AP Short Story Elements
Flashcard maker : Ewan Tanner
Stream of Consciousness
*mimics the mind, always first person
*thinking out loud
*less ordered than interior monologue
*a literary style in which a character’s thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in a continuous flow uninterrupted by objective description or conventional dialogue
*thinking out loud
*less ordered than interior monologue
*a literary style in which a character’s thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in a continuous flow uninterrupted by objective description or conventional dialogue
Epiphany
*sudden realization
*dynamic character/s = change
*dynamic character/s = change
Modernism
*artistic movement in early 20th century
*focus on inner self and consciousness
*questioned industrialization and technology
*focus on inner self and consciousness
*questioned industrialization and technology
Nihilism
*no absolute values or truths
*nothing matters
*life has no meaning
*annihilate ideas of God, civilization, marriage, property, morality, justice while pursuing only the freedom found in individual happiness
*nothing matters
*life has no meaning
*annihilate ideas of God, civilization, marriage, property, morality, justice while pursuing only the freedom found in individual happiness
Single Effect
*emotional response, often with foreshadowing
Interior Monologue
*a character talking/thinking to self, using words specific to that character, making assumptions, mistaken judgements, conclusions RIGHT FOR THAT CHARACTER.
*not always in first person
*different than stream of consciousness because if done well, not as noticeable
*not always in first person
*different than stream of consciousness because if done well, not as noticeable
Dialectical Thinking
*using opposing ideas to arrive at combined conclusion
Indirect Characterization
*learn about characters by what they say, think, do, and what others say about them
Romanticism
*mixes marvelous and the real
*imaginative literature
*supernatural
*reverence for nature
*imaginative literature
*supernatural
*reverence for nature
Realism
*ordinary life or represents life as it really is
*gives a “slice of life”
*authors viewed life primarily in terms of struggle as a way to describe social forces
*immigrant experience taken into account too
*gives a “slice of life”
*authors viewed life primarily in terms of struggle as a way to describe social forces
*immigrant experience taken into account too
Naturalism
*an extension of Realism
*no names of characters, compared to aniamls or things
*a literary movement that dissected human instincts and behavior and examined the society that “conditioned” people to turn out as they did
*depicts everything against man, the environment, his own nature, and hostile forces he has no control over
*heredity and environment ¨determinants” of character
*nature is indifferent to human fate
*evolution provides way of seeing social environment in relation to nature
*nature is hostile and apathetic
*no names of characters, compared to aniamls or things
*a literary movement that dissected human instincts and behavior and examined the society that “conditioned” people to turn out as they did
*depicts everything against man, the environment, his own nature, and hostile forces he has no control over
*heredity and environment ¨determinants” of character
*nature is indifferent to human fate
*evolution provides way of seeing social environment in relation to nature
*nature is hostile and apathetic
Magic Realism
*realistic writing with magical elements
*extraordinary seen as everyday occurences
*no difference between the surreal and real world
*extraordinary seen as everyday occurences
*no difference between the surreal and real world
Local Color
*emphasizes characterization based on location
*focuses on dialect, manners, folklore, and landscape
*focuses on dialect, manners, folklore, and landscape
“Rip Van Winkle”
*by Washington Irving, 3rd person, frame structure
*First Harvest (1800-1840)
*classicicim vs. romanticism
*summary: goes to woods to get away from wife, meets group, falls asleep for 20 years
*relates to Revolutionary Period, which preceded it
*man vs man, nature, and supernatural
*magic realism
*romantic (imaginative) literature
*epiphany
*local color
*First Harvest (1800-1840)
*classicicim vs. romanticism
*summary: goes to woods to get away from wife, meets group, falls asleep for 20 years
*relates to Revolutionary Period, which preceded it
*man vs man, nature, and supernatural
*magic realism
*romantic (imaginative) literature
*epiphany
*local color
“MS Found in a Bottle”
*by Edgar Allan Poe, 1st person
*First Harvest (1800-1840)
*classicicim vs. romanticism
*summary: puts manuscript in a bottle telling what happened as ship going down, story ends at climax
*man vs nature
*romanticism
*single effect
*First Harvest (1800-1840)
*classicicim vs. romanticism
*summary: puts manuscript in a bottle telling what happened as ship going down, story ends at climax
*man vs nature
*romanticism
*single effect
“The Birthmark”
*by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 3rd person
*Flowering of New England (1840-1860)
*individualism, transcendentalism
