American Literature – EOCT Review

1. American Literature – EOCT Review

2. Common Themes in American Lit • American individualism: an appreciation of individual ambition and achievement. • The American Dream: the idea that anyone can achieve his or her dreams. • Cultural Diversity: reflects the distinctive qualities of our cultural melting pot. • Tolerance: reflects how well we have achieved our quest for tolerance.

3. American Drama Terms • Political Drama: a play with a political component or describing a political event (The Crucible) • Modern Drama: attempts to recreate real-life situations and emotions. • Theatre of the Absurd: popular in the 1950s and 1960s; depicts the belief that human existence is without meaning – play often lacks usual conventions of plot, character, or setting.

4. Drama Terms (cont) • Fourth wall: an imaginary wall separating the actors from the audience. • Expressionism: a dramatic style which EXAGGERATES reality. • Minimalism: the opposite of expressionism – sparse scenery and limited dialogue. • Dramatic irony – a situation in which the audience knows more than the character on stage. • Stage directions- How and where to move on stage

5. Literary Terms • Thesis: In non-fiction, it is primary message or main idea. • Main idea: In fiction, a brief summary of the plot. • Theme: what the plot reveals about life (often a moral. • Aphorism: A short saying which presents a lesson (“Waste not, want not”).

6. Literary Movements • Native American (pre-1620): oral tradition of songs and stories. Focus on the natural and sacred worlds and the importance of land and place. • Colonial (1620-1750): Reflects religious influence of Puritans • William Bradford = establishment of colony • Anne Bradstreet=poetry on daily life and family • Jonathan Edwards = Puritan minister “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”.

7. Literary Movements (cont) • Revolutionary (1750-1815): Focused on explaining and justifying the Revolution. • Thomas Paine (“The Crisis”, “Common Sense”) • Thomas Jefferson (“The Declaration of Independence”) • Benjamin Franklin (“The Declaration of Independence”, “Poor Richard’s Almanac”)

8. Romanticism and Transcendentalism (1800-1855): Celebration of individualism, nature, imagination, creativity and emotions. • Washington Irving (“Legend of Sleepy Hollow”) • Nathaniel Hawthorne (“The Scarlet Letter”) • Edgar Allen Poe (“ Fall of the House of Usher”) • Herman Melville (Moby Dick) • Walt Whitman • Ralph Waldo Emerson (“Self-Reliance”) • Henry David Thoreau (“Walden”, “Civil Disobedience”)

9. Realism (1850-1900): Examines realities of life; human frailty; regional culture (dialect, local color). • Stephen Crane (“An Episode of War”) • Willa Cather (“O Pioneers”) • Emily Dickinson (“Because I Could Not Stop for Death”) • Mark Twain (Huckleberry Finn) • Bret Harte (“The Outcasts of Poker Flats”)

10. Naturalism (1880-1940): Views life as a set of natural laws (i.e. “survival of the fittest”). • Jack London (White Fang) • Modernism (1900-1950): Themes of alienation, disconnectedness; experimentation with new techniques; use of irony. The Harlem Renaissance is included in Modernism. • F. Scott Fitzgerald (“Winter Dreams”, “The Great Gatsby”) • Ernest Hemingway (“White Hills Like Elephants”) • Langston Hughes (“Dreams Deferred”) • Zora Neale Hurston (“Dust Tracks on a Road”)

11. Post-Modern Period (1950 – present): Non-traditional topics and structures; embrace a changing reality. • J.D. Salinger (Catcher in the Rye) • Tennessee Williams (A Streetcar Named Desire)

12. Understand & Acquire New Vocabulary • Idioms: phrases that are peculiar to a particular language (“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”) • Cognates: Words that have the same origin. (night=English, noche=Spanish, notte=Italian). • Denotation: the dictionary definition of a word (laugh and giggle have the same denotation) • Connotation: the meaning or idea behind a word. (Grandfathers laugh, but children giggle).

