Final Exam Essay s1

Final Exam Essay  Possible Topics o Tragic heroine Tragic Hero o knows did something wrong, suffers reversal of fortune (peripeteia) o have fatal flaw (Hamartia). Common fatal flaw is Hubris – excessive pride and arrogance o Free will – cannot be a victim, has to have high stature in the community, has a lot to lose o Have an epiphany and realization at end o In end must be punished Tragedy - a play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, esp. one concerning the downfall of the main character. . Blanche and Antigone  Antigone - Creon o Peripeteia – reversal of fortune for Creon o Hamartia/flaw - Creon’s desire for power o Excessive pride – lot of hubris – toward or defiance of the gods leading to nemesis/the gods being against him. His hubris causes a large number of problems o High standing in the community – Creon is king, rich with a lot to lose o Epiphany in end/stunning realization of his downfall after losing everyone and everything. (family and power and position) = his punisment o Has Chorus to indicate the beliefs of society o Beginning, middle, end o Antigone is not a Tragic hero  Blanche o Wrong - Made 1st husband kill himself, lost Belle Reve o Fatal flaw – desire o Lost Bell Reve, the families home, which is the source of her wealth and a part of their families history o No realization in end o Punished because put in mental institution o Power . A primitive instinct present in all men. . Lord of the Flies – Jack  Jack – Id; relies on instinctive impulses – primitive/primal side of man. Represents the instinct of savagery within human beings as opposed to the civilizing instinct Ralph represents.  From the beginning he desires total power above all other things(greedy). He is furious/jealous when he loses the election to Ralph, and pushes for more power.  Becomes increasingly wild, barbaric, and cruel as novel progresses – leads away from democracy  The more savage he becomes, the more he is able to control the rest of the group. o There is a connection between Jack’s love of authority and violence – they both enable him to feel powerful and exalted  Becomes leader of hunters  He is an expert in manipulating the other boys, as evidenced by getting most of the boys on the island to join his hunting group.  He learns by the end of the novel to use the boys’ fear of the beast to control their behavior --- this is a reminder of how religion and superstition can be manipulated as instruments of power (Can also put under illusion/mental state.)  The Lord of the Flies head symbolizes the primitive instincts of power and cruelty that take control of Jack’s tribe . Antigone – Creon (tyrant)  Decided that Eteoclces will be buried and honored as a hero and Polyneices’ body will be left to rot in disgrace. He stated that the penalty for trying to bury the body is death.  Exhibits his power over the people, family members, and even the gods trying to defy their rules.  He was warned by Tiresias the blind prophet that the gods were mad at him for not burying Polyneices and that Haemon would die in punishment. He agrees to bury him and even free Antigone, but when he gets to the cave she is dead and Haemon tries to attack Creon and then stabs himself standing at her side in distress.  A ruler with all qualities a king should not have – Is punished in end and lesson is that gods should be respected . Slaughterhouse Five – Effects  No power over fate/free will  Pre-determinism – believed that all in life including death was pre-determined  No power over time – becomes unstuck in time  Time existed simultaneously – all at once . Streetcar – Stanley  Tries to seem macho  Control over Stella  Control over Blanche  Poker game they are not allowed  Gets involved in Stella’s business relating to Bell Reve with Napoleonic code – demands papers from Blanche  Angry when Blanche turns on radio – throws it out the window. When Stella attempts to stop him, he hits her  Gets Stella to keep coming back even after hurting/beating her – passionate to her  He is epitome of vital force  Tries to destroy Blanche (cruel to her) – her relationship and what is left of her in end o Distrusts her o Threatens - He says and finds out things about her past in Laurel and that she was told to leave the town – hotel, fired from teaching job bc affair o No patience for Blanche lying o He gives Blanche a ticket back as a b- day present o Rapes Blanche o Gets Stella to believe him rather than her own sister. Stella does not believe Stanley raped Blanche o Primitive side of man/ animalistic characteristics – Intentional cruelty similar . Lord of the Flies - Jack/Roger to Simon/Piggy  William Golding himself stated the theme: An attempt to trace the defects of society to the defects of human nature – the defects of human nature are the defects of society o **All men have savagery/primal instincts in them  Steps toward Savagery  Jack’s hunting group – become preoccupied with act of hunting, separate from the rest of the boys  Simon killed by others with hands and teeth on the beach during their chaotic revelry(like animals.) Simon Is Jesus – represents purity, spirituality, insight. This is why he has to be killed. He realized that the beast does not exist externally, but rather is present within each boy. o LOTF head – savagery/animal present within every man (on the island) = evil in human nature  Roger – a sadistic, cruel boy older boy who brutalized the littluns  Jack’s hunters take away Piggy’s glasses. Ralph and his group travels to Jack’s stronghold/fort to resolve their differences, but Roger, Jack’s lietuentant, kills Piggy when he rolls a boulder down the mountain. He also shatters the conch. When the glasses and conch break, it is the end of society (order and reason). o Piggy – superego; He wants order – he is rational and has a conscience, knowing what is right and wrong  Ralph escapes and is hunted like an animal by the others. o Ralph – ego; struggles with his conscience as he is influenced by both Piggy and Jack (in attempting to create a balance)  Amazement of the officer at the sight of these savage children. How does man reach this point. . Antigone - Brother vs. Brother/Creon ,  Brother vs. Brother – Fought each other. Killed each other in battle. o Eteocles(Thebes) fought Polyneices(against). Eteocles had exiled Polyneices. Polyneices is a traitor to Thebes when he attacks it including his brother.  Creon – See below  Women/Family o Creon punished Ant/Ismene who were his own nieces. He did not tolerate what Antigone did. He would not bury his own nephew. He wanted to let Polyneices’ body rot. He initially wanted them both to be executed. He sent Antigone to a cave to starve to death. It was also his son Haemon’s fiancé, they were to be married. He killed himself blaming his father Creon and Creon’s wife Eurydice killed herself because she was distraught.  War – men killing each other, savagery, inevitable . Slaughterhouse 5-Dresden/Char./Society  War/Dresden – promises that he would not glorify war. He condemns war with this novel and these things have to be told even if they are negative.  Characters  Society - Men killing other men. He predicted he will be killed by someone hired by a vengeful man(Paul Lazarro) he knew from the war  Paul Lazarro – wants revenge for Roland Weary’s death so will have Billy killed – there is no conflict between them because the Tramalfaiorians have taught him not to worry about death . Streetcar – Stanley – see above  He is not remorseful o Women in novels . Weak/inferior to men  Antigone/Ismene are weak o In trying to do the right thing by burying her brother, she is punished by her own uncle. o Unreasonable in treatment of women. - Ismene is innocently punished for Antigone’s actions. o Antigone is sent to a cave to starve to death. o Seen as supposed to be weak and not tough and defiant like Antigone was in burying her brother , going against the king’s orders o Since she was women who stood up for what she believed in, she is seen as manly and is punished and dies. o He may have seen her as a threat to his throne o Creon did not want to look weak to woman – part of hubris  SH5: Montana Wildhack/Valencia  Streetcar: Blanche/Stella o Treated like second class citizens o Stella and Eunice allow their husbands to hurt them and they keep coming back, valuing pleasure o Illusion/mental state . LOTF: Boys illusion of society/democracy/monster  The boys, specifically Ralph and Piggy, thought that they would be able to create and maintain order, however it is not possible to do so, even when electing a leader.  Democracy does not always work and may not always be the best form of order/ It still can lead to disorder and control those who are savage. Conch breaking is end of democracy/order.  They did not expect to act they way they did toward each other, including killing one another and becoming savage.  They lost their morality – right and wrong, except for Ralph and Piggy. Ralph and Simon realize that evil exists in everyone. This is what happens when people are left alone to survive on an island without adult. – naturally revert to cruelty,savagery,barabarism.  Jack thinks it is a game and doesn’trealize this is life or death.  Simon is killed because he is the only naturally good character on the island. It is not realistic for him/good to survive in a world full of savages. His brutal murder indicates the scarcity of that good amid an overwhelming abundance of evil. Simon is the only character whose sense of morality does not seem to have been imposed by society like the evil Jack and the imposed Ralph and Piggy. (He realizes the beast is not real and his morality is innate-inbred, unlike the others who have been imposed by society.)  They had an irrational fear of a monster that did not really exist. The beast was just the savagery and evil present within each boy on the island/every man.  The saw shadows such as that of a dead parachutist, that they believed were the beast and were not.  The hunting group put a pig’s head on a stick as a offering to the beast. This pig’s head symbolizes the primitive instincts of power and cruelty in men.  They were no longer rational in the end ,forgetting that the most important thing was getting rescued, except for Ralph – can also be in the other sections.  Ralph cries in the end with his new found knowledge of the human capacity for evil. – loss of innoncence . Antigone: Creon  Power . SH5: Billy Pilgrim  Tramaladorians show how much war has affected him – may be hallucinating about aliens as a way to escape his world destroyed by war  Fourth dimension/so it goes – way to rationalize all the death he has seen  Free will and human effort an illusion - he survives even though poorly trainined  Jumps to various moments in his life  Time is an illusion  May have suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from war and experiences in Dresden. . Streetcar: Blanche  Old vs. New South – Blanche represents the old south (outcast) and Stella, Stanley, Eunice, and Steve represent the New South  Was distraught after losing Belle Reeve, almost like PTSD  Care what people say about her and her appearance  She is mentally unstable, a drunk  She imagines things such as seeing an old lover, Shep Huntleigh and that he will give her money to help her and Stella leave New Orleans is unrealistic. In the end, she dresses up and thinks that she is seeing Shep, but it actually is a doctor and nurse to take her to a mental institution.  She tries not to appear in bright light, but under the cover of Chinese lamp shades/lanterns since she does not think she is as beautiful as she used to be.  She often thinks about her first love who killed himself after she told him that he was a disgrace after discovering him in bed with another man. She kisses a young paper boy who reminds her of him.  In the end she is taken to a mental institution. Stanley drove her to this mental state/insanity(no longer a grip on reality), and Stella allowed it to happen. She is at first is afraid, and then is willing to go because she depended on kindness of strangers. o Intentional cruelty – see Primitive side of man/ animalistic characteristics since same . LOTF: To Simon/Piggy – see above . Antigone: Women/Family, War . SH5: War, Paul Lazarro

Def./Define  Tragedy  Tragic hero  Hedonism - the pursuit of pleasure; sensual self-indulgence.  Peripeteia  Etc.