Themes & Symbols
Toot on this to assemble a meeting. Smash it when your society crumbles to pieces.
What is the conch?
This would-be blacksmith's apprentice had a mysterious benefactor that turned out to be his crush's father.
Who is Pip?
Or, who is Phillip Pirrip? (Bonus point)
In this memoir, one man recounts his experience as a prisoner and slave.
What is Night by Elie Wiesel?
"You get me a file...and you get me wittles."
Who is the convict aka Abel Magwitch in Great Expectations.
"Sky-burner" and "Horde-watcher" both use this literary device to describe a dragon.
What is a kenning?
This novel had themes of redemption, the destruction of traditional culture, and racial oppression.
Cry, the Beloved Country
This warrior has super-human strength and swimming skills.
Who is Beowulf?
This epic has over 688 translations.
What is Beowulf by anonymous?
"You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you. Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are what they are?"
Who is The Lord of the Flies aka the pig's head on a stick in Lord of the Flies.
When the story of Cain and Abel is referenced in Beowulf, that is an example of this literary device.
What is an allusion?
This is "the ugliest thing there is" - aka pure evil, or the devil.
What is the Lord of the Flies?
This Jesus-like figure spoke to a pig's head on a stick. Or....did he?
Who is Simon?
This novel, which was quite literally incepted on a dark and stormy night, was originally published under a pen name.
What is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein?
"Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?"
Who is Elie Wiesel in Night?
This describes the attitude or feeling conveyed by the writer or the speaker.
What is tone?
This dual theme from Great Expectations connected to Pip's drive to no longer be common so he could gain Estella's hand in marriage.
What is social class and ambition?
He teaches himself to read, write, and speak by spying on a family for over a year.
Who is the monster? (Frankenstein)
This author saw apartheid coming, and wrote a novel to speak out against it.
What is Cry, the Beloved Country?
“You had not your little wits sharpened by their intriguing against you, suppressed and defenseless, under the mask of sympathy and pity and whatnot, that is soft and soothing.—I had.”
Who is Estella in Great Expectations?
This large contrast calls attention to extremes. For example, the monster, who is hideously grotesque, has beautiful command of the English language because he learns to speak by reading and hearing the novel Paradise Lost.
What is juxtaposition?
This theme explores the relationship between self-imposed exile, and exile that is forced upon you. For example, how the creature in Frankenstein is shunned from society versus Dr. Frankenstein, who shuts himself away from the world to make his monster.
What is alienation and isolation?
He writes about why the racial structures are unjust in South Africa, and is killed by a black man who is the son of a priest.
Who is Arthur Jarvis?
This novel was inspired by war and written by a former navy man and teacher.
What is Lord of the Flies?
"Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow."
Who is Dr. Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein?
This repetition of structure is used to reinforce an idea. For example: "He lighted the candle from the flaring match with great deliberation, and dropped the match, and trod it out." (Great Expectations)
What is parallel structure?