The American Dream
Basic Info
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Play
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Author : Edward Albee
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Setting: unspecified but post WWII
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Characters: Mommy , Daddy, Grandma, Young Man,
Mrs. Barker
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Theatre of the Absurd influence
Tone: Comic,
Theatre of the Absurd
Motifs: Power
struggle, deformity, shallowness, consumerism
Author Commentary:
In the interview we watched Albee stated that the purpose of this play was to
exhibit a way to not live life. The ambiguity of the play allows for the
audience to relate to certain details while the absurdity acts as a warning of
what may follow if one acts that way.
Imagery:
·
Descriptions of violence e.g. the deformity of
the baby
Plot
The play opens with Mommy and Daddy sitting in their
apartment, complaining over the tardiness of their visitor. Mommy launches into
a story of her day shopping, one that Daddy is clearly uninterested in. She
bought a hat at a store but quickly switched it for a “different” color when her
committee’s chairperson declared the color to be wheat. We are then introduced
to Grandma who comes into the scene with boxes without mentioning what they
contain. Mommy and Daddy only notice that outward appearance of the boxes and
do not ask what they contain. Grandma laments on the treatment of old people by
people today. Everyone seems to always snap at them, which is why they pretend
to be deaf. Later the Doorbell rings and it is Mrs. Barker. Only Grandma seems
to actually know why Mrs. Barker is there, and begins to tell Mrs. Barker the
story of their previous meeting. Mommy and Daddy were given a child from Mrs.
Barker but brutally deformed the child because he didn’t fit the norms. Grandma
however tells it in a way that she never exactly identifies Mommy, Daddy, or
Mrs. Barker. Grandma then opens the door to the young man. The young man is a
“type” and it is revealed that he had a twin, who is assumed to be the baby
that Mommy and Daddy killed. Grandma is taken away by the van- man and the
Young man replaces him.
Theme: the pursuit of the superficial never results in
satisfaction
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The hat debacle
o
Diction: wheat vs beige
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The deformation of the baby
o
Refer to themselves as “mommy” and “daddy” and
“grandma”
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The influence of theatre of the absurd- showing what
not to do by showing extremes
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The boxes
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“Well, I got satisfaction.”
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Basic Info:
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Play
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Setting: 1940s
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Characters: Willy Loman, Linda Loman, Biff Loman,
Happy Loman, Charley, Bernard, Howard, Bill
Motifs: the African jungle, the American West
Plot
Willy
returns home from a sales trip, almost having run himself off the run. He is
obviously unstable and his wife Linda is doting after him. Willy’s two sons are
visiting and over hear him with Linda. Willy decides to ask his boss Howard to
give him a position where he doesn’t need to travel on the road seeing as he
has alreasy had several accidents. Willy also complains about his older son
Biff who unlike Happy, their younger
son, has yet to find a stable decent job, It is clear that Biff disappoints
Willy. Throughout the play Willy has various flashbacks to times when the boys
were younger and of a woman in a hotel room. The first of the flashbacks starts
out with the boys washing biffs car, then continuing on Biff’s successful high
school foot ball career. However Biff fails his math class and his admission to
the University of Michigan is revoked. The Flashback also includes a younger
Linda whom Willy lies to about how much money he made in sales, he then
reproaches her for mending her stockings after another flashback of a woman.
Willy goes
to his boss to ask for a reassignment. His boss Howard refuses and the meeting
ends in Willy being fired. Willy then goes to Charley to ask for a loan. Though
Charley offered Willy a job, he turns the offer down due to his pride. Willy is
meeting his two sons at Frank’s restaurant for dinner. The boys are already
there and biff tells Happy about his unsuccessful experience with asking for a
loan. Willy later arrives but doesn’t
listen to biff as he attempts to tell him the truth. Biff eventually just
begins to lie so that Willy will listen to him but Willy trapped in a
flashback. Willy ends up in the bathroom, while of his sons have left. In the
bathroom willy has a flashback of Biff catching him cheat on Linda. Will finds
his way home and is trying to plant a seed in the garden. The boys are also
home and Linda is yelling at them for leaving their father at the restaurant.
Biff accepts blame and confronts the family of their failures and delusions and
what he has really been up to. Willy resolves to kill himself while consulting
a ghost of his brother ben. The play ends at Willy’s funeral, the only people
in attendance are the Lomans.
