Lernzettel ABI 2020 Hessen

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nur eine Option. Im Abi bzw. wenn Du sie bei der 1 AUFGABE 2 ● Klausur unte yaq1 r Abi-Bedingungen auswählst, hast Du eine zweite, englischsprachige Textvorlage, auf die sich die weiteren Aufgaben beziehen. ● Überprüfe auch hier den genannten Operator (analyze; examine; characterize/write a characterization of; compare; contrast/juxtapose; describe; explain; illustrate/show; point out; depict; present; relate; put into the context of) und halte Dich an dessen Definition. Beachte, dass es bei diesen Operatoren wesentliche Unterschiede gibt. Wenn Bezüge zu im Unterricht gelesenen Texten gefordert sind, sei kreativ, aber auch präzise-Dein Leser muss Deine Bezüge nachvollziehen können, sie müssen stimmig sein. AUFGABE 3 Erneut gilt: Überprüfe den genannten Operator (comment (on); discuss; evaluate/assess; justify; interpret; (creatively) write + text type) und halte Dich an dessen Definition. In der Regel ist hier Dein Diskussions- und Bewertungsvermögen gefragt-Du sollst Argumente für Deine(n) Interpretation/Standpunkt präsentieren, aber auch mögliche Gegenargumente berücksichtigen und die Argumente insgesamt gegeneinander abwägen. • Struktur: (1) introduction with claim (Deine "Behauptung" bzw. These) (2) main body with (counter)evidence (weakest arguments first, strongest last) (3) conclusion with reference to your above claim and outlook LIES ZUM ABSCHLUSS 30 BIS 45 MINUTEN KORREKTUR! 2 THE HISTORY OF AMERICA "The formation of a nation" A Timeline of American/ United States History Year Event 1492 American continent discovered by Christopher Columbus 1607/08 1619/20 1620 1823 1831 1630 1771-1789 Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography 1775-1783 American War of Independence 1776 Declaration of Independence 1787-1789 1807 1845 1848 1861-1865 1863 Englisch-LK Q1 U.S.A 1890 1893 First (non-Puritan) permanent settlement established in Jamestown, Virginia First African slaves brought to Jamestown First Puritan settlement ("Plymouth Plantation") established in Massachusetts after arrival on the Mayflower (Mayflower Compact) John Winthrop: "City upon a Hill" (cf. Matthew 5:14) 1896 1899 1900 1924/25 1925 1929 1931 U.S. Constitution Further importation of African slaves prohibited by the U.S. Congress Monroe Doctrine Abolitionist newspaper The Liberator newly published by William L. Garrison 1865-1870 1865-1877 Reconstruction Era 1865-1965 Jim Crow Era 1876 John L.O'Sullivan, "Annexation" Seneca Falls Declaration (Declaration of Rights and Sentiments) American Civil War Emancipation Proclamation (January)/ Gettysburg Address (November) 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution Battle of the Little Bighorn William James, Principles of Psychology Frederick J. Turner, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" Plessy v. Ferguson ("equal but separate"/ "separate but equal") Cumming v. Board of Education Albert J. Beveridge, "The Philippines Are Ours Forever" John B. Watson, Behaviorism ("Personality") F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Black Friday James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America 3 1938 1954 1954-1968 1955/56 1960 1963 1964 1965 1968 1995 2001 2009 2017 ● ● Orson Welles's radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds (H.G. Wells, 1895) Brown v. Board of Education Important background information Long before the arrival of the first European settlers Native people lived in North America ● American Civil Rights Movement Rosa Parks incident/ Montgomery Bus Boycott Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream" (August) Assassination of John F. Kennedy (November) Civil Rights Act Assassination of Malcom X (February) C. Columbus (Spanish) was the first European settler reaching North America in 1493 • Small Spanish settlements grew to important cities, such as New Mexico, Los Angeles and San Francisco ● Voting Rights Act (August) Assassinations of Martin Luther King (April) and Robert F. Kennedy (June) DSM-IV published by American Psychiatric Association 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center (NYC) Inauguration of Barack Obama as first African-American U.S. president Inauguration of the current U.S. president, Donald J. Trump First successful English settlement was established in 1607, Jamestown New Netherland (Dutch Colony in the 17th century, later on taken over by the British) was centered on (Nowadays) New York City and traded with the Native Americans to the north → Dutch were tolerant of other religions and cultures New France was an area colonized by the France from 1534 to 1763, They had far reaching trading relationships with the Natives King Philip's war: conflict between the English settlers and the Native Americans The Thirteen (British) Colonies were founded: Group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America founded in the 17th and 18th centuries Declared independence in 1776 Part of Britain's possessions in the New World 4 The Declaration of Independence (1776) The Declaration of Independence is one of the most important documents in the history of the United States of America Written and adopted on 4. July 1776 • Says that the American colonies were allowed to form a new union (country) → No longer under British control! ● ● ● In the 18th century the British government operated it's colonies under a policy of mercantilism (Wirtschaftspolitik), in which the central government administered it's possessions for the economic benefits of the mother country Colonies had a high degree of self-governance Between 1775 and 1783, Britain's American colonies fought the American War of independence and won During the war, the 13 colonies sent delegates (Abgeordnete) to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia -> passed the Declaration of Independence → Since 1640 slavery had been an essential part of the cotton- and tobacco- growing farm economy in the South (Dreieckshandel -> triangular trade between Europe; Africa; North America, especially the South) Why the Declaration of Independence (1776) did come up? American colonies were unhappy with British rule (high taxes on sugar and even tea) -> Boston Tea Party 1773: Protest against British Parliament taxes on tea ● Most important words: "We hold these truths to be self-confident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed (festgelegt) by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, which among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." ➜ "all men" did not include black slaves • USA was not a country but individual states (self-governance) All colonies belong to Great Britain In 1775 an open fight between British troops and colonists -> Beginning of the Revolution War until 1783 ● Americans did not want to pay taxes to Great Britain, mainly because they did not have any representative to the parliament -> felt like second class citizens ● Structure: 5 Consequences/Effects on the Declaration ● Great Britain: The kind of Great Britain and the Parliament were angry → Fought against the colonists "Americans" won the war and in 1783 Great Britain recognized their independence The day (4. July), when the Declaration of Independence passed in 1776, is a national holiday United States Constitution (1787-1789) After the war of Independence, the Founding Fathers drafted (verfasst) the constitution, which established a government with three separated and independent branches that watch over one another. This system of check and balances is supposed to prevent any one branch of becoming too powerful (the King of Great Britain abused his power) Founding Fathers: These men believed it was possible to run a country on the principle's personal liberty, self-governance and individual rights Branches: Legislative; Judicial; Executive ● Reasons for independence: The colonies weren't treated correctly and as equal partners: "All men are created equal" Inalienable (unveräußerlich) rights: Life liberty and pursuit of happiness God given rights: equality and freedom ● ● 1) Legislative: The legislative branch of the United States is headed by the congress Made up of two houses Senate and House of Representatives Main task: make laws 2) Judicial: Represented by the Supreme Court Highest federal (Bundes) court interprets the Constitution, reviews laws and extends to all cases to do with the Constitution 3) Executive: Executive authority lies with the president Must implement and enforce (einführen u. erzwingen) the legislation passed by the congress Appoints member of the Cabinet as well as the heads of the federal agencies (Bundesagenturen) German law vs. American law German law The community comes first The freedom of the individual ends where the rights of the next individual begin The Bill of Rights (1791) The original Constitution of the USA was concerned with the way the new government would be structured and what power it had People were worried that the government might be too powerful Bill of Rights, consisting ten amendments was passed in 1791 These amendments were intended to protect the people from their rulers Serve to protect minorities and individuals from the majority Amendment's guarantee a number of personal freedoms among them freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of press, assembly and petition ● ● ● ● American values ● Freedom of the individual Self-reliance (Selbstvertrauen) Self-discipline • Self-sufficiency (Unabhängigkeit) ● ● Equal opportunities, background and origin doesn't matter Pursuit of happiness: chances to be successful, live life to its fullest, fulfilling life according to your abilities American Civil War (1861-1865) After the Declaration of Independence slaves continued of being property. As Abraham Lincoln; President of the United States 1860, tried to abolish slavery, the Southern states decided to leave the Union. Following on from this, the Northern states tried to force the Southern states to re-join the union, by marching in the South A result of longstanding controversy over the enslavement of black people Seven Southern slaves States declared their secession from the country and formed the Confederate State of America ● American law The individual comes first The rights of society end where the freedom of speech of the individual begins ● ● 7 ● ● ● ● ● Ku Klux Klan ● Racist organization "white supremacy" ● Social Darwinism: survival of the fittest ● ● ● The Union (Northern states) fought against the Confederate State of America (Southern states) Quickly raised volunteer armies The war ended when General Lee (Southern general) got surrounded by General Grant ● Confederacy collapsed 1863: Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation -> freeing all slaves During the Reconstruction Era that followed the war, national unity was slowly restored ● 1870: 15th Amendment -> right to vote, regardless the color of the skin or religion →Black people remained the underdog (Unterlegenen) ● ● Influenced the Civil Rights Movement with murders Wanted to prevent the blacks from voting They didn't want black people become equal citizens Mostly common in the South Founded by Southern generals after the war ended in 1865 Continued to attack and even lynch blacks well into the 20th century Supports of the Civil Rights Movement and minority groups were terrorized Political disenfranchisement (Entrechtung) of African Americans Supremacy over black people Racist, anti-Semitic, secret protestant group Used extreme violence for their goals World War 1 (1914-1918) One of the strongest militaries and economic powers in the world From 1914 till 1917 neutral -> helped the Entente (Frankreich, GB und Russland) with weapons, medicine, and food service 1915: Lusitania -> German submarines sink the American passenger ship (they thought that it has been a military ship) -> impairment (Beeinträchtigung) of the diplomatic relations between the United States and the German Kaiserreich 8 ● The Great Depression (1920s) Beginning in the USA Longest and deepest, such as most widespread economic depression in the 20th century Major fall of stock prices in 1929 (USA) -> value drops $14 billion High unemployment (up till 25%) ● ● ● ● Banks recalled loans ● ● ● ● ● 1917: German telegraph in American hands -> was about the unrestricted German submarine war against the States 1917: USA joins the Entente Wilsons 14-points-plan: sah vor, dass die europäischen Völker ein Selbstbestimmungsrecht erhielten und freien wirtschaftlichen Handel führen dürften. Alle Staaten sollten große Teile ihrer Militärs abrüsten und diplomatische Verträge mit anderen Partnern zukünftig öffentlich schließen Due to the joining of the USA, the powers on Europe changed ● ● People took out their money of the banks -> banks can't pay all the money back -> close -> people, who left their money in the bank lost it all Environmental disaster: many storms in the Midwest forced farmers to leave their land and migrated west in search for labor Less leisure (Freizeit) activities (movies, sports, etc.) Gap between rich and poor wide The Great Depression brought hardships (Not), homelessness and hunger to millions → Conditions for African Americans and Latinos were especially difficult → Unemployment was the highest among minorities and their pay was the lowest ➜ Increasing violence Injuries and death were common -> suicide After stock market crash President Hoover tried to reassure (beruhigen) Americans → Wasn't quick to react Protests (e.g. World War 1 veterans in Washington) → Presidents image suffered after the veterans got treated brutal World War 2 US joined the war after the attack on Pearls Harbour 1941 9 Together with another 25 states of the "Anti-Hitler-Coalition" their followed their strategy "Germany first" and finally defeated Nazi-Germany Nuclear Strike ● ● Cold War ● ● Never directly attacked each other -> reason why it's called the cold war Arms race (Wettrüsten) between the Us and the Soviet Union → But also, in other categories, such as the first man on the moon, etc. → Major regional wars in which both sides took parts USA in the 21th century ● ● ● ● ● Final strike against Japan First nuclear bomb detonated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki -> forced Japan to surrender (Kapitulation) USA as the strongest military power in the world African-Americans ● ● Political tension (Spannung) between the NATO and the UdSSR Between 1947-1991 ● Focuses on the fight against the terror -> primarily after 9/11 Only super power One of the biggest economies in the world Second largest group of minorities Basically, they cannot be seen as real immigrants, because they were taken to the US to be slaves and to work on farms for cotton and tobacco They had no individual rights, they were the property of their owners (wealthy white farmers) → Sold/ bought on slave markets Women were often used as private prostitutes for the plantation owners No guarantee that their family cold stay together Need permission to marry and have children Masters were interested in good, productive black children to be good slaves and get the biggest profit No right of education; children weren't taught how to read → Obtain (Erhalten) freedom: 1. Being set free with old age (= disposed of the useless people), no responsibility taken for their age 10 2. Sometimes dangerous tasks for freedom: mostly unable to do, even after managing the task they weren't set free 3. Fleeing North: dangerous, difficult to find work → Consequences: Sadness, depression, traumatized, loss of feeling, live without perspectives, feeling of hate Racial segregation ● White people were seen as the superior race Allegedly (angeblich) "separate but equal" facilities were invented Restaurants, schools and hospitals with "whites only" -> Social segregation Insults and violence against them Weren't allowed to vote Had to suffer discrimination, injustice and inequality Got valued by their skin color ● ● The Civil Rights Movement Goals: change society and voting rights for African Americans, include racial dignity, economic and political self-sufficiency, freedom from oppression by white Americans -> equal rights ● ● Mostly peacefully demonstrations Black Power Movement (1954-1968) expanded those aims Mainly supported by white students -> volunteers and helped to organize campaigns Martin Luther King was the central leader Jim Crow Laws (1876- 1965) ● A number of laws requiring racial segregation in the US Jim Crow was a racist term for a black person Provided a systematic legal basis for segregating and discriminating African Americans Examples: Segregation of housing, jobs, schools, public transports, restrooms etc Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Court decision which overturned/ reversed the earlier "equal but separate/ separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy vs. Fergusson (1896) Brown vs. Board of Education set a new precedent: Segregation in public schools was now seen as violating the 14th Amendment because of intangible 11 (inkonkreten) factors; that is, emotional or psychological disadvantages were no longer tolerable One major background for this decision: psychology and sociology had become extremely strong scientific disciplines in the U.S. • In 1896, it did not count how Homer "Plessy" felt! Montgomery Bus Boycott In December 1955 Rosa Parks ignored the rule of the Blacks to give the whites their seats in the bus, she got arrested An organization was formed (Montgomery Improvement Association) -> Leader: Martin Luther King Montgomery Alabama Peaceful protest to protect the equal rights of people One of the main events in the Civil Rights Movement Main Characters: Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King ● ● ● ● Segregation in public transports was common Showed a togetherness and strong relationship between the blacks ● Demands: ● ● Little Rock Nine ● ● ● ➜ Politeness and equal rights ➜Blacks are able to become a bus driver March on Washington (1953) About 250-300K people (80% black) march to the capitol in Washington Dc to demonstrate peacefully for jobs, freedom and equality Martin Luther King's speech: "I have a dream" ● The Voting Rights act of 1965 ● 9 black students visited public school after Court allowed it On first day whites stopped them from entering school, spat on them etc. Next day, troops of the US Army protected the students in school → First) black students who graduated high school ● Outlawed the discriminatory voting practices A consequence of the Civil Rights Movement Very few African Americans were registered votes, and hat a very little political power 12 The Black Panther Party (1966-1982) Original name: Black Panther Party for Self-Defense ● African-American revolution party ● ● Membership reached 10K people International organization with supported groups all over the world Violent language and public stance (öffentliche Haltung) Primary focuses on the protection of black neighborhoods from police brutality It had four desires: equality in education, housing, employment and civil rights Detroit riots (1967) The precipitating event was a police raid of an unlicensed, after-hours bar then known as a blind pig, on the city's near West Side One of the deadliest and most destructive riots in American History, lasting five days and surpassing the violence The Civil Rights Act of 1968 . Also known as the Fair Housing Act Part of legislation in the United States that provided for equal housing opportunities regardless of race, religion or national origin The act was signed into law and stands as the final great achievement of the civil rights area Ended segregation in public and discrimination Wasn't able to eradicate all discrimination of the black population ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Types of banned discrimination ● ● Inspired by Malcom X speeches Founded by Bobby Seale ● Sex-based discrimination Religious discrimination ● ● Age discrimination ● Race discrimination ● National origin discrimination ● Disability discrimination Equal pay and compensation discrimination Pregnancy discrimination 13 Martin Luther King "I have a dream": public speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on august 28, 1963, in which he called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the US ● ● ● Called for the rights of all people and, moreover, for friendship and unity among all Americans Malcom X ● Thought that only violence against whites would be appropriated Considered whites as evil due determination Violence against violence Racial Conflicts between Whites and Blacks in the 40s, 50s and 60s Peaceful approaches → "civil disobedience" ● Organized the March on Washington Montgomery bus boycott - peaceful resistance Hoped for a color-blind America (ignoring color and culture of a human to live peacefully with each other Violent approaches/ aggression Whites in the South attaching Civil Rights activists (white) police authorities protecting/ promoting that aggression Malcom X: black, Islamic activists promoting the idea that blacks should physically fight and should want to be segregated ● ● Rosa parks African-Americans today Success of the Civil Rights Movement are visible in social and political life Blacks in high political positions, e.g. Barack Obama as the first black president More and more young black people graduate and have better chances to find a job Everyone is allowed to visit school Nevertheless, blacks still have a higher chance of being unemployed and imprisoned than the larger white population Montgomery Bus Boycott Martin Luther King influenced by Gandhi and the transcendentalist philosophies of Henry David Thoreau Ralph Waldo Emerson and Immanuel Kant Freedom Ride(r)s 14 ● ● ● Equal employment Black President ● ● There are still many prejudges and discrimination -> US still isn't absolutely tolerant Everyon is allowed to go to school Blacks in high political and social positions Many have a high educational level Asian-Americans Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement protesting against incidents of police brutality and all racially motivated violence against black people Multiple mass protest in the US and worldwide ● 2013- present George Floyd protests in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer -> "I can't breathe" ● ● Pro Contra Wealth gap Segregated at home Earning less than whites Violence and discrimination Police brutality In 2018, Asian Americans comprised 5.4% of the U.S. population; including multiracial Asian Americans, that percentage increases to 6.5% First 1565, majority 1848 Discovery of gold in America, political turmoil and economical hardship in Chinese Empire Mostly men who immigrated to the US (Bachelor-Society), few women who did immigrate became prostitutes Chinatowns -> separated from American culture & language Chinese Exclusion Act 1882: For the next ten years Chinese laborers weren't allowed to immigrate; first law of immigration in the US • Japanese Immigration starting in 1853 Japanese "government" overthrown, isolation ended: New government strived to industrialize and militarize Japan; Taxes increased Americans of Asian ancestry a panethnic group that includes diverse populations, which have origins in East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, or Southeast Asia Census Bureau: people who indicate their race(s) on the census as "Asian" or reported entries such as "Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Other Asian" 15 ● ● Japanese immigrants were more educated than the european, due to compulsory education system in Japan Japanese government encouraged women integration to America(to avoid bachelor society) Initially planning on leaving after a couple of years, many became so successful that they stayed: Prompted jealousy by white farmers; Discrimination against Japanese (socially, "Gentlemens Agreement"); Immigrant-parents encouraged their children to assimilate Illegal immigration Pro Migrant workers do jobs that Americans do not want to • Lower wages: undocumented Workers → Cut cost of production → Lower prices for consumer • Undocumented workers stimulate the US-economy Undocumented workers save jobs in some ways (keep firms from investing in new technologies) American Dream ● Contra • Use of government services by migrants while paying no/low taxes • Cost the government a substantial amount of money (education, health care, food assistance, welfare, etc.) • Children born in the US are American citizens have the rights to government services Definition term was first used by the historian James Truslow Adams in his book "The Epic of America" published in 1931 and was quickly assimilated into the American mindset there is no universal definition of what the American Dream actually is, it varies for each American the basic idea: anyone can achieve anything if they work hard and passionately, anybody can go "from rags to riches" → inspiration and motivation for Americans to improve themselves and get on in life set of beliefs and ideals which (in theory) allows every American to prosper and advance socially, as well as financially → often unrealistic expectations are created Historical background America is built on immigration 16 1620: Pilgrim Fathers, members of the English Separatist Church (a radical faction of Puritanism that represented the protestant reformed principles) fled from Great Britain to escape persecution at home they sailed across the Atlantic on the Mayflower and found the first permanent colony, the Plymouth Colony in what is now Massachusetts many others were also sent there for criminal offences and others were given land there many Native Americans lived in America before the pilgrims arrived → instead of assimilating the Native's culture, they stole their land and started to kill thousands of them → the Pilgrim Fathers formed a society based on bloody fights they had permission as God's chosen ones: Americans have the right to guide the whole world and to overspread it completely "e pluribus unum": people from many colonies, states or ancestries came to America, lived there together and became a unity the idea of the American meritocracy, based on the divine blessing of the people, became the national mindset Declaration of Independence the basic democratic idea and the American dream were summarized in the Declaration of Independence (4th of July 1776) "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Beliefs and Values freedom: Americans regard their society as the freest and best in the world, everyone can participate, individual freedom, no oppression equality: no class distinctions, equality in court individualism: idealization of the self-reliant, self-sufficient, independent individual mobility/flexibility / optimism: social mobility (upward and downward) on the "ladder of success" hard work: heritage is not important if you work hard, key to prosperity education and self-improvement: education is the key to individuals realizing their full economic, social and personal potential progress: desire to progress personally by making use of opportunities patriotism: patriotic symbols e.g. national holidays like (like Thanksgiving), a lot of flags 17 ● ● Interpretation personal dream: reach and preserve personal aims such as family, property, freedom, happiness, health, but also materialistic wishes for self-fulfillment economic dream: prosperity and success, newness, desire to get continually better social dream: equality and opportunity, classless society, belief in the melting pot (multicultural society) political dream: democracy and justice, basic human rights The American Dream today nowadays: very critical and negative view of the American Dream critics see the American Dream as a clever political and economic marketing strategy many values are not reflected "hard work will pay off / social standard is changeable": huge gap between rich and poor, different social classes, no welfare system "heritage is irrelevant": racism directed against the black population ("Black Lives Matter") "education is the key to success": costs of higher education leave many no choice but to stay where they are the American Dream is projected mainly on material