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American Literature > Lit 2 Test > Flashcards

Lit 2 Test Flashcards

1
Q

Literature

A

“Products” produced by any given culture.

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2
Q

Culture

A

A group of people who are bound by “commonalities.”

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3
Q

Cultured. List reasons to be cultured.

A

To improve, define, or refine, and develop your knowledge of a culture.

  1. Learn about the culture.
  2. More open-minded.
  3. Understand yourself. Learn who you are.
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4
Q

Assimilation

A

The act of blending into “one.”

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5
Q

List 6 things you should look for when reading literature.

A
  1. Understand the dramatic event.
  2. Understand the author’s techniques.
  3. Understand the subject or the topic that is being addressed and the opinion that is being stated about it.
  4. Approach the literature from one or more interpretative techniques.
  5. Look for the history in it.
  6. Learn about the people.
    - Good and evil.
    - Life experiences.
    - Relationships with…
    - Gender roles
    - Social organizations.
    - Origin.
    - Cultural heroes/villans.
    - Morality.
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6
Q

List 6 interpreting techniques.

A
  1. Reader-Response
  2. Formal
  3. Traditional
  4. Psychological
  5. Mythological
  6. Sociological
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7
Q

Ethnocentric

A

Believe that one culture is better than another culture.

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8
Q

Who is the author of To A Waterfowl?

A

William Cullen Bryant

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9
Q

List the 5 beliefs. Know them…

A
  1. Puritanism
  2. Calvinism
  3. Deism
  4. Enlightenment
  5. Classicism
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10
Q

Who wrote the Prairies?

A

William Cullen Bryant

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11
Q

Describe The Enlightenment. How will it effect literature?

A

You are brought into change. Reason dictates everything. You are not thinking if you are not reasoning things out. This will have a major effect on Lit.

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12
Q

What is the main difference between romanticism, realism, and naturalism in terms or positivity.

A

Romanticism is vey positive.
Realism is a mixture or positive and negative.
Naturalism is very negative.

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13
Q

List some changes that occurred in the 19th Century.

A
  1. Machinery
  2. Improved transportation
  3. Sectionalism
  4. Values
  5. Exodus to the west
  6. Immigration and migration
  7. Working toward a cultural independence
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14
Q

Describe the north, south, east, and west during the 19th century.

A
  1. North: Plutocratic (ruled by the wealth) money is the ultimate goal. (greedy)
  2. South: Aristocratic: money, power, lineage, wealthy, rich.
  3. East: Industrial (prideful)
  4. West: Agrarian (farming) (self-sufficient/hard working)
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15
Q

List the characteristics of a romantic.

A
  1. Very optimistic.
  2. Very personal.
  3. Interest in nature.
  4. Logic is not apart of thinking.
  5. Think with hearths not head.
  6. Reject all rules.
  7. Free spirit philosophy.
  8. Self.
  9. Gut feeling. Very personal. It’s almost faith.
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16
Q

How has literature changed due to diversity?

A

The subject matter is completely different, because the type of literature is different. It is coming from different groups of people. Before, it was shop logs, sermons, and meditations. Now, there is poetry, short fiction, and entertainment.

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17
Q

List some things about Bryant.

A
  1. From Mass.
  2. father is a doctor.
  3. formally educated.
  4. raised in heavily Puritan influence.
  5. His goal is so everyone can identify.
  6. Started writing at age 10.
  7. precocious: above average. studied law at 16.
  8. Practiced law for 2 years, but went back to literature.
  9. He wrote his entire life.
  10. He was comfortable with his money.
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18
Q

Precocious

A

Above average.

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19
Q

What is the “Evening Post” and the “New York Review?” Who worked for both?

A
  • They were both literary magazines.
    1. “Evening Post” was a main outlet for writers.
    2. In the “New York Review,” the goal was to get published and then become an editor.
  • William Cullen Bryan was an editor for both.
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20
Q

List Bryant’s writing styles.

A
  1. Shows the…
    “nature of life” - what life is.
    “nature of man” - who people are.
    “nature of nature”- what the world is.
  2. He is apart of the American High Culture.
  3. He shows evidence of many philosophies such as romanticism, puritanism, calvinism, and transcendentalism.
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21
Q

What is the American High Culture?

A

A group of few Eastern writers who are trying to establish an American voice through their writing. Uniquely American.

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22
Q

Transcendentalism

A

To go across/beyond.

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23
Q

Who wrote Thanatopsis?

A

Bryant

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24
Q

List the 10 Consolations of Death in Thanatopsis.

