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LITERATURA NORTEAMERICANA II LERATE
3º Literatura Norteamericana Ii
Grado en Estudios Ingleses
Facultad de Filología
Universidad de Sevilla
Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su
totalidad.
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LITERATURA NORTEAMERICANA II ESQUEMA
1. THE 1920S: THE ROARING TWENTIES OR JAZZ AGE

1.1 THE GREAT GATSBY – F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
1.2 THE SUN ALSO RISES – E. HEMINGWAY
1.3 POEMS BY CLAUDE MCKAY
1.4 POEMS BY LANGSTON HUGHES
Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
2. MODERN AMERICAN DRAMA
2.1 A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE – T. WILLIAMS
3. THE 1950S AND 60S

3.1 POEMS BY ALLEN GINSBERG
3.2 SLAUGHTERHAUSE FIVE – KURT VONNEGUT
4. MULTICULTURALISM: AFRICAN AMERICAN, NATIVE AMERICAN AND

CHICANO VOICES
4.1 THE BLUEST EYE – TONY MORRISON
4.2 THE MAN TO SEND RAIN CLOUDS / LULLABY – LESLIE MARMON
SILKO
4.3 THE HOUSE OF MANGO STREET – SANDRA CISNEROS
1. THE GREAT GATSBY – F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (1925)

The Great Gatsby introduces us to the mysterious Jay Gatsby whose parties represent the
Roaring 20s. As the story progresses, we discover that Gatsby is a bootlegger and that is the
origin of his fortune.
• CONTEXT:
The Roaring Twenties or Jazz Age chronologically framed by the end of the WWI and the
Wall street stock market crash in 1929.
The car was one of the main driving forces of the American economy. Henry Ford was the
founder of Ford Motor Company. He pioneered the moving assembly line for making cars
and it was an efficient system to manufacture more cars in less time. Henry Ford most
successful car was Model T; it was affordable, reliable and easily maintained.
The 18th Amendment (1919) popularly known as prohibition banned the sale and
consumption of alcohol. Prohibition lasted until 1933 abolished by the 21th amendment.
Alcohol was illegal but it was distributed through liquor smugglers known as bootleggers.
Alcohol was served in secret bars which were called speakeasies with a password required.
The 19th Amendment (1920) gave American women for the first time the right to vote. The
term used to refer to the modern women who challenged the old standards was flappers.
They were independent, open-minded, they often drank, smoked and enjoyed dancing.
They wore short dresses and cut their hair short and used cosmetics, especially lipstick.
Hollywood became the centre of the film industry in the 1920’s. The “Big Five” Hollywood
film studies: Warner Bros, Paramount, RKO, Metro Goldwyn Meyer and Fox. The first sound
movie was The Jazz Singer (1927) starring Al Jolson. In 1928, Walt Disney produced the first
animated cartoon introducing Mickey Mouse.
• IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:
How does the book open?
The book opens with an epigraph signed by Thomas Parke D’Invilliers who is a character
invented by the author. Before the book was titled “The Great Gatsby”, he had other names
in his head like “On the road to West Egg”, “High bouncing lover” or “Gold-Hatted Gatsby”.
The epigraph presents an image of someone who is advised to wear a gold hat and jump
high to impress a girl and win her love. This is in fact what the protagonist, Gatsby, is doing
with Daisy; he tries to impress her. The epigraph relates to the novel.
When does the novel take place?
It takes place in the summer of 1922 after the great war, from Mid-June to October. The
novel follows a linear chronological sequence, but the author employs flashback techniques,
for example, when the novel tells us Gatsby and Daisy love affair.
What are the main settings?
New York City, East Egg and West Egg situated in Long Island and the Valley of Ashes.
Who kills Myrtle?
¡Ahora también a distancia en Coucke´s Academy! - Don´t waste your time!

Daisy drives the car that kills Myrtle even though it was Gatsby’s car.
Why does Nick move to the East?
Nick moves to the East to learn bond business.
What is Nick best virtue?
Honesty.
Who is Gatsby’s partner in the business of bootlegging?
Mr. Wolfshiem.
What wedding present does Tom give Daisy?
A very expensive pearl necklace.
Does Tom know that Daisy killed Myrtle?
It is not fully exposed, but definitely Tom is happy with the death of Gatsby, so he does not
really care. He is using Wilson to lead to Gatsby’s death.
Are there social gatherings in the novel?
There are great amount of social gatherings in the novel: small parties (at New York small
apartment of Tom and Daisy) and large and wild parties (Gatsby parties).
How would you describe to someone what the Great Gatsby is about?
A story about love, death, money and immorality.
Why does not Daisy divorce Tom?
To keep her social status.
• CHARACTERS:
Nick Carraway → Nick is the narrator of the novel. Nick is the only character of the story
who experiences a change; tolerance to judging others. Nick’s decision of returning to the
Midwest signals a process of maturity and moral responsibility. Nick is telling the story once
he is back to the Midwest; this is important because this means that Nick has had time to
reflect on the events. Nick strives to be objective and reliable but finally he admires Gatsby
and hates the hypocrisy of Tom and Daisy. Nick and Fitzgerald have similarities; they were
born in the Midwest in Minnesota, they both attended Ivy League colleges and they both
moved from the Midwest to the East to search for opportunities.
Jay Gatsby → His real name is James Gatz and he comes from a humble and poor family in
North Dakota. He worked as an assistant to Dan Cody, a millionaire and this experience
opened his eyes to luxury. He falls in love with Daisy but she rejects him because he is poor.
He served in WWI and was awarded a medal for his courage. The war is the reason he loses
Daisy. Back in America, he gets involved in the bootlegging business and makes a fortune.
He has money but no social status. He buys a mansion on West Egg and gives big parties
hoping that Daisy would show up. He befriends Nick and recapitulate the love story with
Daisy. At the end he gets killed by George Wilson who thinks that he is responsible of the
death of Myrtle. Gatsby is a representation of the American Dream.

Daisy → She is Nick’s cousin and Tom’s wife. Her marriage is unhappy, yet they have a
marriage based on social status, money and carelessness. She represents the ideal of
perfection for Gatsby. She is silly, materialistic, selfish and superficial. Gatsby is so in love
with her that he is unable to see her true nature. She is a murderous “fairy tale princess”.
Daisy Buchanan was based on Fitzgerald's first love, Ginevra King.
Tom Buchanan → He’s Daisy’s husband. Belongs to the old money. He represents the
morality and values of the rich. He did not fight in the WWI. He is racist, rude and violent.
He has a love affair with Myrtle, and he has had more. The Rise of the Coloured Empire which
is the book he has read does not exist; it is an allusion to the Rising Tide of Color Against
White World Supremacy, a racist book. He is not a good reader. Tom’s racist views are to be
seen in the context of the 20s when there was a national re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan.
Tom is not a KKK member, but his opinions reveal his agreement with the white supremacy
ideology. Tom dislikes modern and independent women, in particular, he refers to Jordan.
Tom is Gatsby’s antagonist and he mocks his “pink suit” or his expression “old sport” and he
reveals that Gatsby is a bootlegger in front of Daisy and more people. Tom lacks moral
values. He is responsible for the death of Gatsby and feels no guilt or remorse.
Jordan Baker → She’s a flapper and a gold player. She is a close friend of the Buchanans.
Myrtle Wilson → She’s George Wilson wife and she has an affair with Tom. She belongs to
the lower class. Tom represents everything her husband is not. She is materialistic. Myrtle’s
physical death symbolises the death of her hope to achieve the socioeconomic comfort she
craves.
George Wilson → He runs a car repair garage in the Valley of Ashes. He’s Myrtle’s husband.
He wants to preserve his marriage. He seeks revenge for the death of his wife and kills
Gatsby and suicides. He is a hard-working man but does not succeed in life. Wilson’s suicide
suggests his feelings of guilt and remorse.
Meyer Wolfsheim → He is a 50 years old man whose last name suggests his predatory or
animal-like nature. He is important to connect Gatsby with illegal activities. Like Dan Cody,
he is Gatsby’s mentor. When Gatsby is killed, he does not go to his funeral: “let us learn to
show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead”. Fitzgerald based
this character on a real person; Arnold Rothstein who was a Jewish-American New York
gambler involved in the 1919 Baseball World series.
Henry Gatz → He’s Gatsby’s father. He comes to attend his son’s funeral. He is important
because he serves to remind Gatsby’s humble roots. He is proud of his son’s success, but he
is unaware of how his son makes his fortune. When Gatsby was young, he wrote a program
for Self-Improvement; he wanted his dreams to come true. This is similar to Benjamin
Franklin’s boyhood program.
• MAIN MOTIFS:
Dishonesty → Jordan cheats on a tournament, Gatsby and Wolfsheim are involved in
criminal activities, Gatsby lies about his wealthy origins, Daisy lies to Gatsby when she tells
him that she is going to abandon Tom and Tom lies to George when he tells him that Gatsby
killed Myrtle.
Infidelity → Tom cheats on Daisy, Daisy cheats on Tom and Myrtle cheats on George.
Materialism → Fitzgerald depicts the Jazz society as being driven by materialism and love of
money. Fitzgerald depicts the Jazz society as being driven by materialism and the love of
money.
Moral decay → Fitzgerald portrays in his novel an immoral world where excess and
materialism have eclipsed religion, spirituality and moral values. The Valley of Ashes is one
of the most obvious symbols of the spiritual emptiness of the American society. The
character’s absence of compassion is another symptom of the loss of moral principles. Tom
and Daisy do not express guilt or remorse for the death of Gatsby or Myrtle.
• MAIN SYMBOLS:
Geographical locations → There is a relationship between the geographical locations and
the social values and social classes. The main settings are the Midwest, New York city, East
Egg and West Egg and the Valley of Ashes.
1. The Midwest of America is associated with a conservative lifestyle, humility,

morality and strong family values. Nick decides to move to West Egg because he
is tired of the boredom and monotony of the Midwest. When the novel ends,
Nick comes to appreciate his own area after becoming disgusted with the
immorality of the East and turns his back on the East and reflects on the beauty
of his home.
2. New York represents a modern lifestyle. It is the city of the business and
entertainment. New York is presented as a city where you can have full of
possibilities as expressed in this quote: “Anything can happen now that we’ve
slid over this bridge.” Here we find a diversity of social classes and races. New
York is the best place to do secret stuff like having an affair and well, illegal
things. For example, Tom has an affair with Myrtle Wilson, and he meets her in
New York. We can conclude that New York City is a symbol of immorality and
carelessness. When the characters are in the city, their actions are executed
without thinking of consequences more like What happens in New York, stays
in New York. Also, its huge size helps people to remain anonymous; people here
don’t really stand out.
3. East Egg and West Egg are located on Long Island and they are separated by a
bay. East Egg is for the old money - people whose wealth is inherited, and who
have been the upper class for generations. In contrast, West Egg is for the new
rich - self-made people who have become rich recently and who were originally
born into working or middle-class families. This means that in general everyone
from East Egg looks down on everyone from West Egg in order to demonstrate
their superiority. Nick describes West Egg as “the less fashionable of the two
eggs”. There is a rivalry between the Eggs. East Egg is a very materialistic
community, they are posh and they only socialize with people who are from the
same city. Gatsby lives in West Egg whereas Tom and Daisy live in East Egg.
Gatsby’s house is a reproduction of a French castle. The fact it is a new
construction is a negative feature for Tom as it means a lack of heritage and
that’s why Tom calls Gatsby "Mr Nobody from Nowhere". Also, Gatsby’s house
is modern and tacky, whereas Tom’s house has a classical and sobriety style. In
contrast, Nick Carraway’s bungalow which is next door to Gatsby is a humble
and down-to-earth place. People from West Egg show that they have money,

