American Literature FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE:

I. Transcendentalism and the Brahmins’ Poetry (1836-1860)

- What are the FOUR BASIC IDEALS of Transcendentalism?

• Human senses are limited; they convey knowledge of the physical world, but deeper truths can be grasped
only through intuition.

 The observation of nature illuminates the nature of human beings.

• God, nature, and humanity are united in a shared universal soul, or “Over-Soul.”

• The individual was at the center of the universe, more powerful than any institution (whether political or
religious). NON- CONFORMITY

- Who were -as a collective- the Boston Brahmins?

Boston Brahmins" refers to a class of wealthy, educated, elite members of Boston society in the nineteenth
century. Oliver Wendell Holmes coined the term in a novel in 1861, calling Boston's elite families “The
Brahmin Caste of New England." The Boston Brahmins have long held the interest of casual and professional
historians because of their unique place in nineteenth-century American culture. They were mostly the
descendants of Puritans, having made their fortunes as American merchants, and they could not be described as
egalitarian.

- Why is Waldo Emerson's Nature (1836) significant?

Because it was a “Manifesto” of Transcendentalists.

- Who was Walt Whitman? Name of most recognized poem.

Poet, journalist and essayist, best known for LEAVES OF GRASS (1855), which was occasionally banned, and
the poems 'I Sing the Body Electric' and 'Song of Myself.' Whitman incorporated natural speech rhythms into
poetry. He disregarded metre, but the overall effect has a melodic character. Harold Bloom has stated in The
Western Canon (1994) that "no Western poet, in the past century and half, not even Browning, or Leopardi or
Baudelaire, overshadows Walt Whitman.

- Who was Oliver Wendell Holmes? Name of most recognized poem.

Born in Massachusetts, became a well-known physician, teacher, lecturer and Harvard graduate. As an author,
contributed to the advancement of medicine and literature. He is also known for writing the famous poem "Old
Ironsides”.

- Who was Emily Dickinson? Name of most recognized poem.

Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, she was the second child of Edward and Emily Norcross Dickinson. Her
family was prominent in Amherst. Her father was a lawyer, and her grandfather was one of the founders of
Amherst College. Emily Dickinson contributed a great deal to the world of literature, far beyond what her early
editors considered unconventional lines. With her contemporary, Walt Whitman, she helped to usher in a new
age of poetry, with her revolutionary way with words. Her isolation, in that "room of her own" gave her more
than just time to write and reflect. Dickinson had a unique perspective on life, death, love, nature, and
friendship. She didn't need titles. Her lines spoke volumes.
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- Why were Sarah + Fuller's writings significant?
Margaret Fuller's "conversations" encouraged the women of Boston to develop their intellectual
capacities. In 1845 Margaret Fuller published Woman in the Nineteenth Century, now considered an
early feminist classic. Margaret Fuller married in Italy while covering the Roman Revolution, had a child,
and was drowned with her husband and daughter on their return to America in a shipwreck just off shore.

II. American Realism and Naturalism (1860-1914)

- Briefly define American Realism.
Realism is a literary technique practiced by many schools of writing. Although strictly speaking, realism is a
technique, it also denotes a particular kind of subject matter, especially the representation of middle-class life. A
reaction against romanticism, an interest in scientific method, the systematizing of the study of documentary
history, and the influence of rational philosophy all affected the rise of realism.

- Briefly define American Naturalism.
Naturalism in American literature constituted a variation of the Realism themes, although authors aligned their
creativity with scientific and rational views of the world, along with the plots of characters and settings which
took readers’ imagination far beyond their immediate, normal surroundings.

- Who wrote Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885)? What is its plot?

Mark Twain [Samuel Clemens], Plot: With settings near or by the Mississippi River in the Southern United
States, it portraits the lives, the spirit of survival and misfortunes of the main character in the form of satire
regarding all prevailing attitudes regarding race, class and status at the time. Its portrayal of social ills -
particularly entrenched racism- with blunt, direct language serves as background for reflection in contrast with
the plot of the story.

- Who wrote Ethan Frome (1911)? What inspired the author?

Edith Wharton, inspired by; portrait of the poverty-stricken residents of the fictional town of Starkfield,
Massachusetts.

- What was the plot of An American Tragedy (1925)? Who wrote it?

Theodore Dreiser wrote it. using of contrast between the rich and the poor, the urbane and the unsophisticated,
and the power brokers and the helpless, as presented in An American Tragedy, published in 1925.

- Who wrote The Souls of Black Folk? (1903)? What gave its author distinction?
W.E.B. Du Bois; he is districted because explains the meaning of the emancipation, and its effect, and his
views on the role of the leaders of his race.

III. Modernism (1914-1950) and the Harlem Renaissance (1919-1935)

- What themes do we find in Modernism?

The artist is generally less appreciated but more sensitive, even more heroic, than the average person,
challenges tradition and reinvigorates it. and breaks away from patterned responses and predictable forms.

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- Who wrote A Farewell to Arms (1929)? Why was its author acclaimed for?
E. Hemingway, he was acclaimed because he used concise, direct, spare, objective, precise, rhythmic writing
styles to create larger than life heroes, big game hunters.

- What does The Grapes of Wrath (1939) depict? Who wrote it?

John Steinbeck : It tells the story of migrant families struggling to survive and stay together during the Great
Depression of the 1930s.

- Who wrote The Road Not Taken (1920)? 

Robert Frost

- Why is Zora Neale Hurston's work significant?

All of her work is characterized by her use of African American folk idioms, which are intrinsic to her character
portrayals.

IV. Post-Modernism and Contemporary Trends (1950-present)

- Who wrote A Streetcar Named Desire (1949)? How did its author give American drama relevance?
Tennessee Williams; He was consider a master playwright. At their best, his twenty-five full-length plays
combined lyrical intensity, haunting loneliness, and hypnotic violence.

- Who wrote Catch-22 (1961)? What is it about?

Joseph Heller. the story is centered on the tribulations of an angry bombardier named Yossarian, as he perceives
he is a potential murder target by people he doesn’t even know. However, is not the enemy but his own army
which he’s in conflict with, as he is assigned too many flying bombing missions. Yossarian is trapped between
attempts to excuse himself from the dangerous missions he’s assigned, and violating “Catch-22”, a perplexing
rule which dictates that a combatant will be considered crazy if he wants to continue to flying dangerous combat
missions, but if he makes a formal request to be excused from his duties, he is considered to be mentally fit and
then, not eligible to be removed,.

- Why is Junot Diaz relevant in contemporary American literature with ethnic roots?
Junot Diaz, an award-winning -and according to some, controversial- Dominican-American novelist and writer,
best known for “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” (2007), a reflection of the cross-cultural and identity
conflicts of ethnic Dominicans in the United States, punctuated by the inner soul and personality challenges
embedded in the main character

- What is the main theme explored in Julia Alvarez's How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent(1991)?

Explored themes and topics regarding her land of birth, latino identity and the Dominican diaspora in the United
States.