Theme: Willy’s belief in a superficial American dream and
belief that only likability counts is his down fall
·
Flashbacks that willy has
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Bouts of clarity
o
“I don’t have a single thing planted. “
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Relationship with his son
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Willy’s mental state
o
Frequently contradicts himself
o
Loses himself In the past
o
Talks to his dead brother
· “And I looked at the pen and I thought, what the hell am I grabbing this
for?”
Ceremony
Basic Info
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Author: Leslie Marmon Silko
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Setting: Post WWII Laguna
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Characters: Tayo, Auntie, Rocky, Betonie,
Josiah, Emo, Harley, Ts’eh
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Mostly in 3rd person persperctive
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Novel but with poetry
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Tone: bleek but hopeful
Author style:
Through interviews watched of Marmon we know that the use of a non-sequential
timeline is because of the Laguna way of telling stories. This is the author’s
way of letting her culture come through along with the use of the poems in the
book. The heavy symbolism in the piece: color yellow, webs, teeth, white, the
sun also reference her culture as most represent one of the four gods of the
pueblo culture.
Motifs: yellow,
violence, the supernatural, web of time
Plot
Tayo has just returned from war and he is critically sick. Suffering from extreme nausea, Tayo seems to
get worse when gets flashbacks to the war or in when he sees the sun. After an
unsuccessful stay at the Veteran’s hospital Tayo is back at home. Tayo isn’t
received to well at home as his aunt was wanted her son, his cousin Rocky, to
live. By the request of his grandmother Tayo visits with the Old medicine man.
However even they fail to heal him though he is better. Other young men in
reservation went to war as well. All of them were changed in some way, except
Emo, however none are as sick as Tayo. All of the veterans are bitter over
their treatment now that they are back home. It is revealed that Tayo only
joined the army because of Rocky, who joined much like the others to become “true”
Americans. Tayo finally begins to heal after he visits Betonie, a medicine man
who mixes old and new knowledge. After his visit with Betonie, Tayo goes on a
search for Josiah’s cattle where he meets ts’eh and a mountain lion. Ts’eh
helps Tayo complete his ceremony and gives him instructions on how to avoid the
set up that awaits him. Tayo already having returned with Josiah’s cattle,
tells the elders the story the wanted to hear.
Theme: The best way to find peace is the blending of two
extremes instead of one or the other.
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White society vs. Pueblo Culture
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Tayo’s failure to be healed
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The con’s of pueblo culture
o
Auntie’s actions toward Tayo
o
The failure of most of the laguna people to
raise children that stay true to culture and succeed
“Nothing is entirely good or bad”
“Here they were, trying to bring back that old
feeling, that feeling they belonged to America the way they felt during the
war.”
Pride and Prejudice
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Written by Jane Austen
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Characters: Mr. Mrs. Bennett, Elizabeth, Jane,
Lydia, Mary, Kitty, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Wickam, Mr. Bingley
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Tone: comedic, light
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Mostly told through the point of view of
Elizabeth
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Novel
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Motifs: Marriage, the importance of wealth, roles of mothers,
patriarchy
Author Style: Jane Austen’s novel serves to poke fun at the
Victorian Society that was. The importance of an advantageous marriage
dominated society. This is scen through her imagery of awkward social
encounters, especially those between the betrothed. But also through the
conflicts and tension between classes for example Darcy’s Aunt’s sentiments
toward Elizabeth.
Plot:
The plot centers on the five Bennet Sisters through the
narration of the second eldest ,witty sister Elizabeth. When Mr. Bingley comes to town, a handsome
rich gentlemen, Mrs. Bennett urges Mr. Bennett to I go introduce himself and
further one of the girls’ chances to marry him. At the first ball Mr. Bingley
takes a likening to Jane, the prettiest and oldest of the sisters. Mr. Darcy,
his friend who is also, makes a bad impression however on the family especially
Elizabeth Bennett. Although at first Mrs. Bennett was attracted to his income,
his demeanor ruled him out as a possible suitor for one her girls. Mr. Bingley and Jane grow closer despite the
disapproval of Mr. Darcy and Bingley’s sister. Meanwhile, the youngest Bingley sisters are
amusing themselves at balls with their sisters and socializing with soldiers.
Bingley is called into London and though Jane goes to visit he never came to
visit her. This seems to be the end of their courtship, and a devastated Jane
returns to Netherfield. Elizabeth who has become taken with Mr. Wickam goes to
visit her newly-married friend Charlotte. There she surprisingly reencounters
Mr. Darcy who she reproaches on because of his actions toward Mr. Wickam. Later
Elizabeth departs Netherfield again for her Aunt and Uncle’s, and Lydia as well
has left for Brighton. While Elizabeth
is away she receives a letter from her family about Lydia’s elopement to Mr.