for example, Gatsby that gives big parties, so people see the amount of money
that he has through his possessions, house, cars… However, people from East
Egg don’t need to demonstrate that they have money since family name says it
all.
4. The 'valley of ashes' is located between Long Island and New York. The
relevance of using the words “valley” and “ashes” within the same phrase is that
there is a contrast between the word “valley”, which is associated with green,
agriculture, symbolizing life, and “ashes”, which are associated with industry,
factories, and in a sense, death. The valley of ashes is a place of evident poverty
and lower class live here. It is a desolate area. The imagery of dust and ashes
symbolizes death. The Valley of Ashes symbolizes the moral and social decay of
America. This place echoes T.S.Elliot poem called “The Waste Land”.
Green light at the end of Daisy’s dock → One of the most important symbols in the novel is
the green light. The green light can be seen from across the bay from Gatsby’s house in West
Egg to Daisy’s house in East Egg. The green light is a constant reminder to Gatsby of how
close he is to Daisy as well as how far he is from her. The light stands for Gatsby’s dream to
reunite with Daisy and recapitulate the love relationship they had five years earlier. Nick
claims that "Gatsby believed in the green light”. The colour green symbolises rebirth and
hope, but also, Green is often associated with envy, which makes sense considering the
green light represents his jealousy of the relationship between Tom and Daisy. Moreover,
the green light represents the American Dream.
Eyes of T J Eckleburg → A particular feature of the valley of ashes is a billboard of the eyes
of TJ Eckleburg overlooking the Valley of Ashes. The people who live in the Valley of Ashes
see these eyes as the eyes of God. It is symbolic of the immorality of the 1920s. This billboard
serves as a reminder of God’s watchful eyes. George Wilson refers to Dr Eckleburg as the
eyes of God and he says, “God sees everything”. Also, Critics have noted the similarities
between the eyes of Dr Eckleburg and Fitzgerald’s description of Owl Eyes, a character in
the novel who appears first in Gatsby’s library and later at his graveside.
Cars → like the locations or homes, the cars the characters drive also serve as a means of
characterisation. Nick has a middle-class car; Tom drives a conservative upper-class car and
Gatsby owns a newly yellow car. George Wilson owns a car garage but does not have a car
and Myrtle does not own a car and takes the train to go to New York. Jordan is a careless,
reckless and rotten driver. Myrtle was killed by Gatsby’s car driven by Daisy. Cars are a
potential source of wreck and death specially when driven by careless drivers. The car
symbolizes the modernity and dynamism of the 20s. The car signals the economic and social
status of the characters. The climax of the novel is the car accident in which Myrtle is killed.

2. THE SUN ALSO RISES – ERNEST HEMINGWAY (1926)

After World War I, a group of American expatriates move to Paris, where their lives are filled
with travel and drinking, and the novel recalls their travel to Spain. The Sun Also Rises is set in
the mid-20s and the characters of the novel members of the Lost Generation. The book was
based on a real trip and the characters are Hemingway’s closed circle of friends. So, the novel
could be considered an autobiographical novel; a “roman à clef”. It is a modern novel as it is a
war novel without any combat and a love novel without any love explicit scene.
The title of the novel is taken from a biblical quote that is used as a second epigraph: “the sun
also ariseth”. It emphasizes the idea of renewal and hope. There is a sense of hope in this quote.
Before, being titled The Sun Also Rises, the novel was titled “fiesta”.
• CONTEXT:
WWI was the first mechanised war. Post-traumatic stress disorder was the legacy of the
survivors. Hemingway who fought in the war, was wounded and belongs to this post-war
generation of lost and disillusioned men who came of age during the Great War. In Paris, he
met other American and British expatriates such as Ezra Pound, James Joyce or Fitzgerald.
Hemingway's generation was "lost" in that their lives lacked meaning after the war. Perhaps
to fill a spiritual void the Lost Generation sought distraction and pleasure through decadent
lifestyles full of travel, sex, food, and drinking.
How is the novel structured?
The book has 19 chapters subdivided in 3 books: book 1 occurs in Paris (1-7), book 2 in
Pamplona (8-18) and book 3 in San Sebastian and Madrid (19). There is an unequal division
of the chapters.
What are the main settings?
Paris, Pamplona, San Sebastian and Madrid.
In which war was Jake involved?
The WWI.
Which is the main female character?
Brett.
Where did Jake and Brett meet?
In a military hospital in England during the WWI.
What is Jake’s profession?
Journalist.
All the characters drink alcohol all the time, why?
To forget all the horrors of the war. It Is also a defend mechanism. Also, because they are
bored.

Before going to Pamplona, Jake and his friend spent a day doing what?
Fishing in nature.
Robert Cohn is a character disliked by the characters in the novel, why?
He is Jewish, he has pre-wars ideals and he is too Romantic for the Lost Generation. He is
also childish and violent.
What is the name of the Spanish bullfighter?
Pedro Romero.
What is Mike financial status?
He is bankrupt although he comes from a good family. He is careless with money.
In which city does the novel end?
Madrid.
What does Brett tell Jake about Pedro Romero in the end?
She left him. “I’m not going to be one of these bitches who ruin children’s life”: She doubles
his age. Romero wants to let Brett grow her hair and does not let her be that modern and
free woman.
• MAIN CHARACTERS:
→ Jake Barnes: He is the protagonist and 1st person narrator. American WWI veteran.
Sexually impotent by war injury. Works as a journalist in Paris. He is in love with Brett, but it
is an impossible love due to his emasculation. The protagonist’s name is Jake, short form of
Jacob. The monosyllabic diminutive “Jake” suggests that his identity has been cut off or
reduced. Brett reminds Jake “you have a hell of a biblical name, Jake”. In the bible, Jacob is
the patriarch of the Hebrew nation as his twelve sons became the progenitors of the twelve
tribes of Israel. Ironic intention, he cannot procreate. It is also ironic that the name is closely
related to the Hebrew nation because he dislikes Robert Cohn, a Jewish. We are not to
confuse Jake’s and Mike’s anti-Semitic remarks with Hemingway’s. Somehow, Jake and Mike
show anti-Semitic behaviour. Jake lives in Paris, but he spends his summer holidays in Spain
every year. He speaks French and Spanish fluently. He is not a regular tourist. He defines
himself as “rotten Catholic” and it seems to imply that mass attendance, prayers and
Christian beliefs in general are no use for him. He has lost faith in God and religion. Another
aspect related to Jake is his insomnia. He is frustrated because he loves Brett and feels
sexually impotent. At daytime he is busy working but at night-time he suffers from insomnia
and even cries. Jake however plays an important role helping Brett seduce Pedro Romero.
Jake awakens Brett’s desire for the Spanish bullfighter by describing him. Why does Jake set
up Bett with Romero? The novel does not explain the reasons, but we can speculate a little
bit. In helping Brett seduce Romero, he is doing an act of revenge on Cohn. Jake betrays
Montoya in helping Brett to seduce Romero.
→ Robert Cohn: The first chapter is dedicated to the description of Cohn. We get to know
about his family, school years and ambitions to become a writer. Why does he begin with
this description? He is the antagonist of the story and he contrasts with the other characters.
He was born in a wealthy family in New York. He took boxing to combat his feelings of
shyness and inferiority. The violence of Cohn is hinted from the very beginning of the novel.
Cohn is the non-veteran character in the group which makes him an outsider. Since he did
not fight in the war, he has Romantic ideals. He has a crush on Brett. He spent a weekend
with Brett in San Sebastian, and he is shocked that this did not mean anything to Brett. In
Pamplona, he follows Brett everywhere. He is a pathetic character and he is jealous. He
“follows Brett around like a steer”; he has a steer-like behaviour. He punched Romero;
violent reactions that make him childish. Cohn’s flight from Pamplona symbolizes the failure
of the traditional values in the post-war world.
→ Mike Campbell: Mike is Brett’s fiancé. Belongs to the aristocratic Scottish family. He is
careless with money and is always broke. When drunk he can be very rude. He is a war
veteran and lives an aimless life drifting from place to place and drinking everywhere he
goes. He loves Brett and resents her infidelities. At the end, Brett tells Jake that she is going
back with Mike.
→ Brett: Brett, like many in the Lost Generation, experienced trauma during the war; she
was a nurse in a military hospital. Brett derives great pleasure from male attention, and she
enjoys having men compete for her affection. Despite her free-spirited ways she constantly
complains of feeling miserable.
→ Pedro Romero: 19-year-old Spanish bullfighter. His talent in bullfighting charms

aficionados and newcomers. He stands for honesty, purity and strength. He is close to be
the hero of the story. Bullfighting is the equivalent of warfare as he faces death. Artistic
metaphor for the war. Even though he is not a veteran, he is a hero.
→ Bill Gorton: He is an American writer and Jake’s old friend. He is a sympathetic character
whose jokes introduce a comic relief. He is the only character that seems to be indifferent
to Brett’s charms, so Jake does not feel threatened by him. Bill and Jake share an
appreciation for the natural world, and they went fishing. During the fishing trip Bill tells
Jake “I couldn’t tell you that in New York. It’d mean I was a faggot”. Is he expressing his
fondness for Jake as a friend or disclosing his repressed homosexual desire for Jake?
Hemingway plays with ambiguity. Bill is practically the only male character indifferent to
Brett’s charms. So, Jake does not feel threatened by him. Bill shares with Jake a profound
appreciation for the natural world and both enjoy their company while fishing at the Irati
river.
• MAIN MOTIFS:
→ Money: Hemingway reveals the financial status of the characters. Jake is one of the only
characters who have a regular job. Since he depends on his salary as a newspaper man, he
is careful and thoughtful about his spending. For Jake; “enjoying living was learning to get
your money’s worth” but he is not tight or stingy. Jake’ financial philosophy is based on a
fair exchange of values where you pay for what you get. Jake hates to be taken advantage
when it comes to money. On other occasions, Jake knows that the price to be paid is
excessive, but he agrees to pay for it as long as an extra is included, as it happens at the
Burguete inn where he bargains to get the wine included in the price. In terms of countries,
Jake finds Spain cheaper than France, but economic transactions are well defined in France.
Cohn comes from a rich Jewish family. He receives 300$ monthly from his mother and is
willing to pay Jake’s trip to South America. However, he shows his stingy side several times.
His money is inherited maybe that’s another reason why they hate him. Georgette, the

