陶洁《美国文学选读》(第3版)笔记和课后习题详解(第11单元 薇拉

第10单元斯蒂芬•克莱恩1. What does the opening sentence imply?Key: It implies the extremely dangerous and hard situation that they are faced with. They can only focus on the sea and do not once take their eyes off the ocean. They have to fight with the ocean with all their strength and attention.2. How does the following outburst contribute to the theme(s) of the story? “If I am going to be drowned - if I am going to be drowned - if I am going to be drowned. why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees? Was I brought here merely to have my nose dragged away as I was about to nibble the sacred cheese of life? It is preposterous. If this old ninny woman, Fate, cannot do better than this, she should be deprived of the management of men’s fortunes. She is an old hen who knows not her intention. If she has decided to drown me. why did she not do it in the beginning and save me all this trouble. The whole affair is absurd....But, no, she cannot mean to drown me. She dare not drown me. She cannot drown me. Not after all this work.”Key: The following outburst is a desperate one which shows the speaker’s rebellions and resentfulness to the seven gods of sea. He thinks that he would be unfairly treated if he is drowned. Through the story, the struggle between manand the natural world is the most apparent theme. In fact, the speaker knows that nature is powerful and ruthless, and it will not show sympathy nor punish anyone, so, he thinks that he must survive by his own efforts. He must save himself.3. In what way could the survivors be interpreters?Key: The survivors can be interpreters to interpret the relationships between man and nature. They went through the hard struggles with nature, so they would have a better understanding of nature and man.。

陶洁《美国⽂学选读》（第2版）课后习题详解（第5单元赫尔曼5.2课后习题详解1.What are the stories Ismael tells about Moby Dick?Key:Ishmael describes the appearance and mysteries of Moby Dick.He thinks that Moby Dick is not only ubiquitous but immortal.Many whalers want to haunt and conquer it,but no one can do that.When Moby Dick fights with men,it always can survive and recover from its wound and injuries.On the contrary,men are usually injured by it seriously.2.Why does Ahab react so violently against the white whale?Ishmael suggests that Ahab is“crazy”and calls him“a raving lunatic.”Do you agree with him?Why or why not?Key:Because that the white whale bit off one leg of Ahab,and he resolved to take revenge on it.I agree with Ishmael.Because,on the one hand,the white whale not only injured Ahab’s body,but also injured his mentality and self-respect.His torn body and gashed soul bled into one another,which made him mad.So,he becomes a raving lunatic whose only aim is to revenge.On the other hand,it seems mad to try to fight the forces of nature and God,symbolized by Moby Dick in this story.3.What narrative features can you find in the selected chapter?Key:Melville employed the technique of multiple view of his narrative to portray Moby Dick to achieve the effect of ambiguity and let readers judge the meaning.。

第12单元舍伍德•安德森1. Why did t he narrator’s father treasure up the dead deformed chickens?Key: Because these dead chickens were grotesque and the father thought that the grotesques were valuable and people would like to look at strange and wonderful things. He wanted to make fortune by them.2. What is the narrator’s outlook on life?Key: When the narrator was young, he was greatly influenced by their chicken raising, which made deep impression of disaster on him. He became a gloomy man during his childhood. Although, sometimes, he was so happy that he would show it, he thought that he should not, because that he had been raised on a chicken farm where death was a daily visitor. Throughout the whole story, we can see that the narrator has an optimistic outlook on life.3. What does the egg come to symbolize by the end of the narrative?Key: At the end of the narrative, the father threw an egg to his visitor, and this egg symbolizes the crush of the father’s American Dream. Finally, “he laid the egg gently on the table” symbolizes that he realizes that his dream can never come true, so he gives up.4. How is the egg used to unify the narrative elements?Key: Throughout the story, the narrator tells us two adventures of his father. The first one is raising chickens, which is directly related with the egg. The second adventure is running a restaurant, during which the father is still related with the egg, with which he serves his guests and plays tricks for them. We can say that the father cannot break up with his past once for all. Thus, the egg unites all the narrative elements of the story.。