prosperity - → main idea has changed, mindset is consistent When the American Dream was endangered - 9/11 11th of September in 2001 inspired by the American Dream, many people migrated to the United States in the hope of leading a better life through hard work the World Trade Center employed many people who were living the American Dream on the morning of the respective day, four airplanes were hijacked by terrorists: two flew into the Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed somewhere else the terrorists were supporters of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, founded by Osama Bin Laden, who wanted to continue the so called "Holy War" around 3000 people died, the whole country was in shock and it is an unrecoverable event in the history of America When the American Dream endangered other nations - The Vietnam War started in 1965 → America started interfering on 8th of March 18 after the second world war, North and South Vietnam were divided into a communist state in the north and a democratic state in the south established by the western world in the north the communist-influenced "Vietcong" was founded which destabilized the south → a civil war in the south began and so the United States interpreted this as a danger for their interests American Dream: spreading their idea of democracy all over the world as god's chosen ones America's military problem: the Vietcong had much more experience in the jungle soldiers' psychological problems: didn't know anymore who is evil or good and didn't know what they are fighting for protests in America and the world followed America lost the war in 1975 American Dream - still alive? ● the American Dream had failed, society was let down and many soldiers were left disabled → the losers of the war (surviving soldiers) were excluded from the community and suffer from the circumstances of the war to this day Pro people fought for their dreams in the past too ● • people nowadays still need to fight for personal dreams and wishes everybody is able to go to school and get education → opportunity to live their dream → even poor people have the right and the ability to get education and live the American Dream people having a dream are given hope and optimism by America's history • America today still is the best example of a place and an opportunity to reach your personal dreams • lots of examples of people who lived the American Dream ● racism still exists for unprivileged people the American Dream is unrealistic to reach . only a few people can reach their aims • the USA is involved in too many wars Contra ● violation of human rights • even celebrities cannot cope with the pressure ➜ scandals with drugs • huge gap between rich and poor still prejudices in the people's heads ● 19 many refugees / immigrants who come to America surely have a better life there than in their home country • the fight against racism is difficult, but America has achieved great improvements / more ● What should be done to realize the American Dream? Community spirit and social responsibility ensure that everyone can grow to their fullest potential social equality no racial segregation ● ● those on the bottom need strive to rise those on the top need to devote to the Great Society", helping What should be avoided to realize the American Dream? thinking of the American Dream as something materialistic, it's a mindset, a lifestyle • letting selfishness, physical comfort and cheap amusement get in the way of the dream • racism ● inequality 20 THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald General Information ● ● Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald Year Published: 1925 Type: Novel Genre: Drama, Fiction Perspective and Narrator The Great Gatsby is told in the first-person point of view, from the perspective of Nick Carraway. The novel is narrated two years after the events. Summary At first glance, The Great Gatsby appears to be a fairly straightforward tale about Jay Gatsby's tragic pursuit of the American dream. But upon closer examination- including a deeper look at the novel's use of symbolism and intent-the story becomes a commentary on social classes, the pursuit of the American dream, and determining what really matters. Thus, while the novel is set in the 1920s, its story and characters are timeless. The Great Gatsby has five settings: 1. The Midwest, from which many of the main characters originate. 2. West Egg, a fictional city on Long Island, New York, where up-and-coming residents with new money reside. 3. East Egg, a fictional city also on Long Island, where the aristocratic wealthy of old money reside. 4. The Valley of Ashes, a third Long Island setting characterized as a bleak locale where the suburbs intersect with the city and where those less fortunate-the have-nots-live. 5. New York, where Nick Carraway works in the bond business and where Tom Buchanan rents an apartment in which he meets with his mistress, Myrtle Wilson. The story begins with Nick Carraway's move to West Egg on Long Island in New York, where he happens to rent a house next door to Jay Gatsby, a wealthy businessman known for his elaborately lavish parties. Gatsby appears to be well-liked and popular, although where he came from and how he made his fortune remain matters of mystery-and much speculation. As Nick settles into his new surroundings, he visits 21 his cousin Daisy and her husband, a well-to-do couple living in old money East Egg. They and their friend Jordan Baker, a young, single, and wealthy professional golfer, introduce Nick to their life in the East, which is characterized by abundant free time, flowing money, and luxury in all forms. Nick is attracted by this lifestyle even as he begins to consider its shallowness-particularly when he comes to understand that Daisy's husband Tom has "some woman in New York" and that Daisy is aware of it. By the time Tom takes Nick to meet Myrtle Wilson-who owns a gas station in the valley of ashes with her husband George-he is committed to what he sees as the East Coast way of life. Nick and Gatsby soon become friends. Even after Nick realizes Gatsby is pursuing the friendship in part so that he can reconnect with Daisy-who happens to be the woman he'd fallen in love with before the war he is intrigued. At Gatsby's request Nick arranges for Daisy and Gatsby to reunite at his home. While the first meeting is awkward for the former lovers, it becomes apparent they still care for one another, and Gatsby and Daisy continue to see each other secretly. Eventually, Nick's two social groups from East Egg and West Egg intersect. Upon meeting him, Tom immediately dislikes Gatsby and later senses there is something going on between Daisy and Gatsby. While the group is in New York one afternoon, Tom confronts Gatsby, who informs Tom his suspicions are correct and that Daisy loves him. Meanwhile, in the "valley of ashes," George Wilson learns of his wife's infidelity but he does not discover her lover's identity. George locks Myrtle upstairs in their home to keep her "safe" until they can move away. When Myrtle escapes she is struck and killed by Gatsby's car, which Daisy is driving back from New York. Instead of stopping to help, Daisy drives away from the scene of the accident. Distraught, George is determined to find the driver of the car. This presents an opportunity for Tom, still reeling from Daisy and Gatsby's revelation, to tell George that the car belongs to Jay Gatsby. George sets out to find Gatsby in West Egg, eventually locating Gatsby's mansion and murdering him in his pool before taking his own life. Nick learns of Gatsby's death and becomes a contact point for the details of wrapping up Jay Gatsby's life. He tries to contact Gatsby's many "friends" and is saddened to discover that no one seems to care. When Gatsby's father turns up, Nick learns the true story of James Gatz-the young man from the Midwest-and his rise to become the great Jay Gatsby, all in pursuit of wealth and his vision of the American dream. At the conclusion, Nick becomes disillusioned with all that the East represents, a disappointment deep enough to lead him back to the Midwest. Chapter 1 ● Nick, who is from Middle West, tells in retrospect about events happening in New York in the summer of 1922 22 ● ● ● ● ● As we know already, he cannot be objective because he also talks about himself as a character in the story -> he is a participant observer/ unreliable narrator Nick, looking back, has quite negative feelings about the people he has met in NY, but for some reason he respects Gatsby even though Gatsby pretends to be s.o. he isn't In East Egg, Tom and Daisy lead a ridiculously rich, but also boring life Tom: ● Previously successful athlete, still physically strong, arrogant/ disrespectful, racist/ white supremacist (Rassist), betrays/ cheats on Daisy Daisy: "sad" An immobile flower that can't escape her situation Fragile/ evanescent (vergänglich) - doesn't mean much to Tom/ the outside world The brutal Tom hurts Daisy physically and emotionally "cliffhanger": Chapter 2 Fitzgerald has his narrator (Nick) describe a mysterious scene A man - whom Nick identifies as his neighbor Gatsby - stands there by himself Gatsby is unaware that he is being observed and in a gesture that seems to symbolize a kind of longing/ of wanting to make connection, stretches out his arms towards East Egg The "single green light" that Gatsby stares at may stand for hope and a specific object of his longing We later learn that Gatsby longs for re-uniting with Daisy, who-when Gatsby's name is mentioned - shows a brief, possibly terrified response ("Gatsby? What Gatsby?") The valley of ashes A stretch of Wasteland between West/ East Egg and New York City - symbolizes the downside of the "American Dream" It's setting and inhabitants are disadvantaged financially and socially -> they want to escape! "Dr. T. J. Eckleburg" is like a lifeless authority pointing to the novel's theme of "seeing and being seen" Chapter 3 23 Nick is invited to one of Gatsby's parties; one of the few people who are actually invited Meets Jordan Baker again and they settle at a table with some other guests who are talking about Gatsby - stories about his extravagant generosity and darker rumors about his past ● Nick meets Gatsby, who can't really talk because he gets called by different cities; he therefore invites him to come over the next day Nick gets interested in getting to know Jordan better The people at the party are getting more and more drunk and start fights Chapter The guest list: many names are extraordinary, exaggerated, pretentious ("aufgesetzt"), perhaps not even real Some represent names from the world of animals "The Leeches" (Blutegel) may stand symbolic of the typical Gatsby guests being parasites on the party host's popularity and generosity (Großzügigkeit) In that vein, they also take advantage of presenting themselves on the stage Gatsby's party represents (See and be seen) Meyer Wolfshiem: Shady, sleazy criminal businessman (judging from his self-presentation and Gatsby's talking about him: "fixed the World Series") Gatsby apparently hopes to impress Nick with his connections to the criminal world and with the possibility of perhaps becoming rich through financial crimes himself Wolfshiem also confirms Gatsby's tale (Märchen) about himself Gatsby's feelings when meeting Tom: Embarrassed Jealous Uncomfortable Humiliated → Gatsby, the master of playing roles, of predicting/ anticipating other people's behavior, is not ready for this situation: this is an unrehearsed scene → He feels forced to disappear ● Jordan's flashback to 1917 Through Jordan, Nick learns about Daisy's past romance with Gatsby 24 Chapter 5 After Nick has agreed to offer his place for a meeting between Gatsby and Daisy, a very embarrassing situation starts → Nick as the host of this "tea party" and, of course, Gatsby: nervous → Daisy: surprised, perhaps even in shock The situation becomes extremely tense when it becomes clear to Daisy (and Nick) that Gatsby has counted the days since their last encounter when acting usually is Gatsby's special expertise ("master of imitation") → Gatsby stares at Nick with "unforgettable reproach" BUT: With the rain ending, Gatsby`s mood also dramatically changes into "cofounding happiness": " he literally glowed" (weather as a symbol metaphor of a totally changed atmosphere and feeling) At first Gatsby faces another "scene" for which in this case technically- emotionally he can't be prepared: the emotional pressure is too strong; then, however, the old feelings apparently return and not only "the ice" but also the emotional barrier is broken! ● ● Nick becomes aware that Daisy is the main reason that Gatsby acts the way he does and that he is living across from the Buchanan's on purpose NOTE: Jordan's story is also subjective — just like Nick`s: a homodiegetic narrative within an unreliable narrative frame ● Inside Gatsby's mansion: Gatsby "hadn't once ceased looking at Daisy an... he revolved everything in his house according to the measure of response (feedback; reaction) it drew from her well-loved eyes" → The objects in his house only remain attractive if she approves of them when glancing at them Gatsby enters a third emotional state: "wonder at her presence" → After embarrassment and joy at Nick's place, he now seems close to reaching his goal: Daisy as the object of his desires is visually evaluating the luxury objects he surrounds himself with to please her: he wants to be liked/ loved by her Gatsby's fourth "state" (of emotions) in this chapter: "bewilderment" Mixed emotions/ confusion Happiness mixed with uncertainty/ insecurity There is hope, also pride in having re-connected with Daisy Gatsby towards the end of the chapter is so enveloped by the presence of his dream girl that she, like the sun, eclipses everything around her, including Nick 25 ● Chapter 6 Gatsby's notoriety (schlechter Ruf) is spreading, he is connected to illegal activities ● Dangers: Daisy as a real person may not meet the expectations of his "colossal" dream Gatsby's real name is James Gatz, he grew up in a poor family in North Dakota, but changed his identity at the age of 17, when he worked for the multimillionaire Dan Cody, from whom he learnt how to get rich Tom and Daisy attend one of Gatsby's parties Daisy only enjoys herself when Gatsby is around, because she is offended by Gatsby's guests Gatsby's goal, to repeat the past now that he's rich enough for Daisy to love him, is revealed Chapter 7 ● Gatsby might fall into a depression because his success of re-connecting with her is not so sweet, after all Pammy, Tom and Daisy's little daughter appears For Gatsby, the girl's appearance and reality must be painful: Pammy is living proof for the intimate physical relationship between Daisy and Tom, which presumably has been lasting for 5 years already • Gatsby would love to "repeat the past (Chapter 6), but Tom and Daisy's offspring he cannot make disappear despite all attempts to create and maintain a world of illusion ● Even if daisy were to leave Tom and move in with Gatsby, Pammy would either have to stay with Tom (which could be quite hurtful for the mother) or live in Gatsby's household (which to him would be a constant reminder of Daisy's past intimacy w/Tom) Let's also not forget that for Daisy, this "meeting" between Pammy and Gatsby has significance: the way these two interact can very influence her vision of living with Gatsby Chapter 8 Gatsby`s American Dream is based on the romance with Daisy: She as the "nice girl" from Louisville is surrounded by many men, objects and excitement 26 ● In this flashback Gatsby also explains in more detail how he did in the war and that he was given the opportunity to go to Oxford for a while, during which time Daisy was still being surrounded with more and more entertaining excitement and more male suitors in her "artificial world" and "twilight universe" and finally gave in to Tom Buchanan's advances as this "decision" provided a form of stability and security for her (near) future After the war, with Daisy married to Tom, Gatsby was then totally shut out of the world of riches - he nostalgically traveled to Louisville to remember the great time he had with her and decided to work on re-winning Daisy for himself, having "committed himself to the following of a grail", that holy "grail" of course being his exaggerated vision of Daisy Nick narrates how Gatsby in his swimming pool is pondering the destruction of his dream and then is destroyed (murdered) himself - by the insane George Wilson, who now believes that the advertisement of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg represents a watching God and that Gatsby drove the car that ran over Myrtle and accordingly must be punished for that Nick calls Wilson "that ashen, fantastic figure" approaching Gatsby to murder him, thus underlining that a representative of the Valley of Ashes, the setting of despair and desolation, destroys Gatsby, the representative of the shallow (empty) newly rich, whose American Dream of Daisy and of all that she stands for leads of disaster Chapter 9 ● → Represented a magical entrance into another, exciting world of unlimited possibilities for Gatsby ● Notably, Gatsby "under false pretenses" tricked Daisy into believing that he was the kind of man that could "take care of her" in the future: "he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security" - but: "As a matter of fact, had no such facilities" In preparation for Gatsby's funeral, Nick tries to reach Gatsby's supposed "friends" and (business) acquaintances - without much success Tom and Daisy," careless people" who "smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness" (according to Nick), have disappeared, leaving all the "mess" behind Meyer Wolfshiem - who "raised him (the "fine-appearing, gentlemanly" Gatsby) out of nothing, right out of the gutter" when Gatsby was impoverished after the war - is not willing to show up because he does not 27 ● ● want to "get mixed up in it" (the murder and possible harmful publicity) - clearly, Wolfshiem is not a real friend of Gatsby's Gatsby's party guests and boarders (e.g. Klipspringer) will also not come, everybody being altogether very ungrateful toward Gatsby and what he gave people in terms of his generous hospitality - clearly, the took advantage of him; all these people were only social parasites on the host of Gatsby's material power and entertainment; finally, one single party guest arrives at the funeral - "Owl-eyes" Gatsby's father, Henry Gatz, appears and brings with him a "schedule" for self- improvement that the young "Jimmy" had written down and which the father still admires - importantly, this "schedule" is a parody of Benjamin Franklin's (one of the Founding Father's) directions for self-improvement found in his Autobiography (published in the late 1700s): Franklin's directions did suggest that appearance and behavior could be trained and improved; that's where his plan generally matches that of Gatsby, who wanted to change his life that way But Benjamin Franklin points out that one needs to have a perfect character and inner moral goodness and virtues as a basis for any outside behavior meant to impress people; in Franklin's view (late 1700s) and in that of later success novels in the 1800s, the self-made man needed to have character and an honest appearance This is where Gatsby's schedule partly differs as it concentrates much more on outside appearance ("Dumbbell exercise") and personality as a "series of successful gestures" (e.g. "Practice elocution, poise and how to attain it") than on building character Therefore, Gatsby should rather not be seen as an example of a self-made man (although many people teaching the novel call him that) Nick runs into Tom some time later but cannot event take him seriously anymore as he finally sees that to people like Tom and Daisy there seems to be no moral depth whatsoever With Gatsby, on the contrary, he empathizes because of his "gift for hope" and his never-ending "romantic readiness" to capture the golden moment of winning Daisy and attaining what Gatsby thought was the American Dream -> fascination of Daisy Nick Carraway'`s American Dream has turned sour through his experiences on the East Coast: the people he gets to know there have become rich either through cheating (Wolfshiem, Gatsby, Jordan) or they have inherited money (Tom) or have married into it (Daisy); in addition, they hardly have moral depth, honesty or human compassion 28 ● ● Gatsby willingly loses his real self to (re-) win Daisy: but he loses her and thus loses his purpose in life The world of wealth and shiny parties has no use for him if he doesn't throw these parties anymore: all parasites to the host of his entertaining power leave him behind; so being killed by Wilson perhaps even is an act of liberating him from a meretricious seductress (Verführerin) (Daisy, his American Dream, the idea of America itself) Nick Carraway Narrator and character in the novel - "participant observer" As reader, we must be aware that Nick's views are subjective We must read his words critically His opening statement: "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." → Nick's father advised his son on being forgiving, not so critical towards others. He did so when Nick was "younger" and "more vulnerable" (more easily impressed) "... I was him (the casual watcher in the darkening streets) too... I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled..." (34-35) → Nick enjoys the sleazy extravagance to a certain degree but, not being used to it, is disgusted by its pointlessness; being very drunk, it's all a blurry to him ● Through Nick Carraway (who for himself was carried away by the attractive life on the East Coast and also carried us readers away into this world of wealth), Fitzgerald announces at the end of the book that the American Dream will continue to excite people as "the last and greatest of all human dreams" for which "we will run fast, stretch out our arms further" (just as Gatsby does towards the green light) The Great Gatsby, however, is Fitzgerald's literary way of calling this specific kind of dream through identity change described in the book into question, making it rather an American nightmare to rely on false outward appearances and losing one's real self and character only to impress people with one's personality ● Gatsby's personality = "a series of successful gestures" 29 ● Behaviorism: scientific book, which like "The Great Gatsby" became a bestseller in the U.S., was also published in 1925. Author: John B. Watson • Gatsby seems to be someone he is not, a manipulator Jay Gatsby: A narcissistic figure in literature Narcissistic Personality Disorder An exaggerated, overblown self-image Felling that one is "special" chosen and privileged Excessive need for entitled admiration, the constant need to loved/ liked ● ● Gatsby, who "represented everything for which I (Nick) have unaffected scorn.", is a literary figure created in the era of Behaviorism (an early 20th-century concept of U.S. psychology) ● ● - Gatsby serves and believes in a "meretricious (betrügerich) Beauty": he falsely believes in the lasting power of show Why is Nick impressed by Gatsby? It's admirable that he didn't gave up on Daisy because he's enthusiastic Under all these lies is that real love -> makes him human, not materialistic "Seeing and being seen" A major theme/ leitmotif in "The Great Gatsby" America's image of itself God's "chosen" people in a "promised land" The "new Israelites" having found "new Canaan" ➜ Americans have "written themselves into the Bible" The rich generally led an extraordinary, luxurious lifestyle -> a) there are the traditionally wealthy like Tom Buchanan living East Egg -> b) then, there are the so-called "nouveaux riches"/ the "newly rich" (Neureich) like Gatsby living in West Egg The traditionally wealthy are used to being rich and as a habit display it to support their egos The "newly rich" desperately want to belong/ be accepted as being equally wealthy so that, for example, Gatsby feels a strong desire to show off his money For Daisy, Gatsby and Gatsby's parties may seem attractive because through him and in that party setting she may re-gain the kind of attention and importance she has lost through Tom's betrayal/ infidelity -> for a large part, it 30 ● ● -> The poor want to escape the Valley -> The rich want to ignore the Valley Altogether, from the perspective of the rich, there is a moral myopia (moralische Kurzsichtigkeit) (also symbolized by Dr. T. J. Eckleburg's empty eyes) The "American Dream" in the Great Gatsby General aspects ● seems that what people display on the outside counts in the world Fitzgerald portrays Gatsby realizes that and even goes as far as to play a role, like an actor, re- inventing "himself"; As part of that role, Gatsby also adjusts his behavior in artificial (künstlich) ways in order to be liked Passing through the Valley of Ashes when transiting between West/ East Egg and NYC, the rich see poverty and despair (similarly, the poor see the rich) ● Freedom/ equality Happiness Vertical economic mobility Religious freedom Democracy → Through belief in ("self-reliance") yourself as an individual and hard work and frugality (discipline) The world of the Great Gatsby Set in the 1920s Is a kind of perversion of the original American Dream: when people only care about what can be seen superficially and manipulate that, identity loss and unhappiness an depression are on the horizon Manifestation(s) of individualism as an essential Characteristic & Development in U.S. history Early settlements: Non-Puritan settlements (first: Jamestown, 1607) Puritan settlements starting in the 1620s → The new settlers traveled to a new land mainly for two reasons a) To be able to develop their lives freely without being suppressed/ held back by a state form or traditions b) To be able to own land to start a plantation and to have the possibility to profit from that economically 31 ● ● ● → Idea of the "self-made man" with a "protestant work ethic": a) Work hard and amass financial power b) Be frugal an re-invest financial assets into your business c) Show/display your good actions to your fellow men/ towards society if you were not so religious or to God (if you were a Puritan) → American's early settlers already felt they were observed/ watched by others Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography: Unreliable narrative of Franklin's life (one of the Founding Fathers of the U.S.) "secularized" the Puritans idea of being watched by God → Franklin points out that in everyday society, individuals are constantly observed by other people (Written in the 1770s and 1780s around the time of the Declaration of Independence) 1880s: stories by Haratio Alger, Jr. Here, the idea of having a good and moral character is celebrated Message: have and show character -> you will be successful! Also in the 1880s: American Psychology Starts as a new scientific discipline Main representatives: William James, John Dewey, John Watson etc. They, different from psychoanalysts like S. Freud and C.G. Jung, focus on the individual's outside behavior, his/ her "social self" The new central term is "personality" (see Fitzgerald's definition in the Great Gatsby) With the early 1900s with advertising and the movie industry starting, people realize(d) that behavior can manipulate so that others respond the way you want: "personality" becomes a "persona" (Latin for "mask") 32 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee General Information Author: Harper Lee Year Published: 1960 in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement (which was about African-Americans` civil rights, trying to eliminate discrimination against blacks) Type: Novel ● Genre: Drama, Fiction ● ● ● ● ● Set in the 1930s: the beginning of Americans increasingly wanting to end segregation (1863: Emancipation Proclamation) (1865: End of Civil War -> with the Amendments to the Constitutions, blacks became officially free "citizens") (1865-1877: Reconstruction) → Jim Crow Laws: discrimination against the South's blacks in the South reaction to the end (1865-1965) of slavery → It is a story of initiation! (Bildungsroman) -> from innocence to maturity naivete adulthood Perspective and Narrator: To Kill a Mockingbird is narrated in first-person point of view from the perspective of Scout Finch. At the opening of the novel Scout is six years old and living in Great Depression-era Alabama. Scout gives the unique perspective of a child as she talks about the racial and social relations in her town of Maycomb. Her innocence adds texture and poignancy to the story. Although she doesn't fully understand what's going on around her, she gives readers enough information to interpret themselves. Tense: To Kill a Mockingbird is told primarily in the past tense. About the Title: To Kill a Mockingbird is a reference to one of the novel's primary symbols: the mockingbird, a symbol of innocence. Context Published in 1960, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird was an immediate success, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. The novel was turned into a popular motion picture in 1962. At the Academy Awards actor Gregory Peck won an Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch. This tale of racism and social injustice is especially poignant because of its six-year-old narrator, Scout Finch, who shares the events through her innocent but observant eyes. What has solidified the novel as one of the most influential in American literature is its treatment of race relations, as seen in Tom Robinson's rape case. The novel's other subplot focuses on prejudice against the town's reclusive resident Boo Radley. These two subplots converge to convey 33 powerful themes of tolerance and justice. The novel and movie were released during the height of the American Civil Rights Movement. The first sit-in protest against segregation occurred in Greensboro, North Carolina, in February 1960. Three years after that lunch counter sit-in, Martin Luther King Jr. penned his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail," a defense of nonviolent civil disobedience. A few months later he led the March on Washington and delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. That a book and a film could resonate with the country amid such controversy suggested that the movement toward equality, as Atticus said, might be "the shadow of a beginning." To Kill a Mockingbird remains a thought-provoking and timely tale of cultural struggle as the United States continues to work toward equality on all fronts. Summary To Kill a Mockingbird takes place between 1933 and 1935 in Maycomb, a fictitious small town in Alabama. Jean Louise Finch, better known as Scout, is the inquisitive and imaginative tomboy daughter of lawyer Atticus Finch. Although narrator Scout is grown, she tells her story through the eyes of her six-year-old self. Scout's narration begins with an intimate view of her family. She introduces her father, Atticus, a widower who is raising his children with the help of Calpurnia, the family cook. Although an employee, Calpurnia is treated as a member of the family and a sort of surrogate mother to the kids. As the story progresses Scout introduces the residents of Maycomb. She and Jem soon meet Dill, the small, white-haired, six-year-old nephew of Miss Rachel Haverford, the Finch's next-door neighbor. While Scout is initially apprehensive of Dill, Jem accepts him into their group after discovering he's seen the movie Dracula. Dill soon grows bored of putting on plays with Jem and Scout and becomes fascinated with the sensational stories about Boo Radley, their reclusive neighbor who, according to Jem, "dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch." Dill's fascination soon grows into obsession as he plots to lure Boo outside with help from Jem and Scout. Summer ends and Dill is sent back home to Mississippi. Scout is looking forward to her first day of school. At this point Scout's classmates are introduced a unique group of characters who set the tone for the social division seen throughout the rest of the book. One day while Scout is walking home from school, she sees something shiny in the knothole of an oak tree in front of the Radley house. This turns out to be two sticks of gum in tinfoil wrappers. Who left them is a mystery, but when she and Jem subsequently find more treasures left in the tree it becomes apparent that the gifts are meant for them, and they suspect that Boo Radley is the gift giver. Jem and Scout's lives become more complicated when Atticus agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping Mayella Ewell, the 19-year-old daughter of Bob Ewell. Although many of Maycomb's 34 more enlightened residents are certain of Tom Robinson's innocence, the community's pervasive racism means that Tom has little chance of a fair trial. Despite knowing he cannot win the trial-a matter his children don't understand-Atticus knows he must nonetheless defend Tom. During the trial it becomes apparent that Mayella's father is the true criminal, having physically and sexually abused her. Ewell is enraged that Atticus has directed the community's attention toward him, and even though Tom is convicted Ewell publicly threatens Atticus. When Tom Robinson is killed trying to escape from prison Ewell says, "one down and about two more to go," referring to his plan to kill Scout and Jem. The two plots converge when Ewell finally makes his move. Drunk and angry, he stalks Jem and Scout one evening as they make their way home after a school play. Still in costume as a ham, Scout is defenseless when she and Jem are attacked by an assailant in the dark cover of the trees just outside the Radley house. After the scuffle escalates she hears Jem cry out in pain. That's when she sees a silhouette of a second man-not the attacker-carrying Jem toward the Finch home. Sheriff Tate discovers Bob Ewell dead from a stab wound where the attack occurred. Although it is clear that Boo Radley is the mysterious figure who saved Jem and Scout, Atticus and Sheriff Tate cover for Radley by saying Ewell fell on his own knife. Boo stays with the Finches that evening until he knows Jem is safe from harm. He then asks Scout to walk him home, and she does, her hand resting gently on his arm like a lady escorted by a gentlemen. When Boo enters the Radley house and closes the door, that is the last she sees of him, but the lessons that he, Tom Robinson, and Atticus have taught her will resound across her lifetime. Chapter 1-5 Maycomb: a typical southern town during the Jim Craw Era, when racism and discrimination against blacks was wide spread ➜ Reason(s): ● ● The lasting anger about losing the civil war and the end of slavery (which meant the end of the pre-war economy) The story begins in 1931 The Finch family stands out not only because Atticus Finch is a single father and important lawyer but also because Calpurnia, an African-American woman, functions like a family member with authority -> surrogate mother Scout, our narrator, is wise4 beyond her years so we as readers accept her as a person of intelligence -> Scout still learns a lot, nevertheless: for her and her brother Jem, the story - which is spread over a period of three years - is a story of initiation 35 The courtroom scene ● ● Atticus teaches the kids that while their imagination might be understandable (because they are children), their imagining Boo Radley to be a scary person is disrespectful Atticus asks the kids to leave the Radley family alone ● Sheriff Tate's testimony: Relies on hearsay: he believes Bob Ewell's claims Atticus reveals the crime scene carefully; importantly, he has not consulted a medical examiner to assess whether or not a rape has actually happened Talking about Mayellas injuries, he at least reports that primarily the right of her face has been affected Bob Ewell: Uses foul, indecent language Comes across as aggressive and as a stereotypical white supremacist Responding to Atticus's questions, he also clarifies that he hasn't been concerned with Mayella's physical well-being Atticus identifies him as left-handed; so he comes into question as Mayella's attacker Mayella Ewell: Has adopted her father's anger against Atticus → She has witnessed how cleverly and craftily Atticus has enticed statements from Bob Ewell She is scared to death that the truth about the events might be revealed through Atticus's expert line of questioning ➜She is of course also afraid of her father Is not a believable/ credible witness because she initiated contact between Tom and herself The fact that she is easily provoked into angry outburst additionally weakens the quality of her testimony The mere assumption that she and her father should be believed because they're white very telling about the Jim Crow Era Tom Robinson: -Confirms Atticus's previous hint that Mayella has often asked Tom inside on the pretext that she needed help in the house Explains why he has helped Mayella despite his having a job and "chores" in his own household: He has realized her loneliness and poverty and wanted to grant her human contact 36 In the course of his explanations, he indeliberately commits a rhetorical error: he says he has felt "sorry" for Mayella a major faux-pas in the segregationist South where blacks were considered second-class humans who cannot rise above whites morally Femininity in part 1 1) Female types (influencing Scout) Scout: ● ● ● ● ● ● Talks nicely to Scout; takes her and her problems seriously Scout increasingly likes here for that Scout admires Maudie's open-mindedness 2) Further situations about gender roles as a topic Sometimes the boys exclude Scout from adventures referring to the closed- minded cliché that she "is a girl" -> the boys feel "braver" than girls Dill's announcement that he intends to marry Scout puts her into a passive, accepting position (-> women's conservative role, almost as men's property) Also Uncle Jack doesn't want Scout to swear and use her fists, especially because she's a girl Is justice achieved in To Kill a Mockingbird? the theme of justice is shown in three major parts of the storyline: the discrimination against Boo Radley, the treatment of Atticus' family while he defends Tom, and the nature of Tom's trial ● "tomboy" (plays outside a lot; "uses her fists") But increasingly becomes more rational/ mature Slowly learns the world's and society's ways: initiation ● Calpurnia: Not a role model of her job (service sector) But an educational authority Calpurnia educates Jem and Scout for the "white" world Aunt Alexandra: Rather closed-minded; focused on Scout becoming a lady Critical of Atticus's educational approach Miss Maudie: Boo Radley is a character that represents the injustice that many people suffer simply because they are misunderstood by society. In a world where people are quick to judge one another based on superficial circumstances, people are quick to discriminate against people who are different than the norm. Boo 37 ● ● Radley has a mental disorder and has been confined to his home for decades. At this time, the majority of American society did not understand what mental illness was, or how to deal with it. Thus, many people who suffered had to do so in silence and were not taken seriously, repressing their true issues and creating cause for prejudice and discrimination. Boo is suffering from these ideals because his parents have decided that the best way to deal with his mental illness is to lock him up in their home for his entire life, which inspires the idea that he is a terrifying, ghost-like monster that haunts the neighbourhood. However, this backfires because Boo simply becomes a recluse who does not function like a regular adult, and instead he watches the children to experience life through them. He leaves little presents for the children and secretly gives Scout a blanket when they are outside in the cold one night. Ultimately, the children come to trust him and treat him like a regular person, and in turn he helps to protect them from harm, thus showing the true reality that he is a good person and has simply been the victim of unjust attitudes. Boo Radley is the one who saves Jem and Scout when they are attacked by Bob Ewell. Scout states, "he gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives" (Lee 373). Atticus receives a significant amount of harsh treatment by the white members of the public because he is defending a black man during a time of racial segregation, and they do not agree with him despite the fact that he is a court-appointed lawyer. People in the town continue to judge Atticus because of his position, and they lose their respect for him because they do not believe that a black man should be considered innocent at all. In addition, Scout and Jem become outcasts due to their relation to him, as they begin to notice that the townspeople are treating them differently. Scout is attempting to comprehend racism, but since she does not see the world in that way, she is having a hard time figuring it all out. Scout and Jem truly realize how hateful people are, and how there are real threats to their lives because of Atticus' determination to prove Tom's innocence. Bob calls Atticus a "nigger-lovin' bastard" (Lee 291) and hates him because he was defending a black man against him. At the end of the novel, after the trial has ended, Bob attacks Scout and Jem because they are Atticus' children. His intention is to kill them with a butcher knife, but Boo Radley saves them. Despite the fact that the children have done nothing wrong, they are associated with their father, and the negative treatment Atticus has been receiving now spills out onto his innocent children. Tom's trial is extremely significant in representing the theme of justice because the entire storyline surrounding Tom is based on the injustice he is suffering 38 due to racism against him, well as his quest to seek justice in court and prove his innocence. However, because he is a black man and the situation happened with a white family, the entire white population of the town assumes that he is evil and has committed the crime. This is due to the negative views of African Americans that the people had during the 1960s, and the racial divisions that occurred. Simply put, black men were never given the benefit of the doubt and were always considered guilty, despite evidence to prove otherwise. Despite everything, Atticus believes that racism is to blame for the injustice in the world, and he is raising his children to understand this so they can continue to be good people. Racism and discrimination are the causes of injustice in the novel, and the negative attitudes of the people in the town are representative of the people who lived during this time in the United States. Lee's utilization of the mockingbird as a symbol of innocence proves the point that, if one continues to silence the voices of those who are truly good or innocent, the concept of innocence will die and evil will win. Through her representation of various storylines as the ultimate idealization of justice, Harper Lee demonstrates that, in a time of racism and divide, black Americans were the victims of severe injustice and bias. The fact that Tom was wrongly accused, but convicted simply because the jury was made of all white males who had already been known to be part of a lynch mob, demonstrates the stacked odds of the time. By bringing these issues to light, Lee plays a significant role in shaping the history of racism in America and the origins of the ideas of the Civil Rights Movement that would soon take place. Atticus Finch Atticus Finch is a lawyer in Maycomb, Alabama, and the widowed father of Jem and Scout. Atticus is well-respected personally and professionally. He is an honest man with an open heart, a quick and fair mind, and a gentle disposition. At the same time Atticus is strong and focused in everything he does. His levelheadedness and legal training give him a solid backbone and strength of conviction, particularly during Tom's racially fueled rape case. Neighbor Miss Maudie tells Jem and Scout that Maycomb citizens are paying a great compliment to their father by placing faith in him to do the right thing. Throughout the novel Atticus shows himself capable of living up to that trust. ● 39 Scout Jem ● Jean Louise Finch is the daughter of widowed lawyer Atticus Finch. Known affectionately by her nickname, Scout is nearly six years old as the story begins. A tomboy through and through, Scout is eager, inquisitive, and observant. Her father teaches her to read at an early age, so she has the ability to soak up information wherever she finds it. She is mature and wise far beyond her years, which doesn't always sit well with the adult citizens of Maycomb. Even at six Scout shows herself to be open-minded and openhearted. She sees people as individuals and does not prejudge them according to the color of their skin. Scout goes into situations expecting as much goodwill as she brings, and has difficulty coping with deceit. By the book's end when she is nine, she learns to deal with the fact that the world is not as kind or honorable as she grew up believing. Jeremy Atticus Finch (Jem) is Scout's older brother, 10 years old at the novel's beginning. He is as wildly imaginative and curious as Scout, especially when it comes to the reclusive Boo Radley, but he also has the capacity to be thoughtful and considerate. Jem is more introspective than other boys his age, perhaps because he misses his mother (who died three to four years before the events of the book). Jem's thoughtfulness is characterized by a deliberate and deep ability to think. At times we see the youthful Jem at war with the Jem who is growing up; this dichotomy, or split personality, makes his character all the more real. Arthur "Boo" Radley Arthur Radley, or Boo, is the reclusive neighborhood legend who becomes the object of Jem, Scout, and Dill's obsession over the summer. He lives three doors down from the Finches in a foreboding house, where he hasn't been seen for years. According to local lore Boo's father kept him imprisoned in the house after Boo got into legal troubles as a teenager. The children's fear and prejudice against Boo runs parallel with the town's prejudice against Tom Robinson, the black man accused of raping a white woman. But the real Boo is quite a different person than the town believes. By the end of the novel the children have a more nuanced and sympathetic opinion of the former object of their curiosity and fear. 40 Calpurnia Dill ● Calpurnia has been the Finch family cook since Jem was born. When Atticus's wife died, she became a mother figure of sorts for the kids and a strict disciplinarian. Atticus considers her an integral member of the family. Her presence gives Jem and Scout insight into the African American community and a greater understanding of the racial tension in Maycomb. Calpurnia is a strong character, a bit like a female version of Atticus. While she may not have extensive formal schooling, she has gained much wisdom from life's experiences. She, like Atticus, isn't quick to judge, a rare quality in the racially divided town of Maycomb. Calpurnia serves as a bridge between the black and white communities. She knows Tom Robinson, which makes the case all the more personal for Atticus. Charles Baker Harris, or Dill, is the six-year-old nephew of Rachel Haverford, the Finches' next-door neighbor. Jem and Scout meet him at the beginning of the novel when he comes to stay for the summer. Dill becomes a good friend to both Jem and Scout, and Atticus and Calpurnia regard him as one of their own. Dill, who is being shuttled among relatives after his mother remarries, protects himself with a vivid imagination. When he hears the story of Boo Radley, he entices Jem and Scout to help him lure the reclusive Boo from his house. Bob Ewell Bob Ewell is the father of Mayella Ewell and Tom Robinson's accuser. He is jobless, racist, and tends to drink away the relief checks that are meant to feed his many children. As the trial unfolds he becomes even more belligerent and vicious toward Atticus Finch for defending Tom Robinson. He is a racist because it gives him someone to look down on; he has no softness, no kindness, and no goodwill. He is unable to see the value of pulling himself up, even when the opportunity presents itself. In particular he has great feelings of inferiority, which, in this case, are aroused by Tom Robinson, who says at one point in the trial that he feels sorry for Mayella Ewell because she has no one to help her. Out of ignorance, Bob Ewell finds Tom Robinson's compassion for his daughter an insult to him and his family. 41 Tom Robinson • Tom Robinson is the black man accused of raping Mayella Ewell. A good- hearted man of about 25, Tom is married, has children, and is known to be honest and hard-working. It is Tom's misfortune to be living in proximity to the Ewells. When Mayella Ewell asks for his help with small tasks, he obliges because he knows her father never helps her. Unfortunately it's Tom's thoughtfulness that puts him in Bob Ewell's sights where, like the mockingbird killed for sport, he is eventually destroyed. Race Issues of race and prejudice pervade To Kill a Mockingbird. Tom Robinson's trial reveals racial tensions that are deeply ingrained in the day-to-day life of the community and its people, even among those who are not immediately involved in the legal proceedings. Jem and Scout accompany Calpurnia to church, where all members of the congregation are African American. There they experience incidents of racism from some of the church-goers. The town's newspaper publisher shows signs of racism even as he exposes it in the community. Aunt Alexandra also shows racist tendencies, as when she advises Atticus: "Don't talk like that in front of them [African Americans]. ... It encourages them." During the trial the children and particularly the deep-thinking Jem-are shaken by this sudden exposure to the town's prejudice. Their reactions in particular make the racist behavior of the adults around them look petty, illogical, and unethical. Class Harper Lee's exploration of class often has to do with money and power. In the novel Aunt Alexandra is loyal to Maycomb's existing class distinctions. People know their place, and to keep one's place is a tedious but necessary job. She makes it clear that Scout cannot invite impoverished classmate Walter Cunningham to their home because "he-is-trash.... I'll not have you ... picking up his habits." Aunt Alexandra would also consider the Ewell family to be in a lower social class than the Finches. Throughout the novel, especially after Aunt Alexandra moves in, Jem and Scout wrangle with the idea of class. They often talk about it as "background" or "family," but what they are trying to figure out is how to navigate the tricky waters of Maycomb's various social classes while remaining true to their beliefs. 42 Equality versus Inequality In To Kill a Mockingbird Lee examines issues of equality and inequality. For example, the solicitor, Mr. Gilmer, seems a decent enough person in his general interactions, but the way he addresses Bob Ewell, a white man, is very different from the way he addresses Tom Robinson, a black man, and reveals how deep racial inequality is ingrained in Maycomb. Inequality can be viewed through many lenses in the story. In addition to a general inequality between whites and blacks in Maycomb, the theme also reveals divisions between the wealthy and the poor. Inequality shows up in discussions about families whose community roots run deep, as opposed to those people who are newcomers. There is also a sense of inequality between the sexes. Women are not permitted to serve on the jury. Jem occasionally jibes Scout about her gender: "You're gettin' more like a girl every day!" Coming of age - From innocence to experience ● ● ● ● ● Two innocent children nearing their end of their innocent childhood days and become confronted with reality Scout stops seeing Boo as evil monster and starts to respect him as human being and discards their prejudice Plea for tolerance and understanding: move on from prejudices and stereotypes Atticus represents maturity and courage: seems weak, but stand up for convictions, risking his standing in the community and his personal safety Good and evil exist side by side: Atticus and Bob Ewell Nature of injustice presented by the case of Tom Robinson Morality Morality occupies a central place in To Kill a Mockingbird and can be linked to racial issues and inequality. How moral or ethical individuals are directly relates to how racist they are. Much of the tension in the novel comes about when the moral compass and ethical standards of Jem and Scout-instilled in them by their father's teaching and example-come into direct conflict with the world of Maycomb. Atticus seems to have faith in an innate goodness in people one that would allow them to choose the best path, treat people with dignity, and show respect for others, no matter what station in life they occupy. But for Jem and Scout life exposes a cruel and vicious world. Their concept of morality as being innate is shattered during the trial when Tom is convicted, despite the flimsy evidence presented against him. 43 The Mockingbird The mockingbird is a symbol of innocence or vulnerability. Several characters lose their innocence in the novel-most notably Tom Robinson. When he is killed the newspaper editorial compares his death to the "senseless slaughter of songbirds," a direct reference to Atticus's earlier warning to his children that it's a sin to shoot a mockingbird because a mockingbird does nothing but bring joy to people. Similarly the sheriff refuses to arrest Boo Radley because doing so would be "sort of like shootin' a mockingbird," meaning that Boo is such a vulnerable character that it doesn't make sense to bring him extra hardship. In the same vein Scout's last name Finch, another songbird, suggests that her innocence (or loss of) will be integral to the story's plot. Physical Challenges Many characters in the novel face a physical (or mental) challenge: Tom Robinson has a mangled left arm; Jem breaks an arm badly enough that his arm, too, is forever altered; Boo Radley has a damaged spirit; Atticus has poor eyesight. These disabilities or differences-are outward signs that everyone has weaknesses and carries with them the damages inflicted by life. The Knothole Boo has been living as a recluse for many years but obviously wants to connect with the outside world. Boo leaves gifts for Jem and Scout in the knothole of the tree as a way of connecting with them without making himself vulnerable. When Nathan Radley learns what Boo had been doing, he fills the knothole with cement, breaking Boo's ties with the outside world in an attempt to keep him secluded. The Rabid Dog Tim Johnson, a dog well known in Maycomb, becomes rabid-and a danger to the community. The dog's disease is symbolic of racism in the town. Just as Sheriff Tate refuses to serve justice in the Tom Robinson case, so does he refuse to shoot the rabid dog-he urges Atticus to fight it, just as Atticus fights for justice in the courtroom. Miss Maudie aptly tells Scout she believes that Atticus "decided he wouldn't shoot till he had to, and he had to today." Courage / bravery Atticus -> defends black man, facing mob outside the jailhouse, killing dog Scout -> outspoken & straight forward, confrontation with mob at jail Jem -> protects himself & Scout when they get attacked Ewell ● 44 Mr. Durbose -> fights against her morphine addiction ● Boo Radley-> comes out of house to save Scout & Jem, kills Bob Ewell ● Life lessons Scout learns ● ● ● Film version by Robert Mulligan (1962) ● ● put yourself/step into other shoes keep fighting even if you're going to lose never kill a mockingbird the world is unfair ● Two years after the novel was published One of the most successful films and ranks high on the list of greatest American movies of all time Follows the novel closely Aunt Alexandra doesn't appear in the film Scout's unladylike behavior does not play major role Mrs. Dubose is only shown once Calpurnia plays a less important role and her relationship with Scout isn't as elaborate as in the