prostitute, exchanges sex for money but with Jake, she exchanges her time for a free dinner.
The Count Mippipopolus is a wealthy and generous Greek aristocrat. For him money is just
a means to have fun. Mike is totally careless and irresponsible about money. His family has
money, but he is always broke. He spends his money on travelling and drinking. Brett has
some money, but she has debts. She never accepts money because she is not a prostitute.
Her desire to marry Mike is based on his heritance. Romero wants to succeed as a bullfighter
but not only to become famous but to earn money. Montoya’s value for money is different.
He is a businessman but does not put money over passion. For him, afición is something that
cannot be bought. Brett’s charms and beauty and Mike’s fun compensate their lack of
money. Hemingway places a great importance on money.
→ Love
→ Effects of War: Jake's generation struggle to find meaning after the devastating events of
World War I. Jake, Brett, and Mike were actively involved in the war and emerged
disillusioned from their experiences. The war destroyed many people's notions of morality
and religion, forcing them to look elsewhere for guidance. Many in this Lost Generation
turned to carnal desires—food, sex, alcohol—to fill the void inside.
→ Masculinity: World War I left many men feeling emasculated. In the face of the war's
indiscriminate violence, strength, courage, and grit counted for little. Men could not "prove"
themselves against machine guns or explosives as they could in the hand-to-hand combat
of previous wars. Surviving the war was not a sign of heroism or strength; it was simply a
matter of luck. Jake bears this emasculation physically as well as emotionally. His war injury
makes sex an impossibility. Jake's friends similarly hide their insecurities and hurt egos by
drinking heavily, chasing sex, and watching violent sports. Each is emasculated in his own
way; Mike is broke, Bill may be gay, and Cohn is lovesick and Jewish—which the other men
view as a mark of inferiority. The most traditionally masculine character in the novel is
Pedro Romero, the 19-year-old bullfighter. Brett, though a woman, also exemplifies
masculinity in the way she dresses and as she uses and throws away the men in her life.
• MAIN SYMBOLS:
→ Nature: Being in nature is pure and honest, allowing Jake a reprieve to forget the horrors
he experienced in war. Water symbolizes purification, both physical and emotional. For
Brett water equals purification as well, as evidenced by her frequent bathing. Brett often
uses bathing as an excuse to escape social situations or to explain why she perpetually runs
late.
→Bullfighting: It symbolizes the relationships among the men—Cohn, Jake, Mike, and
Romero—and Brett. Throughout the novel Brett antagonizes the men into fighting for her
affection, much in the same way the bullfighters flaunt the red flag to antagonize the bulls
into a fight. If Brett is the bullfighter, the men are bulls, with emasculated Jake acting as a
steer (a castrated bull).
• STYLE AND TECHNIQUE:

Hemingway did not want to create simple characters but living people.
His writing style is journalistic, simple, economical, direct and clear. He was a journalist so
perhaps it influences his writing style. He uses short and declarative sentences. Emphasis on
nouns and verbs. Lack of adjectives and adverbs. Absence of subordinate clauses. Long

sentences are connected by conjunctions. Emphasis on place names and concrete details in
descriptive passages. Repetitions and parallel syntactic clauses. Fast paced dialogues. French
and Spanish words.
He uses French and Spanish words.
Hemingway uses the Iceberg technique; the technique of omission. Hemingway’s prose is
analogous to an iceberg where only the tip is visible above the surface, while the rest is
hidden. His prose seems simple at the surface level, but it carries with it ideas, attitudes and
other implications that are all the more powerful for not being explicitly expressed. The
reader has to read carefully and between lines.
Hemingway also uses the technique of irony.
Hemingway created what the critics called Code Hero. Characteristics of a code hero: man’s
man, honest, courageous, self-disciplined. He feels no self-pity. He faces anger, pain or death
with dignity and courage. He can be destroyed but not defeated. It can be illustrated with
Rocky Balboa. The character that could be the code hero in The Sun Also Rises is Jake
because he fought in the war, he was wounded and loves nature, but he betrayed the
aficionado code, so he is not too honest. Pedro Romero can also be a code hero because he
faces death and was wounded but morally, he is not defeated. In this novel, the concept of
the code hero is not clearly applied to the characters.

3. CLAUDE MCKAY AND LANGSTON HUGHES

• CONTEXT:
The Harlem Renaissance was chronologically framed between the Great Migration which
occurred between 1920 and 1930 and Wall Street Stock market crash in 1929 which lead
to the great depression. There were wider opportunities for prosperity in the industrial
North where the economic growth made jobs more available for African Americans after
WWI.
Racism was a main feature of this period. The Ku Klux Klan experienced a revival in the
1920’s. The white supremacist group hated African American and often used violence
against them. Lynching and burnings of houses and individuals were common practices to
instil fear in the black population. In their daily lives African Americans were also segregated
and restricted to “coloured” areas and facilities inferior to those reserved to white citizens.
W.E.B. DuBois was the most important black protest leader in the USA during the first half
of the 20th century. He was the founder of founder of NAACP (National Association for the
Advancement of Coloured People). He is the author of a collection of essays called The Souls
of Black Folk (1903). He promoted racial integration.
Marcus Garvey was born in Jamaica but moved to the US and founded the UNIA (Universal
Negro Improvement Association). He promotes racial separatism. He advocated the
separation of African Americans from white America and their return to Africa.
DuBois and Garvey’s ideas were different in terms of how to deal with the problems
affecting people in white America however they both contributed to inspire a sense of racial
pride in the black population.
The Harlem Renaissance was originally known as the New Negro Movement. It was an
African American artistic movement that resulted from the great migration and which
developed during the 1920s in Harlem, New York. The artists expressed their creativity in
different ways. The most distinctive aspect of the Harlem Renaissance was its diversity, but
they also put emphasis on the racial discrimination, marginality and alienation of the black
community and desire for social equality.
The popularity of Jazz in 1920s opened up job opportunities for many African American
musicians and singers. It provided inspiration for African American writers and painters. One
of the best musicians of this time were Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith.
The Cotton club was Harlem’s most famous nightclub in the 1920s. The club featured
glamorous dancing girls, tap dancers but it was not allowed to black people. Unlike the
Cotton Club, The Savoy Ballroom was a popular venue opened to everybody. Also, The
Apollo Theatre was a venue where many musicians started their career. “Charleston” and
“Tap Dancing” were the most popular dances of the time. Shuffle Along was a musical that
premiered on Broadway in 1921. It featured for the first time an all black cast.
The Harlem Renaissance set the stage for the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther
King. The Civil rights act outlawed discrimination and segregation based on race, colour,
religion, sex or national origin.
Famous Harlem Renaissance writers were Claude McKay or Langston Hughes.

• CLAUDE MCKAY:
He was regarded as the first major poet of the Harlem Renaissance. He was born in
Jamaica. He mostly writes in the traditional form of the sonnet which was abandoned by
poets at that time. The sonnet is a 14-line iambic pentameter poem rhyming abab cdcd efef
gg. In the case of the Shakespearian sonnet, the sestet is divided into a four-line stanza and
a couplet that sumps up the poet’s conclusion. He uses the sonnet to convey a revolutionary
message.
1. HARLEM SHADOWS:
Shakespearian sonnet. 1st person speaker (“I hear the halting footsteps of a lass”). The
setting is Harlem in the 1920s and it deals with the streets of Harlem and the dark side of
Harlem.
There are symbols that represent the black prostitutes (“I see the shapes of girls who pass”).
The night could be a symbol of the Harlem’s prostitutes (“In Negro Harlem when the night
lets fall”). There is an emphasis on how young they are and how they are prostitutes to
survive. The poem is a kind of a protest of this profession.
We find imagery of race (“Ah, little dark girls who in slippered feet” and “The sacred brown
feet of my fallen race!”) and poverty (“Are trudging, thinly shod, from street to street” and
“Ah, little dark girls who in slippered feet”).
There are repetitions that suggest perpetuity (“from street”, “tired feet”, “from street to
street”). It is probably done purposely by the author to represent that the prostitutes
cannot escape.
2. THE HARLEM DANCER:

Shakespearian sonnet. 1st person speaker. The poem is about a dancer in one of the night
clubs probably moved by economic necessity. The setting is Harlem during the 1920s. The
poem is very contemporary; women still get exploited and sexualized.
The description of the dancer is both positive (“perfect”, “pretty”, “elegant”) and negative
(“objectified”, “sexualized”, “exploited”). The customers seem to be drunk and they
sexualize the dancer. By throwing money, they treat her like a prostitute (“and tossing
coins in praise”). He compares the dancer's voice to a musical instrument (“Her voice was
like the sound of blended flutes”) and it invokes the genre of jazz. The speaker compares the
dancer to a palm tree (“To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm”). This metaphor
connects the temperate setting of Harlem, New York, with the tropical climate of the
Caribbean, from which McKay was born. The speaker perceives the dancer has lived a hard
life, and he represents this with the image of a palm tree that has survived a storm and come
out of the experience even more beautiful.
There is a final twist in the last couplet; the speaker realizes that the dancer is not having a
good time. We have the deeper feelings of the dancer (“But looking at her falsely-smiling
face, I knew her self was not in that strange place”). The theme of human dignity is best
encapsulated in the poem's closing lines. The titular dancer is depicted as beautiful,
and McKay chooses to dwell on her African features in describing her beauty.
3. IF WE MUST DIE BY CLAUDE MCKAY:

