Summaries and Analyses of Literature

The American Dream
-Meaning: show how the typical consumer driven American dream has become something very negative. Edward Albee shows the reader this through the characters in this play, people who are completely preoccupied with material goods and what others think of them.
-Characters: Mommy, an over manipulative and completely unsatisfied individual plays dictator to Daddy, a character shown as weak and emasculated. The obvious flaws of these two characters are even further drawn out through the use of character Grandma, who represents the old American dream; she's not tied up in consumerism and is instead shown as the only character the audience can really like. Though Grandma is agreeable to the reader, she is continually being shut down by Mommy and Daddy, something that both drives the reader crazy, as well as proves the point that Mommy and Daddy are trying to rid themselves of the old American dream in order to focus on getting satisfaction, which to them is never achievable.
-View, Tone, Imagery, and Symbolism: written in play form, and written with the tone of of someone who disagrees with the modern American dream. Imagery is greatly centered around deformity (their bumble being mutated by them), probably pointing to the characters thoughts being greatly contorted.
-Author, Setting, Plot: Edward Albee, living room of Mommy/Daddy/Grandma's apartment, written as a play to make light of the past, present, and future American dreams.
-Quotes: Due to me finding this section as worthless because there's no way come essay time that I will remember any quotes from any text, I'd like to use this space to instead talk about satisfaction. The idea of satisfaction in this play is crucial, brought up again and again to show that no matter how hard Daddy and especially Mommy try to fulfill their ideas of the American dream, they will never obtain satisfaction.

Death of a Salesman
-Meaning: Arthur Miller wrote Death of a Salesman to critique American's in their dream for materialistic wealth through the use of a middle class family who tries to make their expectations reality and fails immensely.
-Characters: Linda, Willy, Biff, Happy. Also Uncle Ben.
-View, Tone, Imagery, and Symbolism: Written in play form, the tone of the piece is very serious, sort of depressing. Imagery is seen mostly in Willy's flashbacks, especially the stockings, along with Biff's football days. See below for the stockings symbol.
-Author, Setting, Plot: Arthur Miller, set in the late 1940's. This book is about a family who has great conflict with eachother. The father Willy sees a lot of himself in Biff and wants him to do better than he has done in the business world so he can become successful like his brother Ben was. Willy dislikes Happy to an extent because Happy is a reflection of Willy's bad qualities. Linda supports Willy through his flashbacks throughout the novel and is continually there for him.
-Quotes: Stockings were a very key object I'd like to talk about here. There were emphasized in our class discussions because they were something Willy gave to his common whore, but not to Linda. This symbolizes Willy's want to gain in the business world, but his failure in doing so because he still cannot provide for Linda.

Ceremony
-Meaning: By written story (instead of the oral tradition) Leslie Marmon Silko educates the reader towards the Native American culture and shows how they have been oppressed by white culture. The book features deep undertones of Silko's urge for Native Americans to return partially to their roots.
-Characters: Tayo, the main character is a young man who recently got back from the war and is experiencing post traumatic stress. The only way to rid himself of this is by undergoing a ceremony. His old friend turned enemy Emo, is the "bad guy" in this book. There's also the medicine man, a helper to Tayo, along with Night Swan, who helps him with fulfilling his ceremony.
-View, Tone, Imagery, and Symbolism: Third person, undertones of resentfulness towards white culture, light imagery of Tayo's World War two flashbacks.
-Author, Setting, Plot: Leslie Marmon Silko, post World War two on a Native American reservation. Tayo needs to carry out a ceremony to rid himself of post traumatic stress and become more rooted to his native culture.
-Quotes: Something interesting to remember is the color blue that Night Swan is represented with. The color blue and the rain/storms that accompany her in this story create a calm feeling for the reader when she is present.

Pride and Prejudice
-Meaning: The book demonstrates that an individual way of thinking is often times more highly praised than following societal norms. This is proven by the ladder of women and their husbands; on top, Elizabeth, who was almost completely truly individualistic and because of that got rewarded with true love and a wealthy man. Then Jane, one who knew right and wrong, but had less bullheadedness towards finding a husband and was more pragmatic in marriage. Charlotte was lower, marrying to be comfortable in life, and Lydia, marrying spontaneously and on a whim, she was seen as the fool of the novel.
-Characters: This novel is from Elizabeth Bennet's point of view. She has sisters four sisters, most importantly Jane who marries Mr. Bingley and Lydia who runs off and marries Wickham. Her father is controlled by her mothers desires to see her daughters married. Elizabeth finally gets together with Mr. Darcy, who she earlier deems as a horrible man but comes to the conclusion she has misinterpreted him.
-View, Tone, Imagery, and Symbolism: Elizabeth Bennet tells the story. The entire book is told with great detail to setting and description.
-Author, Setting, Plot: Jane Austin, early 1800's in Longbourn, England. This plot is like a step ladder of love and waiting (see meaning).
-Quotes: The dynamic between the mother and father is very much like the dynamic between the mother and father in Fifth Business.

