Do some research on Mark Twain. Be able to answer the following:
*What does his name mean?-Twain literally means "two" The story behind it is that it was the riverboatman's cry: "the mark twain".
*What is his real name?-Samuel Clemens
*Why are his books controversial?- He had very strong views of political topics of his day and that came out in his writing. Also they were often kept out of schools because he frequently used the word "nigger".
*What are some interesting facts about his life?- He claims he fell in love with Olivia at first sight. They were married for 34 years and had 3 daughters and 1 son. He patented 3 inventions in his lifetime.
*What is the meaning of irony? Provide an example.- The outcome of the event is opposite of what you would think. For instance in a class that you normally don't do your homework in the one time you work for an hour on it, the next day you find out it isn't graded, that would be ironic.
*Who is Jules Verne? What did he write? What is his connection to Twain?-He's a french author who helped invent the science-fiction genre. He wrote about travel in space, air, or underwater. Him and Mark Twain are connected by Five Weeks in a Balloon.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Fall of the House of Usher
*Unity of effect- single overall feeling
*Poe: very structured in his writing. Exploring the strange and fantastic, conveying psychological terror through carefully chosen details and events.
*Mood- feeling or atmosphere.
*He receives a letter from an old friend telling him to go to the house of Usher.
*When he gets there he sees how sick Rodrick and Madeline are.
*When the sister goes into a somewhat trance and seems dead they bury her (alive.) The brother knows this, the man does not.
*The brother has very sensitive senses so he can hear his sister yelling for help an her nails clawing at the coffin.
*The one night Madeline gets free and kills Rodrick.
*The other man runs out of the house once he realizes how crazy they all are, then once Madeline and Rodrick are both dead the house falls to the ground. This is because since the family tree never branched out the curse is over, since the house is part of the family it must die with the last of the family members.
*Poe: very structured in his writing. Exploring the strange and fantastic, conveying psychological terror through carefully chosen details and events.
*Mood- feeling or atmosphere.
*He receives a letter from an old friend telling him to go to the house of Usher.
*When he gets there he sees how sick Rodrick and Madeline are.
*When the sister goes into a somewhat trance and seems dead they bury her (alive.) The brother knows this, the man does not.
*The brother has very sensitive senses so he can hear his sister yelling for help an her nails clawing at the coffin.
*The one night Madeline gets free and kills Rodrick.
*The other man runs out of the house once he realizes how crazy they all are, then once Madeline and Rodrick are both dead the house falls to the ground. This is because since the family tree never branched out the curse is over, since the house is part of the family it must die with the last of the family members.
The Signal Man by Charles Dickens
*A man lives by the train tunnel and is suppose to keep it safe, but there is a ghost and everytime it comes something goes wrong.
*A lady dies first and in the end the man who lives there gets run over.
*Someone is yelling hello down there, look out below but he thinks it is a dream or he cannot hear him.
*There is a red light that lets everyone know when a train is coming, but when the man gets run over he doesn't hear the train coming.
*A lady dies first and in the end the man who lives there gets run over.
*Someone is yelling hello down there, look out below but he thinks it is a dream or he cannot hear him.
*There is a red light that lets everyone know when a train is coming, but when the man gets run over he doesn't hear the train coming.
The Raven by Poe
*End Rhyme- similar or identical sounds at ends of lines
*Internal Rhyme- rhymes within a line
*Rhyme schemes- basic pattern of end rhymes (A, B, A, B)
*The man keeps hearing a sound outside his door and then he realizes that it is the raven.
*The man talks about his lost love, Lenore and realizes that the Raven only says nevermore.
*The man hears what he wants to hear and asks the bird questions because he knows what the answer will be-nevermore.
*Internal Rhyme- rhymes within a line
*Rhyme schemes- basic pattern of end rhymes (A, B, A, B)
*The man keeps hearing a sound outside his door and then he realizes that it is the raven.
*The man talks about his lost love, Lenore and realizes that the Raven only says nevermore.
*The man hears what he wants to hear and asks the bird questions because he knows what the answer will be-nevermore.
The Masque of the Red Death by Poe
*allegory- a work with 2 layers of meaning. Persons, objects, and events stand for abstract ideas or qualities.
*the plague had killed over a forth of the continent. Had symptoms like dizziness, profuse bleeding at the pores, then dissolution (death).
*at the mascarade everytime he clock chimed they felt tremulousness and confusion.
*OBJECT-->POSSIBLE MEANING-->POSSIBLE LEASON OF STORY
-ABBEY: holy place that is suppose to keep them safe from harm; they are saying we can party while you all die.
-SERIES OF ROOMS: they are out ordinary & show how bizarre the prince is; the colors of each room represent the stages of life & they all lead to death.
-CLOCK: gives them an uneasy feeling every time it chimes; it shows that time always brings them closer to death.
-STRANGER: represents the plague; shows fear of the unknown & that we fear death because we know nothing about it until it comes.
*the plague had killed over a forth of the continent. Had symptoms like dizziness, profuse bleeding at the pores, then dissolution (death).
*at the mascarade everytime he clock chimed they felt tremulousness and confusion.
*OBJECT-->POSSIBLE MEANING-->POSSIBLE LEASON OF STORY
-ABBEY: holy place that is suppose to keep them safe from harm; they are saying we can party while you all die.
-SERIES OF ROOMS: they are out ordinary & show how bizarre the prince is; the colors of each room represent the stages of life & they all lead to death.