Shakespearean sonnet. Echoes the famous speech in Shakespeare’s Henry V in which prior
to the battle of Agincourt the king exhorts his troops to fight bravely and with honour against
the overwhelming force of the French army. It is a call for oppressed people to resist their
oppressors, violently and bravely, even if they die in the struggle.
“If We Must Die” is a poem about confronting oppression (“If we must die, O let us nobly
die”). The speaker addresses a group of oppressed people, a group that the speaker
identifies with and seems to be part of. These people have been stripped of their dignity
and their freedom and they are in despair, cornered by violent oppressors. Faced with this
desperate situation, the speaker proposes a radical solution for their suffering (“Like men
we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack, Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!”).
The poem argues that violent, even suicidal, acts of resistance are the only viable option
for this oppressed group, the only way they can reclaim their dignity and freedom.
While the oppressed people the poem addresses are like “hogs,” then the people who
harass them are “dogs” and “monsters”. The speaker’s thoughts intensify as the poem
progresses, becoming shorter, more definite, and more forceful as the end-stop gets
denser.
4. MULATTO:
Shakespearean sonnet.
The poem presents a mulatto son who hates his white father and considers the possibility
of committing patricide sticking a knife into his father’s heart. The specific reason for such
intense hate towards his father is not revealed, but it seems to be related to the fact that
his white father doesn’t recognize him as his legitimate son. The hate McKay’s mulatto
feels for his white father can be traced back to the times of slavery in America.
Back in the slavery times it was quite common that white plantation slaveholders had sexual
relations with his black female slaves. Out of these relationships’ “mulatto” babies were
born, but those mixed raced children were rarely recognized legitimately by their white
fathers. A mulatto is a person of mixed black and white heritage. He/she is both black and
white, but neither black or white entirely. This paradoxical condition sets the mulatto in a
sort of racial identity limbo, since he/she can’t claim total loyalty to either race.
5. ENSLAVED:
Shakespearean sonnet. “Enslaved”, like “Mulatto” and “If We Must Die”, is a “hate poem”
and has a defiant tone.
He denounces the social inequality that suffer the black. The first 8 lines trace the suffering
experienced by the black race over the centuries. The last 6 lines call for the complete
destruction of the white man’s world.
There is an allusion to the bible; avenging angel refers to the angel of death. He calls the
angel of death to do justice. It is a call for a violent revolution and justice.
The choice of words (despised, oppressed, robbed…) to emphasize the things that black
people have endured.
6. THE NEGRO’S TRAGEDY:

Shakespearean sonnet. Defiant tone.
It is an invitation to people to understand black people and try to support them and help
them. In this sonnet McKay insists that black suffering can never be understood by anyone
other than a black person. “thorned-crowned Negro” alludes to Christ’s suffering which is
compared to the similar suffering of the black race.
In the last couplet the poetic speaker shows his distrust in U.S. politicians as they are unable
to solve the Negros’s tragedy. As the U.S. Government is ineffective to heal the pain inflicted
on the black race, the Negro can only laugh and pray to God for Light. It is a sarcastic laugh.
• LANGSTON HUGHES:
He was a poet, novelist, playwriter, social activist, journalist, war reporter and translator. He
is influenced by Jazz. He was born in Missouri in 1902. His parents got divorced and his
father migrated to Mexico and he moved with his grandmother to Ohio and developed an
interest in poetry and writing. He moved to Harlem and took some jobs. He visited West
Africa and Europe. In 1937 he travelled to Spain to cover the Spanish Civil War as a war
reporter. During his stay in Spain he met Hemingway. Inspired by his experience in Spain he
wrote articles and a dozen poems. He never met Lorca but admired his work and translated
Lorca’s plays Bodas de Sangre, so he was also a translator. In 1942 he wrote for the Chicago
Defender and wrote about the South white supremacy, fascism or racism. Unlike McKay’s
poetry, Hughes’ poems don’t endorse violent action but expose issues of racism, social
injustice and racial pride. He writes in free verse.
1. THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS:

First person narrator. Written in free verse. He wrote this poem when he was 18 years old
when he was on the way to visit his father in Mexico and crossed the Mississippi river that
was associated with slavery.
"The Negro Speaks of River" traces the black history from the beginning of human civilization
to the present, encompassing both triumphs (like the construction of the Egyptian pyramids)
and horrors (like American slavery). The poem argues that the black "soul" has incorporated
all of this historical experience. The poem thus suggests that black cultural identity is
continuous. Rivers are connected with black identity.
There are repetitions of words and phrases to emphasize the lines. The poetic “I” is not a
particular “I”, it is a collective voice representative of the Negro race. The poem suggests
that the black people have drank from the wisdom of the rivers. Each individual river the
poem mentions serves as a symbol or a metonym for different cultures. The rivers
themselves come to serve as symbols for human history. Present tense and past tense; he
changes the verbal tenses to evoke a sense of a past action that is still ongoing. These
things that are recounted are still happening. “I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in
the sunset” symbolises the radiant transformation of black slaves into free men by
Lincoln’s abolition of slavery. Long “o” to add musicality. The sense of wisdom and strength
through history connected with the rivers.
2. NEGRO:
Free verse. Anger and violent tone. Emphasizes the black identity. Historical allusions
(Caesar and Washington). Connecting the black with slavery. Stanzas 1 and 6 are identical

creating a rounding effect; he identifies himself as a Negro and compares himself to the
blackness of the night and the depths of Africa.
3. I, TOO AM AMERICA:
Belongs to the Weary Blues. Free verse. Short lines and simple language. “I” refers to “the
darker brother” on the second line but also stands out for “we” as a collective for the
black. The darker brother is not allowed to sit in the table, he is sent to eat in the kitchen
when company comes. He is excluded and segregated. He is a slave or domestic servant in
a white house. He takes advantage of being in the kitchen. He laughs because he will grow
physically and emotionally strong. “Tomorrow” stands for a new future. Things will change
in a near future. The tone ships from exclusion to determination and hope. The speaker
envisions how in the future people will feel sorry and ashamed of the discriminatory
behaviour and the beauty of the black skin. “They” refers to white people. The poem is
about racism, segregation and how in the future it will come to an end. The poem advocates
equality and the beauty of the dark skin. It is hopeful and defiant.
The verb tenses used are present tense, future tense and again present tense. Oppositions
between kitchen and table, I and they, present and future and beautiful and ashamed.
Ordinary language. “Nobody’ll dare” black language, binocular idioms. “Too” and “two” are
pronounced the same and if we change “too” as “two”, the darker brother is presented as
a second-class person. The ideal of division.
4. I HEAR AMERICA SINGING:

He celebrates America using the enumeration of men and women who accomplish their
professional activities. He provides a panoramic view of Americans through their activities.
There is no specific reference to black people. “I too” can be a response to this poem. “I
too” wants to give visibility to the black people. Celebration of America.
5. JAZZONIA:
Similar to Claude McKay’s The Harlem dancer. It uses the image of jazz and a dancing girl.
“Jazzonia” is a word that does not exist but it is very evocative; it captures the improvised
nature of Jazz. It is simple. The emphasis is put on the beauty of the “dancing girl” who is
described in colourful natural terms (“silver tree” and “shining rivers”). But her “bold eyes”
and the action of “lifting high her silken gold dress” also suggests her sensuality. The two
hyperbolic rhetorical questions suggest that the eyes of the Harlem “dancing girl” are more
daring than the eyes of the biblical Eve, and her “gown of gold” more beautiful than that of
Cleopatra: “Were Eve’s eyes in the first garden Just a bit too bold? Was Cleopatra gorgeous
in a gown of gold?”
6. NUDE YOUNG DANCER:

It describes a young Harlem cabaret dancer through rhetorical questions. The imagery is
exotic. Simple. Emphasizes the beauty of the young dancer and a connection to her roots;
the exotic Africa jungle.
7. THE WEARY BLUES:

Free verse but certain lines rhyme. Published in 1925 by Opportunity magazine and then in
the Weary Blues (2016). The speaker of Langston Hughes's "The Weary Blues" describes an
evening of listening to a blues musician in Harlem. Hughes embraces blue music because
they deal with pain, sorrow. It explains the concerns of black people in a simple everyday
manner. Repetition, alliteration, apostrophes, personification. Two poetic speakers; a
musician performing and another speaker who observes and listens to the performance.
The speaker; American accent and the performer; a vernacular African American speech
(ain’t got or ma self). Lenox avenue was the main street of Harlem.
8. AUNT SUE’S STORIES:

Recurrent use of repetition and alliteration. The use of -ing verbal forms. “mitty river” refers
to the Mississippi, mentally associated with slavery. The child seems to sense that the
stories are real because the way in which Aunt Sue is telling the story. She was one of
these black slaves. She shares her memories of the past so the story does not get lost and
so the children tells the story. Storytelling is the bridge that connects the past and the
future.

4. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE - TENNESSEE WILLIAMS (1947)

A Streetcar Named Desire is a play written by Tennessee Williams. The play dramatizes the life
of Blanche DuBois, who, after encountering a series of personal losses, leaves her aristocratic
background seeking refuge with her sister and brother-in-law in a New Orleans apartment
building. The story revolves around a triangle between Stanley (antagonist), Blanche
(protagonist) and Stella (a hinge-like character, trying to calm down both characters). At the end
of the novel, Stella remains with Stanley although he raped her sister and agrees to send her to
a psychiatrist. Stella is economically dependent on Stanley; she loves him and she has a baby.
It is a modern tragedy. The movie adaptation is very faithful, and it won several academy awards.
In what city is the play taking place and time?
New Orleans. 40s. After the WWII.
What is the structure?
The play is structured in 11 scenes covering a time span of approximately 5 months: 1-4
(early in May), 5-6 (summer) and 7-11 (September to early Fall).
It represents the symbolic journey of Blanch towards her insanity.
Who lives in the apartment above Stanley and Stella?
A couple that is all the time fighting but somehow make peace. The couple mirrors the
relationship between Stanley and Stela.
Blanch used to live in a family plantation, what is the name?
Belle Reve, area of a family plantation. From a French origin.
Blanch sees a young collector, what does Blanch give him?
A kiss. She is promiscuous. Her past is revealed by Stanley. She is very fond of young men
and had meetings with young men.
What does Stanley buy Blanche for her birthday?
Bus tickets. This shows Stanley’s cruelty. He wants to get rid of her.
Who tells Mitch about Blanche’s past?
Stanley.
How does Blanche call Stanley?
Ape.
Who does Mitch live with?
His mother.
Blanche says, “desire is the opposite of ____”?
Death.

Which character says “I don’t want realism, I want magic”?
Blanche.
How did Blanche’s husband die and why?
He shot himself because he was homosexual. It was a taboo and it was the time of
conservativity. She said, “you disgust me”, varsoviana music was being played and he killed
himself. Blanche was very cruel and exposes his homosexuality and as a consequence, he
commits suicide.
• CHARACTERS:
Blanche DuBois → Blanche DuBois comes from a formerly wealthy Southern family that
owned a plantation called Belle Reve. When Blanche was young, she married a man who
committed suicide when Blanche rejected him for being homosexual. Since then Blanche
has had affairs with several men, including a 17-year-old boy, in an attempt to escape the
trauma caused by the death of her husband. Blanche is raped by Stanley and it signifies not
only a physical death but also a mental death. She looses her sanity. Blanche is a round
character, a well-developed character. Blanche is a character full of theatricality. Blanche
lives in the past whereas Stanley lives in the present.
Stella Kowalski → Blanche’s passionate, down-to-earth sister. She is pregnant.
Stanley Kowalski → Volatile, physically abusive, working-class man. He fought in WWII.