book Shift in perspective: In the book it's tomboy Scout and in the film the older Jean Louise, adult • Softens the book's indictment of institutionalized racism Idealized representation of life in a small town in the 1930s 45 THE HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA "Long Walk to Freedom" A brief history of white control over South Africa 1652 1806 1835-1837 1852-1854 1867 1881/1900- 1902 1910 1913 1936-1945 Englisch-LK Q2 South Africa 1948 First settlers (Dutch farmers) run small food station which is the beginning of Cape Town; Colonization continues; regard South Africa as their own country British take control of the Cape for military and commercial reasons + discovery of gold Great Trek: ,,Boers" (Dutch farmers) move north to escape British rule Two ,Boer" republics: Orange Free State and South African Republic Diamonds were discovered; gold mines were expanded; laws which force blacks to work in mines 2 „Boer Wars": Afrikaners against British; Afrikaners were put in concentration camps ,,Union of South Africa" against Afrikaner will was formed; racial segregation; only blacks with property could vote South African Land Act: 90% of country only for whites; later blacks were banned from certain skilled jobs Labour shortage because WW2; stricter segregation because of white hostility Afrikaner-led National Party elected: Policies of racial segregation; Apartheid begins in earnest Apartheid (Racial Segregation) - The separateness of white and black people - A system of indirect rule, directed by the whites at the top but administered by blacks at the bottom - called for the separate development of the different racial groups in South Africa - Racial groups were forced to live separately and develop separately and grossly unequally too - A social system which severely disadvantaged the majority of the population, simply because they did not share the skin color of the rulers 46 A timeline of important Apartheid Laws (after the election of the Nationalist Party) 1949 1950 1952 1953 in 1991 President F.W. de Klerk repeal the last apartheid laws Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act ● Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act Group Areas Act Population Registration Act Suppression of Communism Act Pass Laws Act Bantu Education Act Group Areas Act Forced removal to non-developed, desolate, barren landscapes/ spaces -> worse living conditions Today these places suffer from geographical apartheid Marriages across racial lines was prohibited -> invasion of privacy ● Population Registration Act Forced registration and classification into four ethnic groups, three of which were non-white and thus supressed Suppression of Communism Act Pass Laws Act Prohibition of resistance against the government -> legalization of imprisonment/ much arbitrariness (Willkür) in the governments use of this act "passports"/ I.D.s were distributed which for most if not all black meant highly restricted access to priviledged areas -> no more free travelling Bantu Education Act Prescribed segregation in educational facilities which for blacks were clearly inferior to those or whites; what is more, an inferior curriculum, a lack of well- educated/ well-paid teachers and overcrowded spaces with serious hygiene problems set black youths up for severe disadvantages on the job market 47 Major Anti-Apartheid Events of Protests Sharpeville Massacre 1960 Black protest attacking a police station Many fatalities („Todesfälle")/ casualties (>200!), including women and children, some of whom were shot in the back as they fled Soweto Uprising ● ● ● ● 1976 Mass student protest against the introduction of Afrikaans as an official language of instruction next to English Officially, almost 200 fatalities among 20.000 protesters -> so, also here protests were met with police brutality Apartheid versus segregation/ A comparison Apartheid (South Africa) Regional separation-townships Higher education prohibited Apartheid enforced by government Whites are a vast (minority) Restricted from voting by law Mixed marriages prohibited by law The discrimination policy of racial separation Stricter policies and had a much harsher rule on blacks - cruelly and forcibly Fighting for Freedom United Democratic Font Segregation (USA) Ghettos, segregation by different public places (regional) Higher education possible but very difficult (often no schools for black) Segregation: enforced by society on a regional basis Whites are the majority No voting rights for most of the time Mixed marriages possible, but not accepted by society Free slaves got more and more rights The setting apart or separation of things or people, as a natural process, a manner of organizing people that may voluntary or enforced by law Most important anti-apartheid organization of the 1980s 48 Declaration of Conscience (Gewissenserklärung") 1957: formed by more than 100 leaders from every continent (apartheid was introduced in a period when other countries were moving away from racist policies) ● ● ● Albert John Myumbi Luthuli (1898-1967) A South African politican 1952-1967: President of the ANC First African nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize Was awarded the Human Rights Prize of the United Nations Immediate opponent of the South African government Called upon the black population to remain calm and be patient ● ● ● ● ● Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) ● An appeal to South Africa to bring its policies into line with the Univeral Declaration of Human Rights South African apartheid regime set up a list of measures to supress anti- apartheid movements -> isolate from other countries ● Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ● Preacher in Montgomery and Doctor of Philosophy Leader of the Montgomery bus boycott against racial segregation in public Fought with peaceful methods -> public speeches 28.08.1963 "I have a dream" 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for his role as the spokesperson of non-violent racial integration 04.05.1968 was shot under unclear circumstances ● Studied law Leader of ANC: tried it non-violent at first but without any effect, then changed Classified as terrorist and sent to prison 1994 became the first black president and pursued a policy of reconciliation instead of revenge African National Congress (ANC) The African National Congress (ANC) is the Republic of South Africa's governing political party. It has been the ruling party of post-apartheid South Africa since the election of Nelson Mandela in the 1994 election, winning every election since then. 49 Timeline of the USA compared to South Africa YEAR 1619/20 1776 1807 1831 1869 USA First African Slaves brought to Jamestown 1899 Declaration of Independence: no longer under British control, colonies can form a new union (country) Importation of African slaves prohibited by the U.S. Congress The Liberator a newspaper Two ,,Boer" republics against slavery from William L. Garrison published 1861-1865 American Civil War: North States win the war, slaves were accept as citizens 1865-1965 Jim Crow Era: state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States Plessy v. Ferguson: a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality - a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal" Cumming v. Board of Education: segregation of races in American schools 1954-1968 American Civil Rights South Africa First settlers: Dutch Movement: a decades-long struggle by African Americans to end legalized racial discrimination, disenfranchisement and racial segregation British take control of the Cape Great Trek 1652 1806 Labour shortage because WW2; stricter segregation because of white hostility 1835-1837 laws which force blacks to 1867 work in mines 1852-1854 2 ,,Boer Wars": Afrikaners against British; Afrikaners 1902 were put in concentration camps racial segregation; only blacks with property could vote Year 1881/1900- 1910 later blacks were banned 1913 from certain skilled jobs 1936-1945 50 1955/56 1963 1965 1968 2009 Rosa Parks incident/ Afrikaner-led National Montgomery Bus Boycott: a Party elected: Policies of racial segregation; Apartheid begins in earnest civil rights protest during which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating; Four days before the boycott began, Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested and fined for refusing to yield her bus seat to a white man Assassination of John F. Kennendy (November) Assassination of Malcom X (February) Assassination of Martin Luther King (April) Everyone who fought against establishment got shot First black president: Barack Obama 1948 Nelson Mandela becomes 1994 President, first democratic elections: "Cultural lag" of 30 years 51 MOTHER TO MOTHER by Sindiwe Magona General information ● ● Time of Action: August 1933 Setting: Township Guguletu (Cape Town) Main Characters: Mandisa and her son Mxolisi Plot: Killing Amy Biehl events leading to that killing, consequences of killing. Summary In writing Mother to Mother, Sindiwe Magona drew inspiration from a real event: the murder of a white American named Amy Biehl by young black men in 1990s South Africa. The crime caused shockwaves around the world, not least because Biehl herself had come to South Africa to combat apartheid-the system of segregation and discrimination that relegated black South Africans, as well as other people of color, to second-class citizenship. On the face of it, then, Biehl's murder was an incomprehensible and counterproductive attack on someone trying to make amends for the injustices of colonialism and apartheid. Mother to Mother, however, sets out to render the murder comprehensible (if not excusable). By tracing the life and upbringing of a young man named Mxolisi a kind of amalgam of Biehl's real-life killers-Magona works to show her readers the pernicious effects of colonialism and apartheid, which cause their victims to become "lost creatures of malice and destruction". Chapter 1 2 3 4 Summary Mandisa (narrator in the novel) addresses the mother of the girl her son Mxolisi has killed; is not surprised about his action; is angry at Amy because she shouldn't have went to Guguletu; angry at the government; begs for forgiveness Compares Amys and her morning; has three children (Mxolisi, Lunga, Siziwe), hardly ever sees them; Amy offers school friends to drive them home -> chapter ends by description of swerm of people going to the car M. describes her working conditions and how she hates the woman she is working for; One day she got sent home earlier because locals attacked a car full of university students in Guguletu; she is worried about Siziwe because girls aren't safe M. arrives at home (only Lunga and Siziwe are there); Neighbour comes to tell the story about a white woman being killed in Guguletu 52 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Describes her childhood in Blouvlei; Dwadwa and M. are worried because Mxolisi still hasn't returned home; Explains that Mxolisi is undereducated and disobedient Violent police is searching for Mxolisi; destroy furniture; beat Lunga and M. up; Siziwe is traumatised Talks about pregnancy with Mxolisi; China her first love is his father; Never had sex just play sex; Lived with grandmother in Gungululu because her parents didn't wanted her to get pregnant (to late); only cared about living with China After parents found out they were ashamed, did no approve the pregnancy; Also China didn't care about the child, the parents decided that they should marry; lived together at Chinas place; M. felt like a slave and wanted to get educated; China left and M. bought a hokkie; She meet Lungile and late Lunge was born; Mxolisi never had it easy, saw his friends getting shoot by the police and didn't speak for 2 years After the violent police act neighbours want to know what happened; Mxolisi was there to hide something says Siziwe later; Dwadwa always knew that this boy would cause trouble one day In school she only learned about the history of European colonist, but her grandfather told her about the Xhosa history; The day after the murder Siziwe thinks people are talking about her brother; M. meets Mxolisi at a secret location and he admits he was part of the crowd murdering the girl She feels shame and anger; Neighbours come to comfort her; Says to the other mother that she did everything she could and shouldn't thing it's her fault what happened to her daughter Talks about the hopelessness for her son and millions of people like him caused by the government; M. describes the murder of the white girl; Ends the letter saying Mxolisi only did this because the bad living conditions (under control of the whites) made him do it The Amy Biehl case Amy Elizabeth Biehl (April 26, 1967 - August 25, 1993) was an American graduate of Stanford University and an Anti-Apartheid activist in South Africa who was murdered by Cape Town residents while a black mob shouted anti-white slurs. The four men convicted of her murder were pardoned by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. As she drove three friends home to the township of Guguletu, outside Cape Town, on August 25, 1993, a mob pulled her from the car and stabbed and stoned her to death. The attack on the car driven by her was one of many incidents of general lawlessness on the NY1 road that afternoon. Bands of toying youths threw stones at delivery vehicles and cars driven by white people. One delivery vehicle was toppled over and 53 set alight, and only the arrival of the police prevented more damage. There was evidence that some of the possessions belonging to her and the passengers were stolen. Characters Amy Biehl: Student who was killed in real life on the 25th of August 1993 China: Mxolisi's father; Disappears and never returns ● Lunga: Mandisa's second child Lungile: Lungas father who leaves as freedom fighter Mandisa: Kills the white student, the novel revolves around Mxolisi's living conditions and why he committed murder • Siziwe: Mandisa's daughter ● ● ● Amy Biehl ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Mixolisi ● ● White, American girl, educated Came to South Africa to help black people prepare for the first free elections Anti-apartheid activist ● Understood the suffering of the black and wanted to help Had many black friends Victim, because the mob that killed her only saw the oppressor in her skin color "guilty" because she entered Guguletu even though she should have known about the danger Her name is never said in the novel, but novel is based on the real life case of Amy Lazy, sleeps a lot, stays up late The oldest among his two siblings (20 years old), parental role Tall, muscular, looks like is father, has a scratchy voice Disobedient (ungehorsam) Was an unwanted child, missing father figure Violence and crime are part of his daily life Protest against the government, is part of a mob to feel stronger Doesn't attend school regularly, poor education The hype and propaganda created by the mob somehow pressured/forced him into killing the girl 54 ● ● Mandisa ● ● ● ● ● White supremacy/racial discrimination might have victimized him/his personality His mother senses him as a sensitive and helpful person Seems to personify the stereotypical black youth His character is the representation of the oppressed living under tremendous circumstances in a country with a brutal system of segregation Starts becoming a victim of apartheid's systematic oppression and feels like having to do something against it Mandisas motivation for writing to Amy's mother Guilt/apology • Justification/ explanation ● Mother of Mxolisi, Lunge and Sisiwe (different partners) Caring, good-hearted, hardworking (servant) and therefore barely at home Emphasizes (tries to understand) with her son Has been facing the turmoils (Aufruhr) of black life under apartheid up until the present ● Unexpected pregnancy as a teenager Indirectly blames Mxolisi for shattering her hopes Grows up in earlier apartheid time, Blouvlei Is directly affected by the Group Areas Act Pregnancy made an better education impossible Wants Amy's mother to understand Background information Question of responsibility: is Mandisa really responsible Forgiveness Helps her handle the situation form of self-therapy Pulling herself out of the line of fire/ out of the blame Criticism of the government, of the system of apartheid controlled by the white minority Expression of sympathy and shared grief Reasons for Amy's murder Amy should have known to stay out of the township Had no scence of danger: naivete 55 ● Amy's even more to blame she faced that danger consciously Amy even dared enter Guguletu at a time of protest, with "black anger" visible and audible on the streets Amy stood symbolic of white privilege and apartheid was victimized Themes and Motifs ● Racism ● ● ● ● ● Violence ● ● ● ● ● Atonement (Buße) Amy's terrible fate is referred to as "imperfect atonement of her race" (p.201) Communication is key "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" ● Political system of apartheid Social effects of apartheid and political struggle against apartheid influences everybody behavior Hatred and ignorance lead to destruction of individuals Hatred (Hass) springs from powerlessness Increasing frustration led to political radicalisation ● Blouvlei and Guguletu Similarities: ● Daily exposure to (racial-) violence Individual guilt is explained in terms of collective retaliation and deferred responsibilities Stoning of cars, violence against people, neck lacing Apartheid and violence are connected to South Africa's history Relative poverty Living in "shacks" Relative lack of space and privacy ● Relatively low level of education ● Differences: Blouvlei Feeling of "warmth": people felt comfortable, satisfied, at home and safe Guguletu Even less space; even more crowded 56 Community/ neighbours you know History of generations Mothers only worked part-time -> time for/ control of the children Children went to school (usually) (there was access to education for every child) Grocery-shopping was very accessible (shops in walking distance) ● ● Completely "black"/ totally segregated High crime levels Forcibly removed there/ forced to live there ● Blacks are watched and mistreated by the police -> Consequences/ Conclusion for Mandisa and "her people": ● The government miscalculated the number of people moving ● Frustration Feeling of insecurity an imprisonment The re-building of relationships is difficult Lack of tradition, origin, culture: they feel lost Forever second-class humans Human failures Narrative Perspective (by the example of chapter 3) ● Mandisa as first-person-narrator Since she's part of a) The murder story (if only indirectly, but certainly evaluated by her) b) The detailed memories that, from her perspective, let us know about her life as a child, as a teenager and as a mother (all during apartheid: she also represents the black perspective in general) c) Of course, the narrative frame, which is the letter she writes (to) Amy Biehl's mother ... she is a participant observer, whose perspective is not objective Positively speaking, one can argue that hearing directly from Mandisa makes for an authentic first-hand account (Darstellung) with lots of human emotions that allow us to put ourselves into the position of the suppressed blacks Mothers working all day -> less time for/ control of the children Children go to school less and less; the bad educational conditions and, thus the lack of teachers as figures of authority increases teenagers hopelessness and criminal tendencies Blacks hate to live there 57 LANDESKUNDE Expansion of the British Empire ● a powerful and wealthy nation which defeated other European countries and conquered indigenous people thanks to its army and navy gained much land through war and colonization • they had an advantage over countries with poor infrastructure because of inventions such as the telegraph, railroads or steamships • in the 19th century, about a quarter of the world's land surface was covered by the British Empire including Australia, Africa, Asia, North America and Europe (India was seen as the "Jewel in the Crown") ● "The Empire on which the sun never sets" they had many colonies all over the world, when the sun set in one of their territories, it rose in another motives: economics desire to increase Britain's wealth; politics the urge to prevent other nations to become more powerful; religion → spread Christianity; adventure & curiosity the longing to explore; trade → e.g. East India Company (= trade of Asian goods) • part of the transatlantic triangular trading system: Africa, the Caribbean and the United States as well as Europe was involved → they traded goods, slaves and crops such as cotton or tobacco Achievements ● Englisch-LK Q3 Great Britain ● → they mapped Africa they improved infrastructure, education and medical care in their colonies 58 ● they were said to be liberal: they handed over to some colonies the possibility of governing themselves Downfall of the British Empire in both world wars the British Empire lost prestige and political influence, e.g. in Australia, New Zealand or Canada, as those were given the power to rule themselves in 1931 the destruction of the wars forced Britain to focus on the reconstruction of their own country and they realized that it was no longer feasible to run a great empire even India separated in 1947, consequently also many other countries that got their independence → sometimes only possible through wars (e.g. Ireland) Britain and Europe ● they abolished cannibalism and slavery (even though they profited from it a century before) ● ● Britain joined the Common Market in 1973 in the 1980s there was a strong conflict concerning the "United States of Europe" → still signed the Single European Act in 1978 and the Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1990 Social Classes 1994: Eurotunnel counteracted Britain's geographical isolation Britain's currency (pound), however, they always held on to Brexit 2020: The United Kingdom is leaving the EU alliance after a long delay and disagreements within the population typical three-class system now only applies to 39% of the population in Great Britain → seven-class system instead a class is made up of three components: economic, social and cultural capital 1. Elite: most privileged group, wealthy, highest level of all three capitals 59 • 2. Established middle class: second wealthiest, largest and most prosperous group 3. Technical middle class: small but prosperous group, low for social and cultural capital because of its social isolation and cultural apathy • 4. New affluent workers: young group, socially and culturally active, middling levels of economic capital • 5. Traditional working class: scores low on all forms of capital, members have high house values though • 6. Emergent service workers: new and young urban group, poor, high social and cultural capital • 7. Precarious proletariat: most poorest and deprived class, scoring low on all forms of capital Clash of Cultures relatively describes the differences caused by different lifestyles and the resulting social problems • loss of identity of the homeland: immigrants are afraid of becoming they stop adapting too British • racism and discrimination: some Britons are of the opinion to be superior confusion due to overlapping identities: sense of unbelonging among second generation immigrants ⚫ traditional role expectations lead to exclusion from society (e.g. the father is the absolute authority) ● → arranged marriages: based on social standing, appearance or income, children are held captive in the retrogressive era Ethnic Minorities in Britain today ● a cersus in 2011 revealed a reduction of the purely white and British people in Great Britain → the percentage of ethnic minorities rose from 9% to a total of 14% within 10 years and the 60 number of people with mixed-ethnic backgrounds eve doubled in this amount of time (many interracial relationships) the English way of life includes all ethnic backgrounds now →→ Britain is absolutely capable of absorbing a large number of foreigners • Caribbeans: partners are often in the working class; 48% ob black Caribbean men and 34% of black Caribbean women in couples are with partners of a different ethnic group; black Caribbean children are outnumbered two-to-one by children who are a mixture of white and black Caribbean ● ● Asians: concentrated in cities like Leicester and London boroughs like Tower Hamlets and Harrow; mixed Asian children are more common in the largely middle-class white suburbs of Edgbarton, Moseley and Harbone Bangladeshis: mostly remain in cities; mix slowly; if born in Britain they are far more likely to socialize with white; just 7% of Bangladeshi men are with people from a different ethnic group (Bangladeshi women even less) • Indians: arrived in large numbers in the 1960's; mix slowly; Indians with a degree are far more likely to marry whites • Pakistanis: mostly remain in cities; mix slowly; older Pakistani men are more likely to have partners of another ethnicity due to their early immigration as single men better adapted over time; Pakistani men born in Britain socialize with whites a lot more; just 8% of Pakistani men are with people from a different ethnic group (Pakistani women even less) British Values / ,,Britishness" ● → people prefer to call themselves English, Irish etc. ● traditional British values based on six ideas: 1. fairplay in a competitive situation 2. a caring attitude towards the vulnerable, including animals 3. respect & tolerance for the customs of others 4. dislike of extremism 61 5. common sense 6. belief in inviolability of the home ( („My home is Multiculturalism Pro people can learn from each other - new experiences improve language skills - promotes diversity (- can keep us open-minded) Pro America - Immigrants are allowed to keep their differences, hyphenated identity Multiculturalism - Comparison between America and Britain - Identification of Islam and America exists side by side Segregated society - After hurricane Katrina = neglecting black society - Isolated because of different society, culture, economic and psychology (ways of thinking) Visible when they terrorize Contra - Segregation in education, housing and work - s my castel") Contra - Segregation is the CHOICE of individuals (= no adaptations, Parallel societies) - cultural clash - racial tensions - prejudices/ discrimination against ethnic minorities - fear of losing culture Britain - Alienation of immigrants from their country of origin as well as from GB - Lack of identity of 2nd generation immigrants with the country of the parents and Britain - Immigrants in "struggle" to take pride in GB because they are expected to adopt the British culture and feel British - Cultures live apart from each other - British don't confront themselves enough with important issues -> Muslims feel rootless and create extremist ideology - Blacks and the poor are ignored by the state - Government and society need to create a national sense of identity -> Impossible for the extremist to succeed - The whites have the absolute power -> Ban preachers that incite terrorism -> Ban preachers of hate - Society doesn't realize the problem: Segregation and Hyphenated identity leads to lack -> Need active-muscular liberalism, of common culture and identity promotes certain values Concl. USA has the better Modell of assimilating the people into the country and making them feel American. But when it comes to Integration, America has failed and Great Britain should learn from their mistakes. The "Dream" the Americans are living has turned into a Nightmare. 