Class Novels
In Things Fall Apart, this specific crop represents masculinity, wealth, and the protagonist’s status within the clan.
What are yams?
Who is Janie's 3rd husband?
Who is Teacake (or Vergible Woods)
In the final stanza of "Barbie Doll," the poet places the image of the girl’s "turned-up putty nose" and pink silk dress directly alongside the "undertaker's" handiwork. This placement of a "pretty" bridal-like image against the reality of a corpse is an example of this literary term.
What is juxtaposition?
Who is the author of Things Fall Apart?
Who is Chinua Achebe?
A character whose physical journey mirrors internal change.
Free Response -
Character & Connection
This three-word phrase is repeated 106 times in the novel, appearing every time a death occurs, signaling the Tralfamadorian view of fatalism.
What is "So it goes"?
This character serves as a "foil" to Hamlet; unlike the Prince, he immediately seeks violent revenge for his father’s death without hesitation.
Who is Laertes?
Hamlet’s famous claim that he "must be cruel only to be kind" is an example of this—a statement that appears self-contradictory but reveals a deeper, complex truth.
What is a paradox?
When Vonnegut compares the sounds of the British POW's hammering to "Golgotha Sounds", this is an example of what literary device?
A character struggling against societal/traditional expectations
Free Response
Character & Connection
In court, why does Meursault say was his motivation for killing the Arab man at the beach?
What is the sun?
What are Kurz' last words?
In Slaughterhouse-Five, the character Edgar Derby is executed for "stealing" a teapot from the ruins of Dresden. Because the reader knows of his impending execution long before it happens—while Derby himself remains hopeful and survives the firebombing—this is a classic example of this type of irony.
What is dramatic irony?
The 19th-century movement of European expansion in Africa.
What is imperialism/colonialism?
A protagonist who is "Morally Ambiguous."
Free Response
Character & Connection
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, this object serves as the central symbol for Janie’s blossoming sensuality and her desire for a harmonious connection with nature.
What is the pear tree?
This character in the Everglades attempts to befriend Janie because of her fair skin and "Caucasian" features, expressing a deep-seated contempt for "black" African American features and serving as a foil to Janie’s search for self-acceptance.
Who is Mrs. Turner?
In Heart of Darkness, Kurz paints a picture of a blindfolded woman carrying a _____________ to highlight the blind and destructive nature of imperialism.
What is a lighted torch?
The Post-WWII style characterized by fragmentation and dark humor.
What is postmodernism?
A work where the setting acts as an antagonist.
Free Response
Text & Connection
What phrase does Marlow consistently use to describe the Ivory Trading Company headquarters in Brussels?
What is a whited sepulcher?
What are Meursault's opening lines in The Stranger that demonstrate his detachment towards life?
What is, "Maman died today"
Bonus: "or maybe yesterday, I don't know"
In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Joe Starks’s obsessive need for "big-ness" and control functions as this—the specific Greek term for a protagonist’s tragic flaw.
What is hamartia?
This 20th-century movement posits that humanity’s search for meaning is inherently at odds with a silent, indifferent universe.
What is absurdism?
A work that explores the "Paradox of Progress."
Free Respone
-Text & Connection