Mark Twain got his name when he worked as a riverboat pilot. When there were two fathoms of water, (two fathoms is the same as 12 feet) calling out "mark twain!" meant that it was safe to navigate the boat.
Mark Twain's real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens. His books are controversial because the inappropriate word to describe African Americans is used, and also just the fact that African Americans are used as characters in his books (this was a lot more controversial when Mark Twain first wrote his books). Mark Twain was born in Hannibal, Missouri and growing up as a boy said his only real academic skill was spelling. Mark Twain married an Olivia Langdon. They had four children, 3 of which died. The only one that survived, a girl named Clara, had one child who died. Because of this, there are no relations to Mark Twain living today. Mark Twain's two arguably most famous books are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Irony-using words that are contrary to their actual meaning; saying something and meaning something else.
It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought... it figures
-The song "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette is ironic because she is singing about irony, but her song doesn't contain any irony; that's what makes it ironic. Ha ha.
-Alanis Morissette "Ironic" Lyrics. http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/alanismorissette/ironic.html
Jules Verne was an author during the same time period as Mark Twain. He wrote works such as Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Mark Twain and Jules Verne were both the great writers of their time.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe
The Fall of the House of Usher
-Unity of Effect: single overall feeling
-Poe had a plan/purpose for everything; his particular focus was exploring the strange, fantastic, conveying psychological terror through carefully chosen details and events.
-Mood: the feeling or atmosphere; obtained by the word choice, how the story is set up.
The narrator goes to the house of Usher to visit his friend. The friend and his sister are connected to the house, and because they are damned and dying, the house is slowly dying along with them. They are the last members of their family. Roderick is a hypochondriac, sensitive to everything. He himself looks dead. He ends up entombing his sister alive to "end her suffering," but he can hear her scratching at the coffin and screaming. She escapes her encasement and finds Roderick, and the two die along with the house. The narrator leaves the house before it crumbles to the ground and is absorbed by the swampy land that it stood on.
-Unity of Effect: single overall feeling
-Poe had a plan/purpose for everything; his particular focus was exploring the strange, fantastic, conveying psychological terror through carefully chosen details and events.
-Mood: the feeling or atmosphere; obtained by the word choice, how the story is set up.
The narrator goes to the house of Usher to visit his friend. The friend and his sister are connected to the house, and because they are damned and dying, the house is slowly dying along with them. They are the last members of their family. Roderick is a hypochondriac, sensitive to everything. He himself looks dead. He ends up entombing his sister alive to "end her suffering," but he can hear her scratching at the coffin and screaming. She escapes her encasement and finds Roderick, and the two die along with the house. The narrator leaves the house before it crumbles to the ground and is absorbed by the swampy land that it stood on.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The Signalman by Charles Dickens
-A spector is a ghost.
Summary:
The signalman is visited by a man, and they become friends in a way. The man is interested in why the signalman is spooked. The signalman tells the man the story about the strange happenings that have taken place at his post. There's a ghost that appears before an accident is going to take place, but the signalman doesn't know when or where or how the accident is going to happen. At the end, the signalman hears the ghost again and walks on to the train tracks to investigate. He hears the ghosts warning and sees him, but he doesn't hear the train that is approaching. The train instructor man is yelling warnings and waving at the signalman, but the signalman doesn't even seem to notice. THe man at the top of the hill is even shouting down fro the signalman to "watch out!" But he doesn't hear. The signalman gets hit by the train and dies.
Summary:
The signalman is visited by a man, and they become friends in a way. The man is interested in why the signalman is spooked. The signalman tells the man the story about the strange happenings that have taken place at his post. There's a ghost that appears before an accident is going to take place, but the signalman doesn't know when or where or how the accident is going to happen. At the end, the signalman hears the ghost again and walks on to the train tracks to investigate. He hears the ghosts warning and sees him, but he doesn't hear the train that is approaching. The train instructor man is yelling warnings and waving at the signalman, but the signalman doesn't even seem to notice. THe man at the top of the hill is even shouting down fro the signalman to "watch out!" But he doesn't hear. The signalman gets hit by the train and dies.
The Raven
The Raven is a poem by Edgar Allen Poe that tells a story about a man that is grieving over his lost love. A raven appears and sits in his room, speaking only "nevermore." The man takes this as some kind of sign and asks the bird questions that he knows will be answered as "nevermore," and that will make him sad; the man likes being sad.
-the raven is a bird of prophecy; associated with mystery, evil omens, and death.
- end rhyme: similar or identical sounds at the ends of lines
-internal rhymes: rhymes within a line
-rhyme scheme: the basic pattern of the end rhymes (A,B,C,B,B...etc.)
-the raven is a bird of prophecy; associated with mystery, evil omens, and death.
- end rhyme: similar or identical sounds at the ends of lines
-internal rhymes: rhymes within a line
-rhyme scheme: the basic pattern of the end rhymes (A,B,C,B,B...etc.)