62 Robin Cook: ,,Chicken Tikka Masala" (2001) Robin Cook himself refers to Britain's multi-ethnic historical past, which to him establishes an ethnically pluralistic continuum through the British present According to him, the British are not one race but instead a composition of ethnicities (a mixed race, so to speak); 85% are white and largely Anglo-Saxon, 5% black and 10% Asian ● ● ● Brexit ● London especially embodies this multi-ethnicity as in this "hub" /center (London) very many different ethnic cultures are found Many international companies have established headquarters in London, which fosters Britain's economy Cook suggest seeing British pluralism as an asset rather than as a challenge; especially young people have adapted to the multi-cultural atmosphere Legitimate immigration (of people that can substantially (through skills) contribute to Britain's well-being) is necessary to boost the economy and enrich the culture Illegal immigration, in comparison, endangers the legal protection of minorities The widely popular Chicken Tikka Masala may stand representative of the Britons willingness to welcome cultural diversity -> an originally Indian dish to which a sauce accommodating the British penchant for meals served in gravy is added Through his engaging/ involving rhetoric, Cook means to make minorities feel part of the nation and make whites aware of their multicultural past and present One of the most controversial issues in Britain in recent times, and some that has divided the country deeply, is the question whether Britain should remain in the EU Since 1990 an increasing number "Eurospectics" among politicians They believe that EU membership brought mainly disadvantages for Britain and that there were not enough benefits to balance it out In 1993, the UK Independence Party was founded with the aim of getting Britain to leave the EU 63 During this campaign before the 2015 general election, prime Minister David Cameron promised to hold a referendum on Britain's EU membership within two years if his party won This was partly appeasing (beruhigend) Conservative voters who might otherwise have voted for UKIP if he was not seen to take action For Brexit Control over immigration and reduce the number of immigrants; EU citizens will no longer have an automatic right to move there More freedom to make important trade deals with the countries such as India or China Courts get their sovereignty back and only deal with laws that are concerned with British interests Develop a strong job market International banks will stay in London Against Brexit Immigration problems will be closer, since the border controls will be in Britain Nearly half of Britain's exports go to the EU so leaving the free trade zone would have a negative effect British citizens will suffer if Britain no longer has to comply with certain laws, such as human rights Jobs linked to the EU will have a uncertain future British interests are best protected as part of the EU bloc It is important for countries to work closely together in today's globalized world 64 THE WAR OF THE WORLDS by H. G. Wells General Information ● ● Perspective and Narrator described by a unnamed narrator who recalls his own experiences, as well as those of his younger brother Tense ● ● Themes ● Year Published: 1897 Type: Novel Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction Time and Place of Action: late 19th-century England Plot: a conflict between two civilizations, one human and one Martian ● ● the narrator uses past tense to recount his past experiences, as well as those of his brother present tense to reflect on his present thoughts on past events ● Main Characters Alien Invasion Technology: Martians use technology far superior to that of humans to overcome their physical limitations and establish dominance on Earth. Power: Martians are portrayed as Earth's new rulers, and humans are compared to the animals they once dominated Fear: People's fear of the Martians and their technology overwhelms them and drives them to mental breakdown Martians: Highly intelligent invaders; use machines to do their bidding Narrator's brother: Medical student in London; travels with Miss and Mrs. Elphinstone Narrator: Upper-middle-class writer of philosophical papers; interested in science Artilleryman: Cunning survivalist; travels with narrator Curate: Church leader; trapped in collapsed house with narrator Ogilvy: Astronomer who observes cylinder launch; killed by Heat-Ray 65 Martians ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Narrator ● ● ● fled their dying home world to inhabit a new place cold, ruthless, and highly intelligent their bodies are octopus-like, mostly a large head with tentacles their technological capabilities far exceed those of humans, view humans as insects ● the humans they do not eradicate with weapons serve as sources of blood, which they inject directly into their own bodies from living victims the Martians have no resistance to the bacteria of Earth, which eventually leads their demise ● a middle-class educated man who writes philosophical papers and is interested in science He values education, often commenting on the level of education of the people he encounters, as well as any lack of ability of logical reasoning he observes. Narrator's brother compares the Martian treatment of humans to humans' treatment of animals believes the Martians to be more highly evolved motivated to survive to be reunited with his wife, from whom he is separated for the majority of the tale Just as he is about to lose hope, he approaches a Martian, expecting it to kill him, but the Martian dies. He discovers all the Martians have been killed, and he returns home after a period of mental breakdown to find his wife has survived. Is an unnamed first-person narrator ● younger brother of the narrator ● lives in London, where he studies medicine He becomes increasingly alarmed about reports of Martians in his brother's hometown but is unable to reach him forced to flee when the Martians reach London He comes to the aid of Miss and Mrs. Elphinstone, and the group manages to escape the Martians by sea after witnessing the dramatic destruction of two tripods by an ironclad ship. 66 Artilleryman ● ● ● Curate ● ● ● ● ● a driver in the artillery missed being hit by the Heat-Ray when his horse fell because of a rabbit hole narrator calls him into his house to hide, the two escape Woking they are separated at Weybridge, where they encounter some tripods, one of which is destroyed by a shell manages to evade the Martians and creates a stockpile of food while making plans for the survival of humanity, which involve living in the drains under London doesn't actually do much work to make his plans a reality. ● Ogilvy ● preacher of a church in Weybridge that is destroyed by the Martians believes the invasion to be God's judgment loses his mind when he is trapped in the collapse of a house with the narrator for many days, in close proximity to a group of Martians he begins to rave loudly, and the narrator knocks him out Martian tentacles drag his body from the house, and he is killed. an acquaintance of the narrator who invites him to an observatory to use a telescope to examine Mars they both see an explosion that turns out to be a cylinder launching toward Earth observes the fall of the first cylinder and is the first at the landing site leads a group of men to excavate the cylinder before it opens, revealing the nature of the Martians approaches the Martians with a white flag of peace only to be incinerated by the Heat-Ray. Summary Book 1 The narrator, a philosopher from Woking, England (just south of London), recalls witnessing an explosion on the surface of Mars through a telescope, which the public ignores. Six years later, a cylinder containing Martians crashes to the ground outside Woking. The Martians who emerge are octopus-like and move with difficulty because of the different levels of gravity and air on Earth. 67 Their devastating weapon, the Heat-Ray, ignites anything its invisible beam touches, torching the group of humans who first approach it and defeating soldiers and guns arranged to protect the town. The Martians build tripod machines to get around and destroy any opposition, including human telegraphs and railways to slow news of their arrival. New cylinders-similar to escape pods-continue to land on Earth every 24 hours, as the Martians flee a cooling planet in search of a new home. The narrative follows the story of the survival of the narrator and his younger brother in London. The narrator and his wife flee the Martians, but they are separated when the narrator returns to Woking to find it overtaken. He travels for a time with an artilleryman and narrowly escapes death on several occasions. They are separated at Weybridge where the narrator flees by boat after witnessing a shell destroy a tripod. He meets a curate, who follows him. The narrator then explains how his brother in London, accompanied by two women, escapes the Martians by making his way to the sea to flee the country, where he witnesses an encounter between three Martian tripods and an ironclad ship that manages to bring down two of the machines. Book 2 The narrator returns to his own story as he continues on foot toward London and is trapped with the curate inside a house that collapses when a cylinder lands just outside. He observes the Martians closely during the 12 days he is trapped, seeing the variety of machines they built and learning that the Martians use the blood of humans for sustenance. The curate is driven to insanity, and his increasingly erratic behavior threatens to alert the Martians to their presence in the house. The narrator knocks him unconscious to silence him. The tentacles of a Martian machine penetrate the ruins in search of the source of the noise and drag away the body of the curate, narrowly missing the narrator. The Martians kill the curate, like the others, presumably by draining his blood for their own sustenance. The narrator emerges from the ruins only when the aliens abandon the area. The narrator happens upon the artilleryman again and is for a time enamored with his schemes for human survival. The narrator comes to see these plans as unrealistic and abandons the artilleryman. The narrator makes his way to a decimated London, where he hears a strange howling that turns out to be the last living Martians who die just as the narrator is prepared to give up hope. The Martians are killed by bacteria to which they have no resistance. Humanity survives, and the narrator returns home to be reunited with his wife 68 Book 1: Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 Summary ● Mixture of journalistic science fiction report and social criticism • Suspension of disbelief Narrator speaks from a point in the imagined future of the 20th century looking back to the end of the 19th century • English society is described as being very self-assured, they are blinded by their vanity and cruel (Tasmanians) Social Darwinism "survival of the fittest" when life on Earth is compared with the imagined life on Mars - Martians are the superior In societies which accepted the laws of S. D. weaker members of the society were left behind Victorian Era, Industrial Revolution caused a reckless capitalism which led to a sharp division into mainly two social classes (bourgeoisie/capital and proletariat/labor) ● ● Arrogance of the white men exterminating "inferior races" leads to the question if Martians shouldn't be allowed to treat humans like ants and suppress them, because humans did the same to other humans Humans are definitely inferior ● Martians adapt to an environment (Earth) ● The narrator and Ogilvy, an astronomer and an acquaintance of the narrator's, are concerned about what seems to be a fallen meteorite Ogilvy discovers the giant hole/ "pit" that the "falling star" has struck Watching the cylinder unscrewing its top, Ogilvy believes that whoever is inside needs help • Ogilvy henceforth informs a "London journalist" about what he has seen ● ● ● ● Narrator finds a little crowd surrounding the cylinder in the pit: at that point he does not believe "that it contained any living creature" Conversing with the narrator and asking him to inform "Lord Hilton", Ogilvy makes the narrator a "privileged" witness to the scene and thus, perhaps, an increasingly believable reporter Martians leave the cylinder: look like very ugly sea animals with insect eyes - very repulsive to the human eye- so the narrator and everyone else stand "petrified" Narrator seems believable because he saw it and therefore can report it He does not yet know what to make of all of this; his feeling is that of "half-fascinated terror" The overall atmosphere is still peaceful, with all the spectators being rather excited than fearful • "battleground of fear and curiosity" - he assumes that some kind of danger could be imminent 69 6 7 ● ● • Chapter 6 starts out with a rational (pseudo-)scientific description of how the Martians' scary "heat-ray" works as a deadly weapon in the destruction of people. ● Martians destroy the peaceful "Deputation" of Ogilvy and others, wo thought the martians would be interested in communicating and, despite "waving a white flag", are cruelly wiped out through a massive "flaming death" (Heat-Ray) as they approach the pit, from which come a "hissing noise", which then turns "into a humming" and a "long, loud, droning noise" The whole atmosphere now feels very "dark and unfamiliar" to the narrator Fear has totally enveloped him and he envisions his own death to be near The narrator spotlights the curiosity of many young people upon "the news of the massacre", their curiosity being much closer to excitement than actual fear as they still feel safe. • He also once again refers to the destruction of the human ● ● Like a journalist, he narrator makes it all sound quite convincing even though he admits: "But no one has absolutely proved these details", thus leaving room for interpretations. For the most part, the rest of the chapter flashes back to events already past. "Deputation" - he tells that the astronomers had alarmed the military - however, not to fight the Martians, but in fact to protect them from a "collision" with potentially violent humans In his flashback, the narrator zeroes in on individual experiences of terror in the "panic-stricken crowd" - he intentionally lists "two women and a boy" as tragic victims the narrator's very own personal experiences, his thoughts and feelings during his attempt to get back home He is physically and mentally exhausted by the events but, after resting, feels "strangely perplexed" by the possibility that it has all been a dream because at some distance from the pit, everything seems so peaceful again: "It [his everyday surroundings] was all so real and familiar. And that behind me! It was frantic, fantastic! Such things, I told myself, could not be" His own incredulity and skepticism effectively make him more believable to the reader, whose disbelief is suspended by the narrator's personal experience. So far, however, "with [...] the confidence of my own table, and the necessity of reassuring my wife," he feels "courageous and secure" as he thinks the aliens cannot move away from the pit, which his initially very fearful wife finally believes He scientifically explains how the Martians might not handle their 70 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● body weight on earth, which they might "counterbalance" with increased oxygen intake, though; but he foreshadows that their "mechanical intelligence" makes their "muscular exertion” irrelevant Chapter 8 explains how to the general public the news of the Martians' attack seems so unbelievable it might as well come from "drunkards" ● The narrator realizes the threat as does the military, which prepares for a possible struggle while from the pit "a noise of hammering" indicates the Martians' preparations for war false self-confidence of the general public and the soldiers that they will be able to contain the aliens' threat through military force; however, "the Martians took as much notice" of any human activity "as we should of the lowing of a cow" - and when the Martians' attack begins, the narrator and his wife know that immediate escape is necessary The narrator, "feverishly excited" about the war, voices his shock at and humans' apparent helplessness against the gigantic tripods - "metallic monsters" - with which the Martians stride through the battleground The narrator vacillates between highly emotional reactions to the events as they happen and a relatively quick return to rational thinking - he is both an excellent live reporter and a man with common sense that gives philosophical/ social commentaries after the fact The narrator wonders about the fragility of his "little world" and about whether the tripods are "intelligent mechanisms" or if controlling Martians sit inside them He now begins to fathom the dimension of destruction Soldiers don't comprehend the danger Crowd of fugitives still think humans will be superior at the end Fighting begins, one tripod gets killed with leaves men with hope He runs into the curate and his completely different belief The curate thinks that the Martian invasion is divine punishment in the sense of an end of the world as predicted in the Bible The narrator see everything reasonably and without religious fanaticism, he stays calm and does not portray the aliens as pure evil, on the contrary, he recognizes in them the same reckless imperial tendencies that humans (the English) have had in conquering parts of the world The narrator thus tries to reason with the curate, which, however, seems in vain - Wells here probably points out how difficult it is in general to reason against strong religious beliefs ● The narrator's brother, a medical student in London is introduced The brother stands representative of most Londoners as being initially 71 15 16 17 Book 2: Chapter 1 2 3 4 ● The latest newspaper warns of a pending attack on London in gruesome detail so that everyone tries to flee Martians arrive in London and start using a weapon which contains poisonous black smoke and shows their real power • They are unpredictable because of their own way of communication, weapons, habits, they are really fast and the fact that human can't investigate in them, because they have to run away ● They communicate with siren-like howls Chaos in London as people struggle to evacuate the city Civilization crumbles: lack of civility and humanity, people are getting run over ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● • The curate gets on his nerves ● Martians have dark eyes, no nostrils, sixteen tentacles and merely heads ● ● not too concerned about their safety since the Martian presence seems far away and, on top of that, rather unbelievable, also Londoners are not (yet) properly informed as to the dangerous enormity of the events Typically English, the yellow press predicts an English victory in a war against aliens, also London "authorities" make sure they "reiterated assurances of the safety in London" - they still think they are the strongest and there is no danger for them ● London as the seat of the British Empire is in total chaos For the Martians it is easy to destroy this city although it was always seen as extremely powerful, therefore you can say it is the massacre of mankind ● Summary The narrator goes back to describing his own experiences He is worried about his wife and scared They don't eat, they inject themselves human blood It turns out that Martians aren't immune against bacteria on Earth A writer predicts that someday humans will look like Martians The curate is being comparable to an animal because he isn't able to think with a clear head Narrator begins to dig a tunnel to escape but abandons the plan as he watches the Martians feed on a boy • The curate and narrator fight over the remaining food ● When the curate starts to rave about God and judgement the narrator knocks him out This noise graves the attention of one Martians who searches the 72 5 6 7 8 9 10 ● ● ● The Martians are gone and left ruins covered in the red weed The Earth seems like an different planet because the world he knew is destroyed • Humanity is now completely under the "Martian heel" ● Humanity is beaten, they are like ants to the Martians and they will be used like breeding animals in the future The artilleryman thinks that humans must spy on Martians to have a chance against them • On his way to find his wife the narrator finds motionless Martians The Martians and their machines died because they can't resist against bacteria ● There is hope again for humanity • Reparations begin, food is brought from outside, trains run again - world is recovering ● ● ● ● The narrator stays with a family for a few days to recover He travels back to Woking where he finds his wife and cousin ● Ultimate triumph of humanity Narrator is sad that there are still a lot of questions about Martians that can't be answered house for them but don't find anything He seems to be starving ● ● Symbols Railway and Telegraph These two important technological advances represent human achievement and show the possibilities of connection and communication through technology The invasion has expanded man's understanding of the universe - now they know that they have to take care of Earth Normality of the everyday life now feels strange • They show just what modern man can accomplish In short, the railway changed everyday life in England. The ability to convey messages in mere moments rather than the days or weeks it may have taken in the mail revolutionized commerce, diplomacy, and the news service, with sweeping effects on society These two technological advances ushered in the modern era, inspiring great pride and confidence in the ability of human ingenuity to overcome challenges, which makes their easy destruction in the novel so poignant. 73 Curate ● ● The curate represents the church and its hypocrisy, failures, and waning relevance ● The curate believes the Martian invasion to be the judgment of God In the face of the crisis, the curate is worse than useless-he endangers the narrator with his insane raving Fear He becomes incapable of rational thought or behavior in contrast to the logical approach of the narrator in the same situation The curate's religion fails to comfort him, serving instead as an ideology of condemnation, leading to his death He offers no help, is a drain upon the narrator, even endangering the life of the narrator, and eventually he drives himself insane This is in contrast to the rational scientific reaction of the narrator, who despite of his fear uses the time trapped in the house to observe the Martians and learn more about them, formulating the hypothesis that his best chance for survival is to wait until they leave the pit Themes The author uses the curate to show that the church offers no help and no future while science can provide both Technology The benefits, possibilities, and potential threats of technology-represented in the Martian tripods-make technology a pervasive theme in the novel Following the Industrial Revolution, technology changed society dramatically- from travel, to work, to communication. Virtually no part of life was untouched by new inventions News traveled faster than ever before with the invention of the telegraph, an integral part of many plot points in the novel If humans could build a steamboat and a steam-powered train, what was to stop them from being able to fly? The Martians are a frightening picture of what humans could become should they rely increasingly on a dangerous technology. The appearance, communication, and movement of the Martians is unlike that of humans, which elicits a fear of difference 74 ● ● Power ● ● ● The military forces arranged against the Martian tripod advance are killed by the Martians easily Martians are now in the seat of power/rulers of Earth, humans are powerless Familiar versus Strange The cylinder is completely strange or foreign, residents don't know what it is, how it works, what it contains, or from where it came ● The Martians are incomprehensible, and humans do not know how their machines and weapons work ● The Heat-Ray is terrifying because it is invisible Humans don't understand enough about the Martians to know how to defeat them Fear has a variety of effects. It causes people to scream and run away, but at other times it can be paralyzing. Fear can also overwhelm the mind. ● Motifs ● The author compares humans to animals when it comes to the superior powers of the Martians both in intellect and in might The Martians spread their poisonous black gas to kill humans as humans might smoke wasps Newspapers Daily newspapers were the primary source for local and world news in the 19th century Their regularity became a part of the rhythm of each day, as readers see at the start of the novel The interruption of that regularity is a signal that something is very wrong The "unnaturally early" papers in London signal the approaching invaders Newspapers are a way to track the progress of the invasion and to learn more about the Martians ● The strange cylinder and its horrifying contents contrast with the mundane daily activities of village life in Woking. Peaceful British villages are turned into fiery scenes of terror. Quiet country vistas the narrator knows so well become difficult to recognize as they are covered by the Martian red weed. 75 Red Weed ● ● ● As newspapers cease to be printed at the height of the invasion, Martian dominance is clear, even as their reappearance after the death of the Martians signals a return to normal life ● Relation to Invasion Literature ● This plant grown from Martian seeds spreads quickly throughout the country It grows waist high, obscuring roads and covering buildings and grows especially well near water The author uses the spread of the weed to mirror the invasion of the Martians. It slowly takes over, making the country increasingly unrecognizable. Like the aliens, the weed succumbs to bacterial infection and dies off, giving readers the first hint to the Martians' weakness. 