American Literature: Fiction and Drama (4th Year)

Many Many thanks to Monira Moni for Her Collaboration .

Most Important Brief Questions and answers

1.Young Goodman Brown: N. Hawthorne

1.Q: What does the 'Young Goodman Brown' stand for?

A: 'Young Goodman Brown' stands for an inexperienced young good Christian person....

2.Q: What is an allegory?

A: An Allegory is a literary work that tells a story with more than one meaning. It can be written in prose or poetry
with a moral or political purpose. John Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress ' is one of the world's best known allegory.

3.Q: What does the pink ribbon symbolize?

A: Pink ribbon symbolizes innocence and child likeness..

4.Q:Who says that Faith is 'a blessed angel on earth'.

5.Q:What is remarkable about the staff carried by the fellow traveler?

A:It is remarkable that the staff carried by the fellow traveler looks like a great black snake.It looks like a living
serpent.

6.Q: How did the devil help Brown's father?

A: The Devil brought his father a pitch-pine knot kindled at his own hearth to set fire to an Indian village in King
Philip's war.

7.Q:Who is according to Brown 'a very pious and exemplary dame'?

A:According to Brown Goody Cloyse is recognized as a very pious and exemplary dame who had taught him his
catechism in youth...

8.Q: What shape does the fellow traveler or the Devil take?

A:The fellow traveler or the Devil takes the shape of old Goodman Brown, the grandfather of Young Goodman
Brown.

9.Q:Where did young Goodman Brown find the pink ribbon in the wood?

A: Young Goodman Brown found the pink ribbon caught on the branch of a tree after it fluttered lightly down
through the air.

10.Q: What is this evil congregation referred to in witch crafts?

A: In witch crafts, this evil congregation is referred to as witches' Sabbath.

11.Why did Young Goodman Brown feel a loathful brotherhood?

A: Young Goodman Brown felt a loathful brotherhood by the sympathy of all that was wicked in his heart.

12.Q: While at the communion, who beckoned Young Goodman Brown to advance?

A: While at the communion, the shape of his own dead father beckoned him to advance, looking downward from a
smoke wreath..

13.Q: Who warned Brown back?

A: It was his mother that threw out her hand to warn Brown back..

14.Q: Who is Martha Carrier?

A: Martha Carrier is a rampant hag and partaker in the evil communion. She has received the devil's promise to be
queen of hell...

15.Q: What did the devil do with the reddened water in a basin?

A:The devil dipped his hand in the reddened water and prepared to lay the mark of baptism upon the foreheads of
Young Goodman Brown and his wife Faith...

16.Q:Why did the devil wanted to baptize the couple?

A: The devil prepared to lay the mark of baptism upon the foreheads of the couple so that they might be partakers
of the mystery of sin,more conscious of the secret guilt of others,both in deed and thought, than they could now
be of their own...

17.Q: What happens to Brown on Sabbath day?

A: On the Sabbath day,when the congregations were singing a holy psalm, Brown could not listen because of the
evil experience he has undergone in the dark forest. He no longer feels blessed strain..

18.Q: What symbol of Hell and damnation appears in the forest?

A: The burning pines and fires in the forest appear as the symbol of hell and damnation.

19.Q: When does young Goodman Brown leave town and go into the forest?

A: Young Goodman Brown leaves town and go into the forest in the evening..

20.Q: Who tells us who the man in the forest is?

A: Goody Cloyse screamed that the man in the forest was the devil who put forth his staff and touched her
withered neck with what seemed the serpent's tail.

21.Q: How does the man in the forest help Goody Cloyse?

A: The man in the forest helped Goody Cloyse by throwing his staff at her feet where it assumed life. Goody Cloyse
rode on it to attend the unholy communion in the forest...
22.Q: Who is Brown worried about harming?

A: Brown is worried about his wife Faith by breaking her heart..

23.Q: What type of story is "Young Goodman Brown "?

A: It is an allegorical short story..

24.Q: Who was 'Goody Clyose'?

