Lit2020 Final – Flashcards

the study of narrative (story)

how we see the world the story takes place in

narrator > character
narrator is outside the storyworld and knows what goes through everyones mind

narrator = character
narrator is the key character in the story
knows what goes on in the narrators mind

narrator < character narrator only hears and sees what the characters do or say does not know what goes on in anyones mind

-the world the story takes place in
-can be a lot like the world we live in
-does not physically exist

Narrator: who speaks (not the author)
Reflector: who sees (characters)
Narratee: who hears (not the reader)

gap between narrator and characters
many forms: identity, time

character is younger than the narrator

story is about sequence (“and” & “then”)
plot is about causation (“but” & “therefore”/”because”)

repeated element, idea, type of interaction, image, piece of dialogue, language

work that draws attention to its status as an artifact (fictional artifacts within a fictional story)

round – dynamic, changes/has the opportunity to change
flat- static, doesn’t change

“showing”
driven by dialogue and action
watching something happen real time
action dense
time moves realistically

“telling”
driven by narration
summative
information dense: you can learn a lot about a character from one sentence
time is compressed
exposition

device used to introduce background information about events, settings, and characters

characters:
Jackson Jackson
Junior
Rose of Sharon
Pawn Shop Owner
Officer Williams
Summary: a homeless alcoholic tries to buy his grandmother’s native dancing regalia
Theme: imperfection

characters:
Magdalena
Cassandra
Yunior
Lucy
VP
Barbaro
Summary: Yunior and Magda are dating but he cheats on her with Cassandra and then books a vacation to try to make it up to her

characters:
Mrs. Freeman
Mrs. Hopewell
Joy (Hulga)
Glynese
Bible salesman
Summary: Joy, a disabled girl is seduced by a bible salesman. He takes her peg leg and glasses and leaves her stranded

characters: shoba & shukumar
summary: they’re a married couple who tries to rekindle their relationship by telling secrets when their power is out. They had previously had a dead baby.

characters:
grandfather
exotic dancer
narrator- socially invisible man
superintendent
Summary: young black man was invited to give a speech. they made him fight other black guys and endure extreme embarrassment before giving his speech. He was awarded with a scholarship

characters:
Daniel Barkley
Sarah
Travis
Barb
Summary: Daniel overcomes racial injustice by embracing the confederate flag as a symbol of black power

characters:
peter
Mr. Shapiro
Baisha
Manyou
Feilan
Hongwen (narrator)
Summary: Hongwen and 4 others work at a fast food restaurant in china. When they find out that peter, their boss gets paid more, they attempt to go on strike, but get fired instead.

Characters:
Clemencia (narrator)
Ximena
Drew
Megan
Summary: Clemencia is in love with Drew, who is married to Megan. Clemencia sleeps with drew and then later on ,his son.

characters:
Lou-Lou
Bob
Phil
Marilyn
Summary: Lou Lou is a ceramist with multiple husbands, but she sleeps with her accountant. She’s trying to figure out who she is

Characters:
Thomas Rodaja (Glasscase)
Summary:
Thomas went mad after he was poisoned by a girl and believed his body was made of glass. He became very intellectual and gave interesting responses. He was cured 2 years later by a monk

Borges is writing about how Menard rewrote Quixote, which was originally written by cervantes

Characters:
Major
Mrs. Monarch
Oronte
Miss Churm
Summary: The monarchs compete with oronte and miss churm as models. Narrator gets rid of monarchs in the end.
Theme: appearance v reality, pride v shame, essence of truth

characters:
nancy
jesus
caddy
jason
mr. stovall
quentin (narrator)
summary: nancy is the help for a family. She is afraid jesus, her husband, is going to kill her because she is pregnant with a white mans baby.

characters:
women and men in the village
Esteban
Summary: Estebans body floats up to the shore of the village and the villagers have an elaborate funeral for the large man and assign him family members

characters:
Mary
Roberta
Twyla (narrator)
Big Bozo (mrs. itkin)
Maggie
james
joseph
summary: two girls in orphanage together, run into each other late in life, they both get married, they protest the school bussing on different sides, see each other at the diner on new years and apologize.
theme: maggie reminded both the girls of their mothers

characters:
Carter weatherbee
Percy Cuthfert
Jaques Baptiste
summary: Weatherbee and Cuthfert go on a gold rush escapade but are both lazy and stay in a cabin. They are both afflicted by frostbite. Weatherbee sees dead people and Cuthfert felt alone in the abyss. Weatherbee ends up killing Cuthfert with an axe because he ate his sugar.
Theme: fear of the north