13. Modes of Rhetoric • Narration: tells a story. Has a plot, climax and resolution. • Description: uses language to describe a person, place or thing. Often colorful and precise. • Persuasion: designed to influence the reader’s thoughts. • Exposition: provides information or explains a topic.

14. Common Persuasive Techniques • Card stacking: only presents information that supports one side. • Bandwagon: appeals to people’s desire to fit in and be part of the group. • Stereotyping: creates a simplified picture of a complex concept. • Rhetorical questions: questions to which no answer is needed; encourages readers to agree with the speaker.

15. Steps in the Research Process • Pre-Writing • Decide on a topic • Locate primary and secondary sources • Paraphrase information and cite your sources • Drafting: Creating a rough version of the paper. • Revising and Editing: Making improvements to content and organization. • Proofreading: Making corrections in grammar and spelling. • Publishing: Sharing your finished papers with others

16. Basic Literary Elements - Language • Diction: An author’s word choice. • Formal • Informal • Figurative language: language not meant to be taken literally. • Imagery: descriptive, sensory language • Symbolism: use of language to express more than the literal meaning of a word; an object may symbolize an idea.

17. Plot Elements • Exposition: introduces the setting, characters, and the problem/conflict. • Rising action: complications which serve to build tension. • Climax: the turning point • Denouement/falling action: events “fall” into place. • Resolution: the conflict has been resolved one way or another.

18. Types of Conflict • Person v. person • Person v. nature • Person v. self • Person v. society • Person v. machine

19. Character development • Protagonist: usually the main character; always has a goal. Not always a “good guy”. • Antagonist: the character that opposes the protagonist. • Characterization: • Direct (She is nice) • Indirect (She served cookies and milk to the soldiers). • Dynamic or Round: Characters who grow and change • Static or Flat: Characters who stay the same

20. Setting • Can clarify conflict (“The Most Dangerous Game”) • Can illuminate character (White Fang) • Can affect mood (“Cask of Amontillado”) • Can act as a symbol (“The Turtle”) • Can serve as a protagonist (White Fang)

21. Mood: the emotion created by the words and setting. • Irony: Conveys the opposite of actual meaning. • Verbal irony: sarcasm • Situational irony: events that are far from what is expected or deserved. • Dramatic irony: When the audience knows more about the events in the play than the characters.

22. Point of View: the perspective from which the story is told. • First person: events told by a character in the story.(“I knew it was risky, but had to try.”) • Third person omniscient: the narrator is outside of the action and knows everything including the thoughts of all the characters. • Third person limited: narrator knows only the perspective of one character and focuses on that character’s thoughts and feelings.

23. Basic grammar • Use a comma OR a semicolon when joining two independent clauses. When separated they should form two distinct thoughts. • Sage wanted a dog, so she adopted from the SPCA. • Use a comma after an introductory phrase. • Before the end of the school year, make sure to clean out your locker. • Use a comma to separate items in series of 3 or more (Todd bought milk, cereal, and bananas. • Put end punctuation BEFORE the closing quotation marks. (She said, “Don’t forget to review your notes!”)

24. Parts of Speech • Verbs: A word or phrase that states action or state of being. • Linking verbs: link the subject to a word that describes the subject (predicate adjective as in “She is pretty”) or renames the subject (predicate noun as in “She is a student”) • Helping verbs: added before another verb to create a verb phrase and helps the main verb express action (I could have been a contender). • Action verbs: Express physical or mental action (run, write, think, decide)

25. Nouns & Pronouns • Proper: names a specific person, place, or thing. Always capitalize! (Lassiter High School). • Common: names any person, place, or thing (high school). • Pronoun: Replaces a noun (must agree in number) • Antecedent: The noun the pronoun replaces.

26. Participle: A form of a verb that ends in –ing or –ed, but ACTS as an ADJECTIVE. • The exploding vehicle blocked traffic for hours. • The shattered windows must be replaced. • Gerund: A form of a verb that ends in –ing, but ACTS like a NOUN. • Skiing is a fun, but expensive activity.