1871-1914 over 60 works of fiction for adult readers describing invasions of Great Britain were published This type of literature reflected the increasing feeling of anxiety and insecurity as international tensions between European Imperial (kaiserliche) powers escalated towards the outbreak of the First World War Invaders change during centuries: 1870s Germany, End of 19th century France "The Battle of Dorking" by George Tomkyns Chesney (1871) was the seminal work and had Germans as invaders Compared to "The War of the Worlds" in both books is an ruthless enemy making a devastating surprise attack, the British military is helpless and their homes in southern England are destroyed "The War of the Worlds" transcends (überschreitet) the typical fascination with its introduction of an alien adversary (Gegner) It was also more sophisticated (anspruchsvoll) and visionary Utopian and dystopian fiction Utopian fiction Portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality intended to appeal to readers ● Greek: outopos = no place, eutopos = good place Vision of an ideal society and an ambiguous (mehrdeutig) and ironic projection of an ideal state 76 Dystopian fiction ● A setting that disagrees with the author's ethos Mass poverty, public mistrust (Misstrauen) and suspicion (Verdacht), a police state or oppression • Similar issues in the real world can be found ● ● ● Feminist utopias: envisioned idealized society, critique of present values/ conditions, male institutions cause social ills, women are equal and the sole arbiters (alleinige Schiedsrichter) of their reproductive functions "Utopia" by Sir Thomas More (1516), "Plato's The Republic" b Raphael Hythloday, "The History of Rasselas" "Prince of Abissinia" "Samuel Butler's"by Samuel Johnson "We" by Yevegeny Zamyatin (1921), "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony burgess (1962), "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood, "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins, "Divergent" by Veronica Roth, "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner, "Uglies" by Scott Westerfield The War of the Worlds ● ● ● Used to provide fresh perspectives on problematic social and political practices that might otherwise be taken for granted or considered natural and inevitable (unvermeidlich) Extrapolate elements of contemporary society and this can be read as political warnings Dystopian fiction Martians invade Earth - against the author's ethos British Empire feeling superior and the fear of invaders take place Social Darwinism is used as a political warning since the British destroyed ethnic groups (Völkergruppen) like the Tasmanians/natives Martians reflects the behavior of the English society 77 DRACULA by Bram Stoker General Information ● ● • Type: Novel ● Genre: Horror Gothic novel - an English genre of fiction popular in the 18th to early 19th centuries, characterized by an atmosphere of mystery and horror and having a pseudo- medieval (pseudomittelalterlich) setting Perspective and Narrator Epistolary novel: collage of letters, newspaper articles, journal entries, and telegrams primarily composed by the characters Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray, Dr. John (Jack) Seward, Lucy Westenra, and Dr. Abraham Van Helsing=no omniscient (allwissender) narrator ; participant observer ● Tense Author: Bram Stoker Year Published: 1897 Dracula is written mostly in the past tense, although some entries provide present-tense accounts. Jonathan Harker as initiating narrator and character Writes is diary primarily for himself but has his fiancé Mina as another "intended" audience constantly on his mind That a rational man reaches certain limits of no longer being able to explain the happenings around him makes his supernatural story believable Factually, he a) knows he's a prisoner b) is at the verge of going insane c) is about to assist an extremely dangerous creature in his plan to form an army of vampires within the unsuspecting and thus vulnerable population of London ● In the further course of the novel, the facts Harker has recorded in his journal will serve as research to be used in the fight against Dracula ● ● Dracula ● Transylvanian military leader (voivode, or commander) and nobleman ● somehow survives physical death but requires human blood to sustain his supernatural youth and strength In his mortal life, Dracula had authority and wealth; proud of his ancestry, he seeks to reassert his dominion as a vampire 78 ● ● ● Van Helsing ● ● ● ● ● Sometimes described as a child who's learning and at other times as a new species, Dracula is vain and superior, yet also intelligent and patient Has been "Un-Dead" for several hundred years Want's to spread vampirism in England ● ● 72-year-old Dutchman whose vast expertise and open mind compete against Dracula's superhuman age and strength in a classic good versus evil showdown Van Helsing galvanizes the group of young men to protect Lucy, Mina, and, by extension, all young women of London against Dracula John Seward Van Hels is not perfect; his unwillingness to share information freely causes problems, and his mistakes imperil Mina especially the novel's hero Dr. John (Jack) Seward is Van Helsing's former student, a doctor who specializes in working with the insane The head of a lunatic asylum one of Lucy's rejected suitors his relationship with one patient in particular-Renfield-reveals both the uses and the limits of scientific knowledge Lucy Westenra takes complete charge of Lucy's illness lonely, unmarried old bachelor who is both kindly and fatherly ● A young, beautiful, virginal woman, Lucy is loved by three men, including Holmwood, to whom she is later engaged, and dear to her friend Mina as well ● Often depicted in white, she is sweet and childlike, the perfect prey for Dracula, whose blood perverts her soul till Van Helsing purifies (reinigen) her body through violence Sleepwalking allows her to become Dracula's first victim Mina Murray ● Murray, later Mina Harker, is a bright, driven young woman with ambitions-for her husband She's a quick study, learning and later mastering shorthand, typing, and research and interview skills like one of the "lady journalists" to be "useful" to Jonathan when they are married 79 ● Jonathan Harker ● Mina is courageous and sweet, inspiring utter devotion in the men who protect her from Dracula's intent to make her a vampire. Mrs. Westenra Jonathan Harker is a lawyer Sent to Transylvania to finalize the transfer of real estate in England to Count Dracula eager to return from a work trip and marry his beloved Mina his weeks in Castle Dracula transform Harker into a white-haired, drawn, frantic man His devotion (Hingabe) to Mina is extreme: He would rather become a vampire with her than allow her to live under that curse alone ● Only with Dracula's death can Harker be freed from constant anxiety and return to the methodical paperwork of his quiet law office Arthur Holmwood ● • 29 years old ● Only son of Lord Godalming - inherits his name after his death Quincey P. Morris ● Lucy's mother, who is dying of heart ailment (Leiden) American from Texas His wealth allows him to pay many of the expense incurred in tracking down Dracula R. M. Renfield 59 years old Madman under the influence of Dracula Summary Clues in Dracula suggest the novel's setting is 1893. Dracula's events unfold from May to November in different locations until the characters' experiences converge near London. Events overlap until this point in the novel as characters in different places record simultaneous events in their journals, letters, and telegrams. Other writings, such as newspaper cuttings, are also woven into the plot. In May the young solicitor (lawyer) Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to assist a nobleman, who he calls Count Dracula, with a real estate purchase. Dracula is buying Carfax, a run-down estate near London. The villagers who live near Castle Dracula warn Harker not to travel to the castle; one gives him a crucifix, but he's puzzled over the gesture and due to this Anglican background considers the object idolatrous. Harker finds his host polite and attentive, if odd. Dracula has no servants, is unusually strong, and demands Harker work 80 with him only at night. Gradually, Harker realizes Dracula is somehow inhuman. Dracula imprisons Harker, apparently intending to kill him; yet he protects him from three voluptuous, viciously fanged women. After Dracula leaves for London, sending 50 boxes of earth ahead of him, Harker manages to escape the castle and make it to a hospital in Budapest, where he collapses, suffering from "brain fever." Meanwhile, Harker's fiancé, Mina Murray, is enjoying a vacation in the seaside town of Whitby with her dear friend, Lucy Westenra. Pretty, sweet, and well-off, Lucy wins the love of three men-Dr. John Seward, who runs an asylum near London; Quincey Morris, a Texan; and Arthur Holmwood, heir to an aristocratic title. She chooses Holmwood. Morris accepts the choice manfully, but Seward sinks into depression. He turns to his work, hoping for distraction, and records his observations of Renfield, a patient who eats flies, spiders, and sparrows in hopes of gaining their life forces. A strangely violent storm drives a ship ashore near Whitby; its crew is dead, and its captain's body is tied to the wheel, a crucifix between his hands. The only survivor is a vicious, large black dog that flees the ship. The captain's log tells a strange story: one at a time, the crew disappeared till only he and the first mate were left. The mate drowned himself, terrified, leaving the captain to bring the ship to harbor. Shortly afterward, Mina finds Lucy sleepwalking, an old habit, in Whitby's cemetery. She seems weak and has two small puncture wounds in her neck, from a safety pin, Mina assumes. Over the coming days, Mina travels to Budapest to marry Harker and bring him home, while Seward and his mentor, Dutch Professor Abraham Van Helsing, treat Lucy, who is weak and pale. Van Helsing prescribes strange treatments-garlic flowers, for example-with no explanation and performs four blood transfusions. But he cannot save Lucy. After her death, Van Helsing insists Seward, Holmwood, and Morris must help him destroy Lucy's body. They are appalled, but he proves to them Lucy is an Un-Dead and is attacking children to drink their blood. They enter the tomb where she sleeps and destroy her body but release her soul. The Harkers inherit a home and legal business in Exeter, meanwhile, but Mina worries about her husband's strength and health. In London for their benefactor's funeral, the Harkers see a thin man watching a pretty young woman in town. After Harker first breaks down and then can't recall the incident, Mina reads his journals to better understand his distress. She can't believe what he's written. Van Helsing contacts Mina for information about Lucy, and Mina reveals Harker's experiences as she comes to trust the professor. At Seward's asylum, Mina organizes everything they know about Dracula. Meanwhile the men work to find the boxes of earth and sterilize them with crumbs from a communion wafer, planning to corner Dracula and destroy him. But Renfield, Seward's patient and Dracula's follower, allows Dracula access to the asylum, where he attacks Mina, forcing her to drink his blood so she'll become a vampire and serve him. Attempting to protect Mina, Van Helsing touches the wafer to her forehead, where it burns her skin, marking her as polluted and evil. Van Helsing reveals at last information about Dracula's mortal history as a voivode, or war leader, and vampire lore he's largely withheld thus far, and the band of heroes vows to destroy Dracula. With only one box of earth left, Dracula retreats by ship to his castle. Van Helsing, Mina, and the young men join their abilities to track his route. They pursue him over land and by river as Mina fights to remain human. The hypnosis Van Helsing has been using on her to track 81 Dracula is losing its effect. Van Helsing reaches the castle and destroys the vampire women, and the young men fight the workers who are carting the box of earth where Dracula hides. Harker and Morris kill Dracula, whose body crumbles into dust as the sun sets. The red mark fades from Mina's forehead, and soon after Quincey dies. Seven years later, Seward and Holmwood have found wives, and the Harkers have a son, Quincey. Van Helsing holds the boy on his knee and says that someday the child will understand why several men dared so much for his mother Chapter Headnote 1 2 3 Summary ● the writer-possibly one of the heroes who faced and defeated Dracula-explains the rigorous method in which he or she arranged materials and documents and attests to their factual nature The note supports the novel's likeness to the real world the pretense that the letters and journals included in the novel are real to lend a sense of realism to a tale of monstrous creatures ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Harker has been sent to handle paperwork for the count's purchase of a house near London, but his journey so far has hardly been routine Dracula welcomes him saying: "Enter freely and of your own will!" Dracula says he's already dined and does not "sup." Dracula's face is sharp-cruel mouth, protruding teeth, crimson lips. His skin is pale, and his palms, oddly, are hairy ● ● ● Harker's journey to Transylvania in the remote Carpathians Checks into the Golden Krone Hotel ● landlady urges him not to go to the castle because at midnight, "all the evil things in the world" will become powerful the woman offers him her crucifix people have set up many crosses by the roadside horses aren't allowed to rest because it's not safe blue flames and wolves surround him The castle's ornate furnishings proclaim Dracula's wealth only Dracula lives in the castle He hadn't seen his host come up in the mirror while shaving When Dracula sees the trickle of blood on Harker's chin, his look turns vicious Harker realizes he is not a guest but a prisoner Dracula commands Harker to write to Mr. Hawkins, saying that Harker will stay another month in Transylvania Harker writes secretly, in shorthand, to his employer and to Mina Murray, his fiancée ● Harker sees Dracula emerge from his room's window and creep down the castle wall, face down and cloak billowing, as quick and sure as a lizard ● Harker falls asleep in the older wing of the castle he discovered the 82 4 5 6 7 8 9 & 10 ● he rarely sees Dracula during the day, the count must sleep then Dracula lies in one of the dirt-filled boxes, eyes open but unseeing, alive somehow without breath or a pulse ● Dracula appears gorged on blood and looking much younger ● ● Mina is a busy assistant schoolmistress, she's also been learning shorthand and typing so she can be "useful to Jonathan," Three men have proposed to Lucy Lucy accepts Arthur Holmwood's proposal Seward feels depressed after Lucy's rejection, so he throws himself into his work at a lunatic asylum, reporting on a fascinating patient, R.M. Renfield, a physically strong but psychologically fragile 59-year- old suffering from hallucinations ● ● ● ● ● Renfield vomits feathers, evidence that he ate the birds Renfield is a "zoöphagous (life-eating) maniac (Verrückter) he believes, he will gain the cumulative life force of all the creatures ● Mina worries about Lucy, who has inherited a tendency to walk in her sleep • Ship wreck caused by Dracula ● As a dog he went on board and sucked blood out of the crewmembers ● ● night before and wakes to see three ladies, who cast no shadows. He fears them yet longs to be kissed by their vividly red lips. Dracula saves him and he gets unconscious ● the specific dates convince Harker that Dracula will soon kill him his supplies and travel documents are gone, as are his suitcase and traveling clothes Dracula has locked Harker in the guest room He then jumped from the ship, and ran off sees Lucy in her white nightgown and a shadowy figure standing behind her, showing a pale face and glowing red eyes ● she afterwards has two wounds in her throat ● ● Mina joins Lucy and her mother at the seaside resort of Whitby Currently, Renfield is catching flies and has collected large spiders, to which he feeds the flies ● ● Mina tells Lucy she found Jonathan but he's only a shadow of his former self When he feels better they decide to marry that afternoon Renfield escapes to the old chapel door and stares at something in the sky Dr. Seward can't diagnose Lucy's illness, he's worried Dr. Van Helsing (Dr. Seward's professor) examines Lucy, also clueless Renfield's behavior seems to depend on the sun Lucy is feeling worse, Dr. Van Helsing realizes she needs a blood transfusion (Arthur gives her his blood); feels better then Renfield says: "the Master is at hand." And escapes climbing over the wall 83 11-13 14-16 17-19 20 - 23 ● ● ● Van Helsing puts special garlic flowers on her two wounds an in her room ● Another transfusion from Van Helsing A wolf escaped from a zoo helped by a dog (Dracula) Renfield attacked Seward saying: "The blood is life." ● Lucy's mother and four maids died because of the wolf and the dog ● ● ● ● ● ● Seward realizes that the behavior of Renfield might have changed because Dracula is nearby Count Dracula sent his fifty cases of common earth sent at various locations in and around London ● ● ● They realize two red wounds on her throat Lucy needs another transfusion a few days later (blood from Dr. Seward) ● ● ● Van Helsing meets Mina and Jonathan to discuss Lucy's illness Renfield is his same old self - eats animals again Van Helsing and Seward open Lucy's tomb which is empty but the next day they find her in there again Lucy has bitten a child Morris, Van Helsing, Seward and Holmwood kill Lucy Mina stays at Dr. Seward's asylum as a guest Mina doesn't know about Lucy's Death because they think as a woman she can't handle such an information ● ● Mina gets more pale every day and is very tired Renfield = inmate in the asylum thinks he owns the room ("commands destiny") Jonathan seems cured of his "illness" ( being scared of the vampire) and is full of hope After his father died Arthur Holmwood is now named Lord Godalming Lord Godalming, Quincey Morris and van Helsing arrive to take action against Dracula (the six people are together for the first time) At Dracula's Carfax residence they only find twenty boxes of earth The supernatural powers and limitations of an vampire are defined for the first time ( chapter 18) Mina saw a poor man who wanted to come inside, he felt in trance and only remember his red eyes ( first clue that she's his next victim; how did he got inside?) Renfield is out of control, he is a megalomaniacal (größenwahnsinng) maniac (Wahnsinniger) with an overblown self-image Renfield had a physical fight with Dracula which he lost and now suffers fatal injuries Knowing he's going to die, Renfield admits that he is responsible for the entrance of Dracula, that Dracula hypnotizes/manipulates him and brings him flies as bribery (Bestechungsmittel) Dracula is an intruder to Renfield's "home" They begin to arm themselves against the vampire In Mina's room they find Jonathan lying unconscious next to the bed, while Dracula forces her to drink his blood of his chest (she is 84 24 & 25 26 & 27; Note ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Reason why Dracula came to England: his own country is so "barren of people" and he can't really spread his power He is now returning to escape discovery Mina his changing into a vampire: long teeth and colder eyes Thy decide to keep their plans ignorant to Mina because they're scared that Dracula can find out about them through hypnosis Mina is coming with them to Varna Dracula knows of their presence, as well as their efforts to trap and exterminate him He misled them and sent his box of earth to Galatz instead of Varna ● Mina again says she wants to be killed as soon as vampirism overtakes her - she already has the Church's burial services read to her They receive the information that Dracula is visiting a lot of places the separate trying to find him - the "good guys"chasing the evil person After one trance (hypnosis from van Helsing) Mina miraculously (auf wundersame Weise) knows the way towards the Count's castle Van Helsing loses the power to hypnotize Mina as they get near the castle ● ● ● hypnotized) Mina therefore has polluted (verschmutzt) blood because Draculas blood is evil - she feels unclean and untouchable ● She is coming under his evil influence; he has some kind of mind control over his victims Renfield dies Van Helsing touches Mina's forehead with sacred wafer (heilige Waffel?) which left her forehead burned and marked She offers the wish to be killed as soon as she turns into a vampire; euthanasia = "good death" Since Dracula is expanding his circle of power in order to harm innocent people they decide that they must kill him Dracula goes from Carfax to Piccadilly where the men try to kill him but fail Dracula reminds the hunters that he is superior to them (because of his age and experience) - as he talks to them Mina has a connection to Dracula's spirit and can know about his whereabouts when Van Helsing is hypnotizing her Dracula is on a ship When van Helsing and Mina spent the night in a wild forest the three vampire woman appear and try to tempt (verführen) them - the sunlight makes them go away dawn Since the horses died of terror they arrive by foot at the castle Van Helsing kills the three female vampires and places holy material in Draculas tomb and at the entrance of the castle As the sun begins to set they see two gypsies (Zigeuner) around a cart (Wagen) with a box of un-holy dirt containing the Count From the Forth they see Morris and Seward, which also means 85 ESP ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Jonathan and Lord Godalming can't be far away The six people try to get the box fighting against the gypsies, during that Morris is stabbed by one of them = extra-sensory perception The New Woman Regardless of the wounds, he and Jonathan open the lid of the box revealing Dracula to the sun Part of Dracula's supernatural powers While Mina is about to turn into a vampire she temporarily connects to him through ESP, which helps the vampire hunters locate him Women in the Victorian era As Dracula is looking into the sun his look of hate turns into triumph because he's freed from his endless life Jonathan chops off Dracula's head and Morris stabs his bowie knife into his heart - Dracula crumbles into dust Morris dies because of his fatally wounds - Mina and Jonathan name their son Quincey commemorate (gedenken) the gallant (tapfer) gentleman Mina's wound on her forehead is gone: vampirism has left her ● Jonathan in the note says that all the original documents have been lost Restricted (beschränkt) to the so-called domestic sphere and therefore banned from the public sphere (Domestic sphere = their household) No right to vote, no right to property, no right to get an academic education, no right to take part in political or business conversations; not even the right to control what was happening to their bodies -> So once they had married, their husbands became their owners all of Victorian women's duties (Pflichten) lay in the household, including the raising of their children ● the term "Victorian woman" refers to and comprises (umfasst) the reign (Herrschaft) of Queen Victoria in England (1837-1901) concept of a self-confident, independent sophisticated (raffiniert) woman stepping into public sphere and voicing and pursuing her own personal interests emerging in Britain and America towards the end of the Victorian Era (first characteristics of confident young woman, however had already been visible in the heroines (Heldinnen) of Jane Austen's novels at the beginning of the Victorian Age) 86 But: ● depending on social class, not every woman could pursue the concept the male-dominated society wanted to suppress the New Woman many woman still chose to fill the domestic roles men wanted them to play in a strategic twist of the Victorian concept with that of the New Woman, some woman used their attractiveness as objects as a power tool to profit from rich men while enjoying wealth in the domestic and public spheres Lucy and Mina as emerging (entstehend) "New Woman" ● ● ● basically, women now actually participated in the public world and increasingly claimed (behaupten) civil rights for themselves, foremost the right to vote in the early 1900s-> so, a higher academic and/or professional education and with that a greater influence in society followed-> the new woman thus also became economically (wirtschaftlich) more independent ● Lucy, if only speaking privately to Mina, portrays her situation of having received three proposals in one day as one where she, the young woman, has the power to decide which men she wants to marry; even though she knows she loves Arthur, she still wonders why society doesn't allow women to have more than one husband Mina later continues a similar thought, imagining that at some point, a fully emancipated "New Woman" might herself do the proposing Mina, importantly represents the professional and economically independent side of the New Woman: She works as a "school mistress" outside of the domestic sphere Also, she has learned to use a typewriter and to write in shorth (Kurzschrift) and, skills with which she hopes she can assist Jonathan Later on, she uses her organizing and writing skills to support the strategic steps of the vampire hunt The function of Renfield Renfield serves as a predecessor (Vorgänger) to Dracula -> Both are "life-eating"; Dr. Seward calls Renfield "zoophagous" (new scientific classification) Besides Renfield prefiguring (vorfigurieren) Dracula as a vampire, Renfield and his actions also precede (einleiten) the coming disruption (Unterbrechung) of the social order Renfield announces Dracula as his "Lord" and "Master", terms traditionally associated with God and more importantly, Jesus Christ: so Renfield, like John the Baptist, a prophetic preacher in the New Testament, announces the coming of a messias, someone who "saves" and enlightens (aufklären) society and who offers Renfield a purpose and an escape plan -> In addition to the disruption of the social 87 order, this is a perversion of the Christian belief (Renfield's mental connection to Dracula is a perversion of the Christian ritual of the holy communion (Gemeinschaft)) Dracula's influence over Mina ● Dracula through mind-control influences both Renfield and Mina to obey him -> Mina and Dracula form a physical and mentally, even spiritual connection through Mina being forced to drink Dracula's blood Mina becomes the Count's main victim for several reasons: She is Jonathan's wife and his "weak point"; Dracula can punish Jonathan simultaneously (gleichzeitig) She represents (white) purity and innocence: "opposites attract" in that the most civil presence chooses the most innocent victim He possibly even craves her as future "Countess Dracula" ● ● Dracula also humiliates (demütigt) the "New Woman" and affect her feeling guilty while actually being innocent, feeling "unclean" in the eyes of God Finally, however, Mina regains her self-confidence of the New Woman; she asks Van Helsing to hypnotize her, thus (so)she transports her mind to Dracula's via telepathy -> while she and the vampire hunter's want to use that to locate the Count, he might actually use that to gain a home field advantage in Transylvania Definition of the "Un-dead"/ vampires ● ● Mina: pale/ tired = first sign/ intimation (Andeutung) of her possibly being his victim Renfield: while in earlier chapters, he functions as the "predecessor", an "omen incarnate" (verkörpern), a foreshadowing of Draculas actions and arrival, he now becomes the vehicle (Fahrzeug) for the entrance of his "Lord" and "Master" into the asylum, where the Harkers are staying ● ● Cannot die due to the passing of time Flourishes on the blood of human beings - can't survive without it; grows younger from it; physical strength and vital faculties are refreshed No shadow, no reflection in a mirror Can control wild packs of wolves and other animals and transform himself in animals Can appear in self-created mist and see perfectly in the dark Can become as small and transparent as he wants to Cannot enter a household without being invited Power ceases at daylight and he remains in whatever form he is until sunset Must always return to the unhallowed (ungeweiht) earth of its coffin, which restores his strength • Garlic, crucifixes, holy water, and holy wafers evict (vertreiben)/ hurt him Death occurs when a wooden stake is driven through his heart, the head cut off and garlic stuffed in his mouth 88 OTHELLO by William Shakespeare General information ● ● Type: Play Genre: Tragedy About the Title: The original title of the play, The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, creates tension between Othello's ethnicity as a Moor and his residence in the predominantly white Venice. The shortened version of the title, Othello, draws attention only to the play's tragic hero. The Tragic Flaw C. Bradley saw Shakespearean tragedy characterized by the "tragic flaw," the internal imperfection in the hero that brings him down. His downfall becomes his own doing, and he is no longer, as in classical tragedy, the helpless victim of fate. Some say that Othello's tragic flaw was jealousy which flared at suspicion and rushed into action unchecked by calm common sense. A more modern interpretation would say that Othello's tragic flaw was that he had internalized, that is taken into himself, the prejudices of those who surrounded him. In his heart he had come to believe what they believed: that a black man is an unattractive creature, not quite human, unworthy of love. Thinking this, he could not believe that Desdemona could truly love him for himself. Her love must be a pretense, or a flawed and corrupted emotion. lago hinted at these ideas, and Othello rushed to accept them, because they echoed his deepest fears and insecurities. The Play's Structure Shakespearean tragedy usually works on a five-part structure, corresponding to the five acts: Part One, the exposition, outlines the situation, introduces the main characters, and begins the action. Part Two, the development, continues the action and introduces complications. Part Three, the crisis (or climax), brings everything to a head. In this part, a change of direction occurs or understanding is precipitated. Part Four includes further developments leading inevitably to Part Five, in which the final crisis of action or revelation and resolution are explained. Othello follows this pattern. ● ● ● Othello Author: William Shakespeare Years Written: 1603/04 ● tragic hero ● ● ● relatively passive and