American Lit 1 Final Exam
Gothic correct answers - This Theme is "an image-language in which to examine
social...fears
- A Work should combine a fearful sense of inheritance in time with a claustrophobic
sense of enclosure in space, these two dimensions reinforcing one another to produce
an impression of sickening descent into disintegration.
Gothic Themed Work Should Invoke: correct answers The tyranny of the past (a family
curse, the survival of archaic forms of despotism and of superstition) with such weight
as to stifle the hopes of the present (the liberty of the heroine or hero) within the dead-
end of physical incarceration (the dungeon, the locked room, or simply the confinements
of a family house closing in upon itself).
Gothic Relationship to the Enlightenment correct answers .... Reliance on reason may
appear to remove mystery, but only at the expense of outlawing large expanses of
actual experience, the experience of the emotions, the passions.... According to such an
interpretation, fear is both the root and the product of the attempt to bring all things
under rational control
American Gothic correct answers This theme is "a gothic fiction, nonrealistic and
negative, sadist and melodramatic—a literature of darkness and the grotesque in a land
of light and affirmation"
Elements of the Gothic correct answers Darkness, Terror, Isolation, Taboo, Dream-like
quality, paranoia
Thematic Concerns of Gothic correct answers innocence and guilt, power and
powerlessness, alienation of individual from society, the inescapability of the past, the
divided self
My Kinsman, Major Molineux correct answers Critics have noted that the procession in
the story closely resembles descriptions of medieval religious pageants.
This story has been described as a "coming of age" story, which traditionally involves
juvenile loss or discontent.
The end of the story suggests the possibility that Robin's experience might have been a
dream.
What did Freud say about the meaning of dreams, and how might his ideas apply?
correct answers content is both the manifest and latent content in a dream, that is, the
dream itself as it is remembered, and the hidden meaning of the dream.
Dreams-The Royal Road to the Unconscious.
The "Royal Road" to the Unconscious.
, Dreams embody the involuntary occurrences within the mind throughout various stages
of sleep.
Nathaniel Hawthorne correct answers Born in Salem, MA. Fathers ancestors were
early settlers and prominent puritans. Father was a sea captain, died when Hawthorne
was 4. Large household, and he read a great deal especially because of a foot injury as
a child. Attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick. Became friend with other writers, but
couldn't make any money writing. Wrote a novel about a female character and finally
achieved success. Very critical of civil war and Lincoln.
The Ministers Black Veil correct answers Mr. Hooper (preacher in small town) is
wearing a black semi-transparent veil that obscures all of his face but his mouth and
chin from view. Congregation and surrounding town is confused and fearful. Caused
Horror and gloom, children fled, even his wife left him.
Gothic Elements in Ministers Black Veil correct answers Darkness, Terror, Isolation,
Taboo, dream-like and paronioa
Gothic Themes in Ministers Black Veil correct answers Innocence and guilt, power and
powerlessness, alienation of individual from society, Inescapability of the past, THE
DVIDED SELF
Ambiguous Meanings in Ministers Black Veil correct answers Is Hooper an alienated or
misunderstood outsider or a scapegoat?
Does the story criticize Puritan judgmentalism?
Does the story criticize Puritan doctrines? Preoccupation with sin? Fanaticism?
"Covered with his black veil, he ... wrought so deep an impression, that the legislative
measures of that year, were characterized by all the gloom and piety of our earliest
ancestral sway" (416)
On the contrary, does the story affirm Puritan doctrines (such as original sin)?
Does it criticize secret pride?
Is it about the masks we all wear?
Edgar Allan Poe correct answers Lots of Misinformation on his history because of his
rival Rufus Griswold. Parents were actors. At 1 his father left, at 2 his mother died, he
was taken in by a Richmond tobacco merchant. Moved to England, came back to UVA,
and excelled, but had no $ for school because of gambling and drinking. Withdrew from
UVA. Baltimore he lived with Aunt. Army, then Westpoint back to Richmond. Drinking
trouble. Married his young cousin, died on a trip to Balitmore, cause of death
controversial.
William Wilson correct answers "The Split Self" - main character is telling us his story,
his background and childhood in a gothic boarding school with a rival with his same
name. Ends up killing himself because he is so horrified by double self.