Stanley is the opposite of Blanche’s delicate Southern femininity. He likes bowling, playing
poker and to drink beer. Stanley sees Blanche as an intruder who is invading his house.
Stanley feels betrayed by his wife when she insults him and he feels he is loosing power over
Stella and acts with aggressiveness smashing the plates on the table.
Mitch → Stanley’s sensitive friend and poker buddy; attracted to Blanche.
• MOTIFS:
Blue piano → The term "blue piano" suggests the blues, mournful music often written in
response to life's hardships and tragedies. The music of the "blue piano," which opens and
closes the play, is often heard during particularly sad or tragic moments. For example, the
"blue piano" grows louder as Blanche admits to Stella that Belle Reve is "lost," and again as
Blanche flirts desperately with a young man. Later in the play, the "blue piano's" music grows
louder until it turns into the "roar" of a train as Stanley prepares to rape Blanche.
It's Only a Paper Moon → The song "It's Only a Paper Moon" appears only once in the play,
when Blanche sings it while taking a bath in Scene 7, while Stanley reveals Blanche's sexual
exploits to Stella. Its lyrics focus on one of Blanche's struggles to deal with truth versus
illusion: "But it wouldn't be make-believe If you believe in me!" The song reveals Blanche's
reliance on illusion to help her find true love. It’s only a paper moon it’s a song sung by
Blanche alludes to the paper moon photos and its aim was to create a fake scenario.
Blanche’s fantasy world and the naked truth of her nature. Opposition between reality and
fantasy.
Varsouviana Polka → Varsoviana music and the sound of a gunshot is the device that the
playwright uses to evoke Blanche’s feeling of guilt for the death of her young husband. The
Varsouviana is the polka tune to which Blanche and her young husband, Allen Grey, were

dancing when she last saw him alive. In the middle of the Varsouviana, Blanche turned to
Allen and told him that he “disgusted” her. He ran away and shot himself in the head.
Truth vs Illusion
Desire → Desire influences the motivations and actions of the play's four major characters.
Blanche, Stanley, Stella, and Mitch are driven by a variety of desires, including the need for
romance, sex, power, or self-protection. The word desire is in the play's title for a reason:
the desires of these characters almost always lead to their destruction and to the
destruction of those around them.
• SYMBOLS:
Light → Throughout the play, Blanche avoids appearing in direct, bright light, especially in
front of Mitch. She also refuses to reveal her age, and it is clear that she avoids light in order
to prevent him from seeing the reality of her fading beauty. In general, light also symbolizes
the reality of Blanche’s past. She is haunted by the ghosts of what she has lost.
Bathing → Throughout A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche bathes herself. These baths
represent her efforts to cleanse herself of her odious history. Yet, just as she cannot erase
the past, her bathing is never done. Blanche retreats to the water to attempt to cleanse
herself and forget reality. Blanche’s constant washing is reminiscent of Lady Macbeth’s
famous hand-washing scene in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, in which the queen tries and fails to
wash the blood from her guilty hands. Blanche also seeks rejuvenation, as though the
bathwater were a Fountain of Youth. But although bathing may provide a temporary respite,
she can never escape the past.
5. ALLEN GINSBERG
• CONTEXT:
Right after WWI begins the Cold War. The main key facts of the Cold War are fear of
communism, Nuclear war, McCarthyism, political conservatism, civil rights movements,
economic prosperity, suburban living, consumerism, well defined gender roles, baby boom,
popular culture (TV, movies and music), art and literature (abstract expressionism and beat
generation).
In politics, President Harry S Truman, because of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, he created the Marshall Plan (1947) designed to counteract Soviet Union
expansionism and provide for European reconstruction after WWII. Also, he established the
CIA.
McCarthy investigated anyone with possible sympathy of communism. Hollywood used
aliens as a metaphor for communism.
• ALLEN GINSBERG
A member of the beat generation. The Beat generation rejected the American values of
1950s: consumerism, militarism, conformism, McCarthyism, ideological and racial
discriminations. They advocated a bohemian lifestyle based on drugs, sexual
permissiveness, ecological consciousness and spirituality. They had influences of William
Blake and Walt Whitman, Jazz, Buddhism and drugs.
Ginsberg’s style and technique: long lines written in free verse. Spontaneous writing
(thought rhythm) to let the logic of the heart operate freely. Colloquial language (slang
words, sexual imagery).
1. A SUPERMARKET IN CALIFORNIA
Elegy or nostalgic lament in which he contrasts the America of Whitman to Ginsberg
America that has turned into an artificial neon light. There is a question of what would
have thought Whitman of present America. There is no answer to this question but
probably he would have been horrified. The poem is a critique of artificial America and
consumerist.
The title mentions a supermarket and it evokes consumerism, the consumerist American
society. The neon fruit supermarket symbol of America’s consumerism (Neon = artificial).
Hopefulness of Whitman’s vision of America has disappeared. It can be read as a tribute

to Whitman in the centennial year of the first edition of Leaves of Grass. He contrasts the
America of that book and the America now.
Style: Long lines written in free verse. Pessimistic tone. Use of I as the poetic speaker.
Exclamations. Interrogations. Enumerations. Homoerotic imagery.
Loneliness → The speaker is delusional, lonely and a dreamer. Mention to loneliness. The
poetic I and Whitman are presented as outsiders or marginalized people by means of an
emphasis on solitude.

McCarthyism → The store detective could be an image to symbolize the controlling force
of authority and representative of McCarthyism.
Blue automobiles → Blue Automobiles in driveways, an image that suggests the suburban
living and uniformity of American society.
Apostrophe to Walt Whitman and Federico García Lorca. They are both gay just like the
poet. Indirectly he introduces the theme of homosexuality. Ginsberg mimics Whitman’s
poetry with the use of free verse and enumerations. Allusion to Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.
Charon (brings dead people across the river Stynx to Hades) and Lethe (a river of forgetting
and oblivion) are mentioned in the last lines of the poem and they belong to the Greek
mythology. Ginsberg notes that Whitman never made it directly into Hades. Instead he
was stranded in the river Lethe. Ginsberg implies that the modern consumerist American
society has forgotten Whitman.
The speaker asks Whitman how different his America from the speaker’s America was.
There is no answer so probably Whitman’s America wasn’t perfect either.
Exclamations in the first part of the poem. Questions in the second and third part. Last
sentence of the poem is a question that leaves the door open for hope.
The poem traces a movement to I, you and we.
Themes: The image of a perfect nuclear family. Gender roles. “wives in the avocados, aisles
full of husbands”. This image suggests the traditional and conventional nuclear American
family. Biological family (husbands, wives and babies) vs literary (Gisberg presents Whitman
as a father literature and a childless lover).
2. HOWL BY ALLEN GISBERG

Howl is a poem dedicated to Carl Solomon (1928 – 1993). Ginsberg met and befriended
Solomon, a fellow psychiatric patient in 1949 at the mental hospital of Rockland, NY.
Howl is a cry of everything that Ginsberg thought it was unfair or bad. A loud cry against the
injustices he sees in America. This poem was banned because of its erotic and explicit sexual
imagery.
STRUCTURE: Howl consists of three parts and a fourth section titled “Footnote to Howl”.
Part I: It presents scenes, characters and situation drawn from Ginsberg’s own experience,
and the community of poets, artists, political radicals, jazz, musicians, drug addicts and
psychiatric patients which he encountered in the early 1950’s. It is a long single sentence
connected by numerous relative clauses. The repetitive use of “who” and “and who” is
important: it is used to keep the rhythmic beat of the poem, it connects unrelated and
spontaneous images and it reveals the influence of Whitman’s poetry characterised by
repetition. The best minds are those who are not domesticated by America and who freely
express themselves (bohemians, homeless, homosexuals, artists).
Part II: it was written under the influence of peyote. Moloch was a cruel Semitic god, to
whom first born children were sacrificed. Ginsberg compares this frightening monster with
America. Ginsberg has acknowledged the influence of the film Metropolis (1927) in which
Moloch makes his appearance; Moloch eats the workers of the city. Presented as a symbol

of America industrialism. Moloch is a kind of Old Testament god who decides who dies and
who lives. What causes the destruction of the best minds? Moloch.
Part III: it is directly addressed to Carl Solomon and related shared experiences, hopes and
fears. This section is best remembered for its refrain “I’m with you in Rockland”, the mental
institution where he met Carl. Though Howl is dedicated to Carl Solomon, the secret hero is
Neil Cassady. He saw in his insanity the insanity of the beat generation. Moloch is the
antagonist and the hero is Carl who went insane. Carl is presented as a Christ figure.
STYLE AND TECHNIQUE: It uses a chaotic style based on very long lines written in free verse,
stream of consciousness, repetitions, sexual and homoerotic language, colloquial language,
many commas and lack of full stops.
STYLISTIC DEVICES: Repetitions Metaphors Asterisks Abbreviations Latin and Hebrew

expressions
THEMES: Madness, mental illness, sexuality (Explicit homosexual imagery.), drug culture,
politics, suicide, music, food, war, religion… Male – centrism: the protagonists of Howl are
all men. Women are simply secondary characters to the male protagonists. The male is the
hero.
Geography is important: references to places in New York city (harlem, chinatown, empire
state), other US cities (New Jersey, Denver” and foreign countries (Mexico, China, Canada).
They reinforce the sense of emotion and movement (journey). The beat generation love
being on the road looking for new experiences in different places. The sense of movement
is important for the beat generation.
3. AMERICA BY ALLEN GINSBERG

“America” has a personal and confessional tone in which Ginsberg (the poetic “I”) talks to
America directly and denounces its past and present failings. However, Ginsberg gets to
admit that he is also America: “It occurs to me that I am America” But if Ginsberg is
America, he certainly represents the “other” America, as he is: a left wing writer, a pacifist
and a member of the Beat generation. Even so, he hopes to change America for the better
as a politically engaged gay poet.
The poem is full of cultural and political allusions. There are references to Ginsberg’s life.
It is about a serious matter but presented in a satirical and mocking tone.
The poem goes from subject to subject with little relation. It echoes the spontaneity of
Jazz music. He conveys the rhythm of Jazz to their writing.
Colloquial speech with grammatical errors to make fun of America’s paranoia over
Communist Russia.
He uses an exhausted and depressed mood lamenting the cultural poverty of the time. He
denounces the consumerism of American life (symbol of the supermarket).

6. SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE – KURT VONNEGUT (1969)

Billy Pilgrim returns from World War II to a comfortable life and loving family, but the damage
is already done. Unable to reconnect with his life, Billy has become “unstuck” in time and
bounces from one decade to another, reliving moments of his life, unable to control where he
will end up next.
Slaughterhouse-Five refers to a slaughterhouse in Dresden, Germany, where American
prisoners of war, including Kurt Vonnegut, were housed during the Allied bombing of the city
in 1945. This draws attention to a situational irony, one in which the opposite of what is meant
to happen occurs: the men survived because they were in a place constructed for death.
Slaughterhouse-Five employs a first-person narrator in Chapter 1, and this narrator is

presented as synonymous with the author. Chapters 2 through 9 employ a third-person
limited narrator, generally synonymous with the character Billy Pilgrim. In a few instances the
first-person narrator inserts himself as a witness or participant in the action, but these
statements are brief. The first-person narrator returns near the end of Chapter 10.
This is an anti-war novel. It criticizes the way in which politics make people involve in wars. In
the novel he exposes the atrocities of the bombing in Dresden and also in the war. These wars
were encouraged by the government and military technology. It is so, since the novel moves
away from the war novel archetype that glorifies the soldier. He makes a contrast between the
civilized world (peace and order and where he returns as a real man) and the uncivilized one (a
world of chaos, violence and uncertainty).
Vonnegut’s fiction resists to be defined with just a single label. Yet, it stands out as his most
experimental work as he employed technical devices common in postmodernist fiction. It
introduces autobiographical and science fiction elements. War, destruction and death are the
central elements also serve to convey Vonneguts’ pacifist and antimilitarist message. Vonnegut
and Billy survived the Dresden firebombing and affected by it and war experiences. The
fractured and narrative structure is written in a schizophrenic style that parallels the mental
state of the protagonist, he comes to believe that he is unstuck in time. Vonnegut
counterbalances the tragic and pessimistic tone of the novel incorporating humorous and comic
reliefs. Vonnegut anti war message is still valid nowadays (there is nothing intelligent to say
about a massacre). The book ends with a bird saying Poo-tee-weet? Ambiguous. Positive
terms, the war has ended, and this bird has also survived, the bird is happy free and sings.
Also, as incomprehensible as war. It ends with a question mark.
To whom does Vonnegut make the promise that he will call his book The Children’s
Crusade?
Mary O’Hare.
What does the Trafalmadorians resemble?
Toilet Plumbers.
Where is Billy Pilgrim from?
Ilium, New York. (Fictitious city related to Troy)

Of how many dimensions are Trafalmadorians?
Fourth dimension.
Who lends Billy his science fiction books?
Eliot Rosewater.
Who is Edgar Derby?
Edgar Derby is A high school teacher who ends up being shot for taking a teapot.
Who kills Billy?
Paul Lazzaro.
What questions Billy ask the aliens when being abducted?
Why me?
In what format are Tralfamadorians books composed?
Of short telegrams like group of symbols separated by stars.
What is inscribed in Montana silver locket?
The Serenity Prayer. (On Billy Pilgrim’s office another prayer: God grant me the serenity to
accept…)
Why did Valencia think that no one would marry her?
Because she is fat.
Why do Trafalmadorians compared Billy to a bug trapped in amber?
Because Billy has no control over his fate.
What concept do the Trafalmadorians say is unique on earth?
Free will.
What is the climax of the novel?
The execution of Edgar Derby.
Who is the earthling figure most engaging to the Trafalmadorians mind?
Darwin.
Who writes “dear Margaret: we are leaving for Dresden today. Don’t worry. It will never
be bombed. It is an open city”?
Edgar Derby (ironic). To his wife. The opposite happens. It is bombed.
• POSTMODERNIST TECHNIQUES:
Metafiction → metafiction is about making the fictionality of fiction apparent to the reader.
Blurring between fact and fiction

Foreshadowing → discloses how his novel begins and ends. Anticipates information to the
reader in the beginning. Also he foreshadows the climax of the novel (the execution of Edgar
Derby for taking a teapot after the bombarding).
Fragmentation → to reflect and explore the chaos of the world. In the novel, Vonnegut
employs a fractured and non-linear narrative structure that mimics the Tralfamadorian
novels which have no beginning, no middle, no end. He also fragments the textual space of
the novel including three of his own drawings.
Cinematic technique of temporal-spatial juxtaposition → The quick juxtaposition of

temporal and spatial scenes resembles the cinematic technique used in some contemporary
video clips that are characterised by continuous and fast scene shifts.
Intertextuality → references to other texts by means of quotations, citations, allusions.
Parody → Billy is a parody of Christian in Bunyan’s religious tale, who travels from his
hometown, City of destruction (this world) to the Celestial city (heaven). Billy is a
postmodernist pilgrim, a disoriented traveller embarked on a time pilgrimage whose
significance he fails to understand.
Irony → to highlight the absurdity of war.
Open ending → ambiguous open ending. Is Billy really shot? Or does he escape
Tralfamadore and spend his days with Montana and his baby? Does his daughter lock Billy
in a psychiatric hospital?
• CHARACTERS:
Billy Pilgrim → A World War II veteran, POW survivor of the firebombing of Dresden,
prospering optometrist, husband, and father. Billy Pilgrim is the protagonist of the novel
who believes he has “come unstuck in time.” He walks through a door at one moment in his
life and suddenly finds himself in another time and place. His fragmented experience of time
structures the novel as short episodic vignettes and shows how the difficulty of recounting
traumatic experiences can require unusual literary techniques.
Valencia Pilgrim → Billy’s pleasant, fat wife who loves him dearly. Valencia and Billy share a
well-appointed home and have two children together, but Billy consistently distances
himself from his family. In her panic after hearing of Billy’s plane crash, Valencia is involved
in a minor car accident that eventually causes her death from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Edgar Derby → Another survivor of Dresden’s incineration. Following the firebombing,

Derby is sentenced to die by firing squad for plundering a teapot from the wreckage. His
death is anticlimactic, since Billy does not view it with any sense of pathos, but rather as
an inevitability.
Paul Lazzaro → Another POW and the man responsible for Billy’s death. Lazzaro, a revenge-
loving ruffian with criminal tendencies, arranges for Billy’s assassination to avenge Roland
Weary’s death.
Trafalmadorians → The Tralfamadorians are an alien race resembling toilet plunger.

Trafalmadorians perceive time in the fourth dimension which allows them to see all time as
existing continuously and simultaneously. For them there is no past, present or future. They
believe that a dead person continues to be alive in other moments. They don’t believe in

Free Will; they hold a deterministic philosophy according to which everything that happens
had to happen and one cannot change things and one must accept things the way they are.
Tralfamadorian books are similar to this book: has no beginning, no middle, no end.
Montana → A nubile young actress who is kidnapped by the Tralfamadorians to be Billy’s

mate inside the zoo. Billy wins Montana’s trust and love, and fathers a child by her in
Tralfamadore. But Billy likely is delusional about his experiences with Montana, whose
presence may have been imaginatively triggered by a visit to an adult bookstore in Times
Square, where he sees her videos and a headline claiming to reveal her fate.
• SYMBOLS:
Teapot → After an entire city has been leveled, a soldier named Edgar Derby is accused of
looting a teapot from the wreckage and executed for this crime. Derby is presented as one
of the most qualified soldiers among the prisoners of war, and the loss of his life over a
relatively insignificant object is juxtaposed against the destruction of a city to illustrate the
absurdity of wartime rules and behavior. The teapot, a basic item of domestic tranquility
that survived the destruction of a city, becomes the agent of death for a qualified soldier.
Zoo → When Billy is abducted by the Tralfamadorians, he is placed in a zoo enclosure on

their planet. Vonnegut employs the zoo to create situational irony, because even though it
is basically a prison it allows Billy to experience a level of psychological freedom he has
lacked in his life as he has tried to impose meaning on it. On Tralfamadore Billy learns free
will does not exist. Therefore, he is absolved from any responsibility for his actions, a kind
of thinking that frees Billy from his futile efforts to stop human suffering.
• MOTIFS:
So it goes → The line "So it goes" appears 106 times in Slaughterhouse-Five. The line "So it
goes" appears in Slaughterhouse-Five every time there is a death. "So it goes" is a fairly
emotionless phrase about death and that reflects Trafalmadorians attitude towards death.
They believe that a dead person continues to be alive in other moments.

7. THE BLUEST EYE – TONY MORRISON (1970)

The Bluest Eye depicts the tragic life of Pecola Breedlove, a poor, young, black girl who wants
nothing more than to be loved by her family and her schoolmates. She believes that the reason
for being despised and ridiculed is that she is ugly. She believes the reason for not being loved
is that she is black. She comes to believe that if she has blue eyes she would be happy, and
everyone would love her. After being raped and impregnated by her father, Cholly, Pecola
goes insane and withdraws into a fantasy world in which she believes her dreams have come
true and she has bluest eyes.
Main forces of oppression action on Pecola: 1. White canon of physical beauty (seeing herself
ugly for not having blue eyes). 2. Race (being black). 3. Class (being poor). 4. Gender (being
female). 5. Age (being a child).
Setting: Lorain, Ohio (1940-41)
Mixed narrative point of view: Claudia MacTeer (as a child and as an adult) and Omniscient 3 rd
person narrator.
Title: The bluest eye instead of the bluest eyes, why? Pecola wishes to have two bluest eyes and
not one. There is a pun in the title. “eye” refers to “I”, the personal pronoun, and it suggests that
Pecola is the saddest individual. It relates to Jazz and the Blues, which is sadness, Blues songs
are a lament and describe a sad story. Morrison could be playing with this double meaning of
Eye. Pecola could be considered the saddest character in the novel. The tile suggest that Pecola
is the Bluest I or the saddest individual. The title encapsulates one of the major themes, the idea
of beauty.
Structure: two preliminary sections. Section 1 presents three different versions of a same
paragraph taken from Dick and Jane and the second is the Marigold section. Dick and Jane
books served as elementary school texts to teach kids how to read through repetition of simple
words and phrases. The first text is written in standard and correct English and in the second
version there is no punctuation and without capital letters, so it makes the reading difficult and
in the third version there in no punctuation, no capital letters and no spaces between words so
the reading is even more difficult. Why does she begin the novel like this? The main characters
happen to be kids probably in the process of learning to read and the book describes a happy
white and middle-class family so the black children who learn with this book are supressed and
would like to be like them. This is what happens to Pecola, she wants to adopt this white ideal
and supresses her black values. The Marigold section Claudia sums up the main events that will
take place in the novel (Pecola's pregnancy by her father, the loss of the baby, Cholly's death).
The story is divided into 4 main parts (Autumn, winter, spring and summer).
• IMPORTANT QUOTES:
“Take this food and give it to the creature sleeping on the porch. Make sure he eats it. And
mark well how he behaves. If nothing happens, you will know that God has refused you.
If the animal behaves strangely, your wish will be granted on the day following this one.”
→ Pecola does all Soaphead church’s command. After doing what Soaphead church’s
command, she goes with the belief that she would get the blue eyes. The basis of Pecola’s
wish is because she wants to get love from people surrounding. And the result, she gets fail
to get the blue eyes. It leads her into insanity.
“I had only one desire: to dismember it.” → On Christmas, Claudia receives a doll and
wonders what makes the doll so special. The doll is blue-eyed, yellow haired and skinny.
Claudia's only desire is to dismember the dolls in order to understand what makes them so
desirable to those around her.
• LANGUAGE:
Vernacular black speech: ungrammaticalities and misspellings.
Oral tradition (gossips, folk tales, blues).
Musical language. The Bluest Eye as a narrative blues = Claudia Macteer fulfils the role of a
"bluest singer" who laments the loss of racial identity of Pecola and other black characters
(Pauline, Maureen Peale, Geraldine, Soaphead Church).
• CHARACTERS:
Claude MacTeer → Claudia MacTeer narrates sections of the book. She is a young African
American girl trying to figure out the world.
Pecola Breedlove → Pecola Breedlove is Claudia's friend and a young African American girl
who believes if she had blue eyes she would be beautiful and her life would be good.
Cholly Breedlove → Pecola's father, Cholly Breedlove, was abandoned by his own parents
and raised by a great-aunt. He rapes Pecola more than once and gets her pregnant, then
abandons the family. He had a tough life that makes him identify blackness with ugliness
and unworthiness. His last name is ironic since he was raised without love.
Pauline Breedlove → Pecola's mother, Pauline Breedlove, is called Mrs. Breedlove by almost
everyone, including her children. She has a deformed foot as a result of a childhood injury.
• THEMES:
Beauty and Ugliness → Whiteness is associated with beauty, happiness, cleanliness and
value. Blackness is associated with ugliness, unhappiness, poverty, dirtiness and
worthlessness. Though the majority of the characters are blacks, they have ironically
internalized the "Dick and Jane" ideology.
Sex → It is associated with the loss of innocence, humiliation and violence.
Women and Femininity → It presents a realistic view of the options for these women: they
could get married and have children, work for white families, or become prostitutes. The
novel also thematizes the culture of women and young girls, emphasizing beauty magazines,
playing with dolls, and identifying with celebrities.
Jealousy
Intra-racism
Healing power of story-telling → Pecola’s tragic life is a vehicle or source of awareness for
Claudia. By telling Pecola’s experiences, Claudia can progress from ignorance to perception
and maturity.