reactionary His acts do not drive the plot -> more acted upon than actor man of action-a military leader, and a successful one 89 ● ● ● ● ● ● lago ● Othello wins Desdemona with his stories of adventure, and his love is centered on her pity and attention ● In true tragic form, at play's end Othello can only regain his status as "defender of the state" by committing suicide A Christian moor working as the general of Venice, was a soldier before Was fighting in battles since he was seven years old, adventures on sea and land -> only has a professional education Was captured and sold as a slave Urgently needed in his military function -> a good soldier, highly respected and honored, physically powerful ● Reputation and honor very important, it is what makes him, because of this Desdemona loves him, would never neglect his reputation for anybody His character changes when he gets jealous -> from calm/understanding/rational to crazy/aggressive/animal-like, he doesn't listen to anyone Socially not accepted because of his darker skin color -> outsider, is called many names (Moor->his ethnic group, thick lips->stereotype of his origin, old black ram/African horse->an animalistic, lustful, dangerous man, stranger/thief->doesn't belong there, "stole" Desdemona Secretly married to Desdemona, loves her for her mind, her strong emotions for him and the interest she shows Adjectives: gentle, noble (parents), calm, brave, reliable, rational, straightforward, honest, loyal One of Othello's bearers, but doesn't like to serve under him because Othello is black and a foreigner -> racist Has a low opinion of human nature, uses the weaknesses of other people to manipulate them -> personification of evil "I am not what I am" -> says he's an actor and not in the position he deserves to have, also a devil (opposite of "I am what I am" from the bible as the name of god) ● Has an inhuman view on women, says all women are the same they are just there to have sex and complain about everything, it doesn't matter if a woman is pretty/ugly, smart/stupid, they all have the same dirty tricks Hates Othello because he promoted Cassio over him, takes revenge by planning to destroy Othello's relationship -> plan is working out ● Thinks Othello is married with Desdemona just out of lust and desire ● Adjectives: double-faced, manipulative, jealous, cunning, sexist, dishonest Reputation is everything for him because he has a lot of ambition to achieve a lot and honor not so important because he's lying all the time 90 Desdemona ● ● Argues convincingly to go with him on the military mission to Cyprus Her independent spirit and goodness are used against her by lago in his plot to ruin Othello ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Cassio falls in love with Othello and acts on her own to elope with him, eschewing social conventions ● ● Ready to take the blame for her own death, and meets her death passively Desdemona's idea of a life of romantic adventure is a dangerous fantasy Daughter of the Venetian senator Brabantio: Doesn't like Othello because of his skin color and his age (he is much older than Desdemona), wants to protect his daughter, Thinks Othello tricked Desdemona with magic into this relationship, Later he realizes that he has to accept the marriage, is angrier with Desdemona because of her lies Agrees to be secretly married because she knows that her father won't accept it -> later she defends her choice and breaks with her father Loves Othello because of the many adventures he survived (life experience), his honors and his bravery Completely innocent and gentle but destroyed by lago's plans Doesn't like lago because of his view on women, is shocked and insults him as a horrible man Michael Cassio has recently been appointed as Othello's second in command, much to the chagrin of lago: "that never set a squadron in the field, Nor the division of a battle knows." ● Cassio's flaws open him up to exploitation by lago, who seeks revenge for this Adjectives: impulsive, curious, loyal, naïve, tolerant, brave Reputation and honor important for her "high" position, but doesn't think about it a lot (marries Othello) appointment more brawn than brains, and he doesn't hold his alcohol well a flirt, who tends to characterize women as Madonnas (Desdemona) or whores ( Bianca) Roderigo ● In love with Desdemona • wealthy and foolish ● Steady flow of income to lago, who has promised to help Roderigo woo Desdemona 91 His desperation makes him susceptible to lago's manipulations, and lago convinces Roderigo to help kill Cassio, who has been positioned by lago as a rival suitor for Desdemona • lago kills Roderigo Adjectives: decent ● "partner" of lago, gives him money for helping with Desdemona Secretly loves Desdemona, hates Othello because he's jealous -> wants to drown himself because of his love sickness Adjectives: decent, wise ● ● ● Emilia ● ● ● ● lago's wife and Desdemona's lady-in-waiting Knows about lago's traits but does not realize that he is behind this whole plot (at the end when Desdemona dies, she does and reveals his behavior) Hurt because of lago saying that he has nothing good to say about her Helps lago to make his plans possible, doesn't want to upset him but is also Desdemona's friend and wants to support her Adjectives: calm, ignorant, two-faced Lodovico (Desdemona's cousin) Duke of Venice Othello (a Moor, a general, and husband to Desdemona) Bianca (a Courtesan in love with Cassio) loves Cassio (Othello's lieutenant) plots against appoints imprisons Montano (Othello's friend and loyal supporter) unwisely trusts son of dislikes kills loves and ultimately hates plots against wife of Gratiano (Brabantio's brother) lago (Othello's ensign who is passed over for a promotion) Desdemona (a Venetian, faithful loves wife of Othello) Brabantio (a Venetian Senator, Desdemona's father) brother faithfully serves kills uses and father Emilia (lago's wife and Desdemona's lady-in-waiting) Roderigo (a Venetian nobleman) 92 Summary In the opening scene, lago complains to Roderigo that Othello, his Commander, has decided to promote Cassio to be his Lieutenant instead of lago himself. He vows to get revenge and first asks Roderigo to tell Desdemona's father, Brabantio, that his daughter has left to marry Othello, a marriage Brabantio opposes because Othello is black. Brabantio confronts Othello, and they take their argument to the Duke, who has summoned Othello to ask him to sail to Cyprus to stop a Turkish invasion. Convinced that Othello and Desdemona love each other deeply despite their differences, the Duke gives Desdemona permission to travel with Othello. By the time they reach Cyprus the foreign threat has gone. Iago manipulates Cassio to make him drunk and gets Roderigo to draw him into a street fight. lago has his revenge on Cassio when Othello strips him of his rank for misbehavior. Then lago decides to make Othello believe his wife is unfaithful. He encourages Cassio to ask Desdemona if she could talk to Othello of reinstating Cassio. lago suggests to Othello that Desdemona is Cassio's lover. Trusting lago, and mad with jealousy, he promotes lago and asks him to help him kill Cassio and Desdemona. lago places Desdemona's handkerchief in Cassio's room, but he gives it to his mistress, Bianca. Othello believes her possession of the handkerchief is proof that Desdemona and Cassio are lovers. He verbally abuses his wife in front of others, who are shocked at the change in the noble and powerful man. lago has manipulated Roderigo into trying to kill Cassio. The attempt goes wrong, Cassio wounds Roderigo and lago stabs Cassio in the leg. Othello hears him cry out and thinks lago has killed him. He returns home, ready to kill Desdemona in bed. Meanwhile, lago "finds" the wounded Cassio and accuses Bianca of causing his injury. lago quietly kills Roderigo and sends Emilia, his wife, to Desdemona with news of what has happened. Othello reaches the sleeping Desdemona first. He kisses her, wakes her, and accuses her again. Over her protests that she loves him and is innocent, he smothers her. Emilia enters and Desdemona revives for a moment, declaring herself guiltless but saying that Othello is innocent of her death as she dies. Iago and others enter, and Emilia defends Desdemona's innocence, recognizing that her husband is behind the tragedy. Othello sees the truth and tries to kill lago, but he kills Emilia and flees. Othello condemns himself and commits suicide, after that lago is seized and taken away. Act 1 Scene 1 Scene 2 Summary ● On a street in Venice: argument between Roderigo and lago ● Roderigo (loves Desdemona) paid lago to give her gifts from him and praise him to her Othello and Desdemona got married ● lago hates Othello for promoting Cassio to the position of lieutenant, a position that lago wanted for himself lago plans Othello's downfall ● lago warns Othello that there may be a legal attempt to break the marriage lago tells Cassio of Othello's marriage 93 Scene 3 Act 2 Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3 ● ● ● ● ● Brabantio threatens Othello with violence and accuses him of using sorcery to seduce Desdemona, his reasoning being that she would never marry Othello voluntarily Brabantio calls for Othello's arrest and imprisonment but cedes precedence to the Duke's summons to the emergency meeting. Othello enters the meeting with Cassio, Brabantio, lago, and others, and the Duke immediately appoints Othello to lead the forces to defend Cyprus. Desdemona thanks to her father for her upbringing, but now that she is married, her loyalty is to her husband, just as her mother's loyalty was to Brabantio. Fathers must give way to husbands. Othello must go immediately to Cyprus to command its defense, and Desdemona requests to go as well lago's wife, Emilia, will look after Desdemona as her maid. As Othello leaves lago and Roderigo are left on stage: Roderigo is downcast and talks of drowning himself lago will help Roderigo have Desdemona and reminds Roderigo to bring plenty of money lago, alone on stage, considers the situation: He has consolidated his source of money, and he has heard a rumor that Othello has had sex with his wife, Emilia. Although he does not believe the rumor, he will act as though he does to feed his hatred. Also lago will aim to get Cassio's position of lieutenant, which he thinks should have come to him Summary ● Act II and all subsequent acts take place in Cyprus, in the Venetian fortifications ● lago plans to drive Othello mad. The herald reads a proclamation declaring a night of general festivities to celebrate both the destruction of the Turkish fleet and Othello's recent marriage Cassio, commanding the night watch during the time of feasting and drinking, takes his orders from Othello, who directs the soldiers to drink with moderation and keep the peace. Cassio and lago, his second in command, will see to this. Then Othello and Desdemona retire to bed, the first night they will spend together since their marriage. Alone, lago makes suggestive remarks about Desdemona to Cassio, which Cassio turns aside; then lago invites him to drink. Cassio declines, but lago wheedles and ges him, until Cassio finally relents. lago spurs Roderigo into a fight with Cassio; others join in and lago sends Roderigo to ring the alarm bell, waking Othello and bringing him and his armed men to the spot. Othello demands to know who started the fight, and feigning reluctance, lago names Cassio. Othello relieves 94 Act 3 Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3 Scene 4 Act 4 Scene 1 ● Summary ● Cassio arranged a group of musicians and clown to entertain Othello and Desdemona Cassio follows lago's suggestion to talk with Emilia and see if she can convince Desdemona to speak with Othello about him getting rehired ● Cassio happily learns that Desdemona is already talking to Othello, but fate makes him too impatient to resume his lieutenancy so beseeches Emilia to arrange for him to speak with Desdemona alone Othello sends a letter back to Venice by ship which announces that Cyprus is safe after the destruction of the Turkish fleet lago brings Cassio to Desdemona ● Othello interrupts them during their talk and takes that as proof for unfaithfulness After a talk with lago, who tries to awake jealousy, Othello seems to be most vulnerable ● ● ● ● Cassio of his post on the spot. Then he and Desdemona return to bed. lago advises Cassio to ask Desdemona to speak on his behalf with her husband. Cassio agrees, and lago uses his wife, Emilia, to arrange a private meeting between Cassio and Desdemona. ● Othello cannot regain his peace of mind and asks lago for proof lago says that Cassio spoke in his sleep about the lovely Desdemona and cursed the Moor, also Cassio wiped his face with the handkerchief Othello once gave to Desdemona (both lies) Othello dismisses love and calls for vengeance (Rache) Wants Cassio dead and wonders how to kill Desdemona ● ● Othello thinks that Desdemona could have tricked him into marriage, since he's different, and is already looking for other men ● Othello starts to look for signs of betrayal in Desdemona's actions Emilia steels her handkerchief and makes a copy which she hands over to lago ● Desdemona is worried about her handkerchief, when Othello asks her about it she tries to deflect his questions, speaking again about Cassio Othello gets tortured by the mental picture of Cassio whipping himself with it Handkerchief once symbolized love and loyalty, now means betrayal Cassio and Bianca argue over a handkerchief he found in his lodgings (Zimmer) and Bianca starts to get jealous about a possible new woman in his life Summary ● lago tells Othello that Cassio confessed to sex with Desdemona and Othello faints lago can see that Othello is at the edge of madness ● lago is satisfied that his poison words are working 95 Scene 2 Scene 3 Act 5 Scene 1 ● ● ● Agreement: lago kills Cassio, Othello strangles Desdemona Lodovico (Desdemona's cousin) arrived to Venice and lago makes him belief that Othello should be watched since he's going mad Othello accuses Desdemona to be a whore and doesn't believe her denial • lago enrolls Roderigo in the plan to kill Cassio ● ● Othello sees himself as cuckold (Betrogener) Cassio and lago talk about Bianca, which from far away, makes Othello think he is crushing over Desdemona ● As Bianca enters the room and throws the handkerchief at Cassio, Othello swears to kill him and his wife ● Desdemona knows she may die and tells Emilia that she want her dead body to be rolled into one of her wedding sheets She sings the Willow Song about Barbary (her mother's maid) who was in a situation like hers and died • Still doesn't regret the marriage and is sad about Othello feeling this way Emilia tries to comfort her but still doesn't tell her about lago copying the handkerchief ● Summary In the street at night, lago directs Roderigo to ambush Cassio. When Cassio approaches, Roderigo attacks unsuccessfully and is wounded by Cassio. lago, from behind, stabs Cassio in the leg and runs away while Cassio cries murder. Othello, hearing Cassio's cry, believes that lago has done the job he has undertaken. Following lago's lead, Othello must harden his heart against the charms of his wife and spill her blood in the bed where she has betrayed him. The cries of the dying men remind Othello of his resolution to kill Desdemona. Again he regrets what he knows he must do. ● The bed in his mind is stained with lust, that is Desdemona's infidelities with Cassio, and will be spotted with "lust's blood" when he kills her in revenge. ● The further lago sinks into villainy, the more Emilia's position has become equivocal. Put on the spot, she automatically backs up her husband, but the circumstances are more and more stretching her loyalty and producing an increasing tension based on her increased knowledge. Sooner or later, Emilia will tell what she knows. At this point, lago feels a certain satisfaction. Roderigo is dead, his money and jewels now securely in lago's keeping, and no one else is aware of this. Cassio is badly wounded and believes he has been attacked by a gang of thieves. This, for lago, is a less than perfect result, but Cassio might subsequently die of his injuries or be maimed and crippled, in which case his army career is over. But much is still left to be done before lago can consider himself safe or triumphant. The night has yet to be accomplished. "This is the night that either makes me, or 96 Scene 2 ● ● ● ● ● ● fordoes me quite" Desdemona is asleep in her bed as Othello enters, carrying a candle. He is no longer the angry, vengeful husband. His soliloquy is quiet, and he seems to be more an agent of justice than the jealous cuckold. He is convinced that he is being merciful in performing a deed that must be done. Thus he will not shed Desdemona's blood (instead, he will smother her); nor will he scar her physical beauty; nor would he, as we learn later, kill her soul. Yet he will kill her; Desdemona must die, "else she'll betray more men" He is torn between his love for her (evidenced by his kiss) and his resolve to accomplish justice When Othello's words awaken Desdemona, she begins an agonizing attempt to reason with her husband. The Moor then urges her to pray for forgiveness of any sin within her soul, and she becomes increasingly terrified. This he mistakenly concludes to be additional evidence of her guilt. He is as convinced of this as she is convinced that Othello is absolutely serious about killing her. Logically, she knows that she should have no cause for fear - she has done no wrong-yet she fears her husband ● Even now he refuses to see her as anything but a "perjur'd woman" (a lying woman), one who forces him "to do / A murder" When Desdemona hears that lago has killed Cassio, her self-control likewise vanishes. She pleads for her life, asking for banishment, asking for at least a day's stay in her execution, at least half a day, but she is overpowered by the Moor. He smothers her as she begs to say one last prayer. It is at this moment that Emilia arrives outside the door, crying loudly for Othello. The Moor does not answer immediately. From his words, we realize that he is convinced that he is being merciful, if cruel, and that he intends to be sure that his wife is dead. The monstrosity of what he has done overwhelms him Emilia denounces lago as a liar and Othello as a deceived "dolt". She defies Othello's sword to right the injustice of this murder, vowing to "make thee known / Though I lost twenty lives" and crying out for help, proclaiming that Othello has murdered Desdemona. Gratiano then speaks and tells us that he finds comfort in the fact that Desdemona's father is not alive to hear of this tragedy; already he is dead of grief because of Desdemona's marrying the Moor Thus the full truth is unfolded for Othello. He dashes toward lago, is disarmed by Montano, and in the confusion, lago kills Emilia, then flees. All leave, except the dying Emilia and the Moor, who can only berate himself. Emilia, aware that she is near death, recalls Desdemona's prophetic "Willow Song," a bit of which she sings. She reaffirms the innocence of her mistress just before she dies and concludes: "She lov'd thee, cruel Moor" ● Now, however, he has come to his "journey's end" He sees himself as a lago concedes that he did report that Desdemona was unfaithful, but that Othello himself found the same to be true 97 Act 3, Scene 3 ● ● ● ● ● ● lost soul - "where should Othello go?" He is a "cursed slave" (276) who deserves the worst of punishment Death is too good for lago, he says; "@'tis happiness to die". Death is a relief he would not offer to his arch enemy When Cassio states quietly that he never gave the Moor reason to distrust him, Othello readily accepts his word and asks for his pardon The details of how Cassio obtained the handkerchief are revealed, and Othello bewails the fact that he has been a "fool! fool! fool!" Lodovico vows to punish lago and tells Othello that he must return with him to Venice. Othello acknowledges the sentence, but before he is led away, he speaks his final lines. Unmistakably he has recovered his basic nobility and that gift of impressive language which he commanded so well prior to lago's temptation. Othello stabs himself in an attempt to atone for all that has happened. He chooses to execute the necessary justice upon himself. As he is dying, he says that he kissed Desdemona before he killed her. This suggests that perhaps his love for her flickered briefly within his dark soul before he murdered her. He reminds himself that perhaps he was not wholly corrupt, but he dies knowing that his soul is lost. Lodovico's sad words end the tragedy and decides that lago must be punished ● In this scene, often referred to as the "temptation scene," Othello is tempted to fall into the trap of jealousy, the "green-eyed monster" that nurtures itself through escalating suspicions. He is, obviously, tempted by lago - the duplicitous villain - who through false information, ambiguous (even plurisignificant) hints, false appearances and planted "evidence" - manipulates Othello into believing that his wife has been cheating on him with Cassio. ● As part of the process of manipulation, lago plants seeds of suspicion within Othello's mind using a hesitation strategy: that is, he oftentimes pretends not to want to disseminate "information" he supposedly has in order to a) not appear disloyal to the more highly ranked Cassio and b) appear as if he would rather like to protect Othello from bad news he (lago) allegedly has. O The effect of that is that Othello finds lago all the more "honest" - i.e., trustworthy - so that when lago finally does give away the "knowledge" that he has, Othello naively buys it 100% - at the latest, when the stolen handkerchief appears in Cassio's possession as "ocular proof." Once Othello's suspicions really catch fire, when the spark of jealousy can no longer be smothered and increasingly turns into a mental and emotional bushfire, the previously proud army general will interpret anything he sees or hears as confirmations (possible proofs) of lago's claims regarding Desdemona's infidelity: 98 ● ● ● He decides Cassio and Desdemona must die, a plan which "honest" lago of course celebrates. Othello cannot smother jealousy and must smother Desdemona instead. Act 5, Scene 2 ● Othello increasingly finds himself in a mental prison, the psychologically enclosed space of which he will not escape as the iron bars that he contributes to materializing and stabilizing prevent him from breaking out of his restricted view. ● Thus, Othello becomes a victim of self-doubt paired with self-consciousness: O He is well-spoken but believes he is socially inadequate. He is an impressive man that has fascinated Desdemona with his experienced otherness, but now he starts sharing the belief that a) she might be attracted to younger men and b) that his ethnicity might not be appropriate for her, after all. In this context, the formerly proud army general becomes progressively humiliated and humiliates himself as he wavers between his actual love for Desdemona and his doubting her: O He is reduced to the role of a shady eavesdropper. O He even resorts to a direct conversation with Emilia, Desdemona's maid, to explore Desdemona's character. Ultimately, he says "farewell" to basically everything as he can neither trust Desdemona nor pursue his responsibility-laden role as defender of Venice/ Cyprus anymore. O This last scene mostly revolves around a succession of murders and deaths, quite fitting for the genre of tragedy, in which classically the main characters ceremoniously perish. Different from classical Aristotelian tragedy, the tragic hero (or heroine) does not helplessly fall prey to the hands of fate but instead is brought down by his or her own fault - by a combination of a tragic flaw that leads up to a fatal, tragic error, which is irreversible. That Othello kills Desdemona upon the "ocular proof" is his tragic, irreversible error: once he finds out that he has committed a mistake, it is too late to reverse it. His tragic flaw - the weakness in his character is twofold: (1) he lets himself be caught by the green-eyed monster of jealousy; (2) he retroactively buys into the prejudices surrounding his match with Desdemona: he is, after all, not cultivated enough and simply not equal to the Venetian it girl. Just before smothering his wife, Othello is in an eerily controlled mood: he has left all the rage and nervous fits of jealousy behind and now addresses and ultimately nishes Desdemona, totally convinced that he is doing the right thing. In detail: He saves the supposedly disloyal and promiscuous Desdemona from a life of social ostracism (which he assumes would follow if society found out about her affair). O He also saves all men from one more unfaithful woman. O 99 O He believes he saves Desdemona's soul prior to her physical death in that he has her repent her alleged sins in a prayer to God - so, to Othello, murdering Desdemona becomes a religious and morally appropriate ceremony. Reflecting on the idea to "put out the light," Othello (1) blows out her who has been his candle of joy and social elevation and (2) no longer sees clearly as his sense is blinded by his twofold tragic flaw that won't let him break the barriers of his mental imprisonment. ● Sure, not least thanks to Emilia's intervention, lago is finally unmasked and arrested as the hellish villain and prime culprit at the heart of all the catastrophic events described in the play: yet, in spite of that, Shakespeare's most infamous evildoer has succeeded in causing so much damage and despair that it gives him a certain satisfaction, which he will hold on to while deciding to never speak, and thus never to interact, with people ever again. ● When one compares Othello's motives behind killing Desdemona to the vampire hunters in Dracula killing the un-dead Lucy and later debating the killing of Mina should she prove to remain unclean and doomed to walk the earth a vampire, one can state the following: O In both stories, the woman's soul is to be saved by destroying her body. O O However, Desdemona has really not sinned and doesn't have to be absolved. Lucy can no longer be saved except by impaling her as her transformation from an innocent woman into a child-biting "bloofer lady" is complete and Mina, after Dracula has taken possession of her mind and body, risks completing that transformation. In a final thought, in both Othello and Dracula supposed social threats are annihilated: Othello commits suicide and thus can no longer intrude upon Venice's white supremacy; and Dracula, who wants to subvert London into becoming Vampire City, is destroyed at the last moment before he turns the it girl Mina into his female vice president a.k.a. VP of VC. In both cases, social order is restored and preserved, with Othello offering quite a racist dénouement. lago`s intrigues Exposition: Desdemona and Othello secretly married; lago was passed over during the promotion and wants revenge O Tries to stir up Brabantio against Othello Plans to persuade Othello that Desdemona is cheating with Cassio Rising action: O Solidification of the plan o gets Cassio drunk and makes him lose his position O lago convinces Cassio to search help from Desdemona Climax: O lago takes care of Othello seeing Desdemona and Cassio together lago makes Othello suspicious 100 ● ● Love ● ● o lago puts Desdemona's handkerchief in his room Falling action: O lago makes Cassio seem to confess in front of Othello's eyes o lago incites (anstacheln) Roderigo to kill Cassio Catastrophe: o lago kills Roderigo and Emilia, wounds Cassio O Othello kills Desdemona and then himself Partial success for lago: vengeance succeeded, Othello destroyed BUT: he was convicted (überführt), Cassio takes command of Cyprus Provides Othello with intensity but not direction and gives Desdemona access to his heart but not his mind Othello finds that love in marriage needs time to build trust, and his enemy works too quickly for him to take that time. The immediate attraction between the couple works on passion, and Desdemona builds on that passion a steadfast devotion whose speed and strength