A
  1. You won’t be there alone or by yourself.
  2. There’s a comfortable couch. A time of rest and relaxation.
  3. Good company.
  4. We are all together in mass. We are social by nature.
  5. In death comes the most beautiful decorations imaginable.
  6. Light in the darkness.
  7. The natural world is looking down on the dead and they’re happy about it. It is natural.
  8. There are MORE dead people than there are people living.
  9. Sleep- death is nothing more than sleep.
  10. The dead will reign.
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25
Q

What is the great equalizer and what does it mean?

A

Death brings equality.

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26
Q

Who wrote the Purloin Letters?

A

Poe

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27
Q

Death is a ____. We are all going to die, so _____.

A

journey.

accept that and go like one who is headed to the couch.

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28
Q

Sleeping and dreaming is like ____ and ____.

A

Dying and an afterlife.

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29
Q

Realism

A

To portray life as it really is.

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30
Q

Who is Poe?

A
  • born in poverty
  • his father was never around.
  • mom died when he was 2.
  • His foster father educated him by putting him in an academy.
  • Went to University of Virginia.
  • Poe became heavy into gambling and drinking at college.
  • His father cut him off and then takes him out of school.
  • Poe joins army.
  • Goes to Westpoint Academy and gets thrown out for gambling.
  • He has massive debts.
  • Went and lived with his father’s sister.
  • Wrote “Manuscript Found in a Bottle”
  • At age 27, he married his 13 y/o first cousin.
  • She died 7 years later.
  • He spiraled down after she passed.
  • He began drinking heavily and doing drugs (opium).
  • He wrote A LOT. This is called his Dark Period.
  • In 1844, he was depressed and attempted suicide.
  • gets worse.
  • Dies in 1849.
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31
Q

What do researchers say about Poe?

A

1/2 of the researchers say that Poe was a genius.

1/2 of the researchers say that Poe’s alcohol and drug addiction led to his great writing.

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32
Q

Poe created the ____.

A

American Mystery.

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33
Q

What is the American Mystery?

A

Who did it?

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34
Q

Poe leaves his readers ____. We will never know. The _____ goes unsolved.

A

hanging.

mystery.

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35
Q

Dupin represents ____, ____, ____.

Mon. G. represents ____, ____, ____.

A
  • speculation, poet, romanticism.

- rationalization, mathematician, realism.

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36
Q

What is the deal with the poet and the mathematician?

A
  • This is coming out of the Rev. War.
  • Problems start arising.
  • America can either stay optimistic or we can go into a rational thinking.
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37
Q

Does Poe think we should be more real or romantic? Why?

A

Romantic because he thinks that we should stay optimistic.

38
Q

What kind of logic do we have?

A

Faulty.

39
Q

List some faulty logics.

A
  1. Red Herring
  2. Bandwaggon
  3. Faulty cause and effect
  4. Oversimplification
  5. Circular thinking
  6. Name calling
  7. Loaded language
  8. Weak analogy
  9. Appeal to ignorance
  10. Either/or
40
Q

Who is the transition from Romanticism and Realism?

A

Poe

41
Q

Poe develops what?

A

American Mystery and the American short story.

42
Q

What are the parts to an American short story?

A

Setting, characters, and lot structure.

43
Q

List the characteristics of Gothic Literature.

A
  1. Always a victim.
  2. Victim is usually female.
  3. Victim is imprisoned.
  4. Victimizer is usually associated with evil.
  5. Victimizers usually have supernatural powers.
  6. Very emotional.
  7. Always filled with foreshadowing.
  8. Sense of helplessness/ isolation.
44
Q

What are the 2 types of Gothics?

A

Arabesque: Few characters/ “somewhat” normal.
Grotesque: Many characters/ Characters are often “monsters.”

45
Q

What are the characters emotions at the beginning of the Purloined Letters and at the end?

A

Lady: Distressed, regretful, fear/ satisfied
Dupin: intrigued, smart, cocky/ has not changed at all.

46
Q

What type of story is Purloined Letters?

A

King of the Mountain. Each character is trying to outdo the other.

47
Q

Poe is the beginning of _____.

A

American Literature

48
Q

Poe gave us what 3 types of writing?

A

American mystery, short story, and gothic.

49
Q

What else does Poe give us?

A

Psychological study

50
Q

What is psychological study?

A

Study of human psyche. Understanding how humans work.

51
Q

Poe shows a thin line between ____ and ____.

A

Sanity and insanity.

52
Q

According to Freud, list, describe, and give the 3 areas of the psyche.

A
  • ID: The unconscious part. Impulse. Unreasonable. Demands immediate satisfaction.
    • Ex. Eating is a basic impulse. If the instinct is strong enough to eat, then rationality goes off the table. The devil on our shoulder.
  • EGO: The mediator. Go between. Reality. Influenced by the external world.
  • Super Ego: The value and moral side to us. The ID and the Superego do not get along. Society teaches us our morals.
    • Ex. the angel on our shoulder.
53
Q

In PL, which character’s ID seen to be more in control?