*summary: wife has tiny, hand birthmark and husband is scientist and wants to remove, she dies at the end
*man vs man, society, nature
*symbolic
*realism
*indirect characeriazation
*dialectical thinking
*Flowering of New England (1840-1860)
*individualism, transcendentalism
*summary: wife has tiny, hand birthmark and husband is scientist and wants to remove, she dies at the end
*man vs man, society, nature
*symbolic
*realism
*indirect characeriazation
*dialectical thinking
“The Minister’s Black Veil”
*by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 3rd person
*Flowering of New England (1840-1860)
*individualism, transcendentalism
*summary: minister wears veil to symbolize man’s hidden sins which separate them from others, it literally separates him because people spooked by it, he dies wearing it
*man vs society, supernatural
*symbolic
*realism
*indirect characeriazation
*dialectical thinking
*Flowering of New England (1840-1860)
*individualism, transcendentalism
*summary: minister wears veil to symbolize man’s hidden sins which separate them from others, it literally separates him because people spooked by it, he dies wearing it
*man vs society, supernatural
*symbolic
*realism
*indirect characeriazation
*dialectical thinking
“Bartleby the Scrivener”
*by Herman Melville, 1st person (not Bartleby)
*Flowering of New England (1840-1860)
*individualism, transcendentalism
*summary: boss tells how Bartleby is lazy as a copyist, Bartleby stands by his convictions, dies in the end
*man vs man, society
*realism
*indirect characeriazation
*dialectical thinking
*Flowering of New England (1840-1860)
*individualism, transcendentalism
*summary: boss tells how Bartleby is lazy as a copyist, Bartleby stands by his convictions, dies in the end
*man vs man, society
*realism
*indirect characeriazation
*dialectical thinking
“Baker’s Bluejay Yarn”
*by Mark Twain, 1st person (not bluejay)
*House Divided and Restored (1860-1890)
*civil rights, realism
*summary: Baker, the narrator, is an expert on blue jays and describes the language of blue jays and other animals in a matter-of-fact way that adds to the humor of the story., a bluejay believes a hole in a roof can be filled with acorns. A whole flock arrives and discovers the first jay’s folly and have a laugh. The site becomes something of a tourist attraction in the blue jay community
*theme of determination relates to North and South struggle during Twain’s day
*local color
*House Divided and Restored (1860-1890)
*civil rights, realism
*summary: Baker, the narrator, is an expert on blue jays and describes the language of blue jays and other animals in a matter-of-fact way that adds to the humor of the story., a bluejay believes a hole in a roof can be filled with acorns. A whole flock arrives and discovers the first jay’s folly and have a laugh. The site becomes something of a tourist attraction in the blue jay community
*theme of determination relates to North and South struggle during Twain’s day
*local color
“Tennesee’s Partner”
*by Bret Harte, 3rd person
*House Divided and Restored (1860-1890)
*civil rights, realism
*summary: Tennessee, gambler and thief, is captured and tried but refuses to answer questions. His nameless partner appears and offers to pay for Tennessee, but is refused. Tennessee is found guilty and hanged. The Partner buries Tennessee in his garden. Partner freed from guilt, though sanity doubted, and falls ill. One night he insists on going to fetch Tennessee so that he would not hurt himself when he is drunk. Suddenly he announces that he sees Tennessee coming toward him completely sober. The narrator concludes: “And so they met”.
*local color
*tolerance theme ties to the civil rights movement of the time
*indirect characterization
*House Divided and Restored (1860-1890)
*civil rights, realism
*summary: Tennessee, gambler and thief, is captured and tried but refuses to answer questions. His nameless partner appears and offers to pay for Tennessee, but is refused. Tennessee is found guilty and hanged. The Partner buries Tennessee in his garden. Partner freed from guilt, though sanity doubted, and falls ill. One night he insists on going to fetch Tennessee so that he would not hurt himself when he is drunk. Suddenly he announces that he sees Tennessee coming toward him completely sober. The narrator concludes: “And so they met”.
*local color
*tolerance theme ties to the civil rights movement of the time
*indirect characterization
“The Sculptor’s Funeral”
*by Willa Cather, Nebraska author
*Realism and Naturalism (1890-1914)
*summary: sculptor’s body returned to hometown to be buried, people don’t appreciate his success
*not everyone so accepting of others
*people influenced by environment
*dialectical thinking
*local color
*Realism and Naturalism (1890-1914)
*summary: sculptor’s body returned to hometown to be buried, people don’t appreciate his success
*not everyone so accepting of others
*people influenced by environment
*dialectical thinking
*local color
“The Bohemian Girl”
*by Willa Cather, Nebraska author
*Realism and Naturalism (1890-1914)
*summary: Nils returns to his hometown, his old girl (the one in the title) has married brother, town views Nils as outsider now, Nils tries to get younger brother to leave town but he refuses.
