Context Clues
As a Transcendentalist, Henry David Thoreau is an excellent example of a NONCONFORMIST, someone whose views or behavior challenges the status quo.
What does NONCONFORMIST mean?
someone whose views or behavior challenges the status quo
DEFINE: What is a "theme" in a text?
The message or takeaway of a text. "Moral of the story" is not an acceptable response, as themes are not necessarily moral.
e.g. The theme of Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," is that death is an inevitable part of life.
"Death" alone is not a theme but rather a motif, or reoccuring idea.
FILL IN THE BLANK: Walt Whitman's poem "O Captain! My Captain!" is a(n) ____________ for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The "captain" in the poem is Abraham Lincoln, while the "ship" is the United States.
SIMILE, HYPERBOLE, ALLUSION, or PERSONIFICATION?
Allusion.
TRUE OR FALSE: An author's purpose is what they want from their audience.
TRUE.
In the rhetorical situation, purpose is the intersection between author and audience.
TRUE OR FALSE: Mood is an author's attitude toward a subject.
FALSE
Mood is the emotional atmosphere surrounding a text. Tone is attitude. They are similar concepts that can overlap, but they are not completely synonymous.
The final school bell EMANCIPATED students from the classroom; they were now free to enjoy their summer.
What does EMANCIPATED mean?
Freed or released
DEFINE: What is "logos"?
A logical appeal
e.g. "All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal."
FILL IN THE BLANK: In Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death," the masked figure who arrives at Prince Prospero's party is a(n) _______ of the Red Death, as everyone is afflicted with the disease and dies afterward.
PERSONIFICATION, HYEPERBOLE, SIMILE, or METAPHOR?
Personification
FILL IN THE BLANK: "What to the Slave is the 4th of July" appeals to the audience's _________, as Frederick Douglas attempts to make his predominantly white audience feel ashamed for their complicity when it comes to slavery in the United States.
EMOTIONS, ETHICS, or LOGIC.
Emotions.
"Pathos" is an appeal to the audience's emotions as a matter of attempting to persuade them.
FILL IN THE BLANK: Edgar Allan Poe sets a mood of __________ in "The Raven" with the opening line, "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary."
FEAR, UNEASINESS, EXHAUSTION, or UNCERTAINTY
Exhaustion.
The use of the alliteration "weak and weary" draws the reader's attention to how tired the speaker of the poem feels.
Ms. Bridger received ADULATION from her students and colleagues as she received her award; they clapped, cheered, and offered their congratuations.
What does ADULATION mean?
Admiration or praise
DEFINE: What is a "metaphor"?
A device comparing two unlike things w/o using "like" or "as," or directly referring to one thing as another in an abstract sense.
e.g. Her smile was a ray of sunshine, even on the darkest day.
FILL IN THE BLANK: In Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," the woman the narrator sees trapped in the wallpaper is a(n) ________ for how she feels trapped in the house, in her marriage, and in her own mind.
ALLUSION, HYPERBOLE, METAPHOR, or ONOMATOPOEIA?
Metaphor
FILL IN THE BLANK: Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" appeals to the audience's sense of ___, as Thoreau philosophizes about the morality of breaking the law when one believes the law is unjust.
EMOTIONS, ETHICS, or LOGIC.
Ethics.
"Ethos" is an appeal to audience's common values, expectations, or sense of morality (right vs. wrong).
FILL IN THE BLANK: In response to his wife and Mrs. Peters discussing Minnie Wright's preserved fruit jars bursting in Glaspell's Trifles, Mr. Hale says, "Well, women are used to worrying over trifles."
Mr. Hale's dialogue suggests his attitude toward women is one of ________.
DISMISSAL, ADMIRATION, CAUTION, or SOLEMNITY.
Dismissal.
Although the women in the story unravel the mystery behind Minnie's murder of her husband, the men consistently demean them for their interest in "trifling" matters like Minnie's preserves, quilt, and kitchen.
At the beginning of "The Yellow Wallpaper," we learn the narrator is APPREHENSIVE about holding her baby; she says she is too nervous to be around him.
What does APPREHENSIVE mean?
Anxious, uneasy, nervous
DEFINE: What is a "hyperbole"?
An exaggeration for effect or emphasis.
e.g. "There is not a woman more beautiful in the world than my wife."
"A miserable horse, whose ribs were as articulate as the bars of a gridiron, stalked about a field."
What does the above simile from "The Devil and Tom Walker" emphasize or show about the horse?
It emphasizes the starvation or the horse, or shows how skinny it is.
FILL IN THE BLANK: After the narrator pleads with John to let them leave the mansion in "The Yellow Wallpaper," he attempts to appeal to his wife's _______ when he tells her, "Why darling! Our lease will be up in three weeks, and I can't see how to leave before. The repairs are not done at home, and I cannot possibly leave town just now. Of course if you were in any danger, I could and would, but you really are better dear, whether you can see it or not."
EMOTION, ETHICS, or LOGIC?
Logic.
John utiltizes "logos" as he lists all the practical reasons they cannot leave the mansion yet. The use of logos makes John seem more disconnected and heartless, however, as his reasoning does not offer the emotional support his wife requires.
FILL IN THE BLANK: In "Self-Reliance,' Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall."
Emerson's attitude toward consistency is one of ________.
SENTIMENTALITY, CELEBRATION, BOREDOM, or ANGER.
Boredom.
Emerson suggests that being consistent in life is just as tedious or uninteresting as watching your own shadow.
In "Story of an Hour," Mrs. Mallard's feelings toward her husband could be described as AMBIVALENT. She both mourns and celebrates his death, and she says she loved him only sometimes.
What does AMBIVALENT mean?
Mixed, contradictory, or uncertain.
DEFINE: What is a "parallelism"?
two corresponding or balancing ideas
In sentence structure, it can refer to repetition of similar grammatical forms.
e.g. "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
"Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. ... Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are distinctly heard on the other."
What does this hyperbole from "What to the Slave is the 4th of July" show or emphasize about global communication during the 19th century?
It shows that communication between nations is possible in ways that were previously impractical, or emphasizes how easy it is share thoughts/ideas across the globe.
In "The Devil and Tom Walker," the devil tells Tom that he is the "great patron and prompter of slave-dealers."
What does the inclusion of this detail suggest about the author Washington Irving's point of view on slavery?
It suggests Irving believes slavery is wrong or evil since his fictionalized depiction of Satan says he is the one who promotes it.
FILL IN THE BLANK: The narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" observes the long white streak running around her bedroom wall, writing, "Round and round round--round and round and round--it makes me dizzy!"
The repetition of the word "round" suggests the narrator is ______.
CHATTY, UNSTABLE, FRUSTRATED, or PLAYFUL.
Unstable.
The narrator's obsessive attention to the wallpaper makes her sound manic as her mental health continually declines.