Hamlet
-Meaning: The play Hamlet shows the reader that actions speak louder than words. Ophelia's death and Claudius killing old Hamlet and marrying his wife speaks louder than both their lies to Hamlet. Hamlet speaking of getting revenge is much different than what he does for ninety percent of the play. Peoples words do not match their actions.
-Characters: Hamlet, and old Hamlet. Claudius, Hamlets uncle that killed his father. Gertrude, Hamlets mother and Claudius' new wife. Fortinbras, who Hamlet swears the throne of Denmark to with his dying breathes. Horatio, Hamlets friend from college. The ghost of old Hamlet, Ophelia, Hamlet's lover. Laertes, Ophelias brother, and Polonius, their father.
-View, Tone, Imagery, and Symbolism: Written as a play, dark tone with much emphasis on fighting. The ghost of old Hamlet is a symbol of death and says something along the lines of paying his dues for what he did on earth in the scorching pits of hell. The ghost also plays on the theme that nothing is certain in life, as the ghosts existence is questioned repeatedly.
-Author, Setting, Plot: William Shakespeare, Denmark, this play is about Hamlet, a young man who's father has just been killed by his uncle, his new step father. Hamlet swears to take revenge and up until the last act, this play is about the utter stagnancy of his actions and petty use of words.
-Quotes: Remember that to the Christian religion, killing yourself is a damnable sin. This is key to Ophelia. Also, Fortinbras was patient in his actions and was in the end rewarded, unlike many of the other characters in this play.

Fifth Business
-Meaning: Show the reader how utterly relatable a member of "fifth business" is, someone who is in the middle. A person who is the odd man out, the third wheel, who is essential to the story, but is neither the hero or the villain.
-Characters: Amasa and Mary Dempster, the preacher and his wife who after being hit with a snowball prematurely births Paul Dempster (who in his adult life is a Magician). Dunstan is the main character, with his almost foil character Percy "Boy" Staunton. Dunny's mother and father are present in the novel, though his mother is shown to have a negative impact on his life, causing him to have deeply set feelings of guilt. Lastly, there's Liesl, a character who does what she does for herself, a confidante. Liesl is responsible for much of Dunstan's realizations about his past, as well as explains the concept of fifth business to him. Excess characters include Leola, Boy's wife who makes up the third-wheel type relationship of Dunstan, Boy, and herself. Faustina, in Paul's entourage, she is beautiful but engages in acts with Liesl.
-View, Tone, Imagery, and Symbolism: Written from Dunstan Ramsay's point of view, the tone is very sentimental. Images of the setting are explained in great detail. The pebble Percy throws in the snowball that hits Mrs. Dempster is probably a symbol, of what though, I am unsure.
-Author, Setting, Plot: Robertson Davies, the novel starts in 1908 and is told by Dunstan when he is in his sixties. Dunstan "Dunny" Ramsay recounts his life to the headmaster at the school he is retiring from through the form of letters. He seems like he has something to prove to himself in telling his life story; possibly that he wasn't just "fifth business".
-Quotes: Something I'd like to remember when thinking about this book is the relevance of the poem "Sunday Mornings". Dunny's relationship to his mother can be compared to the relationship of the narrator of this poem to his parents. The two books for the AP exam that I'm going to try to focus on are Death of a Salesman and Fifth Business. Due to the assignment to prepare two works you feel you understand involving necessary memorization of textual quotes, I feel it's appropriate to mention these now: "Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground." -Death of a Salesman (Willy is planting seeds. Symbolic because he feels he's accomplished nothing due to not being a good salesman, and needs to make up for this somehow in order to support his family. "Do you know who I think you are, Ramsay? I think you are Fifth Business" -Fifth Business (Key to this novel as it emphasizes the meaning by bringing light to Ramsay as the inevitable fifth.)