第16单元厄内斯特•海明威1. How do you interpret the irony of the title after reading the story?Key: The title “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” refers to the café in the story, which is very clean and well-lighted. According to the literal meaning, we can find that the café is very warm and comfortable. People li ke going there. And the old man, in the story, also likes to have drink there. However, the younger waiter in it ruins such kind of quality of the café. He is selfish and impatient. Thinking of his wife waiting for him in bed, he refuses to serve the old man and drives him away. He thought that one hour is more important for him than for the old man. The younger waiter shows no sympathy for the old man at all, and he is very cold-blooded. The clean and well-lighted café and the selfish and cold-hearted waiter form the sharp contrast. Thus, it shows the irony of the title.2. Do you think youth and confidence can help one withstand the metaphorical dark? Why or why not?Key: I don’t think youth and confidence can help one withstand the metaphorical dark. Bec ause the metaphorical dark is rooted in one’s heart that no one can free from it, even cannot remove or ease it. Although, sometimes, youth and confidence bring great hope for young people, and with which they foresee their bright future, they cannot take good advantage of it, because thatthey do not understand life and human beings. As in the story, the young waiter has both youth and confidence, but he cannot understand why the old man wants to suicide, and he also cannot anticipate his own future by the old man’s situation. He has no idea that youth is not permanent, and all people will be faced with the universal nada. So, he shows no sympathy for the old man and is impatient to him. His youth and confidence do not contribute to withstanding his metaphorical dark.3. The older waiter said to the younger waiter: “We are of two different kinds.” In what way do you think they are different?Key: They are different in many ways. Firstly, they are at different ages: one is younger and the other is in his middle age. Secondly, they have different life experiences and different understandings of life and people. The middle-aged waiter has went through much more than the younger waiter, and he has a better understanding of life and people, so he can understand more about the old man and his situation. Thus, thirdly, they have different personalities and have different attitudes towards the old man. The elder waiter is kind-hearted and sympathetic. He shows great sympathy for the old man, while the younger waiter is very selfish and he is very impatient to the old man and drives him away from the café. Last, they have different attitudes towards nada. The elder waiter has realized that it is impossible to avoid nada in one’s whole life, and the only thing that he can do is to keep cleanness in his mind and heart. So, he is willing to worklate for the lonely old man and help those who suffer from nada. On the contrary, the younger waiter has not realized nada in his heart, thus he uselessly cherishes his blind confidence.。