-CLOCK: gives them an uneasy feeling every time it chimes; it shows that time always brings them closer to death.
-STRANGER: represents the plague; shows fear of the unknown & that we fear death because we know nothing about it until it comes.
Danse Macabre by Stephen King
*Literally means dance of death.
*Whatever is behind the door will never be as scary as getting there (suspense)
*Big bug behind the door theory.
(In a scary movie if they are slowly moving to get to the door and open it we imagine the worst possible thing. When they open it and there is a big bug there we say ah! wow at least it wasn't a bigger bug.) So we see how bad it is, we always thing "at least it wasn't worse".
*Whatever is behind the door will never be as scary as getting there (suspense)
*Big bug behind the door theory.
(In a scary movie if they are slowly moving to get to the door and open it we imagine the worst possible thing. When they open it and there is a big bug there we say ah! wow at least it wasn't a bigger bug.) So we see how bad it is, we always thing "at least it wasn't worse".
The Devil and Tom Walker
*Kidd the pirate was hanged in England after he returned for his treasure. It is said that the treasure is watched over by the devil.
*Tom Walker and his wife live a completely miserable life & they hate each other.
*One day Tom was walking through a swamp as a way home and when he was resting he found an old weapon then a man came out of nowhere and told him to leave it alone.
*Prominent people are written on trees then buried there (when the tree falls they die).
*When Tom realizes it is the Devil he doesn't care at all.
*He stamped his thumb on Tom's forehead and then vanished into the Earth.
*Toms wife wanted him to get the gold which is why he refused, he doesn't want to do anything that would make her happy. Then she set out on her own and never came back.
*He went to find his wife and found the apron hanging with a heart & liver inside of it.
*The devil & Tom agree he will become a broker and drive merchants to bankruptcy.
*After awhile though he began to feel regret and he always carried a Bible with him.
*When he shouted the devil take me now someone came to the door to get him. Once he was gone so was all of his gold and silver. His horses turned to skeletons and his house burned to the ground.
*Tom Walker and his wife live a completely miserable life & they hate each other.
*One day Tom was walking through a swamp as a way home and when he was resting he found an old weapon then a man came out of nowhere and told him to leave it alone.
*Prominent people are written on trees then buried there (when the tree falls they die).
*When Tom realizes it is the Devil he doesn't care at all.
*He stamped his thumb on Tom's forehead and then vanished into the Earth.
*Toms wife wanted him to get the gold which is why he refused, he doesn't want to do anything that would make her happy. Then she set out on her own and never came back.
*He went to find his wife and found the apron hanging with a heart & liver inside of it.
*The devil & Tom agree he will become a broker and drive merchants to bankruptcy.
*After awhile though he began to feel regret and he always carried a Bible with him.
*When he shouted the devil take me now someone came to the door to get him. Once he was gone so was all of his gold and silver. His horses turned to skeletons and his house burned to the ground.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Gothic Lit & Romantisism
*Gothic Literature-
Def: grotesque characters, bizarre situations, violent events. 19th century Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne.
*Romanticism-
writers saw limitations of reason, celebrated the individual spirit, emotions, and imagination=basics of human nature. splendors of nature more inspired by this than fear of God. Wanted to know more about super natural. Washington Irving. Works exhibit typical romantic preoccupation. (changing puritans).
*Transcendentalism-
Transcendent forms of truth exist beyond reason and experience. Every individual is capable of discovering this higher truth on his or her own through intuition.
*Cavernous gothic cathedrals, irregularly placed towers, high stained-glass windows, inspire awe & fear, Gargoyels-fear of evil spirits (mascot of gothics). Imaginative distortion of reality that Gothic represents threshold of the unknown-shadowing region where fantastic, demonic & insane reside (gothic territory) dark side of individualism.
*Romantics see hope.
*Gothics see potential evil.
*Dark medieval castles, decaying ancient estates provide setting for weird/terrifying estates (Poe)
*Male is insane, female is beautiful and dead (or dying) (Poe)
*Extreme situations; live burials; physical and mental toture, retribution from beyond the grave (Poe)
*Extreme situations people reveal true natures (Poe)
*Human heart under fear, greed, vanity, mistrust, & betrayal (Hawthorne)
Def: grotesque characters, bizarre situations, violent events. 19th century Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne.
*Romanticism-
writers saw limitations of reason, celebrated the individual spirit, emotions, and imagination=basics of human nature. splendors of nature more inspired by this than fear of God. Wanted to know more about super natural. Washington Irving. Works exhibit typical romantic preoccupation. (changing puritans).
*Transcendentalism-
Transcendent forms of truth exist beyond reason and experience. Every individual is capable of discovering this higher truth on his or her own through intuition.
*Cavernous gothic cathedrals, irregularly placed towers, high stained-glass windows, inspire awe & fear, Gargoyels-fear of evil spirits (mascot of gothics). Imaginative distortion of reality that Gothic represents threshold of the unknown-shadowing region where fantastic, demonic & insane reside (gothic territory) dark side of individualism.
*Romantics see hope.
*Gothics see potential evil.
*Dark medieval castles, decaying ancient estates provide setting for weird/terrifying estates (Poe)
*Male is insane, female is beautiful and dead (or dying) (Poe)
*Extreme situations; live burials; physical and mental toture, retribution from beyond the grave (Poe)
*Extreme situations people reveal true natures (Poe)
*Human heart under fear, greed, vanity, mistrust, & betrayal (Hawthorne)
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