*not everyone so accepting of others
*people influenced by environment
*immigrant experience part of American landscape now
*dialectical thinking
*local color
*Realism and Naturalism (1890-1914)
*summary: Nils returns to his hometown, his old girl (the one in the title) has married brother, town views Nils as outsider now, Nils tries to get younger brother to leave town but he refuses.
*not everyone so accepting of others
*people influenced by environment
*immigrant experience part of American landscape now
*dialectical thinking
*local color
“Mrs. Ripley’s Trip”
*by Hamlin Garland
*Realism and Naturalism (1890-1914)
*summary: Mrs. Ripley has not been home to New York in 23 yrs. and one night declares she is going. Argues with hubby about funding. He sells two pigs to get train ticket, but she has already saved the money. She is touched by the sacrifice, goes to NY and comes back affectionate and with bundles. “Her trip was a fact now, no chance could rob her of it. She had looked forward twenty-three years toward it, and now she could look back at it accomplished. She took up her burden again, never more thinking to lay it down.”
*local color
*Realism and Naturalism (1890-1914)
*summary: Mrs. Ripley has not been home to New York in 23 yrs. and one night declares she is going. Argues with hubby about funding. He sells two pigs to get train ticket, but she has already saved the money. She is touched by the sacrifice, goes to NY and comes back affectionate and with bundles. “Her trip was a fact now, no chance could rob her of it. She had looked forward twenty-three years toward it, and now she could look back at it accomplished. She took up her burden again, never more thinking to lay it down.”
*local color
“The Boarded Window”
*by Ambrose Bierce
*Realism and Naturalism (1890-1914)
*summary: Murlock lives alone in the wilderness in a house with a boarded window. Unnamed narrator learned of story from grandfather, who says window was boarded up sometime after Murlock’s unnamed wife died. He goes on to describe strange events the night after Murlock prepared his wife’s body for burial. While watching over the dead body, a panther enters cabin. Murlock attempts to shoot the unknown creature in the dark, then falls unconscious. Upon awakening in the morning, he discovers part of panther’s ear in the clenched teeth of his dead wife, raising numerous questions for readers.
*Realism and Naturalism (1890-1914)
*summary: Murlock lives alone in the wilderness in a house with a boarded window. Unnamed narrator learned of story from grandfather, who says window was boarded up sometime after Murlock’s unnamed wife died. He goes on to describe strange events the night after Murlock prepared his wife’s body for burial. While watching over the dead body, a panther enters cabin. Murlock attempts to shoot the unknown creature in the dark, then falls unconscious. Upon awakening in the morning, he discovers part of panther’s ear in the clenched teeth of his dead wife, raising numerous questions for readers.
“The Beast in the Jungle”
*by Henry James
*Realism and Naturalism (1890-1914)
*summary: A quiet London government official feels that something prodigious will happen to him during his life. He spends years waiting for it to spring on him, watched over by the one friend, a woman, to whom he has confided his secret. Shortly before she dies, she tells him she knows what the beast is and that he has already been its victim, but he doesn’t realize what she might have meant until a year after her death.
*dialectical thinking
*epiphany
*single effect
*interior monologue
*Realism and Naturalism (1890-1914)
*summary: A quiet London government official feels that something prodigious will happen to him during his life. He spends years waiting for it to spring on him, watched over by the one friend, a woman, to whom he has confided his secret. Shortly before she dies, she tells him she knows what the beast is and that he has already been its victim, but he doesn’t realize what she might have meant until a year after her death.
*dialectical thinking
*epiphany
*single effect
*interior monologue
“The Open Boat”
*by Stephen Crane
*Realism and Naturalism (1890-1914)
*Realism and Naturalism (1890-1914)
“The Other Two”
*by Edith Wharton
Realism and Naturalism (1890-1914)
Realism and Naturalism (1890-1914)
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”
*by James Thurber
*Modern America (1914-Present)
*Modernism
*Modern America (1914-Present)
*Modernism
“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”
*by Katherine Anne Porter
*Modern America (1914-Present)
*Modern America (1914-Present)
“The Snake”
*by John Steinbeck
*Modern America (1914-Present)
*Modernism
*Modern America (1914-Present)
*Modernism
“That Eveing Sun”
*by William Faulkner
*Modern America (1914-Present)
*Modernism
*local color
*Modern America (1914-Present)
*Modernism
*local color
“I Want to Know Why”
*by Sherwood Anderson
*Modern America (1914-Present)
*Modernism
*local color
*Modern America (1914-Present)
*Modernism
*local color
