Critical Keywords

Question 1

American Dream

Answer 1

• To give up one’s own culture to assimilate to America (work hard = make money = success/happiness)
• Angels in America
• Calls attention to the fact that governments need to help individuals instead of only vice versa (AIDS crisis)

Question 2

Gender

Answer 2

• A social construct, a performance; females are objectified and submissive compared to men
• Angels in America
• Gender as a performance, will help understand their struggles in a heteronormative society

Question 3

Aura (Benjamin vs Murray)

Answer 3

• Beauty attached to an object.
  Benjamin: Aura is strong/real in an original work of art, not in a reproduction
  Murray: Every reproduction reinforces the aura
• White Noise
• Everyone that tries to emulate the American Dream reinforces the idea (its aura)

Question 4

Heteronormative

Answer 4

• Heterosexual is considered the normal/preferred sexual orientation
• Angels in America
• By reinforcing heteronormativity, gay characters become even more marginalized

Question 5

Diaspora

Answer 5

• Scattering/dispersal of people; often forced, from slavery or war. A minority living with a prevailing culture
• Beloved
• Isolation of those in the black community, leads to slave trading (pain and mass suffering)

Question 6

Middle Passage

Answer 6

• Ships carrying 60 million+ slaves to America in the transatlantic slave trade
• Beloved
• Helps us to understand the character Beloved and what she represents

Question 7

Recognizable Life

Answer 7

• Part of a great migration, a life of struggle; a shared narrative
• “A Temporary Matter”
• Shukumar and Shoba both struggle with their identity after migrating; they share that experience, along with the connection to India (food)

Question 8

Derrida and Justice

Answer 8

• Justice remains and is yet to come; Jaques Derrida “The Force of Law”
• Angels in America
• Justice is a collective and eternal process.

Question 9

Camp

Answer 9

• “Se camper” is french for “to play”. A deliberately artificial performance; playing a role
• Angels in America
• Humour as transformative; laugh at yourself instead of being miserable with your position (Prior in his dream)

Question 10

Double Consciousness (Du Bois)

Answer 10

• Identity is divided into several facets; “Twoness” of identity
• Soucouyant
• Adele’s Carribeanness (dignified black culture) vs. Canadianness (oppressive society). Her “twoness” relates to her being two things at once

Question 11

Storywork

Answer 11

• First Nations stories are a mode of exchange and education; you must work for the answer/moral of a story
• The Speedy
• Draws attention to the importance of preserving and interpreting native history (Drowning Stories)

Question 12

Bridges for Migration (Sassen)

Answer 12

• Facilitates migration
  1. Historical (colonial/choice)
  2. Friends/family
  3. Intermediary (labour, smuggling)
• Soucouyant
• Helps us understand historical context

Question 13

Happiness

Answer 13

• Being happy/fortunate in life, success
• Oscar Wao
• The ultimate desire of an immigrant family (according to the American Dream), must fit in to find happiness. Oscar, “soy dominicano”, wants to fit in, but he can’t and this leads to his unhappiness.