American Literature – EOCT Review

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.

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.

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

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”).

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”.

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”)

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”)

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”)

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”)

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)

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).

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.

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.

Steps in the Research Process

1. Pre-Writing Decide on a topic Locate primary and secondary sources Paraphrase information and cite your sources

2. Drafting: Creating a rough version of the paper.

3. Revising and Editing: Making improvements to content and organization.

4. Proofreading: Making corrections in grammar and spelling.

5. Publishing: Sharing your finished papers with others

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.

Plot Elements

Exposition: introduces the setting, characters, and the problem/conflict.

Rising action: complications which serve to build tension.

Climax: the turning pointDenouement/falling action:

events “fall” into place.Resolution: the conflict has been

resolved one way or another.

Types of Conflict

Person v. person Person v. nature Person v. self Person v. society Person v. machine

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

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)

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.

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.

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!”)

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)

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.

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.