三、名词解释1.Edgar Allan Poe（北航2007研）Key:Edgar Allan Poe(1809—1849)was an American writer,poet,editor and literary critic,considered part of the American Romantic Movement.Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre,Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective-fiction genre.He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction.He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone,resulting in a financially difficult life and career.2.Santiago（北航2009研）Key:Santiago is the protagonist of The Old Man and the Sea,written by American novelist Ernest Hemingway.He is an old man who hasn’t caught any fishes for eighty-four days.On the final journey he has a fight with sharks.This character depicted by Hemingway is a typical“tough guy”.Santiago embodies Hemingway’s definition of courage as“grace under pressure”.He never loses dignity in the face of death.The glory and honor Santiago comes not from the battle itself but from his pride and determination to fight.His famous words are “A man is not made for defeat...a man can be destroyed but not defeated.”3.Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass（南开大学2010研）Key:Walt Whitman(1819—1892)was a great American poet in the19th century. He added to the literary independence of the new nation and devoted all his life to the creation of the“single”poem,Leaves of Grass.In this giant work, openness,freedom,and above all,individualism are all that concern him. Whitman broke from the traditional iambic pentameter and wrote“free verse”. His long“catalogs”of lines gave free rein to his imagination in his life-long attempt to celebrate life in the new life.4.The Southern Renaissance in American Literature（四川大学2011研；北航2008研）Key:The Southern Renaissance(also known as Southern Renascence)was the reinvigoration of American Southern literature that began in the1920s and1930s with the appearance of writers such as William Faulkner,Tennessee Williams,and Robert Penn Warren and so on.Before the Southern Renaissance,the Southern literature was dominated by writers who supported the“Lost Cause”—the heroism of the Confederate army and civilian population during the Civil War and the supposedly“idyllic culture”that existed in the South before the war.The Southern Renaissance changed this by addressing three major themes in their works.they are1)The burden of history in a place where many people still remembered slavery,Reconstruction,and a devastating military defeat,2)theSouth’s conservative culture,specifically on how an individual could exist without losing a sense of identity in a region where family,religion,and community were more highly valued than one’s personal and social life,3)the South’s troubled history in regards to racial issues.They also brought new modernistic techniques such as stream of consciousness and complex narrative techniques to their works(as Faulkner did in his novel As I Lay Dying).5.Transcendentalism（南开大学2008研，北二外2010研；北航2010研）Key:Transcendentalism is a New England movement,which flourished from about1835to1860.It had its roots in romanticism and in post-Kantian idealism by which Coleridge was influenced.It had a considerable influence on American art and literature.Basically religious,it emphasized the role and importance of the individual conscience,and the value of intuition in matters of moral guidance and inspiration.The actual term was coined by opponents of the movement,but accepted by its members.The group of people was also social reformers.Some of the members,besides Emerson,were famous,including Bronson Alcott,Henry David Thoreau and Nathaniel Hawthorne.6.Henry James（四川大学2009研）Key:Henry James(1843-1916)is a famous American writer and one of the key figures of19th century literary realism.In his novels,he usually describes the upper class of the American society.He is also famous for psychological realism.His major works include:The Portrait of a Lady,The Ambassadors,Daisy Miller etc.7.Imagism（北外2009研；南开大学2009研；北京邮电大学2010研）Key:Imagism is a literary movement which came into being in Britain and U.S. around1910as a reaction to the traditional English poetry to express the sense of fragmentation and dislocation.The imagists,with Ezra Pound leading the way, hold that the most effective means to express these momentary impressions is through the use of one dominant image.Imagism is characterized by the following three poetic principles:i)direct treatment of subject matter;ii) economy of expression;iii)as regards rhythm,to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase,not in the sequence of metronome.Ezra Pound’s“In a Station of the Metro”is a well-known imagist poem.8.Black humor（厦门大学2010研）Key:It is a kind of writing that places grotesque elements side by side with humorous ones in an attempt to shock the readers,forcing him or her to laugh at the horrifying reality of a disordered world.It is a humor out of despair and laughter out of tears.Black humor conveys anguish and fury at conditions in which institutionalized absurdity gets the upper hand.It intends to satirize hypocrisy,racial prejudice,and above all the dehumanization of the individual by a modern society.Black humor prevails in modern American Literature.JosephHeller’s Novel Cater-22is considered a superb example of the use of Black humor.Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five is also a case in point.9.Avant-Garde（上海交大2007研）Key:Avant-garde,the French military and political term for the vanguard of an army or political movement,extended since the late19th century to avant-garde that body of artists and writers who are dedicated to the idea of art as experiment and revolt against tradition.Ezra Pound’s view that‘Artists are the antennae of the race,is a distinctly modern one,implying a duty to stay ahead of one’s time through constant innovation in forms and subjects.10.Ezra Pound and The Cantos（南开大学2009研）Key:Ezra Weston Loomis Pound(1885–1972)was an American expatriate poet, critic and intellectual who was a major figure of the Modernist movement in the first half of the20th century.His significant contributions to poetry begin with his promotion of Imagism.The Cantos by Ezra Pound is a long,incomplete poem in120sections,each of which is a canto.Most of it was written between1915and1962,although much of the early work was abandoned and the early cantos,as finally published, date from1922onwards.Strong claims have been made for it as the most significant work of modernist poetry of the twentieth century.The most striking feature of the text,to a casual browser,is the inclusion of Chinese characters aswell as quotations in European languages other than English.11.“Self-reliance”（北二外2009研）Key:“Self-Reliance”is an essay written by American Transcendentalist philosopher and essayist,Ralph Waldo Emerson.It contains the most solid statement of one of Emerson’s repeating themes,the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency,and follow his or her own instincts and ideas.Emerson’s ideas are considered a reaction to a commercial identity;he calls for a return to individual identity.12.First-person narrative（上海交大2003研）Key:First-person narrative is also called first person point of view,which is used in the analysis and criticism of fiction to describe the way in which the writer presents the reader with the materials of the story.The first person point of view relates events as they are perceived by a single character,“I”.The narrator“I”may be part of the action or an observer,a major or minor participant in the action.As readers,we cannot know or witness anything the narrator does not tell us.We therefore share all the limitations of the narrator.This technique has the advantage of a sharp and precise focus.Moreover,you feel part of the story because the narrator’s“I”echoes the“I”already in your own mind”.Mark Twain’s novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is presented from the first person viewpoint.四、作品分析题Passage1（人大2007研）“Prophet!”said I,“thing of evil!—prophet still,if bird or devil!—Whether tempter sent,or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,Desolate yet all undaunted,on this desert land enchanted—On this home by horror haunted—tell me truly,I implore—Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me,I implore!”Questions:1.Give the title of the work and the full name of the author.2.Explain the implications of the underlined parts.Key:1.“The Raven”by Edgar Allan Poe2.Prophet:The speaker here calls the raven as a prophet,who can give him someclues to his puzzle of his beloved one.Implore:This word means that the speaker appeals the raven to tell him whether there are ways to cure his pain.Balm in Gilead:This sentence is quoted from the Bible,which means that whether there are some medicines to reduce the speaker’s pain.Passage2（北二外2009研）The following poem is written for the mourning of the Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.Read it and answer the questions.O Captain!My CaptainO Captain!My Captain!Our fearful trip is done,The ship has weather’d every rack,the prize we sought is won,The port is near,the bells I hear,the people all exulting,While follow eyes the steady keel,the vessel grim and daring;But O heart!heart!heart!O the bleeding drops of red!Where on the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.O Captain!My Captain!Rise up and hear the bells;Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores crowding,For you they call,the swaying mass,their eager faces turning;Here,Captain!Dear father!This arm beneath your head;It is some dream that on the deckYou’ve fallen cold and dead.My Captain does not answer,his lips are pale and still,My father does not feel my arm,he has no pulse nor will;The ship is anchor’d safe and sound,its voyage closed and done;From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;Exult,O shores!And ring,O bells!But I,with mournful tread,Walk the deck my captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.1.The writer of this famous poem is one of the most influential poets at the age of romanticism.Can you give out his name and present his contribution in literature briefly?2.Can you enlist at least two major figures of speech used in this poem and illustrate their functions respectively?Key:1.The author of this poem is Walt Whitman.Whitman’s influence over modern poetry is great in America as well as in the world.His best works have been part of the common property of Western culture.Many poets in England,France,Italy and Latin America are in his debt.Modern American poets like T.S.Eliot and Ezra Pound would not have been what they were without Whitman.Contemporary American poetry,whatever school or form,bears witness to his great influence. For his innovations in diction and versification,his frankness about sex,his inclusion of the commonplace and the ugly and his censure of the weaknesses of the American democratic practice—these have paved his way for a share of。

