Society & Disease
This term refers to Albert Camus' philosophical theory that the universe is irrational and meaningless, but although man's search for meaning is futile, one should struggle, live, and embrace the unknown anyway.
Absurdism
This term refers to the refusal to obey laws that goes against one's moral code.
Civil Disobedience
Chokecherry Tree
In The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Esther imagines herself as sitting beneath this plant, where she sees multiple branching futures—each one representing a different life path she feels unable to choose without losing the others.
Fig Tree
In Georges Perec's Species of Spaces, the book is organized as an escalating taxonomy beginning with this space.
The page
In Albert Camus' The Plague, this event inspired Father Paneloux's change of mind in his second sermon.
The death of the innocent boy (Philippe, the son of M. Othon)
According to Thoreau, the cost of a thing is not money, but...
The amount of "life which is required to be exchanged" for it
This concept in the novel Beloved describes how the past is not confined to memory but can reappear with physical force and emotional immediacy, shaping the present.
Rememory
This character in The Bell Jar is portrayed as Esther's "double," and her successful suicide represents the dark fate that might have happened to Esther.
Joan Gilling
This thought experiment was designed to determine whether maximum pleasure is the purpose of life.
The Experience Machine
Cottard benefits from the epidemic by engaging in this criminal activity
Smuggling cigarettes and alcohol
In Walden, Thoreau describes a neighbor who offers him this household item to help keep his cabin clean, which he ultimately refuses as part of his commitment to simplicity.
This character in Toni Morrison's Beloved is described as having a "tobacco tin" in place of a heart
Paul D
This event contributes to Esther Greenwood’s growing sense that her future is narrowing and marks an early step in her psychological decline.
Rejection from Harvard summer writing course
In his commencement speech, David Foster Wallace notes that this is the only real freedom or choice that we have.
The choice to decide what to worship/ how to think.
At the end of Camus' novel, this symbol is a metaphor for the unknowns of the universe, all the meaningless suffering that can strike again at any time.
The "plague bacillus."
In David Foster Wallace's commencement speech, "This is Water," he starts with a parable about these creatures
The parable of the young & old fish
In Toni Morrison's Beloved, Denver’s name comes from this character from Sethe's past.
Amy Denver (the girl who helped Sethe when she was pregnant and fleeing slavery).
In Otessa Moshfegh's novel, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, the protagonist idolizes this celebrity as a beacon of authenticity.
Whoopi Goldberg
In Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Gregor stays at his job as a traveling salesman for this reason.
His parents owe his employer money.
At the end of Camus' The Plague, this character is revealed as the narrator.
Dr. Rieux
This term is what David Foster Wallace refers to as everyone's natural self-centeredness.
Default Setting
In Beloved, this is forcibly taken from Sethe during her time at Sweet Home, and its theft becomes a central symbol of bodily violation and disrupted motherhood.
Breast Milk
In the novel, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, this character is portrayed as the foil or "opposite" of the protagonist because she experiences life while the narrator sleeps it away.
Reva
This is Gregor's dream for his sister, Grete, who is his primary caretaker.
To send her to music school.