APLIT Book Blueprints

Title/Author/Genre

Death of A Salesman / Arthur Miller / modern tragedy/dramatic stage play

Primary Topics

The danger of blind faith in the American Dream; skewed morals; the exaggeration and distortion of the past; the relationship between father and son; the effects of abandonment and betrayal; and complex family dynamics

Setting/Context

New York and Boston in the late 1940s + late 1920s, takes place after the Great Depression and economic reform is taking place

Conflicts

Willy struggles with the person he wants to be versus his actual self; Happy follows his dad and tries to act as though he is someone more than he really is, causing distress; Linda is disrespected by her husband, but still remains married to him

Characters

Willy Loman (main character), Linda (Willy’s wife), Biff (Willy’s son), Happy (Willy’s son), Ben (Willy’s deceased brother - the adventurer and got rich quick), Charley (neighbor), Bernard (Charley’s son), Howard (Willy’s boss), the Woman (Willy’s mistress)

Pivotal Scenes

Biff finds out about Willy’s affair with a woman in Boston; Willy is fired by Howard after he tries to compromise with his boss but fails; Biff and Happy leave Willy alone as he goes into one of his delusions at the restaurant; Willy commits suicide at the end, and only his family and Charley attend--he was not truly admired by as many people as he bragged about

Symbols/Motifs

Woman’s stockings (Willy’s guilt); seeds (Willy’s desire for growth and something permanent); the jungle (the ruthless nature of the business world); theft/lying/cheating (decay of morals and values)

Title/Author/Genre

A Separate Peace / John Knowles / Bildungsroman

Primary Topics

War/rivalry; jealousy/envy; friends/enemies; coming of age

Setting/Context

Published in 1960 in the U.S.: takes place at Devon Academy (private military academy in NH in 1942 at the beginning of WWII), boys are training to enlist

Conflicts

Gene forms his identity around Finny versus forming his own; idealism of war being (they are doing a service to their country) versus reality of war (Leper is traumatized after war); Hadley holds a trial for the boys to see if Gene had really pushed Finny off the branch, causing disagreement and Finny’s second fall off the staircase (which breaks his leg)

Characters

Gene Forrester, Finny (Phineas), Brinker Hadley, Lepellier (Leper), Dr. Stanpole, Mr. Ludsbury, Mr. Prudhomme

Pivotal Scenes

Finny comes back to Devon school and recalls all of the things that happened, Finny saves Gene, then Gene doesn’t save Finny and he breaks his leg, Finny cannot heal from his leg injury and cannot play sports anymore, Dr. Stanpole tells Gene that Finny died during heart, surgery because his marrow went to his heart

Symbols/Motifs

The tree (loss of innocence and transition to adulthood), the marble stairs (harshness of reality), summer v. winter sessions (childhood vs adulthood), sports/athletics (youthful innocence), doubles/binaries (blending of opposites), war (loss of innocence)

Title/Author/Genre

Wuthering Heights / Emily Brontë / Gothic fiction romance

Primary Topics

Supernatural; nature and civilization; love and passion; masculinity and femininity; social class; revenge

Setting/Context

Wuthering Heights, Thrushcross Grange, the Moors

Conflicts

Heathcliff and Catherine’s toxic relationship, Heathcliff vs society, cycle of revenge, Wuthering Heights vs Thrushcross Grange,

Characters

Catherine Earnshaw, Cathy Linton, Heathcliff, Mr. Lockwood, Nelly, Edgar Linton, Hareton Earnshaw, Hindley Earnshaw, Linton Heathcliff, Isabella Linton, Joseph

Pivotal Scenes

Any of the characters’ deaths (Catherine, Heathcliff, Mr. Linton), Cathy and Heathcliff in the Moors, Hindley dangling Hareton, Heathcliff overhearing Catherine (I am Heathcliff - Catherine), Heathcliff’s return, Lockwood’s return after Heathcliff’s death

Symbols/Motifs

Duality/doubles (Cathy and Catherine → fall in love with opposite types of men), houses contrast (light + elegant Thrushcross Grange vs. evil and worn Wuthering Heights house), windows (past inferring with present → Mr. Lockwood hears Catherine wanting to be let in and see Heathcliff), class separation (Edgar and Isabella live at fancy Thrushcross Grange while Heathcliff and Catherine live at more poor Wuthering Heights household), ghosts, weather (conveys implied mood/foreshading the environment of the story), the moors (freedom/haven away from social constraints for Heathcliff and Catherine), sickness (shows emotional + such transformations, , storms

Title/Author/Genre

The Awakening/ Kate Chopin/ bildungsroman

Primary Topics

Individuality vs. conformity; solitude; convention vs. defiance; self-expression; gender and familial roles; reflection and action.

