Amlit3 3
Amlit3 3
Amlit3 3
Terminology: explain the terms and relevant examples - 50 to 100 words max
b. Long Answers: 150 – 200 words max strict limit no bull shitting and summary
– answer to the point even if its 100 words it is the quality. writing summary or
general plot means “zero”
The novel has a filter over their reality to show a perspective (in Benji’s case). It was written
with the stream of consciousness technique (narrative mode), which attempts to represent the
internal thoughts and subjectivity of the mind, and its spontaneous flow of free associations.
The logic of free associations is radically subjective, therefore a person’s presented idea (like
Benji’s) can be illogical to others, because the outsider cannot see the mind map of the flow,
of the thought. The chaos of the stream is an accurate representation, and in the novel, it is
present with Benji’s mental disability. He has associative thinking, where a thought/an
impression/feeling is associated with another, like a smell that triggers a memory. For
example: Benji is “sensitive” to a (tree) smell, which he connects to Caddy (his sister), and
when Caddy lost her virginity, he couldn’t smell it anymore, therefore he felt like he lost her
“calming” smell (trauma).
Metalepsis: metalepsis can be defined as the shift of a figure within a text (usually a character
or a narrator) from one narrative level to another, marking a transgression of ontological
borders
From a point of view you cannot decide whether you read the narrative of the narrator or the
character—it cannot be decided if there is a narrator—who narrates who?—Does the narrator
narrates the character’s story or the character narrates the narrator’s story—in Lost in the
Funhouse it is symbolized with the Möbius trip, which shows the tangled hierarchy: how the
different levels of hierarchy transform into each other
Metafiction: a fiction that is being aware of its being a fictional construct, self-conscious
literary style where the narrator is aware that he or she is part of a work of fiction
In this novel Barth explores the author’s self-referential placement within the text, the author
becomes a character—also the story becomes a fragmented written feature about writing. The
author loss of control is mirrored by our protagonist’s own lack of authority and control—
When he is standing in the mirror room, he is unable to acknowledge himself from another
perspective, he can only see what is presented in front of him
“self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in order to pose
a question about the relationship between fiction and reality”
Metafiction supposedly undermines actually draw more overt attention to their own processes
of fictional composition than just about anyone
Barth, as a narrator, sometimes narrates, sometimes talks directly to the reader, and sometimes
comments on the narration. It is these comments that are the humorous meta-fictional devices.
The story becomes self-aware. It understands and points out the devices it is using.
Although Williams’s protagonist in A Streetcar Named Desire is the romantic Blanche
DuBois, the play is a work of social realism. Lying to herself and to others allows her to make
life appear as it should be rather than as it is. Stanley, a practical man firmly grounded in the
physical world, disdains Blanche’s fabrications and does everything he can to unravel them.
The antagonistic relationship between Blanche and Stanley is a struggle between appearances
and reality. It propels the play’s plot and creates an overarching tension. Ultimately,
Blanche’s attempts to remake her own and Stella’s existences—to rejuvenate her life and to
save Stella from a life with Stanley—fail.
One of the main ways Williams dramatizes fantasy’s inability to overcome reality is through
an exploration of the boundary between exterior and interior. The set of the play consists of
the two-room Kowalski apartment and the surrounding street. Williams’s use of a flexible set
that allows the street to be seen at the same time as the interior of the home expresses the
notion that the home is not a domestic sanctuary. The Kowalski’s apartment cannot be a self-
defined world that is impermeable to greater reality. The characters leave and enter the
apartment throughout the play, often bringing with them the problems they encounter in the
larger environment. For example, Blanche refuses to leave her prejudices against the working
class behind her at the door. The most notable instance of this effect occurs just before
Stanley rapes Blanche, when the back wall of the apartment becomes transparent to show the
struggles occurring on the street, foreshadowing the violation that is about to take place in the
Kowalski’s home.
African American people (early 20th c.) were trapped by their “double consciousness”:
meaning that they couldn’t define themselves a 100% as American or African, but both.
(There is a derogatory term used for them: Oreo, meaning, that they’re black on the outside,
but white on the inside) Usually, they had to behave according to their surroundings (if they
were with white people, they had to know about their traditions/culture), and according to
how they were nurtured/educated. In this sense, Milkman Dead also suffers from finding his
identity. Song of Solomon is the quest story of Milkman to find himself, and for that he has to
accept the African myths, in the process of which, he moves away from Western Culture,
closer to his roots. His cultural roots are Shalimar, which he found while tracing back his
family’s names. Another connection to the “black experience” is the gospel by the (black
children?) choir in the beginning and the end.
proof of meanings of “flight”: flying back to Africa, roots/ escape/ Ryna left in the US
- to look for his roots, Harlem Renaissance (returning to black authenticity, art, roots,
culture)
Indeed, the search for gold that sends him to Virginia reveals his perception that
escaping from his past and his responsibilities and finding material treasure will
guarantee him a sense of his own identity.
Milkman's assumption that his trip south holds the key to his liberation is correct,
although it is not gold that saves him. In his ancestors' world, communal and mythical
values prevail over individualism and materialism; when he adopts their assumptions
in place of his own, he arrives at a more complete understanding of what his
experience means.
Milkman's sense of identity emerges when he allows himself to accept his personal
and familial past. His quest critiques the faith in self-sufficiency for which his father
stands. Through his story, Morrison questions Western conceptions of individualism
and offers more fluid, destabilized constructions of identity.
Flight can mean a certain divine ascending which makes his soul free and he now
certainly can find where he belongs
Also, the whole family is called Dead because a white troop misunderstood Milkman's
father and this can represent how white society repressed and overruled the true identity of
African Americans in the U.S.
c. Text recognition: name and author and answer to the relevant questions
Tips:
1. Watch the plays on YouTube and read the ppt slides. Also, themes, motifs and
symbols
2. Make sure to read all the poems and short stories
3. For long answers it is okay if you fail to read to all the novels. JUST MAKE SURE
YOU READ THE TEXT ON THE PPT SLIDES – for example: Reality and Illusions
in Street Car Named Desire – QUESTIONS ARE DIRECTLY FROM THE
SLIDES. SO READ IN DETAIL
4. For text recognition use the science of deduction”
5. In the THIRD ATTEMPT, 60% of the questions will be from 1st and 2nd attempt. so,
gather them!