tracking the development of - jm's ap literature...

Tracking the development of the American Novel as a new genre, including:

• Emerging Individual Sensibility

• Point of View Choices

• Romance Vs. Verisimilitude Problem

The literature we will use to explore Point of View:

• Numerous short stories

• Their Eyes Were Watching God

• Frankenstein

• As I lay Dying

Medieval

Long – based on oral tradition

Poetic

Artificial

Unoriginal

Unrealistic

Too coincidental (deux ex machina)

Archetypal

Plots and events closely intertwined

Gutenberg press (1436)

Human sensibility

Descartes “I think, therefore, I am”

John Locke tabula rasa

Renaissance, Reason, Enlightenment

Redefining individual relationship

With God (Reformation)

Political structure (Independent democracies)

Social Structure (Class structures)

Turning away from community to individual views

They began trying to express life from an individual viewpoint.

Characters with quirks— actual personality!

Characters evolved— they were suddenly affected by their experiences Jane Eyre

Faust

Wuthering Heights

Pride and Prejudice

Verisimilitude: now very similar to real life

A near journalistic attempt to describe every aspect of life while eliminating embellishments and verbosity

Unfortunately, it had almost no plot…

It was “boring” and led to backlash from verisimilitude back to Romance. However, this time it was Gothic Romance

READING DATES

Pages 3-9 - Wednesday, February 10th

Hills Like White Elephants – Thursday, February 11th

A Dill Pickle – Friday, February 12th

A Rose for Emily – Tuesday, February 16th

(1843-1916)

He attempted to address the major problems of pure verisimilitude through the literary art of Point of View

Turn to “Grasshopper and the Ant”

By Henry James

First, what is going on?

Whose mind is the reader in? How thoroughly? How does this impact the reader?

By Jack London

What is going on?

Whose mind is the reader in? How thoroughly?

How does London view James’ approach?

By James Thurber

What is the point of view in this story?

Where does the POV shift? Why?

What impact does this have on the reader?

By Katherine Mansfield

Get into a group by matching up with those who have the same number as you.

Be sure to bring along your RJ and your POV packet.

Each student should record the group’s answers in his/her own RJ.

1. What is the point of view? Prove it with support. (Ignore the ending for now.) How does this P.O.V. impact the telling of the story, as well as the reader’s understanding?

2. What was their relationship like? Support your answer with examples.

3. How has he changed? Support this with a new example.

4. How has she changed? Support this with another new example.

5. How has he/she NOT changed? Support with yet another new example.

6. Identify a descriptive technique used by Mansfield and, in one sentence, explain how that advances an idea/concept.

7. In one sentence, describe the action of the story.

8. What’s going on in each of these lines? a) “And smiling just a hint too broadly. . .”

b) “He accepted that.”

c) “He let it go at that.”

d) “Was there just a hint of mockery in his voice or was it her fancy.”

9. Identify ways he reignited her passion/interest in him. Support with a new example.

Surprise! It’s point of view! Well, then…

Did it switch (If so, then why. . .?)?

Was it always was his P.O.V. the whole time and he was imagining her responses?

Did it never happen and was all a fiction in his mind? Just a revenge fantasy?

Why would Mansfield choose this title?

By Ernest Hemmingway

By William Faulkner

On a sheet of paper, answer the following questions:

1. What is the point of view of the story? How does this point of view assist in uniquely crafting this literary work?

2. Why is this an appropriate title, given the tone of the narrator?

3. What is the horrible revelation about Miss Emily that the story ends with? How is this related to the overall meaning of the story?

4. Now, answer two of the following (you choose which to answer):

a) Describe and discuss the symbolism of Miss Emily’s house.

b) Identify a section containing very strong diction choices and describe how that aids the story.

c) Toward the end is a lyrical and metaphorical account of the old people's sense of past, a poetic kind of prose with which a self-indulgent author will sometimes pad a story or tease the reader by delaying the resolution of suspense. What is Faulkner doing in this section?

d) Note the “pictures” in the story. Why does Faulkner use these symbols?

e) Look closely at the second paragraph in section five. What does this paragraph suggest about the nature of people’s memories of the past?

With your group of four (See the three sitting around you? That’s your group of four.), share your responses.

Address all inconstancies. Ask yourselves, “Why was there disagreement among the masses?”

1. What is the point of view of the story? How does this point of view assist in uniquely crafting this literary work?

2. Why is this an appropriate title, given the tone of the narrator?

3. What is the horrible revelation about Miss Emily that the story ends with? How is this related to the overall meaning of the story?

4. Now, answer two of the following (you choose which to answer):

a) Describe and discuss the symbolism of Miss Emily’s house.

b) Identify a section containing very strong diction choices and describe how that aids the story.

c) Toward the end is a lyrical and metaphorical account of the old people's sense of past, a poetic kind of prose with which a self-indulgent author will sometimes pad a story or tease the reader by delaying the resolution of suspense. What is Faulkner doing in this section?

d) Note the “pictures” in the story. Why does Faulkner use these symbols?

e) Look closely at the second paragraph in section five. What does this paragraph suggest about the nature of people’s memories of the past?

Notice the increasing progress on the artist trying to express the individual

relationship with the subject.

Note: the following slides range from 1880s to 1920s – with Henry James, we’re only at the very beginning of that arc,

when it was still a novel (pun most decidedly planned) idea.

What progression can be seen in art during these forty years, particularly concerning point of view?

In what ways does

a verisimilitude point of view have its limits?

Focus:

How does an author control Point of View to craft literary art?

Tools:

Their Eyes Were Watching God

As I Lay Dying

Frankenstein