Authors & Movements
This author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn used satire to argue that humans, through their cruelty and greed, have actually descended from "higher" animals.
Who is Mark Twain?
The temperature in the Yukon was this many degrees below zero when the man began his journey, though the dog’s instinct told it the truth was even colder.
What is 50 degrees below zero?
Louise Mallard is afflicted with this physical condition, which requires her sister to break the news of her husband's death gently.
What is heart trouble?
In his novel The Jungle, Upton Sinclair exposed the appalling and unsanitary conditions in this Chicago industry.
What is the meatpacking industry?
Carl Sandburg famously called this city the "Hog Butcher for the World" and the "City of the Big Shoulders".
What is Chicago?
This literary movement, an offshoot of realism, depicts human beings as helpless creatures governed by instinct and environment rather than their own will.
What is Naturalism?
This is the man's fatal mistake when building his second fire, which eventually leads to his death.
What was building the fire under a spruce tree (causing an avalanche of snow to fall on it)?
After learning of her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard retreats to her room and eventually begins to whisper this single word repeatedly.
What is "free"?
According to Eric Schlosser, this phrase on a food label is a "mysterious" term that often masks dozens of man-made chemicals.
What is "natural flavor"?
In Mark Twain’s "The Lowest Animal," he describes an experiment where he places these two types of humans in a cage together, only for them to kill each other over a "theological detail".
Who are a Catholic and a Presbyterian (or different religious/sectarian groups)?
This era of the late 19th century was characterized by a tiny group of men controlling vast wealth while the working class lived in poverty, earning it a name that suggests a thin layer of gold.
What is the Gilded Age?
This is the term for a "newcomer" or "tenderfoot" in the Yukon territory, a title the man carries during his first winter.
What is a cheechako?
This is the shocking reason the doctors give for Mrs. Mallard’s death at the end of the story.
What is "joy that kills" (heart disease)?
This state's industrial corridor produces about two-thirds of the flavor additives sold in the United States.
What is New Jersey?
Sandburg's poem is written in this style, which does not follow a regular pattern of rhythm or rhyme.
What is free verse?
These reform-minded journalists, such as Upton Sinclair, sought to expose the political and economic corruption of large corporations.
Who are the muckrakers?
Before he dies, the man realizes this person on Sulphur Creek was right when he warned that no man should travel alone when it is colder than fifty below.
Who is the old-timer?
This character, a friend of the husband, was the one who first saw Brently Mallard’s name on a list of those killed in a railroad disaster.
Who is Richards?
These specialized scientists are described as having "a trained nose and a poetic sensibility" while they create the tastes of modern processed food.
What are flavorists?
Twain claims the difference between an English earl and an anaconda is that the earl does this while the snake does not.
What is kill wantonly (or destroy what he has no use for)?
This 19th-century movement aimed to present life objectively and without sentimentality, focusing on the social and economic forces shaping post-Civil War society.
What is Realism?
Jack London’s story highlights this specific naturalist theme, contrasting a man’s limited judgment with a dog’s natural instincts.
What is nature versus man (or survival of the fittest)?
The story was originally titled this, reflecting the brief window of time in which the protagonist imagines her future independence.
What is "The Dream of an Hour"?
This term refers to a branch of physics that examines the flow and deformation of materials, which food companies use to measure a product’s "mouthfeel".
What is rheology?
This literary device is used when Twain says humans are the only animal that blushes, implying it is because we are the only animal that is indecent.
What is irony (or satire)?