Wickam. The couple end up married with the help of Mr. Darcy. Mr. Bingley
returns to Netherfield and marries Jane, and Mr. Darcy marries Elizabeth.
Theme:
The importance of individuality
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Lizzy, who was her self the whole time, not only
gained a =n advantageous marriage but one where she could be her true self
o
Witty banter
o
Unfiltered thoughts
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Jane catered to the needs to everyone else
o
Austen’s first description of jane, the caring
lovable one
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Lydia, wanted to be loved so she ended up
marrying a crook
o
Wickam’s debts
o
Her fondness for going out
Quotes:
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“It is a
truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good
fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
Hamlet by Shakespeare
Basic Info
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Play
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Characters: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude,
Polonius, Horatio, Laertes, Ophelia
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Tone: dark
Motifs: incest, war
Symbolism: the ghost
Plot:
Hamlet returns home from Wittenberg for his Father’s
funeral/his mother’s marriage to his uncle. There he is visited by his father’s
ghost, telling him of his brutal murder at the hands of his brother, who
requests that Hamlet avenge his death. Hamlet is shocked by the revelation and
is torn between whether to abide his father’s wishes or to not act. This
predicament begins to drive Hamlet mad. The castle worried for his well being
and threatened as well begin to spy on him, first through Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
and then with Ophelia. Hamlet then confronts his mother. Their relationship is
almost shockingly close and he yells at her for her relationship with Claudius.
When Polonius enters he brutally slays him and drags him around the castle.
Hamlet is banished to England where Claudius has given sealed instructions to
the king of England to kill Hamlet. Ophelia who has gone mad after her
confrontation with Hamlet and father’s death commits suicide. Claudius
convinces Laertes that Hamlet is the blame for Polonius and Ophelia’s death.
When Hamlet unexpectedly returns he attends Ophelia’s funeral where he fights
with Laertes over her body. Later he and Laertes sword fight, which was
orchestrated by Claudius who also poisoned Laertes sword along with poisoning
the champion’s goblet. In the end Hamlet and Laertes both die because they
accidently switched swords, the queen dies because she drank the goblet, and
Hamlet slays the king before he dies.
Theme: the complexity of action
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Hamlet’s difficulty in acting out his father’s
wishes
o
Continual speaches
o
The play he requests the actors to perform
o
Hamlet’s madness
“to be or not to be”
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”
Fifth Business
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Novel
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Characters: Dunstable, Mary Dempster, Mr.
Dempster, Percy Boy Jackson, Willy, Paul
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Tone: comedic, trying to prove himself
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Written in the from of a letter as a response to
an article
Plot:
The novel fifth business is a letter that the protagonist
Dunstable writes to the writer of an article about him bookmarking his
retirement. Upset at the brevity and lack of mention of his accomplishments
Dunstable decided to write a memoir in letter form. This starts out with a
snowball fight with Percy Boy Jackson. Percy launches a snowball at Dunstable
who dodges it. The snowball ends up hitting Mrs. Dempster who then goes in to
labor gives birth to a premature baby, Paul. Dunstable begins to care for Mrs.
Dempster though she becomes even more ostracized after having being found with
a tramp. Dunstable love for Dempster grows when he believes that she
resurrected his brother from death. However this causes a rift between his
mother and him and she gives him an ultimatum to choose between her or Mary.
Dunstable chooses war though he is underage. After the war he is notified that
both his parents are dead and decided to become a teacher and continues his
study of saints. He finds Mary, who is in the care of her aunt and living in
Toronto. He rebuilds his relationship with her. When he travels to Europe he
finds Paul performing as a magician. However when he returns to Canada he is
notified that Mary’s aunt has died and that she is now in his care. Dunstan
travels as well to mexico where he see Paul again but also Liesl who asks him
to decide whether he is the fifth business. Paul comes back to Toronto where he
meets with Boy and Dunstan. Dunstan tries to get Boy to admit to wrongdoing in
the snowball incident but he doesn’t. Boy later kills himself.
Theme: Taking responsibility for the roles you played in
events
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Who really was the cause of paul’s birth
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Percy’s Pride
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Dunstan’s Pride
**Wasn’t able to finish annotating because I lost my book. L
