Name: _________________________________________________________________________________________________Date: _______________________________________________
American Literature
Text and
Author
Setting
The Great
Gatsby
East Egg“Old
Money”
by
F. Scott
Fitzgerald
Published in
1925
Vs.
West Egg“New
Money”
NYC
“The Valley
of Ashes”
Characters
Nick Carraway - The novel’s
narrator, Nick is a young man
from Minnesota who, after
being educated at Yale and
fighting in World War I, goes
to New York City to learn the
bond business. Honest,
tolerant, and inclined to reserve
judgment, Nick often serves as
a confidant for those with
troubling secrets. After moving
to West Egg, a fictional area of
Long Island that is home to the
newly rich, Nick quickly
befriends his next-door
neighbor, the mysterious Jay
Gatsby. As Daisy Buchanan’s
cousin, he facilitates the
rekindling of the romance
between her and Gatsby. The
Great Gatsby is told entirely
through Nick’s eyes; his
thoughts and perceptions shape
and color the story.
Jay Gatsby - The title
character and protagonist of
the novel, Gatsby is a
fabulously wealthy young man
living in a Gothic mansion in
West Egg. He is famous for the
lavish parties he throws every
Themes
Literary Elements/Techniques/Terms
Reinvention
The Green Light
The Decline of the
American Dream in
the 1920s
The Valley of Ashes
The Hollowness of
the Upper Class
Color Symbolism
Geography
Weather
The Eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg
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American Literature
Saturday night, but no one
knows where he comes from,
what he does, or how he made
his fortune. As the novel
progresses, Nick learns that
Gatsby was born James Gatz
on a farm in North Dakota;
working for a millionaire made
him dedicate his life to the
achievement of wealth. When
he met Daisy while training to
be an officer in Louisville, he
fell in love with her. Nick also
learns that Gatsby made his
fortune through criminal
activity, as he was willing to
do anything to gain the social
position he thought necessary
to win Daisy. Nick views
Gatsby as a deeply flawed
man, dishonest and vulgar,
whose extraordinary optimism
and power to transform his
dreams into reality make him
“great” nonetheless.
Daisy Buchanan - Nick’s
cousin, and the woman Gatsby
loves. As a young woman in
Louisville before the war,
Daisy was courted by a number
of officers, including Gatsby.
She fell in love with Gatsby
and promised to wait for him.
However, Daisy harbors a deep
need to be loved, and when a
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American Literature
wealthy, powerful young man
named Tom Buchanan asked
her to marry him, Daisy
decided not to wait for Gatsby
after all. Now a beautiful
socialite, Daisy lives with Tom
across from Gatsby in the
fashionable East Egg district of
Long Island. She is sardonic
and somewhat cynical, and
behaves superficially to mask
her pain at her husband’s
constant infidelity.
Tom Buchanan - Daisy’s
immensely wealthy husband,
once a member of Nick’s
social club at Yale. Powerfully
built and hailing from a
socially solid old family, Tom
is an arrogant, hypocritical
bully. His social attitudes are
laced with racism and sexism,
and he never even considers
trying to live up to the moral
standard he demands from
those around him. He has no
moral qualms about his own
extramarital affair with Myrtle,
but when he begins to suspect
Daisy and Gatsby of having an
affair, he becomes outraged
and forces a confrontation.
Jordan Baker - Daisy’s
friend, a woman with whom
Nick becomes romantically
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American Literature
involved during the course of
the novel. A competitive
golfer, Jordan represents one of
the “new women” of the
1920s—cynical, boyish, and
self-centered. Jordan is
beautiful, but also dishonest:
she cheated in order to win her
first golf tournament and
continually bends the truth.
Myrtle Wilson - Tom’s lover,
whose lifeless husband George
owns a run-down garage in the
valley of ashes. Myrtle herself
possesses a fierce vitality and
desperately looks for a way to
improve her situation.
Unfortunately for her, she
chooses Tom, who treats her as
a mere object of his desire.
George Wilson - Myrtle’s
husband, the lifeless, exhausted
owner of a run-down auto shop
at the edge of the valley of
ashes. George loves and
idealizes Myrtle, and is
devastated by her affair with
Tom. George is consumed with
grief when Myrtle is killed.