• SYMBOLS:
Blue eyes → a sign of beauty
Movie stars → symbolise idealised beauty standards.
Mary Jane candies → Eating Mary Jane has a ritualistic significance for Pecola. Eating these
candies makes her feel that she is Mary Jane. This sweet and delightful feeling is described
in sexual terms (three pennies had bought her nine lovely orgasm with Mary Jane)
Dandelions → It represent Pecola's image of herself. She passes some dandelions in her way
to Yacobowsky's store. She passes them and thins that they are ugly and weeds. She
transfers society her dislike to the dandelions.
The Seasons and Nature → The novel is divided into the four seasons, but it pointedly
refuses to meet the expectations of these seasons. For example, spring, the traditional time
of rebirth and renewal, reminds Claudia of being whipped with new switches, and it is the
season when Pecola’s is raped. Pecola’s baby dies in autumn, the season of harvesting.
Morrison uses natural cycles to underline the unnaturalness and misery of her characters’
experiences. To some degree, she also questions the benevolence of nature, as when
Claudia wonders whether “the earth itself might have been unyielding” to someone like
Pecola.

8. LESLIE MARMON SILKO

Native American novelist and short story writer.
Her writings focus on her alienation of native Americans in a white society and the importance
of native traditions to cope with modern life.
Silko’s Ceremony was the first novel by a Native American woman ever to be published.
• CONTEXT: NATIVE AMERICANS

The Great Spirit → The supreme being or creator of life. Depending on the tribe, the Great spirit
can be seen as a male or a female. The Great Spirit sees and hears everything and never forgets.
Rituals and Ceremonies → Native Americans held ritual performances and dances for
entertainment, initiation rites, hunting or war. In these ceremonies, natives would chant songs
and dance to the sound of a drum.
Native American value system → respect for all living things. Honouring the family, the elders
and the community. The value of work and productive activity. Generosity, sharing and
cooperation. Courage, bravery, endurance in suffering. Patience, tolerance. Equality in
consensus model of decision making.
The 10 Indian Commandments
Native American literature was oral → Myths, legends, tales of heroes, songs or wisdom
teachings were passed down from generation to generation in the form of storytelling and
performances. Symbols and pictograms aided in memorization. All stories and songs were
attributed to the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit gave words to the singer or storyteller. Words
possessed magic and power; they could help the hunter capture game, influence the crops to
grow, bring rain, cure the sick or destroy the enemy.
Native American Renaissance → A new generation of Native American writers emerged in

1970s in what has been termed the Native American Renaissance in literature. Leslie Marmon
Silko was a prominent writer of this generation.
• THE MAN TO SEND RAIN CLOUDS

In "The Man to Send Rain Clouds," old man Teofilo dies while herding sheep. His grandsons Leon
and Ken find him and arrange for a ceremonial burial. Ken's wife Louise suggests that they ask
the local priest, Father Paul, to sprinkle some holy water so Teofilo won't be thirsty.
Title → Foregrounds the importance of rain in the story. It is taken from the traditional practise
of praying for the spirit of the dead to send rainclouds. The title is appropriate since it is set in
New Mexico, a very dry geographical area were droughts are frequent.
Setting: New Mexico. Laguna Pueblo reservation. The Spanish tried to convert Native Americans
to Catholicism so there were established churches.
Narrator: objective third person narrator. It is not favouring any traditions.
Structure: The story is divided in 4 sections. Number 4 is a very important number for Indian
culture. 4 seasons, 4 cardinal points, a day can be divided into 4, 4 life stages, 4 sacred obligations
in native American tribes, 4 main elements. 4 is sacredness for native Americans.

Style: Humour (encounter between the Priest and Leon), irony (the priest is an authority force
and wants them to follow the tradition, but he helps them)
The main conflict in the story? The lack of rain.
1st part: reference to the dry cottonwood tree where they find Teofilo dead. He was found dead
under this tree because he probably was trying to find some shadow. It presents the idea of dry.
Reference to tumbleweeds which are typical in the landscape of New Mexico and is dry.
Reference to the Great spirit → Grandfather may be referred to the spirit of the deceased old
man as he is Leon’s grandfather or an allusion to the Great spirit also known as the Grandfather.
Ambiguous. “Send us rain clouds, Grandfather”.
Feather and Teofilo’s face → symbolic of the soul’s flight to the afterlife. The feather is grey
contrasts with Teofilo’s long white hair. White indicates the advance age of Teofilo. He has the
face painted. The white across the forehead implies the clouds. The blue streaks down the
cheeks indicate rain. Yellow is symbolic of corn. The green streak represents the earth that
produces corn. The number 4 is repeated illustrated by the colours used. Cornmeal and pollen
over his body so that he is not hungry.
Death → is the main thing of the story. The climax revolves around death.
The coexistence of Indian culture and Catholic culture and a clash of cultures: the Catholic
Church and the Native American traditions of burial → Indian culture (painting faces) vs
Catholic culture at burial rituals (last rites). Symbolism of Holy Water: Indian tradition (not
travelling thirsty) and Christian tradition (cleansing). Symbolism of the lamb; Father Paul’s
church has an old carved door with the symbols of the lamb. It represents Jesus Christ and also
Teofilo means beloved of God who is a sheep Shephard. Suggests the influence of Christianity in
native American population. Last Rites offer a final purification of the dying’s person soul and
prepare them to enter Heaven. The priest throws holy water without the Last Rites because Holy
Water is also part of the practise of Christianity better than nothing or it shows adaptation of
the Indian ways. Emphasizes that the Laguna Pueblo has not abandoned their way of native
tradition and just adapted and convive with the Christian traditions.
• LULLABY
It is told from the perspective of an old woman reminiscing about some of the most tragic events
of her life, all of which seem to be precipitated by the intrusions of white authority figures into
her home. She recalls being informed of the death of her son in war, the loss of her children
taken by white doctors, and the exploitative treatment of her husband by the white rancher
who employs him. Furthermore, these events seem to have led to a long–term alienation
between the old woman and her husband. Yet she also recalls strong ties with her own
grandmother and mother.
While much of the story is told in terms of these reminiscences, the present tense of the story
finds the old woman searching for her husband at the local bar. The lullaby she sings to her
husband at the end of the story, as he lies dying in the snow, brings the oral tradition full circle,
as she recalls this song that her grandmother sang to her as a child.
Title → Lullabies are usually gentle bedtime songs sung to babies. Why is the story titled Lullaby?
The end has a lullaby that Ayah sings to her dying husband. The lullaby expresses a harmony and
unity to express that he has nothing to fear. Intended for children but it is for an old man. All
these nature elements are protective forces; you have nothing to fear. Sleep peacefully. She
becomes maternal again. It was written by Silko and inspired by some Navajo lullaby. Healing
song that restores the harmony of native America with the cosmos.
Narrator → 3rd person limited narrator.
Structure → Not told in a linear chronological sequence. Many flashbacks in which Ayah
remembers past events.
Storytelling → Story is kind of a ritual of healing. Words can be more powerful than death. It is
a key motif connecting the idea of weave and storytelling.
Themes → Storytelling, language barriers (her inability to understand the English– or Spanish–
speaking white people adds to Ayah’s experience of being taken advantage of by white people),
matrilinear relationships (granddaughter–grandmother relationship as a link between modern
and traditional Native American culture) relationships, death and loss (All of the major tragedies
of Ayah’s life are precipitated by the intrusion of white authorities into her home. The cultural
oppression of Native Americans in general is indicated through the personal losses Ayah has
suffered at the hands of white culture.) and racial and cultural oppression.

9. THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET – SANDRA CISNEROS (1984)

Mexican-American short story writer, novelist and poet. Daughter of a Mexican father and a
Chicana mother.
She is regarded as a key figure in Chicana literature, along with Ana Castillo. Cisneros’s writing
approach is feminist and minimalist. Her fiction is also characterized by its poetic realism, its
fragmentary structure, the allusion of Spanish words and references to Mexican mythical
figures (la Llorona, la Malinche, la Virgen de Guadalupe).
The House on Mango Street is a coming-of-age story of a young Chicana (Mexican-American)

girl named Esperanza Cordero. The story starts with Esperanza moving to a house on Mango
Street in a barrio (Latino neighbourhood) of Chicago, Illinois. The house on Mango Street is an
improvement over Esperanza’s previous residences, but it is still not the house she or her
family dreams of, and throughout the book Esperanza feels that she doesn’t belong there.
Over the course of the year Esperanza grows emotionally, artistically, and sexually, and the novel
meanders through her experiences with her neighbours and classmates. Esperanza makes
friends with two other Chicana girls of Mango Street, Rachel and Lucy. Esperanza experiences
the shame of poverty, the unfairness of racism, and the beauty of poetry and music.
There is a brief description of her neighbours. There is Mamacita, who does not leave her
apartment because she is afraid of the English language, and Rafaela, whose husband keeps
her locked up because she is beautiful. Alicia must stay up all night studying so she can
graduate from college and get a good job someday, but her father makes her wake up early
to make tortillas and do the chores. Rosa Vargas is imprisoned by the impossible task of taking
care of her many unruly children. There is also Minerva, who writes poems like Esperanza, but
is already married with two children and a husband who beats her.
Esperanza’s friendship with Sally also leads to her most traumatic experience of the novel, as
Sally leaves her alone at a carnival and Esperanza is raped.
These experiences of male oppression, Esperanza’s growing creativity and desire to write, and
her dream of a house of her own all cause Esperanza to want to escape Mango Street. At a
neighbour’s funeral, three old sisters seem to read Esperanza’s mind and predict that she will
leave Mango Street someday, but that she must not forget where she came from or the
women still stuck there. By the end of the book, Esperanza is still in the same house, but she
has matured and is confident that she is too strong to be trapped there forever. Her writing and
story-telling lets her escape Mango Street emotionally, but it will also let her escape physically
later through education and financial independence. And when she does leave, Esperanza vows
to return for those who are not strong enough to escape on their own.
Perspective and Narrator: The House on Mango Street is told from the first-person point of view
of the book's main character, Esperanza Cordero, who offers a child's guileless perspective on
the complicated issues and experiences she faces.
About the Title: The House on Mango Street refers to the house Esperanza's family buys in the
first chapter of the book.
Not chronological sequence.
Climax: At the carnival, Esperanza is raped, increasing her desire to leave Mango Street

• CHARACTERS
Esperanza Cordero → The protagonist and narrator of the novel, a young Chicana (Mexican-
American) teenager whose name means “hope” in Spanish. The book follows a year of her
life in a barrio (Latino neighborhood) of Chicago, during which she both experiences
traumatic events and matures sexually, emotionally, and artistically.
Nenny Cordero → Esperanza’s younger sister.
Rachel And Lucy → Esperanza’s best friends. Rachel and Lucy are Mexican-American sisters
who live across the street from Esperanza. Lucy, the older sister, was born in Texas, while
Rachel, the younger, was born in Chicago. Esperanza eventually chooses a more sexually
mature friend, Sally.
Sally → A girl Esperanza befriends as she starts to get older. Sally is more sexually mature
and seems beautiful and glamorous to Esperanza. She has an abusive father and lets herself
be taken advantage of by boys. Esperanza feels very protective of Sally, but Sally is not a
good friend to Esperanza.
• THEMES
The Power of Language → Throughout The House on Mango Street, particularly in “No
Speak English,” those who are not able to communicate effectively (or at all) are relegated
to the bottom levels of society. Esperanza observes the people around her and realizes that
if not knowing or not mastering the language creates powerlessness, then having the ability
to manipulate language will give her power.
The Struggle for Self-Definition → The struggle for self-definition is a common theme in a
coming-of-age novel. Esperanza’s struggle to define herself underscores her every action
and encounter. Esperanza must define herself both as a woman and as an artist, and her
perception of her identity changes over the course of the novel. In the beginning of the novel
Esperanza wants to change her name so that she can define herself on her own terms,
instead of accepting a name that expresses her family heritage. She wants to separate
herself from her parents and her younger sister in order to create her own life, and changing
her name seems to her an important step in that direction. Later, after she becomes more
sexually aware, Esperanza would like to be “beautiful and cruel” so men will like her but not
hurt her, and she pursues that goal by becoming friends with Sally. After she is assaulted,
she doesn’t want to define herself as “beautiful and cruel” anymore, and she is, once again,
unsure of who she is.
Sexuality vs. Autonomy → In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza’s goals are clear: she
wants to escape her neighbourhood and live in a house of her own. These ambitions are
always in her mind, but as she begins to mature, the desire for men appears in her thoughts
as well. At first, the desire to escape and the desire for men don’t seem mutually exclusive,
but as Esperanza observes other women in the neighbourhood and the marriages that bind
them, she begins to doubt that she can pursue both. Most of the women Esperanza meets
are either trapped in marriages that keep them on Mango Street or tied down by their
children. Esperanza decides she does not want to be like these women, but her dire
observations of married life do not erase her sexual yearnings for neighbourhood boys.

Esperanza decides she’ll combine sexuality with autonomy by being “beautiful and cruel”
like Sally and the women in movies.
• SYMBOLS
Shoes → Shoes in The House on Mango Street frequently evoke images of sex and adult
femininity, and for Esperanza they illustrate the conflict she feels between her emerging
sexual attractiveness and her desire for independence.
Trees → Esperanza expresses respect and admiration for trees throughout The House on
Mango Street, and her affection stems from her identification with their appearance,
resilience, and independence. In “Four Skinny Trees,” Esperanza personifies the trees in her
front yard, saying she and they understand each other, even that they teach her things. She
relates to the trees because they don’t seem to belong in the neighbourhood and because
they persevere despite the concrete that tries to keep them in the ground. Esperanza herself
does not seem to belong, and she plans to persevere despite the obstacles posed by her
poor neighbourhood. Esperanza views the trees almost as a reflection of herself, comparing
her own skinny neck and pointy elbows to the tree’s spindly branches. The tree in Meme
Ortiz’s backyard has particular resonance for Esperanza. Even though the tree eventually
turns out to be dangerous, since Meme jumps out of it and breaks both of his arms,
Esperanza claims it is the most memorable part of Meme’s backyard. She points out that the
tree is full of squirrels and that it dwarfs her neighbourhood in age and size. This tree has
flourished even more than the trees in her front yard have, again without anybody doing
much to help it. Meme’s hardy tree was probably once like the elms in Esperanza’s yard,
which suggests that Esperanza will perhaps be able to grow into a strong and independent
woman despite the setbacks in her first year on Mango Street.
Poetry → The House on Mango Street contains many small poems and references to poems,
which emphasize the importance of language to Esperanza and her neighbours. The
abundance of poetry suggests that the women and girls on Mango Street try to make their
lives better by describing the world with beautiful language.
House → Symbolism of the house; as a child she sees the house as a physical structure. It
represents independence, pride, dreams, stability and family. It shows the poverty, low
status, embarrassment and it’s not the house she dreams of. Esperanza’s ideal house:
doesn’t want to be dependent of men, independence, not physical description, emotional
meaning about the house. In the end, she wants to leave. But remember what the three
sisters told her: you are Mango Street. Mango Street is in Esperanza’s heart.
• REFERENCES TO FAIRY TALES

There is one poem in which Esperanza finds a job with the help of his aunt and the name of
the business is Peter Pan (a boy who didn’t want to grow up) → a customer asks Esperanza
for a kiss. Girls like Esperanza must soon grow up in order to not be taken advantage of old
men. Cisneros is reminding Esperanza with this incident, the danger of becoming Peter Pan.
Cinderella → second hand high heels were gift to Esperanza. “Our feet, today we are
cinderella”. They are not Cinderella’s glass shoes. They change the girls to be self-confident
about their beauty. But they won’t meet a charming prince. The message is clear: there is
no room for romantic love, no prince charming waiting to marry him, they only meet a
drunker (5 dollars to Racher for a kiss).
Rapunzel → the character more related to Rapunzel is Rafaela. Rafaela is locked indoors,
her husband locks her because he is afraid that she would run away because of her beauty.
Godmothers → fairy godmothers with magical powers and act as mentors. Three. Symbolic
godmothers in connection to the aunts: the three sisters. They are wise and give advice to
Esperanza.
Fortune teller figure → Elenita fulfils this role. Esperanza visits her to know if she would ever
have a house: yes, but a home in the heart. Later she would understand these words.
Building a home in the heart = build a sense of belonging, she would become stronger than
a physical structure.
Other archetypes → Virgen de Guadalupe and La Malinche. The good woman vs the bad
woman. According to Cisneros, women are seen as good or bad. This is too simplistic. In the
novel she uses through different characters that we can identify as good or bad through
these archetypes. Esperanza is closer to la Malinche because she leaves the barrio; to
become a writer and independent she has to leave Mango Street. La Malinche also left.
However, she is also like the Virgen: she says that she would return to protect the others.
She is neither good nor bad. She has traits of both. Cisneros wants to show that these two
archetypes are confined.

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3Marta

Grado en Estudios Ingleses

LITERATURA NORTEAMERICANA II ESQUEMA

1. THE 1920S: THE ROARING TWENTIES OR JAZZ AGE

3. THE 1950S AND 60S

4. MULTICULTURALISM: AFRICAN AMERICAN, NATIVE AMERICAN AND

1. THE GREAT GATSBY – F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (1925)

When does the novel take place?

What are the main settings?

Who kills Myrtle?

¡Ahora también a distancia en Coucke´s Academy! - Don´t waste your time!

Why does Nick move to the East?

Nick moves to the East to learn bond business.

What is Nick best virtue?

Who is Gatsby’s partner in the business of bootlegging?

What wedding present does Tom give Daisy?

A very expensive pearl necklace.

Are there social gatherings in the novel?

A story about love, death, money and immorality.

Why does not Daisy divorce Tom?

To keep her social status.

¡Ahora también a distancia en Coucke´s Academy! - Don´t waste your time!

1. The Midwest of America is associated with a conservative lifestyle, humility,

¡Ahora también a distancia en Coucke´s Academy! - Don´t waste your time!

¡Ahora también a distancia en Coucke´s Academy! - Don´t waste your time!

2. THE SUN ALSO RISES – ERNEST HEMINGWAY (1926)

What are the main settings?

Paris, Pamplona, San Sebastian and Madrid.

In which war was Jake involved?

Which is the main female character?

Where did Jake and Brett meet?

In a military hospital in England during the WWI.

What is Jake’s profession?

All the characters drink alcohol all the time, why?

¡Ahora también a distancia en Coucke´s Academy! - Don´t waste your time!

Robert Cohn is a character disliked by the characters in the novel, why?

What is Mike financial status?

He is bankrupt although he comes from a good family. He is careless with money.

In which city does the novel end?

→ Pedro Romero: 19-year-old Spanish bullfighter. His talent in bullfighting charms

¡Ahora también a distancia en Coucke´s Academy! - Don´t waste your time!

• STYLE AND TECHNIQUE:

¡Ahora también a distancia en Coucke´s Academy! - Don´t waste your time!

He uses French and Spanish words.

Hemingway also uses the technique of irony.

¡Ahora también a distancia en Coucke´s Academy! - Don´t waste your time!

3. CLAUDE MCKAY AND LANGSTON HUGHES

Famous Harlem Renaissance writers were Claude McKay or Langston Hughes.

2. THE HARLEM DANCER:

3. IF WE MUST DIE BY CLAUDE MCKAY:

¡Ahora también a distancia en Coucke´s Academy! - Don´t waste your time!

6. THE NEGRO’S TRAGEDY:

¡Ahora también a distancia en Coucke´s Academy! - Don´t waste your time!

Shakespearean sonnet. Defiant tone.

1. THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS:

¡Ahora también a distancia en Coucke´s Academy! - Don´t waste your time!

4. I HEAR AMERICA SINGING:

6. NUDE YOUNG DANCER:

7. THE WEARY BLUES: