English- midterm review

Literature-

The Pit and the Pendulum:

Edgar Allen Poe lived in the 1800s. He was the first American author write the genre of literature known as Gothic literature. He felt that every single word in his poems contributed to the effect of the poem. Gothic literature portrays element of darkness and mystery.

The Pit and the Pendulum takes place during the one of the Spanish Inquisitions. Inquisitions were a symbol of brutality used up until World War II. The purpose of the Inquisitions was to make sure that the Catholics were remaining loyal to their religion. Inquisitions operated on the basis of innocent until proven guilty.

The Embarrassing Episode of Little Miss Muffet:

Parody- a humorous imitation of a piece of work, most often to bring across a point to the reader. Parody often includes satire.
Hyperbole- a huge exaggeration used to bring across a point.
Satire- exaggeration used to bring across most often social criticism in a humorous way.

Paragraph 1 Has a very casual tone

Paragraph 2 Grabbled and babbled- it’s an onomatopoeia. It adds to the humor.

Moral :
1. It’s rude to disrupt someone’s meal.
2. No matter how polite you’re being, if you’re annoying, you’re being rude.

Friends in San Rosaria:

Friends in San Rosario was written by O’ Henry. O’ Henry’s style of writing is one of:
1. Irony
2. Foreshadowing- seemingly insignificant details, events and mannerisms hint out to what will happen.

The emphasis of this story is characterization- being able to define attributes through what you read about them. There are five things that one has to pay attention to in order to characterize a character:
1. What the character says.
2. What the character does.
3. What others say to and about the character.
4. How other characters relate to this character.
5. What the author tells us about the character.

Characterization of main characters:
1. Tom and Bob- they are typical westerners with a typical western mentality and mindset.
a. Tom- very tall, the type of person you’d assume to be very broad and have a deep voice. Tom has a grizzled beard and piercing blue eyes. He was cowboy looking and very confident.
b. Bob- a stout, elderly man. Bob looked like a farmer dressed up- he didn’t fit into his role.
They regard themselves as cowboys- regarded his office as his pony corral. When Tom talks about the “first taste of prosperity and white shirts”, this shows that it’s a novelty to him, and that he doesn’t fit in- it doesn’t come naturally to him. It says that Tom “knew men as well as cattle”- Tom made his fortune from cattle and was able to understand people. He knew who was honest and who was a good businessman.
Their values- Tom and Bob were such good friends that Bob was willing to go to jail for his friend who had a family, even though he saw him taking the money. Now, Tom was putting himself all out to help his friend who could’ve been in trouble. The bottom line rule in cowboy society is that if you aren’t part of the pack and are disloyal, you’re out, because loyalty and friendship come above all.
2. Nettlewick- he was so confused when Tom said that he embezzled $70,000 for his friend- he thought that he was crazy, whereas Tom and Bob thought this was natural and normal. Tom pitied Nettlewick for not understanding his way of thinking.

Page 40  There is a contrast here- Nettlewick is purposeful and everyone else is just hanging around.
 First direct description of Nettlewick’s personality- his first words were in cool, brittle tones.

Page 41  Edlinger is characterized to show that someone that someone and methodical got flustered by the inspector. This shows a lot about the bank examiner.
 When counting the money, Nettlewick threw down the money down and the coins were whining and singing- discordant. This shows the friction.
 The teller got all flustered and nervous because the bank examiner was being so picky and thorough. Turner was different than Nettlewick- he greeted everyone and was on a first name basis with Dorsey.

Page 42  “Stem-winder”- perfectionist and going to do the job well.
 “Leaned back”- Tom was trying to figure out what to do.

Page 43  “Flutter…”- he was very efficient and very demanding. Nettlewick was like a whirlwind.
 Tom was chilled, and he wasn’t intimidated by Nettlewick.
 “One was a…”- this is showing the difference between Tom and Nettlewick.
 Cattle had to do with the bank because the bank’s success was dependant on the cattle market.

Page 44  Tom referred to the loans in cattle terms. This is a proof that his heart was in cattle.
 “Like a bloodhound seeking a trial”- Nettlewick did it very thoroughly, looking for something wrong.
 Tom didn’t lie, but really the money was in his pocket. His words were very conniving.
 Tom decorated his bank in a very interesting way. This shows that his heart was still in cattle.

Page 45  There was a preverbal ice in the room. Nettlewick feels like he has caught Tom and he’s about to relay harmful information to him. Nettlewick feels a tension, so he decides to break the ice. As the reader we think that anyway he should break the ice, because in essence he is a piece of ice.
 “Must compel me…”- Nettlewick is still unfailingly polite.

Page 46  Tom glanced casually out the window, but we know that really it was to see if the shade was down.

Page 47  “First trip down into the shadows of life”- that someone who they trusted and thought they knew well is failing them.
 Tom gave Bob boundaries. He didn’t lock him up, but he had to show up to the court case.

Page 48  Bob is asking Tom to admit it to him, but Tom doesn’t.

Page 49  “Draw a yellow shade down”- this is foreshadowing.

Page 50  Now, we see the significance of Tom looking out the window.
 The letter wasn’t a request. Tom didn’t feel proud because of what he did. He felt that it was part of friendship.

The Roads We Take:

This story is written by O’ Henry. It is an ironic story, written with subtle humor.

Page 154  The old fashioned trains required water with coal in order that they should be able to run.

Page 156  Head for financing- this ironic because his head really was in financing.
 Short of what I expected… looked pensively…- came up with a plan.
 Shark Dodson wasn’t born into this. When someone is born into circumstances, it’s easier to justify.

Page 157  Bob is so shocked because he thought that they were friends.
 I thought you was a man- that at least you would have loyalty to his friends.
 Bore a deeply sorrowful look- he was still hoping that Shark Dodson has a spark of humanity in him.
 You don’t know…- relying on his excuse.
 Inexorable cupidity- unrelented greed.
 An evil face…- a house could look nice and full of good but the only way to see what’s really going on inside is through a window. Through of his greedy actions, we are able to take a peek into his evil soul.
 Indignant- righteous anger. Even the echoes of the gun seem to be protesting about the terrible action done with it.
 When the author puts a dream in a short story, it carries a message.
 Remarkable dream- most people would find such a dream disturbing.

Page 158  Peabody is asking Dodson to help a friend.

 Dodson is greedy- if my gain comes at the expense of someone else’s life, so be it.
 The author uses the technique of parallelism. He wrote to parallel events occurring to the same person. In reality, the Wall Street broker had a dream- subconscious thoughts. We see that he was aspiring to it. In the dream, Dodson has a philosophical conversation with his friend- he tells him that he was at a fork in the road and he could have gone either right or left. He went to the left and wonders if he had gone to the right if he would be different. Bob says that he would still have been the same- Dodson said that it’s not the road you take but what’s inside of you. We see that in reality, he went to the right and still turned out the same.
 Bolivar cannot carry double- he’s using the same excuse- it’s all about me.

