Download Midterm Study Guide: American Literature II Fall 2016 (This List of

Midterm Study Guide: American Literature II Fall 2016
(This List of Information Is Not All Inclusive)
Literary Approaches
Romanticism- Period in American letters from approximately the year 1800 until approximately 1865
Characteristics
-Interest in primitivism
-love of nature
-Sentimentalism/Sensibility
-Sympathetic Interest in the Past
-Mysticism
-Individualism
-Moralizing Impulse
Realism- Came into prominence after 1865. It is interested in presenting reality in as honest and real terms as possible.
Characteristics
-Renders reality closely and in comprehensive detail
-Character is more important than action or plot
-It deals with complex ethical choices
-Class is important in texts
-Events are plausible and realistic
-Diction is natural. Uses vernacular language
-Objectivity is important. The author is not intrusive.
-The idea of truthful observation of life is important.
-Less of a moralizing impulse. The ability to see other perspectives reveals the relativity of morality.
Naturalism- A way of exploring the world that emerged in the 1880s out of the field of journalism. It was an attempt to
apply scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to the study of human beings
Characteristics
-Survival of the Fittest
-Violence
-Humans are essentially animals who have warring emotions and passions
-No positive or redeeming qualities in nature or God
-Circumstances have a great impact on who individuals will become
Local Color-(also known as regional literature) is influenced by both romanticism and realism. It contains clear detail
about regions; it celebrates bygone customs, and it focuses on stock characters. The most frequent practitioners were
women and African Americans.
Characteristics
-Setting is important. Authors often focus on remote settings that contain natural limitations
-Characters tend to be stereotypical, typical of a specific region or group. These characters often
exhibited traditional customs and speak in dialect.
-The narrator is typically an educated observed from outside of the immediate setting
-Plots are not emphasized
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Terms
Themes
Pragmatism vs. Sentimentality
Social Custom vs. Morality/Religion
The New Woman vs. The Cult of Domesticity
Reliability of the Narrator
Anonymity
Nature as a force that shapes and impacts lives
Solitude/Individuality
Suicide as expression of victimhood or suicide as a choice
Social Class and Morality
Mutability of General Roles or Challenges to Gender Roles
Individuality vs. collectivity
The Harlem Renaissance
Social Darwinism Fragmentation
Propaganda vs. Artistic Freedom
Humorist
Satirist
Honor
Sentimentalism
Psychological Realism
Coquette
Stream of Consciousness
Determinism
Pragmatism
The Cult of Domesticity (True Womanhood)
-Piety-Purity-Submissiveness-Domesticity
Mother Woman
The New Woman
Mastery of Form
Deformation of Mastery
Signifying
Double-Consciousness
Trickster
Minstrel
Frame Narrative
Paternalism
Assimilation
Primitivism
Aesthetics
New Negro
Tragic Mulatto
Reminders
• Make sure that you review your notes for any characters, other than the main characters, who we have discussed
at length.
• The themes section of the study guide refers to both themes and ideas in the text that we explored in depth.
• If you flip to the end of each text in our book, the date that each text was published is listed. This might help you
when you are attempting to fit texts into literary periods.
• Success on this test depends on your ability to demonstrate that you have read the texts, that you understand the
texts, that you have paid attend during lectures, and that you are able to connect the ideas that we have discussed
to different text.
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