English Exam 1 Authors

Front 1

Herman Melville (Bartleby)

Back 1

Was controversial.
Challenged the status quo.
Inditing the narrator as a self centered man.
He sees himself at Bartleby.
Allegory- The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.

Front 2

Edgar allen poe (The cask of Amontillado and Tell-Tale Heart)

Back 2

1st professional writer.
Inventor of detective story.
Created new kind of poetry.
Used gothic horror fiction.
Misunderstood genius.
Orphan at age 1. Died at 40, it was a mysterious death.
Had gambling debts.

Front 3

unreliable characters

Back 3

sick lady from the yallow wall-paper.
Lady from the turn of the screw.

Front 4

Stephen Crane

Back 4

Novelist/poet
"art is a nild of pain"
1st modern american writer.
Saw humans as beings ruled by hostile circumstances.
Naturalism: humans as animals in the natural world.
He believed in darwin's process of selection.

Front 5

Cask of Amontillado (Edgar Allen Poe)

Back 5

First person. Masterpiece of psychological realism.
Unreliable narrator: Doesn't have some views as author (Tell tale heart).
Appears sane.
Homosexual attraction.
Audience: From death bed to his priest.
Narrative irony.

Front 6

Tell tale heart (poe)

Back 6

Narrator wants to persuade reader to think he's sane. (unreliable)
He thinks he's telling the truth and it's clever.
Lacks moral context.
Eludes Mcbeth. (both referred to as "old man").

Front 7

Cask of Amontillado and Tell tale heart

Back 7

Both stories don't have clear motivation for murder.

Front 8

Bartleby (Melville)

Back 8

1st person.
B becomes object of obsession for narrator.
Heroic figure, pity.

Front 9

Bartleby interpretations
B= Bartleby

Back 9

1. Reliable- Lawyer is compassionate and wants to help. B is unable to be helped. Solves mystery.
B's unemployment intensified depression lost character by the time he worked for lawyer. The narrator has good intensions.
2. Unreliable- Lone digression. Warns reader about narrorator. The narrorator is self centered, conventional (sees life through narrow vision).
B symblolic of unconvintional creative parson, artist.
Defence for death, tries to show responsibility for death.

Front 10

Bartleby Allusions

Back 10

Narrarator finds B in empty office. Roman general, defeated, died insane.
Classical hero, iscolated tragic hero.

Front 11

Bartleby

Back 11

Dead letter.
Narr is reliable/compass intends to solve mystery.
B is having trouble trying to find meaning to life. Narr suggests sorting mail to people who had died. That job increased his melencholy temper. "Dead letter office" (where he works) explains how narr. cant save him.
B challenges conventional outlook of society.
Narr. feels guilt about death, he tries to rationalize with the story, too self centered to understand. cautious business man.

Front 12

Bartleby

Back 12

Language used is revealing.
"poor fellow..."
Shows self centered.
"B is usefull to him"
Keeps B because it'll cost him little/nothing. can pay him little, does good work.
wants to show hes a good christian and starts to worry about his reputation, fires him.
Narr. tries to impress reader with kindness, unknowingly indites himself in beginning.
"profound conviction..."

John jacob or aster- richest man at the time.
The narr. name drops because he was trying to impress

Front 13

Bartleby key references

Back 13

lord byron, eng romantic poet.
popular name.
reason B wont do work, because he is creative.

B doesnt respond to narr. just stares at bust sisero.
clarifys relationship to B.
B realizes narr will betray him just as polititions in Bust of S.
Sis: spokesman in Roman senate was murdered.
B realizes narr. is hypocrit and will sell him out.
Narr. doesnt fire emplyees so he can think better of himself; not a true friend
bartleby hass effect on other emplyees

Front 14

An occurrence at owl creek bridge (bierce)

Back 14

1st person.
Trick conclusion.
Victim of his own bad values.
Film leaves out 2nd section (important)
Conlcusion conveys bleek view of human...
Fought in civil war went to mexico and disappeared.
Theme- All people are sentenced to death.