LIT TERMS 57-80

Genre: a category or class of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content.

 

Gothic Tale: a style in literature characterized by gloomy settings, violent or qrotesque action, and a mood of decay, degeneration, and decadence.

 

Hyperbole: an exaggerated statement often used as a figure of speech or to prove a point.

 

Imagery: figures of speech or vivid description, conveying images through any of the senses.

 

Implication: a meaning or understanding that is to be arrive at by the reader but that is not fully and explicitly stated by the author.

 

Incongruity: the deliberate joining of opposites or elements that are not appropriate to each other.

 

Inference: a judgement or conclusion based on evidence presented; the forming of an opinion which possesses some degree of probability according to facts already available.

 

Irony: a contrast or incongruity between what is said and what is meant, or what is expected to happen and what actually happens, or what is thought to be happening and what is actually happening.

Interior Monologue: a form of writing which represents the inner thoughts of a character; the recording of the internal, emotional experience of an individual; generally the reader is given the impression of overhearing the interior monologue.

 

Inversion: words out of order for emphasis.

Juxtaposition: the intentional placement of a word, phrase, sentence, or paragraph to contrast with another nearby.

Lyric: a poem having musical form and quality; a short outburst of the author's innermost thoughts and feelings.

Magical Realism: a genre developed in Latin America which juxtaposes the everyday with the marvelous or magical.

 

Metaphor: an analogy that compare two things imaginatively.

 

Metonymy: literally "name changing" a device of figurative language in which the name of an attribute or associated thing is substituted for the usual name for a thing.

 

Mode of discourse: argument, narration, description, and exposition.

 

Modernism: literary movement characterized by stylistic experimentation, rejection of tradition, interest in symbolism and psychology.

 

Monologue: an extended speech by a character in a play, short story, novel, or narrative poem.

Mood: the predominating atmosphere evoked by a literary piece.

 

Motif: a recurring feature (name, image, or phrase) in a piece of literature.

 

Myth: a story, often about immortals, and sometimes connected with religious rituals, that attempts to give meaning to the mysteries of the world.

Narrative: a story or description of events.

 

Narrator: one who narrates, or tells, a story.

 

Naturalism: extreme form of realism.

 

Novelette/Novella: short story; short prose narrative, often satirical.

 

Omniscient point of view: knowing all things, usually in third person.

 

Onomatopoeia: use of words whose sound in some degree imitates or suggests its meaning.

Oxymoron: a figure of speech in which two contradicting words or phrases are combined to produce a rhetorical effect by means of a concise paradox.

 

 

DICKENS CLAQ's

GENERAL
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read, and explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)

CHARACTERIZATION
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization. Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?
2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character? How? Example(s)?
3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.
4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.

General

1. Pip comes from a non-traditional background, he was an orphaned child who was being raised by his sister and her husband in London during the mid-nineteenth century. As he was in a graveyard gazing upon the tombstones of his family, a man attacked him from behind and threatened to kill. This man, Magwitch, turned out to be a criminal who had escaped from jail. Just as Pip was doing everything this man said in order to live another day, Magwitch was recaptured.

Recovering from this near-death experience, Pip's uncle took him to the Statis House to play. This house is the home of Miss Havisham. While in her home, Pip meets and falls in love with Estella. Estella was raised to break boys hearts at the request of Miss Havisham. She eventually married an abusive man. But just because she was married didn’t stop Pip’s persistent perusing of the young lady.

Pip was given a generous fortune from an unknown source. To claim his fortune, Pip had to travel to London where he could inherit this fortune at the age of twenty-one. While in London, Pip met Herbert Pockett, whom he aided with his fortune in order to help Herbert pursue his dreams. Magwitch turned out to be the source of Pip’s fortune, not Miss Havisham. Pip became close with the murderer and tried to help him escape London. But they failed and he was sentenced to death.

At the end, Pip discovered the love of his life, Estella, is Magwitch's daughter, but it doesn’t affect the feelings he has for her. They live happily ever after together.

2. A theme for this novel would be true love never fails. Even though Estella was rude and mean to Pip he still perused her. Even while she was married. He was able to see through the impurities and his persistence paid off.  


3. The tone of the novel is distressed and hopeful at the same time.

·         “Well then, understand once for all that I never shall or can be anything but miserable unless I can lead a very different sort of life form the life I lead now.”