George is comparable to
Gatsby in that both are
dreamers and both are ruined
by their unrequited love for
women who love Tom.
Owl Eyes - The eccentric,
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American Literature
bespectacled drunk whom Nick
meets at the first party he
attends at Gatsby’s mansion.
Nick finds Owl Eyes looking
through Gatsby’s library,
astonished that the books are
real.
Klipspringer - The shallow
freeloader who seems almost
to live at Gatsby’s mansion,
taking advantage of his host’s
money. As soon as Gatsby
dies, Klipspringer disappears—
he does not attend the funeral,
but he does call Nick about a
pair of tennis shoes that he left
at Gatsby’s mansion.
Meyer Wolfsheim - Gatsby’s
friend, a prominent figure in
organized crime. Before the
events of the novel take place,
Wolfsheim helped Gatsby to
make his fortune bootlegging
illegal liquor. His continued
acquaintance with Gatsby
suggests that Gatsby is still
involved in illegal business.
Death of a
Salesman
by
Arthur Miller
Late 1940s;
Willy
Loman's
house; New
York City
and Barnaby
Willy Loman - An insecure,
self-deluded traveling
salesman. Willy believes
wholeheartedly in the
American Dream of easy
success and wealth, but he
never achieves it. Nor do his
Willy Loman as a
tragic hero
The American
Dream
Nonlinear narrative
Flashbacks
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American Literature
Published in
1940
River;
Boston
sons fulfill his hope that they
will succeed where he has
failed. When Willy’s illusions
begin to fail under the pressing
realities of his life, his mental
health begins to unravel. The
overwhelming tensions caused
by this disparity, as well as
those caused by the societal
imperatives that drive Willy,
form the essential conflict of
Death of a Salesman.
Biff Loman - Willy’s thirtyfour-year-old elder son. Biff
led a charmed life in high
school as a football star with
scholarship prospects, good
male friends, and fawning
female admirers. He failed
math, however, and did not
have enough credits to
graduate. Since then, his
kleptomania has gotten him
fired from every job that he has
held. Biff represents Willy’s
vulnerable, poetic, tragic side.
He cannot ignore his instincts,
which tell him to abandon
Willy’s paralyzing dreams and
move out West to work with
his hands. He ultimately fails
to reconcile his life with
Willy’s expectations of him.
Linda Loman - Willy’s loyal,
loving wife. Linda suffers
Betrayal
Mythic Figures
The American West,
Alaska, and Africa
Seeds
Diamonds
Linda’s and the
Woman’s Stockings
The Rubber Hose
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American Literature
through Willy’s grandiose
dreams and self-delusions.
Occasionally, she seems to be
taken in by Willy’s selfdeluded hopes for future glory
and success, but at other times,
she seems far more realistic
and less fragile than her
husband. She has nurtured the
family through all of Willy’s
misguided attempts at success,
and her emotional strength and
perseverance support Willy
until his collapse.
Happy Loman - Willy’s
thirty-two-year-old younger
son. Happy has lived in Biff’s
shadow all of his life, but he
compensates by nurturing his
relentless sex drive and
professional ambition. Happy
represents Willy’s sense of
self-importance, ambition, and
blind servitude to societal
expectations. Although he
works as an assistant to an
assistant buyer in a department
store, Happy presents himself
as supremely important.
Additionally, he practices bad
business ethics and sleeps with
the girlfriends of his superiors.
Charley - Willy’s next-door
neighbor. Charley owns a
successful business and his
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American Literature
son, Bernard, is a wealthy,
important lawyer. Willy is
jealous of Charley’s success.
Charley gives Willy money to
pay his bills, and Willy reveals
at one point, choking back
tears, that Charley is his only
friend.
Bernard - Bernard is
Charley’s son and an
important, successful lawyer.
Although Willy used to mock
Bernard for studying hard,
Bernard always loved Willy’s
sons dearly and regarded Biff
as a hero. Bernard’s success is
difficult for Willy to accept
because his own sons’ lives do
not measure up.
Ben - Willy’s wealthy older
brother. Ben has recently died
and appears only in Willy’s
“daydreams.” Willy regards
Ben as a symbol of the success
that he so desperately craves
for himself and his sons.