A

Mons. G.

54
Q

Which area of the psyche did not come in to play with which three characters?

A

the superego.

Dupin, Mons. G., and thief.

55
Q

Define “Ideal Self.”

A

The picture of how you see yourself.

56
Q

Define doppleganger effect and list 5 characteristics of it.

A

The double effect.

  1. The characters
  2. Internal doubles
  3. Battle for control
  4. Frustration and “poor thinking.”
  5. There will always be an eventual resolution.
57
Q

Who is the double for Dupin? Who is the double for the lady?

A

Mons. G. they just reverse roles at the end.

The thief.

58
Q

What are some internal doubles?

A
  • For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.

- - Ex. We all have love, but we also have hate.

59
Q

What are some reasons that Dupin became “bad?”

A
  • Money

- Sense of pride (Being king of the mountain).

60
Q

Often, we don’t even know that we are in a battle for ____.

A

control

61
Q

Frustration and poor thinking can lead you to ___.

A

Insanity

62
Q

List characteristics of Poe’s themes.

A
  1. Double effect
  2. Revenge
  3. Pride
  4. Logic vs. Intuition
63
Q

When referring to revenge in PL, who is seeking revenge on who?

A

Lady on the thief.
Dupin on the thief and Mons. G.
Mons. G. on the thief and Dupin
Min. D. on all of them.

64
Q

Does Poe prefer intuition of logic?

A

Intuition.

65
Q

What is Twain’s real name?

A

Samuel Clemens.

66
Q

What did Twain do before writing?

A

He was a pilot on a steam boat.

67
Q

Twain travelled West. What piece came from his travels west?

A

Celebrating from of Calaverous county.

68
Q

Twain also traveled abroad. What are some writings that we get from him?

A

Innocence Abroad.

Roughing It.

69
Q

What are the 3 kinds of writings that we get from Twain?

A
  1. Comedies
  2. Protests
  3. Romances
70
Q

What is his most famous type of writing?

A

Romance

71
Q

List and describe the 3 styles of writing of Twain.

A
  1. Very skilled at being unskilled
    - It is almost too simplistic. He wants it to appear simple.
  2. Very episodic
    - He writes in episodes to make a very large unit. Each episode is almost a story within a story.
  3. Humor
    - It isn’t belly laughing. It is grinning humor. He is a MASTER at satire.
72
Q

Frame story

A

When an author tells a story within a story. In that story, you may have another story.

73
Q

Twain includes both ___ and ___.

A

Romanticism and realism.

74
Q

List the characteristics of Twain’s narrator.

A
  1. Male
  2. Always young (teen/preteen)
  3. Always a picaresque.
  4. Independent
  5. Adventurous
  6. Almost always faces a transition. From romanticism to realism. Grows up.
  7. Doesn’t want to grow up, but is forced to.
  8. Autobiographical. It is pretty much always about Twain.
75
Q

Define picaro/ picaresque.

A

A person who survives by his own wits. They will do anything or go to any extreme to survive.

76
Q

List the disadvantages of being a romantic?

A

No logic, no experience, very vulnerable.

77
Q

Does Twain prefer romanticism or realism? Why?

A

Romanticism. He is being nostalgic. He doesn’t want to see romanticism go. He is telling America not to change.

78
Q

List 4 characteristics of Twain’s humor.

A
  1. “Real” humor with everyday people and everyday events.
  2. Exaggeration
  3. Dialects
  4. Satire
79
Q

Caricature

A

A “cartoon” picture.

80
Q

Identify Jim Smiley.

A

Jim Smiley had a frog that could jump very high.

81
Q

Satire

A

Making fun of to bring attention to/ not to change.

82
Q

List 3 characteristics of the Jumping From story.

A
  1. It is a framed story.
  2. It is a tall tale.
  3. It is satiric
83
Q

What is the biggest satire in Jumping Frog?

A

Easterner going west.

84
Q

Define anthropomorphism and why it is used.

A

`Giving human qualities to animals. It makes for a good story and animals help soften his comments.

85
Q

Give characteristics of the Easterner.

A

Pretentious, overeducated, over-civilized, gullible.

86
Q

Giver characteristics of the Westerner.

A

Illiterate, crude, uncivilized.

87
Q

To Twain what were the Easterners and what were the Westerners?

A

Easterners: Spawn of Europeans.
Westerners: True Americans.

88
Q

Define Local Color Writing and list characteristics.

A
  • A transition between romanticism and realism.
    1. They emphasize the setting.
    2. The where and the when can identify who people really are.
    3. Uniqueness.
89
Q

What are Twain’s contributions?

A

Tall tale, fun, dialect, uniqueness of America.

90
Q

Twain truly identified with the true American, which according to Roughing It was who?

A

The coyote: the westerner.

American Literature (2 decks)

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