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Danse Macabre by Stephen King (Dance of Death) The Masque of Red Death
-big bug behind the door- getting to the door is the scariest part; behind the door is a relief. It's a no win situation-must find out what is behind the door eventually, can't drag out the suspense for too long or it loses its effect.
Allegory: two layers of meaning; most of the persons, objects, and events stand for abstract ideas or qualities. (In Danse Macabre, the masked man represents the red death; this is an allegory)
The Masque of Red Death
-Prince Prospero and his friends went into the abbey to try and avoid the plague.
-Prince Prospero had musicians, food, wine, and dancing within the abbey; it was like a big party whereas outside the abbey was just a lot of death and despair.
-Black and scarlet "apartment," like death ebony, monotonous clock that announces the hour, and as it does so, all that are partying stop/pause for a moment to aknowledge it, just for a moment until it's done chiming the hour. (disconcert, tremulousness, meditation instilled in the people by the chiming of the clock)
-Imagery with the description of the scene and how the clock makes all go silent and then light laughter and resuming partying.
-Masked stranger in the ballroom instills in the people surprise, then terror, horror, and disgust.
-masked man represents death-dressed like death, all are afraid of his "gaunt" figure-blood on himself
-Prince Prospero orders his courtiers to seize the dark intruder, and says he shall be hanged come morning, but no one will go near enough to the dark man to seize him.
-the masked man's costume is "untenanted by any tangible form"-represents the plague and that no one can escape from it. "He" kills everyone, and the clock stops chiming.
Allegory: two layers of meaning; most of the persons, objects, and events stand for abstract ideas or qualities. (In Danse Macabre, the masked man represents the red death; this is an allegory)
The Masque of Red Death
-Prince Prospero and his friends went into the abbey to try and avoid the plague.
-Prince Prospero had musicians, food, wine, and dancing within the abbey; it was like a big party whereas outside the abbey was just a lot of death and despair.
-Black and scarlet "apartment," like death ebony, monotonous clock that announces the hour, and as it does so, all that are partying stop/pause for a moment to aknowledge it, just for a moment until it's done chiming the hour. (disconcert, tremulousness, meditation instilled in the people by the chiming of the clock)
-Imagery with the description of the scene and how the clock makes all go silent and then light laughter and resuming partying.
-Masked stranger in the ballroom instills in the people surprise, then terror, horror, and disgust.
-masked man represents death-dressed like death, all are afraid of his "gaunt" figure-blood on himself
-Prince Prospero orders his courtiers to seize the dark intruder, and says he shall be hanged come morning, but no one will go near enough to the dark man to seize him.
-the masked man's costume is "untenanted by any tangible form"-represents the plague and that no one can escape from it. "He" kills everyone, and the clock stops chiming.
Monday, October 5, 2009
The Devil and Tom Walker
- Kidd the pirate buried treasure near a swamp. The devil watches over the treasure, but Kidd never returned to claim the treasure because he was caught in Boston and sent to England to be hanged for being a pirate.
- Tom Walker lives in England with his wife, they are "miserly" and are always "cheating each other." They don't agree on anything; they hate each other.
- Tom's wife beats him.
- On the way home one day, Tom takes a shortcut through the swamp. He reaches the fort where the treasure is buried and sits down for a moment's peace. As he is sitting, he pokes around at the "mold" or dirty rotten vegetables, and his staff hits something hard. It is an old Indian skull complete with tomahawk. He's looking at it when he hears a stranger's voice tell him to leave it alone. The stranger is a dark figure, a black figure, but neither Indian nor Negro.
- The devil has black hair, dingy and sooty face, an ax over his shoulder; red eyes.
- The trees in the forest are marked with the names of men in the colony. Deacon Peabody's tree is axed almost all the way through and about to fall over.
- Deacon Peabody isn't dead yet, but he will be soon , if the devil wills it.
- Tom thinks about the conditions (those that are not "spoken aloud") of the devil so that he may be able to have the hidden treasure. The devil puts a "print of a finger burnt" onto Tom's forehead that won't go away.
- Absalom Crowninshield dies; his tree in the swamp has been hacked down by the devil.
- Tom tells his wife about his encounter with the devil and about the treasure. His wife urges him to agree to the devil's conditions and "sell his soul" to the devil.
- Tom refuses to do this simply because he wants to disagree with his wife. He doesn't want to be damned on her account or to merely please her.
- Tom's wife decides to go to the devil herself and agree to the conditions on her own behalf, and if this works, keep all the treasure to herself. She meets the devil, has to go back with a "propitiatory" offering. (everything she owned that had value, silver, etc.) But she never returns home for days and no one hears from her again or knows what happened to her although there are many different stories about her how her disappearance comes to be.
- It was said that when Tom went to look for his wife, he found her apron in a tree next to a vulture. He climbed up to get it, and the vulture flew away screeching. Inside the apron, Tom found a heart and liver and not his valuables as he was expecting.