Setting/Context

Grand Isle and New Orleans in the late 19th century

Conflicts

Edna loves her children, but she values her independence more.

Characters

Edna Pontellier, Léonce Pontellier (Edna’s husband), Mademoiselle Reisz (talented pianist, little woman, homely), Adèle Ratignolle (ideal mother-woman), Robert Lebrun (flirt and mom owns the cottages at Grand Isle where he works, moves to Mexico), and Alcée Arobin (Edna has an affair with him)

Pivotal Scenes

Robert is moving to Mexico; Edna smashes a vase and tries to destroy her wedding ring.

Edna swims out into the ocean, gets scared, and returns to the shore and her husband (hesitation to be free or in safety)

Edna moves to the Pigeon House.

Dr. Mandelet tells Léonce to leave Edna alone.

Edna does not want to go to her sister’s wedding.

The love affair with Arobin is not an emotional one; Edna is still seeking freedom from male dominance.

Edna is Mademoiselle Reisz’s protege and visits her constantly.

Robert returns to New Orleans, declaring love, but cannot pursue it.

Final scene of Edna stripping her clothes and drowning in the ocean.

Symbols/Motifs

Wedding ring (tied to institution of marriage/roles as a mother in the relationship), the ocean (freedom/going off on her own), birds (different types portray her as different things: pigeon → little bird, powerless; parrot at beginning → crying to get out + can’t act freely), music, houses

Title/Author/Genre

Their Eyes Were Watching God / Zora Neale Hurston / Bildungsroman

Primary Topics

Race; culture; identity; relationships (human vs. nature); prejudice; voice and language; and independence

Setting/Context

Eatonville, Everglades/ the Muck, Southern Florida

Conflicts

Janie’s journey for independence and identity, the storm, Janie vs her husbands, Janie vs. society (porch). Janie vs. Nanny (differing views on the purpose and meaning of love)

Characters

Janie, Tea Cake (husband 3), Jody (husband 2), Logan (husband 1), Nanny, Pheoby (Janie’s best friend), porchsitters

Pivotal Scenes

16-year-old Janie kills Jonny Taylor (described as the end of her childhood) - Nanny decided she needed to get married to Logan Killicks. Nanny’s value of love is protection and material safety. Rape cycle in Janie’s family. Joe Starks is improving the town (street light, post office, town store, and becoming mayor). Abusing the mule and giving it a funeral (symbol for the mistreatment of Janie herself). Burning her headrags after Joe died (voice, independence, freedom). Meeting Tea Cake and him giving her voice and teaching her how to play checkers. Janie killed Tea Cake.

Symbols/Motifs

Janie’s hair (her individuality and independence), nature (self discovery and emotional growth), the horizon (, the porch/community, the hurricane, finding individuality, the pear tree, gender and race in society,

Title/Author/Genre

1984 / George Orwell / Dystopian cautionary tale

Primary Topics

Destruction of individuality, propaganda, totalitarian control, surveillance and privacy, illusion of reality, truth and historical manipulation, class structure

Setting/Context

Oceania’s London, Winston’s home, Charrington’s shop, the woods, Ministry Truth, Ministry of Love, Room 101

Conflicts

Winston vs environment & Winston vs self

Characters

Winston, Julia, O’Brien, Mr. Charrington, Emmanuel Goldstein, Parsons family, Katherine (his separated wife)

Pivotal Scenes

2 minute hate, walking to Charrington’s, Julia’s note, confronting O’Brien, room 101, Chestnut Tree Cafe, Julia and Winston meet again

Symbols/Motifs

The paperweight, big brother, telescreen/security, Julia’s sash, rats, room 101, newspeak, doublethink