The Woman - Willy’s
mistress when Happy and Biff
were in high school. The
Woman’s attention and
admiration boost Willy’s
fragile ego. When Biff catches
Willy in his hotel room with
The Woman, he loses faith in
his father, and his dream of
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American Literature
passing math and going to
college dies.
Howard Wagner - Willy’s
boss. Howard inherited the
company from his father,
whom Willy regarded as “a
masterful man” and “a prince.”
Though much younger than
Willy, Howard treats Willy
with condescension and
eventually fires him, despite
Willy’s wounded assertions
that he named Howard at his
birth.
Stanley - A waiter at Frank’s
Chop House. Stanley and
Happy seem to be friends, or at
least acquaintances, and they
banter about and ogle Miss
Forsythe together before Biff
and Willy arrive at the
restaurant.
Miss Forsythe and Letta Two young women whom
Happy and Biff meet at
Frank’s Chop House. It seems
likely that Miss Forsythe and
Letta are prostitutes, judging
from Happy’s repeated
comments about their moral
character and the fact that they
are “on call.”
Jenny - Charley’s secretary.
Name: _________________________________________________________________________________________________Date: _______________________________________________
American Literature
Incognegro
by
Mat Johnson
Published in
2008
Harlem in
the early
1930s
And the
Deep
South;
Tupelo,
Mississippi
Caucasia
by
Danzy Senna
Boston in
the 1970s;
New
Hampshire;
Zane Pinchback- undercover
reporter for Harlem
newspaper
Carl- gets lynched, mistaken
for Zane
Mr. Huey- Klansman whom
Zane frames at the end
Michaela Mathers- kills
Francis Jefferson White
The Sheriff- having a secret
fling with Deputy White, who
is really a woman
Francis Jefferson White- a
woman passing as a man to
escape her family and
become a cop
The Jefferson-Whitesstereotypical white trash
racist Southern family
Alonzo Pinchback- dating
Michaela Mathers, blamed for
Michaela’s death
Birdie Lee
Cole Lee
Sandra Lodge
Deck Lee
Redbone
Graphic Novel
Ironies
Racial
Discrimination
Passing
Visibility/Invisibility
Identity being openended
Difference in
attitude between the
North and the South
Stereotypes (gender,
racial, geographic)
What is the effect of
racial
discrimination on
the community and
individual?
Golliwog doll- racial stereotypes
Name: _________________________________________________________________________________________________Date: _______________________________________________
American Literature
Published in
1998
Boston in
the Early
80s;
Berkeley,
CA in the
early 80s
Carmen
Maria
Mona
Ali Parkman
Ronnie Parkman
Aunt Dot
Taj
Jim
Shiela and Jesse Goldman
Nick Marsh
Walter
Libby
Corvette
Passing
Coming of Age
Narrative
Visibility
Search for one’s
identity (is identity
innate, or something
one creates for
themselves?)
Race Wars – sharp
racial divide
between blacks and
whites (segregation)
Race/Identity as a
Performance
Does race really
exist?
Father/Daughter
and
Mother/Daughter
Relationships
Deck’s Canary in the
Coal Mine Theory
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American Literature
Text and
Author
The Things
They Carried
by
Tim O’Brien
Published in
1990
Setting
Characters
O’Brien the narrator
The
Vietnam O’Brien the author
War
Lt. Jimmy Cross
Mitchell Sanders
Henry Dobbins
Dave Jensen
Kiowa
Norman Bowker
Rat Kiley
Ted Lavender
Themes
Literary Elements/Techniques/Terms
What does it mean Dead Vietnamese Soldier- Humanity’s guilt over war’s
to be courageous? horrible acts
To be a coward?
Mud Field- Ambiguous, demoralizing experience of
Story truth versus being a soldier
Happening TruthThe Art of
Clean Lake in Bowker’s hometown- the clean, sanitary,
Storytelling
pristine lives of civilians
Transformative
Power of War
The impact of war
on the individual
(The shame, guilt,
horror you carry
with you) physical
and emotional
burdens of war
Ambiguous
morality
Alienation,
Loneliness and
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American Literature
Isolation