Grammar-

Mrs. Ribiat’s notes are really more helpful… but for those who asked…

1. We use commas to mark a series of words or phrases in a sentence:
a. You may choose cheesecake, pudding or a brownie for dessert.
A comma before the conjunctions of For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So and before the last item in the series is optional however you need to be consistent.
b. Tourists from all over the United States spend their summer at Lake Tahoe, at Big Sur or in California’s spectacular mountains.
Even though it’s more than one word, you still need to separate the phrases with commas.
c. We may arrive by noon if the weather is good, if there is no traffic, and if the car doesn’t give us trouble.
We have dependant clauses here. A clause is a group of words. A dependant clause could have a subject and verb (=predicate) but can’t stand alone. They need additional dependant or independent clause to make the thought complete.
d. They were young, they were unprepared, but they were eager.
Here, we have a series of short independent clauses joined by the conjunction of but, therefore they are set off by commas.
e. Pat has to get books by, Hawthorne, Twain, and Wharton, for her literature class.
There should be no commas put before or after the series.
2. We use commas to separate two or more adjectives which modify the same noun equally:
a. Dark, windy nights are ideal for telling ghost stories.
Both these adjectives modify the noun equally. This can be proven by switching them around. Since switching their order doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence, we know they both modify equally.
b. The violent volcanic eruption was scary.
c. The talkative disk jockey was irritating.
The adjectives are not interchangeable so they don’t modify the noun equally. Two adjectives that modify a noun unequally are called open compound.
d. Four small three year old boys…
Don’t put a comma when describing age, size, color and numbers.
3. We use a comma before a conjunction that joins two independent clauses:
a. The science class is enjoyable, but it requires a great deal of reading.
b. She was happy and I was not.
If the two independent clauses are short, you can leave out the comma.
c. Everyone had doubts, but Gail didn’t listen.
If the comma will clear the confusion in a sentence, it should be put in.
*. We don’t use a comma to separate a subject from its verbs:
a. Elana sat on the stage and she sang all night.
This is a sentence with a compound verb. When you have a compound verb, you don’t
separate the verbs from each other with commas.
b. The editor of the newspaper and a reporter attended.
Here we have two compound subjects who are doing one action. We don’t put a comma
to separate compound subjects.
c. The librarian ordered several newly published books as well as some
periodicals.
We have one person who did one action pertaining to two objects- compound objects.
We don’t use a comma to separate two compound objects.
d. Both the starkness and the beauty of America’s deserts are themes of O’Keefe’s paintings.
We don’t put a comma to separate the subjects from the verb.

Vocabulary-


Coincide- To match exactly
Collaborate- To work together
Condone- To excuse by seeming to overlook
Construe- To interpret
Contemplate- Meditate upon
Deter- To restrain through fear or doubt
Disparage- To belittle
Emanate- To flow forth
Exemplify- To serve as an example of
Alacrity- Lively willingness
Chagrin - Shame
Consternation- Amazement and terror
Dilemma- A predicament
Enigma- A puzzle
Innovation- New method or custom

Altruistic- Unselfishly concerned for others
Astute- Shrewd
Authentic- Genuine
Cumulative- Tending to increase
Despondent- Dejected
Imperial- Majestic
Emancipate- Liberate
Mediate- To act as go-between
Reciprocate- Repay an obligation
Reconcile- To bring to agreement
Relegate- To banish or to reduce to lower status
Subsidize- To provide financial aid
Usurp- To seize (power or control) unlawfully
Vindictive- To justify

Perspicacity- Mental penetration
Prerogative- Privilege
Propensity- Natural tendency
Propriety- Conformity to accepted standards of behavior
Restitution- Restoration
Surfeit- Excess
Latent- Hidden or unrevealed
Partisan- One sided
Recumbent- Reclining or leaning
Salient- Prominent
Succinct- Terse
Tangible- Real
Tentative- Provisional

Aggressive- Assertive, quick to attack
Arrogant- Haughty
Cynical- Scornfully distrustful
Dogmatic- Unduly positive
Fastidious- Daintily refined, very discriminating
Gregarious- Sociable
Impetuous- Rushing with great force
Nostalgic- Homesick
Sinuous- Curving or winding
Taciturn- Habitually silent
Truculent- Fierce
Versatile- Many sided in abilities
Volatile- Changeable

Annihilate- Destroy utterly
Capitulate- Surrender on certain terms
Extenuate- Make less serious
Fulminate- To explode, erupt, shout violently
Instigate- Provoke
Mitigate- Lessen
Auspicious- Promising
Equivocal- Vague
Expedient- Suitable
Intrinsic- Actual
Mystical- Participating in mysterious spiritual experience
Sacrilegious- Irreverent
Salubrious- Healthful

Coalition- Combination or alliance
Covenant- Solemn agreement or compact
Incentive- Stimulus
Paradox- Self- contradictory statement
Paragon- Perfect model
Plagiarism- The stealing of ideas
Solstice- Time when the sun is farthest from the equator
Aesthetic- Responsive to beauty
Exotic- Strange, foreign
Ineffable- Unutterable
Portentous- Foreshadowing evil
Relevant- Pertinent
Sadistic- Cruel, fond of cruelty