·         “I walked away at a good pace, thinking it was easier to go than I had supposed it would be. But the village was very peaceful and quiet, and the light mists were solemnly rising, as if to show me the world, and I had been so innocent and little there, and all beyond was so unknown and great, that in a moment with a strong heave and I sob I broke into tears. “

·         “Nothing was needed but this; the wretched man, after loading wretched me with his gold and silver chains for years, had risked his life to come to me, and I held it there in my keeping! If I had been attracted to him by the strongest admiration and affection, instead of shrinking from him with the strongest repugnance; it could have been no worse. On the contrary, it would have been better, for his preservation would then have naturally and tenderly addressed my heart.”

4.

• Metaphor-"... think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day." (page 82) In this quote, the chains and flowers were metaphors for what could potentially hold the characters back from doing what they really wanted.
• Anaphora-"... one [man's] a blacksmith, and one's a whitesmith, and one's a goldsmith, and one's a coppersmith. Divisions among such must come, and must be met as they come." (page 260) This quote made a point that each man must be separated due to their profession.
• Narration-"...I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip." (page 1) Right from the beginning of the novel, Dickens identified Pip as the main character as well as the narrator.
• Foil- "Keep still, you little devil, or I'll cut your throat!" (page 1) This quote was made by Magwitch, the convict that attacked Pip at the beginning of the novel. This quote only made Pip look more innocent and defenseless and made Magwitch look more evil and crooked. Pip was identified as a young orphan who was visiting his parents tombstones as he got attacked by a criminal who escaped incarceration. These two descriptions made each character look opposite of another at this point in time.
• Setting- "As I was looking out at the iron gate of Bartholomew Close into Little Britain, I saw Miss Jaggers coming across the road towards me." (page 142) During this time in the novel setting was crucial since Pip had to travel to London to collect his fortune.
• Innuendo-"I give Pirrip as my father's family name, on the authority of his tombstone and my sister..." (page 1) Immediately we discover that Pip is an orphan without him directly saying so.
• Local Color- "I am going to London, Miss Pockett.." (page 136) London exists in this novel just as it does in reality. In fact, this is where Dickens grew up.
• Frame of reference-"Nevertheless, a hackney-coachmen, who seemed to have as many capes to his greasy great-coat as he was years old.." (page 139) During this era, coachmen were extremely common as well as popular.
• Point of view-"I looked all around for the horrible young man, and could see no signs of him." (page 5) This quotes proves that the point of view is in first person in this novel.
• Symbol- "I am greatly changed. I wonder you know me." (page 415). This quote by Estella represents change in this novel. All in all, I feel that Estella represents change and recovery throughout the whole novel.

Characterization

1. Direct characterization:

·         “I took the opportunity of being alone in the courtyard, to look at my coarse hands and my common boots. They had never troubled me before, but they troubled me now, as vulgar appendages.”

·         “She had her back towards me, and held her pretty brown hair spread out in her two hands, and never looked round, and passed out of my view directly.”

Indirect characterization:

·         “I cried, kicked the wall and took a hard twist at my hair.”

·         “I noticed that Miss Havisham put down the jewel exactly on the spot from which she had taken it up.”

2. The author’s syntax does change when he is focusing on a character. While narrating, he tells the story in regular English. But when a character is speaking, the English is broken and sometimes unintelligent. “I had not been mistaken in my fancy that there was a simple dignity in him. He touched me gently on the forehead and went out. As soon as I could recover myself sufficiently, I hurried out after him and looked for him in the neighbouring streets; but he was gone.” “I wish’, said the other, with a bitter curse upon the cold,’ that I had ‘em here. I’d sell all the friends I ever had, for one, and think it a blessed good barigain…”

3. Pip is dynamic and round character. At the beginning of the novel, he was a small, young boy with little chance at becoming successful in life. Then he was presented with the opportunity of being rich and respected. He also went from fearing a man who tried to kill him, to becoming his acquaintance and helping him escape.

4. After reading the novel, I feel like I had met a person. Pip is a very easy character to relate to. The love story within the novel helps the reader become attached to Pip. His story pulls at the reader’s heartstrings. “You have always held your place in my heart.” I answered. This line pulls together the whole idea of true love waits. It shows that Pip waited and waited for Estella no matter the cost and he probably would have waited for her until the day he died.