Othello cannot equal. lago often falsely professes love in friendship for Roderigo and Cassio and betrays them both. For lago, love is leverage. Desdemona's love in friendship for Cassio is real but is misinterpreted by the jealous Othello as adulterous love. The true friendship was Emilia's for Desdemona, shown when she stood up witness for the honor of her dead mistress, against lago, her lying husband, and was killed for it. Appearance and Reality For Othello, seeing is believing, and proof of the truth is visual. ● lago gives him imaginary pictures of Cassio and Desdemona to feed his jealousy. As Othello loses control of his mind, these pictures dominate his thoughts. He looks at Desdemona's whiteness and is swept up in the traditional symbolism of white for purity and black for evil. Whenever he is in doubt, that symbolism returns to haunt him and despite his experience, he cannot help but believe it. Jealousy Jealousy is what appears to destroy Othello. It is the emotion suggested to him by lago in Act 3, Scene 3. lago thinks he knows jealousy, having rehearsed it in his relationship with Emilia to the extent that Emilia believes jealousy is part of the personality of men, but lago's jealously is a poor, weak thought compared to the storm of jealousy he stirs up in Othello. • lago has noticed Othello's tendency to insecurity and overreaction, but not even lago imagined Othello would go as far into jealousy as he did. Jealousy forces Othello's mind so tightly on one idea, the idea that Desdemona has betrayed him with Cassio, 101 ● Betrayal ● ● ● that no other assurance or explanation can penetrate. Such an obsession eclipses Othello's reason, his common sense, and his respect for justice. Up to the moment he kills Desdemona, Othello's growing jealousy maddens him past the recall of reason. Upon seeing that she was innocent and that he killed her unjustly, Othello recovers. He can again see his life in proportion and grieve at the terrible thing he has done. Once again, he speaks with calm rationality, judging and condemning and finally executing himself. ● Prejudice Honor Trust and betrayal are features of nearly every relationship in Othello. lago is a trusted officer, adviser, and friend, and his position of trust allows him the opportunity to manipulate others. Othello entrusts lago with important correspondence, and never questions his intent. Roderigo confides to lago his love for Desdemona and accepts his help. Cassio takes lago's advice willingly, and even Desdemona seeks out his advice when Othello seems to be acting strangely. lago betrays all this trust in spectacular fashion. Trust between Othello and Desdemona is also an important feature of the play. As the play begins, Othello unquestioningly accepts Desdemona's love and fidelity. He is convinced of it, and it gives him confidence and security. She, in turn, trusts him utterly. Yet due to lago's manipulations, Othello loses trust in Desdemona. And ultimately, Othello betrays Desdemona's trust by murdering her. lago's scheme would not have worked without the underlying atmosphere of racial prejudice in Venetian society, a prejudice of which both Desdemona and Othello are very aware. Shakespeare's Desdemona copes with prejudice by denying it access to her own life. Her relationship with Othello is one of love, and she is deliberately loyal only to her marriage. Othello, however, is not aware how deeply prejudice has penetrated into his own personality. This absorbed prejudice undermines him with thoughts akin to "I am not attractive," "I am not worthy of Desdemona," "It cannot be true that she really loves me," and "If she loves me, then there must be something wrong with her." These thoughts, inflamed by lago's hints and lies, prevent Othello from discussing his concerns and fears directly with Desdemona, and so he acts on panicked assumption. In order to survive the combined onslaught of internalized prejudice and the directed venom of lago, Othello would have had to be near perfect in strength and self- knowledge, and that is not fair demand for anyone. Honor is a driving force in the lives of the men of Othello. lago appeals to Brabantio's sense of being dishonored by his daughter's elopement and sparks outrage in 102 Roderigo by suggesting that it is unfair for Desdemona to have married Othello. Although lago's own motivation for his villainous actions is murky at best, he does suggest his plot against Othello is motivated in part by Cassio's promotion as well as the rumor Emilia cheated on him with Othello. Cassio, after getting into a drunken brawl, bemoans the loss of his reputation more so than the loss of his rank. This provides lago with the leverage he needs to manipulate Cassio and make him a key part of the plot to destroy Othello. Othello's honor is wounded by the idea that Desdemona might be unfaithful, leading him to murder. Darkness and Light lago often hides in darkness to prevent people from knowing his identity. He stays out of sight in the wee hours of the morning as he and Roderigo goad Brabantio about Desdemona's elopement. He hides in shadows while Cassio and Roderigo confront each other, using the darkness as cover as he deals blows to both sides of the fight. Othello enters Desdemona's bedchamber by the light of a candle, and uses the light as a metaphor for her life, which he plans to snuff out as he would a candle. Desdemona's and Othello's opposing skin colors are also illustrated through the text: Desdemona is called (rudely) a "white ewe" (Act 1, Scene 1) and "fair Desdemona" (Act 4, Scene 2), while Othello is referred to as a "black ram" (Act 1, Scene 1) and "black Othello" (Act 2, Scene 3). In addition, the contrast of Othello's dark skin and lago's light skin brings situational irony to their portrayals in the play. Despite conventional associations of dark with evil and light with good, lago, the light-skinned one-not the Moor Othello-plays the devil, which undercuts racial stereotyping of the day. Animals and Demons Race ● As the devil figure in the play, lago frequently uses beast and demon imagery to extend the negative associations with blackness he uses to manipulate the play's racial tensions. In the play's opening, he suggests to Brabantio that Othello and Desdemona are making "the beast with two backs," and calls Othello "an old black ram." These beast references are like a virus, and careful readers can track the moments in which the contagion is passed to others. Cassio, after getting drunk at lago's encouragement, declares he is "by and by a fool, and presently a beast." And when lago plants the seed of suspicion in Othello's mind, Othello, too, begins to use animal and hell references. "Goats and Monkeys!" he exclaims to Lodovico after he learns he's been recalled back to Venice. When Emilia finds out lago has used her, she declares in the final scene that she will "play the swan." Othello's race sets him apart and makes him self-conscious Makes him hard working and careful for his reputation 103 ● ● ● Men/ Woman ● ● ● ● ● Foreshadowing lago uses his many asides and soliloquies as opportunities to tell the audience exactly what he is planning to do Desdemona's death ● ● Magic ● Wants to be regarded equal to whites Othello is black in a white society - outstanding Negative behavior against blacks Brabantio therefore doesn't want him as the husband of his daughter Candle Emilia describe men as animals, driven by natural instincts (rational, detective without suspicion) lago reduces women to objects and thinks they are instinct driven Cassio shows manners, is very polite and treats women as a gentlemen, shows gestures of courtesy Desdemona cannot believe that women would betray their husband ● lago's betrayal of Othello Emilia's revelation of lago's plot as the truth-teller Handkerchief Brabantio thinks that Othello used witchcraft to manipulate her daughter Handkerchief for Othello is magically love-token Clown lowers the tension and makes the audience laugh, comedy in tragedy The significance of red is love, red strawberries like red hearts on the love token handkerchief, and like the red stains from Othello and Desdemona's first night of love on the marriage sheets. Such red on white is private and dear to the heart of Othello, and he expects it to be similarly dear to his wife. It is the belief that Desdemona gave away his handkerchief, and the sexually implications of the gift, that drives him to kill her. The candle Othello blows out just before he murders Desdemona symbolizes him extinguishing her life. Animals Beginning in Act 1, Scene 1, lago introduces the animalistic imagery. According to lago, there is something bestial and animalistic about Othello ("The old black ram"); 104 Location ● Willow Tree he's base and beastly, somehow beneath everyone else in Venice because of his North African heritage. The animal imagery permeates the play, often referring to Othello's "otherness." ● As Desdemona and Emilia prepare for bed, Desdemona shares a "song of 'willow."" In Shakespeare's plays, willow trees are often associated with the death of women. In Hamlet, Ophelia slips into the stream in which she drowns near a willow tree after being abandoned by Hamlet. The willow tree is here a symbol of Desdemona's sadness and emotion over her lost love, foreshadowing the impending death of this love as well as Desdemona's own physical death. Here, increasingly abandoned by Othello, his faith in her broken, Desdemona sings, "Let nobody blame him, his scorn I approve." Desdemona, though innocent, tries to accept the blame for her own death. In addition, the topic of infidelity provides Desdemona a chance to express her belief that nothing, even Othello's betrayal, could make her unfaithful to Othello. The Color Green Shakespeare often uses different locations to represent mindsets. In Othello, Venice represents civilization, while Cyprus symbolizes the wilderness. The idea is that what happened in the Cyprus never would happen in the civilized city of Venice lago tells Othello to beware of jealousy because it is "the green-eyed monster which doth mock/The meat it feeds on." Green symbolizes the jealousy that will ultimately undo Othello's marriage, sanity, and life. Iago also uses plant images to explain his own role in the action of the play. He sees the will of a person as the gardener of the body: "Our bodies are our gardens, to which our wills are gardeners." lago's motives ● Othello choose Cassio as second-command Hates Othello because of his skin color Loses no opportunity to abuse or diminish him ● Seems to be loyal "honest I" Opposite of Othello: white = evil & black = good ● ● ● lago and Roderigo lago is paired with Roderigo for purposes of exploitation. By talking to him, lago can show the audience his wicked intentions, yet Roderigo is so gullible that he is an easy dupe. Desdemona and Emilia are newly in each other's company, but quickly develop a friendly style of conversation that contrasts their different approaches to life. Emilia is down to earth to Desdemona's nobility, and practical to Desdemona's romanticism. 105 Yet, when a crisis comes, they both share the same basic values of honesty and loyalty. lago and Emilia lago and Emilia, although married and appearing to be similar personalities on the surface, see the world differently. lago has the reputation of the "rough diamond," who speaks directly and honestly, but he uses his reputation as a disguise for his plotting, whereas the "rough diamond" really is Emilia's true nature. Their conversations are oppositions of opinion about the nature of men or women, or attempts by lago to control Emilia's actions, balanced until she discovers his true nature - by Emilia's willingness to do things to please her husband. Othello and Desdemona ● The development of the Othello-Desdemona pair is more hidden, and more complex. There is a polite formality of words between these two which persists below the endearments of the first half and the abuse and anguish of the second. At a certain level, they always treat each other as respected strangers, and as circumstances drive them apart, only this formal politeness remains as a frame for communication in the final act, where they go in different emotional directions, despite their underlying love for each other. "I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at; I am not what I am." (Act I, Scene I, lines 64-65) ● In this opening scene, we see Roderigo and lago talking about Desdemona and Othello. The ever cunning lago is revealing an important fact about himself; he will manipulate and act deceptively if it suits his motives. The audience should understand that lago is not to be trusted. This scene also shows how naive Roderigo can be. Roderigo doesn't take lago's words to heart. Roderigo dies later in the play because of lago. "To mourn a mischief that is past and gone is the next way to draw new mischief on." (Act I, Scene III, lines 204-205) The Duke is talking to Brabantio, Desdemona, and Othello. The Duke is trying to smooth things out between Brabantio and the young couple after Brabantio publically disowned Desdemona. The Duke is saying that it's useless to hold onto a grudge, and if something happened in the past, then leave it in the past and move on. 106 "T'is neither here nor there." (Act IV, Scene III, line 58) In this short, but pivotal, scene Emilia and Desdemona discuss marriage, husbands, and fidelity. After her Willow Song, Desdemona asks if Emilia minds Desdemona's crying. Emilia's response means that it doesn't matter to her. ● "[w]ho would not make her husband a cuckold to make him a monarch?" (Act IV, Scene III, lines 74-75) ● "I kissed thee ere I killed thee, no way but this, Killing myself, to die upon a kiss." (Act V, Scene II, lines 359-360) ● In his last words, Othello speaks to his murdered wife. Because he kissed her before he smothered her, he kisses her once more before he takes his own life. Othello is speaking poetically about his relationship with Desdemona. His love, and eventual jealousy, killed Desdemona. If he had never loved or kissed her, she never would have died. So, Othello kisses her again and kills himself, as his personal repentance. The Elizabethan Age named after Queen Elizabeth I, born in 1533, crowned in 1558, died 1603 (reign of 45 years) Politics and Economics (EA) Emilia and Desdemona are discussing marriage in this scene. Emilia is really saying that she would cheat on her husband if they had something to gain from it. Desdemona can't understand this reasoning; she's forever devoted to her husband. This exchange highlights the differences in moral codes between the two women. Throughout the play, Desdemona is presented as virtuous and innocent. The scene adds to the image of Desdemona being innocent and makes her death even more tragic. ● England emerged as a world power international trade -> rise of capitalism ● strongest naval force (defeat of the Spanish armada in 1588) internal problems: constant clash between Catholics and Protestants ➜firm establishment of a Protestant Church with Elizabeth as head of Church of England ● Culture (EA) ● Golden Age: freedom of spirit -> imagination ➜ opened new worlds of history / poetry/ stimulated english culture Era was dominated by contrast ➜ life for ordinary people could be hard -> economic growth = better conditions for many 107 ● Pro public provision for the poor • few beggars ● ● The Elizabethan world picture society/people are devided in different classes (from top to bottom) like in inda for example. well-sructured system of order and hierarchy only Good could stop uncontrolled chaos and disorder in nature nature catastrophes are foreshadowing signs. (thunderstorm could be a sign of a coming up civil war) ● The Elizabethan Make-Up ('Ideal beauty') ● → possible because of economic growth fair (blond) hair ● bright (happy) eyes ● snow-white skin ● ● ● Sonnets nature ruled over stars, the earth and Man's social and political world Good created a "nature hierarchy" (from liveless things to human/or god) ● red cheeks and lips Most trials (Versuche) of according (entsprechen) this 'Ideal Beauty' end up in skin problems and damage. The Make-Up often was too heavy and posionous. addressed to a beloved person 14 lines clearly defined rhyme scheme Shakespearean Sonnets Contra • harsh criminal laws • whipping and hanging for minor offenses • illiteracy • short life-expectancy • no rights for woman Main themes: love, beauty, transience, old age, death basic metre -> iambic pentameter metro used functionally regular metre: harmony, peace, tranquility, balance, stability etc. • irregular metre: disharmony, confusion, parody Shakespeare's topics Disorder 108 ● superstition (Aberglaube) power and ambition (Begierde ) crime love and hate historical events/history ordinary people (einfaches Volk) 109 THE TIME MACHINE BY H. G. WELLS General Information ● ● ● ● ● ● Author: H. G. Wells Published: 1895 ● Type: Novel Genre: Science Fiction Perspective and Narrator: The unnamed narrator of The Time Machine, presumed to be an educated, middle-aged male, speaks in the first person. Summary The Time Machine tells the story of man who claims to travel through time and the group of gentlemen friends who do not believe him. It opens on a Thursday evening dinner party at the Time Traveller's house in the London suburb of Richmond. The men meet every Thursday for dinner. The period is the late 19th century. Tense: The Time Machine is told in the present tense. About the Title: Although Wells did not invent the idea of the time machine (ancient Buddhist and Hindu myths deal with the subject), he coined the phrase and popularized the concept. The Time Machine is one of the earliest and most influential examples of science fiction. It gave birth to the time travel subgenre that would inspire dozens of 20th-century writers. Early editions carried the subtitle An Invention. Although Wells dropped the subtitle in later editions, it reminds readers of the novel's central question: Is the fantastic story a lie or a prophetic vision? The Time Machine: After dinner, the Time Traveller theorizes that time is simply a fourth dimension of space. Just as people can move around in space with the help of balloons to go up, so, he claims, they can move around in time. He takes his guests to his laboratory where he shows them an object made of crystal, ivory, and brass. He says it is a time machine. It has a saddle and two levers, one to go forward and one to go back through time. The next Thursday when the group reconvenes at the house, the Time Traveller is not there. He has left a note saying he is out. Because it is already 7:30 p.m., they sit down to dinner. Suddenly, the Time Traveller appears, pale, dirty, and bleeding. He claims to have been traveling through time. In the semidarkness after dinner, he tells the following tale about what happened: At 10 o'clock that morning, he set out in the time machine. As he pressed the future lever, he flew through time, watching day and night rapidly switch places. He was scared, and the motion was unsettling. He did not know where he would end up. Finally, he crashed on a little lawn. He could tell from dials that the year was 802,701. Nearby on a bronze pedestal stood the white marble statue of a sphinx. The Eloi: 110 ● He also notices a huge, magnificent building. A group of figures come out to meet him. They are called Eloi, and are about four feet high with curly hair, red lips, and large, liquid eyes. They wear soft, silky robes and act like children. The Eloi take him to their building, where he dines on fruit. The building is grand but also neglected and dirty. The following day, he sees that all the Eloi do is play. One of their favorite pastimes is swimming. When one begins to drown, he leaps in and rescues her. He finds out that her name is Weena, and she becomes devoted to him. The Morlocks: Exploring the countryside, he comes across a large, circular well. There is a kind of ladder down its side. He cannot see into it, but he hears a deep humming. He guesses it is a ventilation shaft for some sort of underground facility. At night, he sees what he thinks is a ghost or a white monkey. The next morning, he finds his time machine has disappeared. Following marks on the ground, he deduces that it is inside the hollow pedestal of the sphinx statue. He tries to break in but fails. He decides to investigate the well, wondering whether the creatures living down there might have taken his machine. Descending the ladder, he comes to a tunnel where he is set upon by strange, human-like creatures called Morlocks. Because they live in darkness they are all white, with grayish-red eyes. He looks into a large chamber where some are eating red meat and realizes, to his horror, that it is a joint from one of the Eloi. He manages to escape up the ladder. Reflecting on what he had seen, he theorizes that over time humankind developed into two separate species: Capitalists and Laborers. The rich, educated people became the Eloi-kind and innocent, but weak. The workers who built subways and railroads became the Morlocks, hanging on to a sense of initiative that made them superior to the Eloi. (Here, the Time Traveller pauses to take two white flowers from his pocket. The reader and the dinner guests are meant to believe they are from the future.) The Time Traveller sees a large building some miles away that he calls the Palace of Green Porcelain. He sets off for it with Weena. At night, they are attacked by Morlocks when they camp. The Time Traveller lights matches to drive them away. The Palace turns out to be an abandoned natural history museum. The Time Traveller finds more matches, and an iron bar he uses as a club. On their way back, he and Weena are attacked again after dark. He lights a fire that keeps the Morlocks away until he falls asleep. He wakes up to find Weena gone and the Morlocks snatching at him. The fire spreads to a nearby forest. It drives the Morlocks away, but Weena is dead. Return to the Present: Back at the sphinx, the Time Traveller finds a portal to the pedestal open. Morlocks are waiting for him, but he manages to leap into the machine and lift off. Speeding into the future, he lands three million years ahead on a deserted beach. Two monster crabs come for him, and he flees further into the future where there is only a strange octopus-like creature thrashing in the waves. He sets the machine to return to the present. When the Time Traveller finishes his tale, he is met with skepticism, although a scientist present admits he cannot identify the flowers. The Narrator 111 The Narrator ● keeps an open mind. Returning to the house the next day, he finds the Time Traveller with a camera and knapsack setting off again. The Narrator observes the machine disappear in a blur. Reporting that the Time Traveller has not been seen since, he retains the two white flowers. The Narrator, presumed to be an educated, middle-aged male, is a friend of the Time Traveller who dines with him and a group of other men every Thursday night. Most of these men do not believe the Time Traveller actually travels through time, but the Narrator keeps an open mind on the subject and is sympathetic to the Time Traveller. At the end of the book, he has two withered flowers, the only hard evidence that a time trip was actually made. The Time Traveller Weena ● At the first dinner, the Time Traveller discourses on time and space. At the second, he tells the long, detailed story of his trip to the future in his time machine, as well as the society he found there and the desolation he discovered in the more distant future. The Time Traveller represents the adventurous, entrepreneurial spirit of the Industrial Revolution. After her rescue, Weena accompanies the Time Traveller everywhere he goes and is carried by him when she tires. The only female character, she represents a mild love interest but is too childlike for the pair to have a complete relationship. She dies in an accidental wildfire. Eloi and Morlocks The Eloi represent the elitism of the rich who bask in their wealth and do not work to contribute to civilization. While they are beautiful and graceful, they are unintelligent and lazy. The Hebrew word Elohim, meaning "God," may be the origin of the term Eloi, suggesting a fall from grace. On the other hand, the Morlocks represent the poor working class who maintain survival skills at the cost of their physical, emotional, social, and psychological lives. The Latin root mor, meaning "death," is suggestive of the origin of the term Morlocks, implying a kind of living death. Class Struggle • Through the Eloi and Morlocks, Wells satirizes the English Victorian class system and the wide gulf between the ruling capitalists and the working laborers. The upper class are the Eloi-increasingly stupid, ineffectual, and childlike. They just eat, sleep, and play. The working class are the Morlocks-overworked, uneducated, literally an invisible "underground" of servitude for the rest of society. Neither the Eloi nor the 112 Love and Intelligence In The Time Machine, human survival is tied to the ability to connect with others and form communities. The Time Traveller seems to be a man without community in both the present and the future because he lacks emotional and intellectual connections with others. Yet, the qualities of love and intelligence allow him to build communal attachments when he develops feelings for Weena and connects emotionally with the Eloi. The development of a sense of community or home is a natural extension of the human quest for survival. Time Travel, Technology, and Science The basic effort of the protagonist, the Time Traveller, is to overcome the limitation of time with technology and science through his time machine. Science is the answer, the avenue to truth-not religion or philosophy. And technology, in the form of a complex ventilation system, is what allows the Morlocks to survive. Finally, in the Palace of Green Porcelain, the museum of the organized, combined scientific inquiry of mankind, is what provides the means for the Time Traveller's survival and escape. ● ● Morlocks are desirable outcomes for humanity. The Time Machine is less the story of an individual than of groups-namely, the narrow-minded dinner guests, the Eloi and the Morlocks, and the capitalist and laborer classes of Victorian England that the Narrator and the Time Traveller mention so often. Evolution ● Charles Darwin's 1859 book, On the Origin of Species, first brought evolution to the attention of the general public. The Time Machine shows readers a projection of one direction evolution might take. As people have evolved from chimpanzees and other primates, so people evolve into Eloi and Morlocks. But this is not the result of environmental factors such as coming down from trees. Instead, it is the result of social aspects. Wells sees two classes-ruling and working-and he sees them with a wide gulf between them. He believes that evolution will continue, is continuing, and that the hapless Eloi and violent Morlocks are the result. Utopia and Dystopia The Time Traveller specifically mentions "Utopian books" in Chapter 5. He may be thinking of Sir Thomas More's original Utopia (1516) or News from Nowhere (1890) by William Morris (a contemporary of Wells). The Time Traveller seems to assume, as does perhaps the reader, that when he travels into the future, he will find an improved society-better than the present one. Otherwise, why would he go? Yet, he finds a dystopia. It is through working through the causes of the dystopia that Wells is able to comment on his present society and imply what needs to be done to improve it. 113 FORMULATIONS Could So ● ● ● Moreover In addition ● Therefore ● Furthermore ● Consequently In conclusion ● There is validity There is valid argument for the assertion that Most likely Reasonable evidence to suggest Some credibility ● To sum up On a final note To wrap it all up Bringing up rear All things considered Over all, it may be said Taking everything into account In other words ● Put differently ● Said otherwise ● Otherwise speaking From another angle To put it another way Put in another context Put the matter another way 114