubles vs. war tragedy), vulgarisms, and colloquial Czech.
Literary-Historical Context: Published in ; filmed by Jiří Menzel (won an Oscar).
Oscar and the Lady in Pink – Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
Theme and Motifs: A child’s dying, faith, and the value of each day. Motifs include hospital, letters to God, and the "legend of days."
Setting: Modern hospital environment.
Composition: Novella in letters; days represent a full lifespan ( years per day).
Narrator: First-person (-year-old Oscar).
Characters: Oscar (leukemia patient), Babi Růženka (Granny Rose, an ex-wrestler volunteer).
Language Devices: Child's perspective, humor, apostrophe ("Milý Bože"), and symbolism.
Literary-Historical Context: Published in ; part of the "Cycle of the Invisible."
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
Theme and Motifs: Loss of the American Dream, solitude, and responsibility. Motifs include the farm, rabbits (dreams), and mice (fragility of life).
Setting: California (Salinas Valley), Great Depression ().
Composition: Novella in chapters; theatrical structure.
Characters: George Milton (smart protector), Lennie Small (mentally disabled giant).
Language Devices: Dialect/slang, contrast (innocence vs. physical strength), title reference to Robert Burns.
Literary-Historical Context: Published in , reflecting the peak of the US economic crisis.
The Rat-Catcher (Krysař) – Viktor Dyk
Theme and Motifs: Criticism of philistinism, indifference, and broken promises. Motifs include the pipe, rats, abyss, and a child/fool as symbols of purity.
Setting: Hanseatic town of Hammeln; medieval legend time.
Composition: Novella with short chapters; chronological with a ballad-like feel.
Characters: Krysař (mysterious cizinec), Agnes (his love), Konrád and Frosch (greedy councilors), Sepp Jörgen (slow fisherman who survives).
Language Devices: Symbolism (pipe = power), short sentences, anaphora, rhetorical questions.
Literary-Historical Context: Published in ; based on a German legend but infused with modern philosophical questions.
The Taming of the Shrew – William Shakespeare
Theme: Relationship between man and woman, money, and deception.
Setting: Italy (Padova), Renaissance.
Composition: Drama in acts with a frame composition (the Tinker Sly).
Characters: Kateřina (Katherine), Petruchio, Bianca.
Language Devices: Puns, stichomythia (rapid dialogue), blank verse, and hyperbole.
Literary-Historical Context: Written around ; reflects Renaissance joy and wit.
The Months (Měsíce) – Karel Toman
Theme: Cycle of nature, traditions, and the Czech landscape. Motifs include seasons, field work, and home.
Composition: Poetry collection of poems named after the months.
Lyrical Subject: A patriot identifying with the nation's fate.
Language Devices: Personification of months, epithets, metaphors, and archaisms.
Literary-Historical Context: Published in (year of Czechoslovakia's birth), written during WWI.
Audience – Václav Havel
Theme: Absurdity of communism, moral decay, and an intellectual in manual labor. Motifs include beer, spying (estébáctví), and loneliness.
Setting: A brewery office in the .
Composition: One-act play; cyclic structure.
Characters: Sládek (The Brewmaster, a primitive man), Ferdinand Vaněk (Havel's alter ego).
Language Devices: Repetitions ("To jsou ale paradoxy, co?"), contrast in speech, and vulgarisms.
Literary-Historical Context: Published in as samizdat literature.
Literary Theory and Rhetorical Devices
Tropes (Figurative Language): * Metaphor: Transfer of meaning based on similarity. * Personification: Giving human traits to inanimate things. * Metonymy: Transfer based on factual connection (e.g., "drinking a glass"). * Synecdoche: Part for the whole (e.g., "not a soul was there"). * Simile: Comparison using "jako" (like). * Epithet: Poetic adjective. * Hyperbole: Exaggeration. * Irony: Meaning the opposite.
Figures (Structural Devices): * Anafora: Repetition at the start of verses/sentences. * Epifora: Repetition at the end. * Epanastrofa: End of one verse repeated at the start of the next. * Gradation: Escalating meaning. * Aliterace: Repetition of initial sounds. * Rhetorical Question: No answer expected. * Apostrophe: Addressing someone/something that cannot respond.
Language Layers: * Standard (Spisovná): Includes archaisms, historisms, neologisms, and poetisms. * Non-standard (Nespisovná): Includes dialect, slang, argot, and vulgarisms.
Structure of the Oral Maturity Exam
Preparation: minutes on the "potítko."
Speaking: minutes.
Logical Analysis Process: Analysis of the Artistic Text (setting in context, theme/motifs, setting, composition, narrator/lyrical subject, characters, language devices). Literary-Historical Context (author info, literary movement, global/local historical events).