第8单元马克•吐温8.1复习笔记I.Introduction to author（作者简介）1.Life（生平）Mark Twain(1835-1910)is the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens.He was an American novelist and humorist.Twain grew up in Missouri,which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.He apprenticed with a printer.He also worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his older brother Orion’s newspaper.After toiling as a printer in various cities,he became a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion.He was a failure at gold mining, so he next turned to journalism.While a reporter,he wrote a humorous story,"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,"which became very popular and brought nationwide attention.His travelogues were also well received.He achieved great success as a writer and public speaker.His wit and satire earned praise from critics and peers,and he was a friend to presidents,artists, industrialists,and European royalty.马克·吐温(1835—1910)是萨缪尔·朗赫恩·克莱门斯的笔名。

第1单元本杰明•富兰克林1.1 复习笔记I. Introduction to author（作者简介）Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a rare genius in human history. He became everything: a printer, postmaster, almanac maker, essayist, scientist, inventor, orator, statesman, philosopher, political economist, ambassador,—“Jack of all trades.”富兰克林是人类历史上少有的天才。

他是出版家、邮政总长、历书作者、散文家、科学家、发明家、演说家、政治家、哲学家、政治经济学家、大使、业务员等等。

1. Life（生平）He was born into a poor family. He was a voracious reader. At 16 he published essays under the pseudonym Silence Do good. At 17 he ran away to Philadelphia to make his own fortune. He became a printer. He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital, an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania, and the American Philosophical Society. He was a preeminent scientist of his day. He signed the Declaration of Independence. He was one of the makers of the new nation.富兰克林出生于一个贫穷的家庭。

第二部分章节题库第1单元本杰明·富兰克林І.Fill in the blanks.1.If we say Jonathan Edwards represents the upper levels of the American mind, _____represents the lower levels.【答案】Benjamin Franklin【解析】美国文学评论家范·威克·布鲁克斯（Van Wyck Brooks）在《美国的成年》(America’s Coming of Age)中指出乔纳森·爱德华兹和本杰明·富兰克林是美国18世纪的两位重要的哲学家，他们是不同层次思想的代表。

2.Franklin’s claim to a place in literature rests chiefly on his_____and_____.【答案】Poor Richard’s Almanac，The Autobiography【解析】富兰克林在文学上的地位主要取决于《穷查理历书》和《自传》。

3.In American literature,the eighteenth century was an Age of_____and Revolution.【答案】Reason【解析】18世纪的美国处于理性与革命时期。