Active reading notes: Great Expectations

Pip, a young orphan living with his sister and her husband in the marshes of Kent, sits in a cemetery one evening looking at his parents’ tombstones. Suddenly, an escaped convict springs up from behind a tombstone, grabs Pip, and orders him to bring him food and a file for his leg irons. Pip obeys, but the fearsome convict is soon captured anyway. The convict protects Pip by claiming to have stolen the items himself

One day Pip is taken by his Uncle Pumblechook to play at Satis House, the home of the wealthy dowager Miss Havisham, who is extremely eccentric: she wears an old wedding dress everywhere she goes and keeps all the clocks in her house stopped at the same time. During his visit, he meets a beautiful young girl named Estella, who treats him coldly and contemptuously. Nevertheless, he falls in love with her and dreams of becoming a wealthy gentleman so that he might be worthy of her. He even hopes that Miss Havisham intends to make him a gentleman and marry him to Estella, but his hopes are dashed when, after months of regular visits to Satis House, Miss Havisham decides to help him become a common laborer in his family’s business.
With Miss Havisham’s guidance, Pip is apprenticed to his brother-in-law, Joe, who is the village blacksmith. Pip works in the forge unhappily, struggling to better his education with the help of the plain, kind Biddy and encountering Joe’s malicious day laborer, Orlick. One night, after an altercation with Orlick, Pip’s sister, known as Mrs. Joe, is viciously attacked and becomes a mute invalid. From her signals, Pip suspects that Orlick was responsible for the attack

One day a lawyer named Jaggers appears with strange news: a secret benefactor has given Pip a large fortune, and Pip must come to London immediately to begin his education as a gentleman. Pip happily assumes that his previous hopes have come true—that Miss Havisham is his secret benefactor and that the old woman intends for him to marry Estella
In London, Pip befriends a young gentleman named Herbert Pocket and Jaggers’s law clerk, Wemmick. He expresses disdain for his former friends and loved ones, especially Joe, but he continues to pine after Estella. He furthers his education by studying with the tutor Matthew Pocket, Herbert’s father. Herbert himself helps Pip learn how to act like a gentleman. When Pip turns twenty-one and begins to receive an income from his fortune, he will secretly help Herbert buy his way into the business he has chosen for himself. But for now, Herbert and Pip lead a fairly undisciplined life in London, enjoying themselves and running up debts. Orlick reappears in Pip’s life, employed as Miss Havisham’s porter, but is promptly fired by Jaggers after Pip reveals Orlick’s unsavory past. Mrs. Joe dies, and Pip goes home for the funeral, feeling tremendous grief and remorse. Several years go by, until one night a familiar figure barges into Pip’s room—the convict, Magwitch, who stuns Pip by announcing that he, not Miss Havisham, is the source of Pip’s fortune. He tells Pip that he was so moved by Pip’s boyhood kindness that he dedicated his life to making Pip a gentleman, and he made a fortune in Australia for that very purpose.
Pip is appalled, but he feels morally bound to help Magwitch escape London, as the convict is pursued both by the police and by Compeyson, his former partner in crime. A complicated mystery begins to fall into place when Pip discovers that Compeyson was the man who abandoned Miss Havisham at the altar and that Estella is Magwitch’s daughter. Miss Havisham has raised her to break men’s hearts, as revenge for the pain her own broken heart caused her. Pip was merely a boy for the young Estella to practice on; Miss Havisham delighted in Estella’s ability to toy with his affections.
As the weeks pass, Pip sees the good in Magwitch and begins to care for him deeply. Before Magwitch’s escape attempt, Estella marries an upper-class lout named Bentley Drummle. Pip makes a visit to Satis House, where Miss Havisham begs his forgiveness for the way she has treated him in the past, and he forgives her. Later that day, when she bends over the fireplace, her clothing catches fire and she goes up in flames. She survives but becomes an invalid. In her final days, she will continue to repent for her misdeeds and to plead for Pip’s forgiveness.

