美国文学习题

Exercises on American Literature

Questions for Discussion in American Literature in General

1 Emily Dickinson seems to be looking at the world for the first and last time.

2 Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson wrote as if no one had written before.

3 Twain was a boy, and an old man, but never was he a man.

4 Nothing happens in Henry James’ novels(Mark Twain).

5 Henry James is an acquired taste.

6 What is Jamesian style?

7 What are the two formulas of O Henry’s short stories?

8 Is Robert Frost a modern poet or a traditional poet? Why?

9 Compare Whitman and Dickinson: similarities and differences.

10 In What sense does The Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin form a sharp contrast to The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald?

11 What are Poe’s theories of poetry and of short stories respectively?

12 What are the most striking features of Poe’s poetry?

13 What is the most striking similarity between Hawthorne and Melville?

14 What is Hawthorne’s view of human nature?

15 In what sense is Hawthorne opposite to Emerson?

16 What is Emerson’s view of nature?

17 What are the main ideas of American Transcendentalism?

18 What ideas did Thoreau share with Emerson? What ideas did Thoreau have which Emerson did not have?

19 What is the significance of Walden by Thoreau?

20 What is the main idea of American Scholar?

21 What may be the themes of Moby Dick?

22 Common on Hester the protagonist in The Scarlet Letter.

23 Compare O Henry with Chekhov the Russian writer: similarities and differences.

24 Compare Twain with Henry James: their different types of realism, different style, different subject..

25 Comment on the themes and artistic features of Eugene O’Neill

26 What may be the themes of Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller?

27 Make an analysis of Willy Lowman in the above play.

28 What are the features of Jewish literature as reflected in Saul Bellow’s writings?

29 What are the features of confessional poetry as shown in Sylvia Plath’s poems?

30 Comment on the theme(s) of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.

31 What are the features of William Faulkner’s novels.

32 Comment on Sherwood Anderson’s characters.

33 Comment on the tragedy of Gatsby.

34 What is Hemingway’s iceberg theory? What is his style?

35 Comment on the black humor of Catch-22.

Questions for The Fall of the House of Usher by Poe

1 How does Poe suggest that the setting is isolated ,decaying and extremely gloomy?

2 How is the narrator characterized and what is his function in relation to the reader?

3 How are the heart-lute images of the epigraph echoed in the story?

4 What kinds of doubling or counterparts can be found in the story?

5 What are the parallels in physical appearance between Roderick and the house?

6 How is the character of Roderick used as a gothic symbol of physical and psychological isolation?

7 How does the tarn possess symbolic meaning?

8 How does Roderick’s abstract painting serve both foreshadowing and symbolic functions?

9 What contrasts involved in the ballad “The Haunted Palace” also appear in the story itself?

10 What part does suspense play in the total effect of the story?

11 In what larger sense can the story be understood?

Questions for The Raven by Poe

1 What is the general mood of the poem? How is this mood created and strengthened?

2 What are metrical features of the poem?

3 What are the sound devices used in the poem? How do these devices contribute to the creation of the general atmosphere?

4What might be the function(s )of the raven in the poem, and its symbolic meaning ?

5What might be the theme of the poem? What do you think the poet intends to convey in this poem?

Questions for William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily”

1. What is the point of view of the story?

2. What does the title of the story suggest about the townspeople’s feelings toward Miss Emily? Why do they feel this way about her? (Or: What does she represent to them?) Is there anything ironic about their feelings?

3. Describe and discuss the symbolism of Miss Emily’s house.

4. What is the role of “the smell” incident in the story. What other problems has Miss Emily caused the local authorities?

5. How do the townspeople know what they know about Miss Emily’s life? What is the source of their information?