这一时期的美国深受法国启蒙思想的影响，且处于独立革命时期。

4.Franklin was the epitome of the_____,the versatile,practical embodiment of national man in the18th century.【答案】Enlightenment【解析】富兰克林是启蒙思想的缩影，是18世纪理性的代表。

5.Benjamin Franklin’s best writing is found in his masterpiece_____.【答案】The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin【解析】本杰明·富兰克林文学上最大的成就体现在他的作品《本杰明·富兰克林自传》上。

第10单元斯蒂芬•克莱恩10.1复习笔记I.Introduction to author（作者简介）1.Life（生平）Stephen Crane was an American novelist,short story writer,poet and journalist. Prolific throughout his short life,he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism.He is recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation.斯蒂芬·克莱恩是美国小说家、短篇小说家、诗人、记者。

他在短暂的一生中著作颇丰，在现实主义传统下写了许多著名作品，也成为美国自然主义和印象主义的早期范例。

他被当代批评家认为是同时代最具有创意的作家。

2.Major Works（主要作品）Maggie:A Girl of the Street(1893)《街头女郎麦姬》The Red Badge of Courage(1895)《红色英勇勋章》“The Open Boat”(1897)《海上扁舟》The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky(1898)《新娘来到黄天镇》The Blue Hotel(1898)《蓝色旅店》Ⅱ.Selected works（选读作品）◆The Open Boat《海上扁舟》This story is based on Crane’s personal experiences.While traveling to Cuba to work as a newspaper correspondent during the Cuban insurrection against Spain, Crane was stranded at sea after his ship the Commodore sank off the coast of Florida.Stephen Crane and three others endured the rage of the sea for thirty hours. Billy Higgins a friend of Cranes drowned while swimming to shore.This realistic story of their life-threatening ordeal captures the emotions of four men in a fight against nature.The most significant aspect of this struggle lies in the men’s attempts to help one another survive when they are confronted with danger and disaster.故事取材于克莱恩真实的个人经历。

陶洁《美国⽂学选读》（第3版）笔记和课后习题详解（第25单元约瑟夫第25单元约瑟夫?海勒25.1复习笔记I.Introduction to author（作者简介）1.Life（⽣平）Joseph Heller(1923-1999)was born into an immigrant Jewish family in Coney Island,Brooklyn.During the WWII he was listed in US Air Force,and performed his bombing mission for60times in France and Italy.He is the most prominent American novelist of the absurd in the postwar period.He wrote a book about his experience in the war.This is the famous Catch-22,the title of which has become a new addition to the English language.约瑟夫·海勒(1923—1999)出⽣于布鲁克林的⼀个移民犹太家庭。

⼆战中参加美国空军，曾在法国和意⼤利执⾏过60次轰炸任务。

他是美国⼆战后最杰出的荒诞派⼩说家。

他写了⼀部关于他的战争经历的书，这就是著名的《第⼆⼗⼆条军规》，其标题已经成为英语语⾔中的⼀个新的词汇。

2.Major Works（主要作品）Catch-22(1961)《第⼆⼗⼆条军规》We Bombed in New Haven(1968)《我们轰炸纽⿊⽂》Something Happened(1974)《出了⽑病》Good as Gold(1979)《好的不得了》God Knows(1984)《上帝知道》II.Selected works（主要作品分析）◆Catch-22《第⼆⼗⼆条军规》(1)Catch-22was the first book in America to treat the absurdity theme with absurdist techniques.It protests against the absurdity of modern America as embodied by the military power structure it describes.(2)The protagonist,Yossarian,is afraid of death.He has lost faith in God,and feels no sense of security any more.Along with his fellow pilots,he is horrified as the sight of death and absurdity around him.(3)The world of Yossarian is an absurd one,and the way Heller exposes it is through burlesque,the ruthless burlesque of the military unreason as best represented by its three major features:the structured chaos of the military build-up,the military logic,one symbol of which is a“rule”known as“Catch-22”, and the widespread absurdity on all level of existence.(4)Joseph Heller uses an absurd linguistic surface to reflect the depth of the absurdity of the modern world.Devices suchas“circular conversations”, constructions with their comic,unexpected responses,the“wrenched cliché”which results from the change of“a key word in an otherwise hackneyed expression,”juxtaposed incongruities,sudden tonal changes from seriousness to triviality—all these are skillfully employed to convey the illogicality and the unpredictability of a mad world.（1）《第⼆⼗⼆条军规》是美国第⼀部以荒诞技巧表现荒诞主题的著作，它以对军队情景的具体描述抗议现代美国社会的荒诞性。