The time comes for Pip and his friends to spirit Magwitch away from London. Just before the escape attempt, Pip is called to a shadowy meeting in the marshes, where he encounters the vengeful, evil Orlick. Orlick is on the verge of killing Pip when Herbert arrives with a group of friends and saves Pip’s life. Pip and Herbert hurry back to effect Magwitch’s escape. They try to sneak Magwitch down the river on a rowboat, but they are discovered by the police, who Compeyson tipped off. Magwitch and Compeyson fight in the river, and Compeyson is drowned. Magwitch is sentenced to death, and Pip loses his fortune. Magwitch feels that his sentence is God’s forgiveness and dies at peace. Pip falls ill; Joe comes to London to care for him, and they are reconciled. Joe gives him the news from home: Orlick, after robbing Pumblechook, is now in jail; Miss Havisham has died and left most of her fortune to the Pockets; Biddy has taught Joe how to read and write. After Joe leaves, Pip decides to rush home after him and marry Biddy, but when he arrives there he discovers that she and Joe have already married
Pip decides to go abroad with Herbert to work in the mercantile trade. Returning many years later, he encounters Estella in the ruined garden at Satis House. Drummle, her husband, treated her badly, but he is now dead. Pip finds that Estella’s coldness and cruelty have been replaced by a sad kindness, and the two leave the garden hand in hand, Pip believing that they will never part again

THE TIME OF MY LIFE

Today in class I used my time to make a list of every thing I need to do by the end of this month.. Here is the list I came up with..
1. Pay off Hawaii Trip
2. Finish scholarship apps
3. Apply to Fullerton Honors Program
4. Help my knee to heal at quickly as possible
5. Lose 10 pounds
6. Get caught up on English homework
7. CLEAN MY ROOM

I'm sure the list will extend as the month progresses, but it is nice to have a game plan of what I'm looking at for the next 28 days.

WHATS THE STORY?

Why did Charles Dickens write the novel you're reading/reviewing? What in your analysis of literary techniques led you to this conclusion?

I believe that Dickens wrote Great Expectations to show people that money isn't everything. You can be happy without money, or fame. All you need is good people by your side and reasonable ambitions.
What led me to this conclusion was Dickens use of antagonism. Having Mrs. Havishm and Estella as antagonists to the protagonist, Pip, it helped me to see that the two women really weren't happy at all. Their happiness was materialistic and fictional. Pip thinks that he needs all those fancy things in order to be happy too, but in the end he realizes that he can create his own happiness, just by being around the people he loves, doing the things he loves.

LIT TERMS 31-56

Dialect: the language of a particular district, class, or group of persons; the sounds , grammar, and diction employed by people distinguished from others.

Dialectics: formal debates usually over the nature of truth.

Dichotomy: split or break between two opposing things.

Diction: the style of speaking or writing as reflected in the choice and use of words.

Didactic: having to do with the transmission of information; education.

Dogmatic: rigid beliefs and principles.

Elegy: a mournful, melancholy poem, especially a funeral song or lament for the dead, sometimes contains general reflections on death, often with a rural or pastoral setting.

Epic: a long narrative poem unified be a hero who reflects the customs, morals, and aspirations of his nation of race as he makes his way through legendary and historic exploits, usually over a long period of time (definition bordering on circumlocution).

Epigram: witty aphorism.

Epitaph: any brief inscription in prose or verse on a tombstone; a short formal poem of commemoration often a credo written by the person who wishes it to be on his tombstone.

Epithet: a short, descriptive name or phrase that may insult someone's character, characteristics.

Euphemism: the use of indirect, mild or vague word or expression for one though to be coarse, offensive, or blunt.

Evocative (evocation): a calling forth of memories and sensation; the suggestion or production through artistry and imagination of a sense of reality.

Exposition: the beginning of a story that sets forth facts, ideas and/or characters, in a detailed explanation.

Expressionism: movement in art, literature, and music consisting of unrealistic representation of an inner idea or feeling.

Fable: a short, simple story, usually with animals as characters, designed to teach a moral truth.

Fallacy: a false or misleading notion, belief, or argument; any kind of erroneous reasoning that makes arguments unsound.

Falling Action: part of the narrative or drama after the climax.

Farce: a boisterous comedy involving ludicrous action and dialogue.

Figurative Language: apt and imaginative language characterized by figures of speech.

Flashback: a narrative device that flashes back to prior events.

 

Foil: a person that, by contrast, makes another seem better or more prominent.

Folk Tale: a story passed on by word of mouth

Foreshadowing: in fiction and drama, a device to prepare the reader for the outcome of the action; "planning" to make the outcome convincing, though not to give it away.

Free Verse: verse without conventional metrical pattern, with irregular pattern or no rhyme.