Characters:
Joe
George Gardner
Kzar
Joe’s dad (Butler)
summary: joe’s dad is a jockey who dies in a hose race. Many men disliked him because he used insiders to bet on the horses and make money.

characters:
narrator
vern
guy who looks in the windows
summary: narrator and her husband Vern spy on a guy who likes to watch his wife undress from outside their house

characters:
narrator
Mr. Alsuga (boss)
McKinnon family (ghosts)
Samuel
Evelyn (wife)
summary: narrator works at civil war themed theme park with a lot of gang activity. Samuel is hired to keep the gang activity down and goes on a killing spree. Narrator gets fired, his wife leaves him, and he gets murdered by Samuel.

characters:
silva
yellow woman
cowboy
summary: the yellow woman awakens next to silva, the mountain spirit. He kidnaps her for a couple days and they have sex (rape?) When on the way to sell meat, they get stopped by a cowboy and yellow woman runs away from silva and back to her village and family
(the story explains how exogamous/matrilineal cultures work)

characters: narrator
summary: the narrator sees a mark on the wall across the room and instead of getting up to look at it, she just goes over various scenarios in his/her head of what it could be. Very philosophical; stream of consciousness
(The mark was a snail)
narrator was trying to distract herself form the war (WW1)

the entire story is the dialogue of aliens talking about humans (mimetic and lots of irony)

characters:
narrator
Sonny (narrator’s brother)
Isabel (narrator’s wife)
summary: Sonny is a musician who got busted for using Heroin. The narrator just wants help him, but Sonny just wants to get out of Harlem because he feels it is a trap.
– The dad in the story lost his brother similar to how the narrator is afraid of losing Sonny
– environment: circumstances of the setting

characters:
narrator
his priest
the fetish
enslaved woman
summary: the narrator goes to work as a missionary in a tribe in Africa. Upon arrival, he was beaten and imprisoned. He converts to believing in “The Fetish” and the power of hatred. He gets his tongue gut off when he approaches woman. When a new missionary is sent, he sneaks out to kill him, but the tribe ends up killing the narrator.
(*author is an existentialist* “why live at all?”)

characters:
Marjorie
Bernice
Warren
summary: Bernice is an unpopular girl who comes to stay with her popular cousin Marjorie. Marjorie teaches Bernice all of the “becoming” ways of the popular girls. When Warren, a boy who used to like Marjorie, starts to pursue Bernice, Marjorie convinces Bernice to cut her hair into a bob. To get revenge, Bernice cuts Marjorie’s braids off in her sleep.
(the real reason Marjorie doesn’t like Bernice is because she’s NA)

characters:
Atta (brother)
Huma (sister)
Sheikh Sin (Thief)
Hashim (dad)
wife
police uncle
summary: when Hashim comes across the prophets hair, it drives him insane. Atta goes into a coma bc he got mugged. Huma hires Sheikh, a thief, to steak the hair from her dad. When Sheikh enters the house, Atta dies, Hashim accidentally kills Huma, then he kills himself. Sheikh gets shot by the policeman uncle. The hair cured Sheikh’s kids and wife.

characters:
Daniel Moore (narrator)
Mrs. Pribby
Muriel

summary: Daniel tries to pursue Muriel, but she rejects his advances. He follows her to the theatre and screams “JESUS WAS ONCE A LEPPER” when the fighting champion hands Muriel a rose.

“Why live at all?”
No God
a being who requires purpose/meaning to live, lives in a world with no meaning

time, place, atmosphere

characters:
the lawyer (narrator)
Bartleby
Turkey
Nippres
Ginger Nut

Internal focalization on narrator
theme: emotions shouldn’t dictate actions
summary: narrator is a pushover who moves the hours for his workers depending on their moods. He fired Bartleby for being lazy, but Bartleby wouldn’t leave & even slept there. Narrator didn’t make him leave & ended up in jail where he died.
motif: stoicism (no display of feelings)