- Tom thought that perhaps the devil had fought with his wife who always put up a good fight. He was almost grateful the devil had probably killed his wife.
- Tom meets the devil again and decides that he will promise to anything if it will gain him the treasure.
- Tom is to become a broker in Boston with his treasure money and drive merchants to bankruptcy with high rate of interest (becomes an usurer)
- Tom walker becomes a broker/usurer in a time of hardship which is a more advantageous time for him to do well in his job and making money off of others. The people in Boston had had many a time on and off false senses of security and prosperity.
- Tom became very wealthy at his position as an usurer; he built a big house to impress others, but filled it with nothing, no furnishings. He is still very uptight with his money.
- Tom fears, though, his afterlife and his deal with the devil. So, to try and avoid this, he becomes an avid church-goer and after some time begins to go a little mad.
- One stormy day, Tom makes the mistake of getting irritated at a customer whom he had driven to bankruptcy. He says to the customer, "The devil take me if I have made a farthing!" (This is sarcasm implying that the devil can take him because he's done well for himself, why doesn't the devil just take him for actually making a decent living for himself)
- The devil appears with a black horse and Tom is taken away by the horse back to the swamp and Indian fort. Some say they saw the swamp burst into flame as Tom rode into it on the black horse. It is also said that all of Tom's possessions burned and became nothing but ash.
Gothic Literature
Gothic Literature- characterized by grotesque characters, bizarre situations, and violent events.
-originated in Europe, spread in the United States during the 19th century
-examples of Gothic Literature: Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Romanticism-
1) Limitations of reason
2) Individual spirit
3) Emotions
4) The splendors of nature
5) Imagination
6) Fascination with the supernatural
-examples of Romanticism in literature: Washington Irving, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Typical Romantic Literature includes:
7) Atmosphere
8) Sentiment
9) Optimism
Transcendentalism- "transcendent forms" of truth exist beyond reason and experience. (faith) "belief in something beyond the physical (karma, fate vs. free will, etc)
-every individual is capable of discovering this higher truth on his or her own, through intuition. (anti-christian belief, anti-puritanism, not achieved through God but on your own)
American Gothic- cavernous Gothic cathedrals, irregularly placed towers and high stained-glass windows were intended to inspire awe and fear in religious worshipers.
-gargoyles warded off evil spirits, looked more like demonic spirits, grotesque creatures, the mascot of Gothic, gives an idea of the kind of imaginative distortion of reality that Gothic represents
Romantic Movement- the imagination led to the threshold of the unknown; the shadowy region where the fantastic, the demonic, and the insane reside. Gothic territory, this perspective can be called "the dark side of individualism."
-Romantics see "hope"
-Gothics see "potential of evil" - the darkness of the supernatural
Edgar Allen Poe- dark medieval castles or decaying ancient estates provide the setting for weird and terrifying events.
-his male narrators: insane; female characters are beautiful and dead (or dying)
-murder, live burials, physical and mental torture and retribution from beyond the grave
-in such extreme situations, Poe thought people to reveal their true nature
Hawthorne- didn't look at the mind and its functions (or dysfunctions) like Poe, but instead examined the human heart under various conditions of fear, greed, vanity, mistrust, and betrayal.
-originated in Europe, spread in the United States during the 19th century
-examples of Gothic Literature: Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Romanticism-
1) Limitations of reason
2) Individual spirit
3) Emotions
4) The splendors of nature
5) Imagination
6) Fascination with the supernatural
-examples of Romanticism in literature: Washington Irving, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Typical Romantic Literature includes:
7) Atmosphere
8) Sentiment
9) Optimism
Transcendentalism- "transcendent forms" of truth exist beyond reason and experience. (faith) "belief in something beyond the physical (karma, fate vs. free will, etc)
-every individual is capable of discovering this higher truth on his or her own, through intuition. (anti-christian belief, anti-puritanism, not achieved through God but on your own)
American Gothic- cavernous Gothic cathedrals, irregularly placed towers and high stained-glass windows were intended to inspire awe and fear in religious worshipers.
-gargoyles warded off evil spirits, looked more like demonic spirits, grotesque creatures, the mascot of Gothic, gives an idea of the kind of imaginative distortion of reality that Gothic represents
Romantic Movement- the imagination led to the threshold of the unknown; the shadowy region where the fantastic, the demonic, and the insane reside. Gothic territory, this perspective can be called "the dark side of individualism."
-Romantics see "hope"
-Gothics see "potential of evil" - the darkness of the supernatural
Edgar Allen Poe- dark medieval castles or decaying ancient estates provide the setting for weird and terrifying events.
-his male narrators: insane; female characters are beautiful and dead (or dying)
-murder, live burials, physical and mental torture and retribution from beyond the grave
-in such extreme situations, Poe thought people to reveal their true nature
Hawthorne- didn't look at the mind and its functions (or dysfunctions) like Poe, but instead examined the human heart under various conditions of fear, greed, vanity, mistrust, and betrayal.
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