A: A citizen of Salem Village who reveals herself to be a witch. Goody Clyose is a Christian woman who helps young
people learn the Bible, but in secret she performs magic ceremonies and attends witch meetings in the forest..

25.Q: Which village did Young Goodman Brown live in?

A: Salem.

26.Q: How long ago has Goodman Brown been married to Faith?

A: Mr.Brown has been married to Faith for three months..

27.Q: What particular Christian faith does Hawthorne criticize in Young Goodman Brown?

A: Puritanism.

28.Q: Whom does Goodman Brown meet first in the forest?

A: Young Goodman Brown first met an Old Man,who has an uncanny resemblance to Brown. The man hints that he
is the Devil and offers Goodman Brown his snake like carved stick...

2.The Hairy Ape: E.O’ Neil

1.Q: Which best describes Yank's job abroad the ship?

A: Coal Stoker..

2.Q: Which Fireman talks about Marxist ideas?

A: Long...

3..What Rodin statue does Yank occasionally resemble?

A: "The Thinker".

4.Q: What animal does Mildred compare herself to?

A: A leopard.

5.Q:What is the " Stoke hole?"

A: The ship's engine room..

6.Q: What does Long say the engineers were exhibiting them like?

A: Monkeys..

7.Q: What does Yank pronounce the word 'think'?

A: Tink.

8.What does Mildred's aunt call her?

A: A ghoul.

9.Q: What is ghoul?

A: In the eastern tale ghoul is the spirit which eats up on the dead.

10. Q: How does Mildred behave towards the engineer?

A: Rudely..

11.Q: When she visits the stoke hole, how does she feel?

A: She is seized with panic..

12.Q: What does he tell Yank?

A: Filthy beast.

13.Q: With which animal does she compare Yank?

A: Hairy Ape.

14.Q: What is Yank's reaction when he sees Mildred in the stoke hole.?

A: He thinks her as a white ghost.

15.Q: How does Yank feel when he was called hairy ape?

A: He feels insulted and gets angry..

16.Q:What happens to Yank at last?

A: He dies.

17.Q: What is Yank's last realization?

A: At last Yank finds no meaning of his life. He has had nothing to look back on. He has also had nothing to bring
forth as a position of superiority.

18.Q: What is Yank's physical structure?

A: Yank has a simian figure but he us physically very strong.

19.Q: Where was Yank imprisoned?

A: Yank was imprisoned in a prison located on Blackguard's Island.

20.Q: What was Mildred's first reaction at the sight of Yank in the stokehole of the ship?

A: She calls him the filthy beast.

3.The Sun also Rises.

1.What type of a boxer was Robert Cohn?

A: Robert Cohn was once a middle weight boxer.

2.Did Robert Cohn like boxing?

A: No Robert Cohn did not like boxing..

3. Who was the boxing master of Robert Cohn?

A: Spider Kelly was the boxing master of Robert Cohn.

4.Who had flattened the nose of Robert Cohn?

A: Spider Kelly had flattened the nose of Robert Cohn.

5.How many dollar had Robert Cohn's father left?

A: Robert Cohn's father had left fifty thousand dollars..

6.Whom did Robert Cohn's wife go off with?

Robert Cohn's wife went off with a miniature-painter.

7.Where did Robert Cohn go after the divorce?

A: Robert Cohn went to Coast after the divorce.

8.What was the name of the lady who brought Robert Cohn 8n Europe?

A: The name of the lady in Frances who brought Robert Cohn in Europe...

11.Which book is a very sinister book if it has been read in late life?

Ans. The purple land

12.Where did Robert Cohn want to go after reading The Purple Land.?

A: Robert Cohn wanted to go to South America after reading The Purple Land..

13.Whom did Robert Cohn want to take with him to visit South America?
A: Robert Cohn wanted to take Jake with him to visit South America.

14.Why did Robert Cohn want to take Jake with him to his South America tour?

A: Robert Cohn wanted to take Jake with him because Jake could speak Spanish as it is widely spoken in South
America.

15.Who did not sleep last night when Jake was waking him up in his office?

A: Robert Cohn did not sleep last night when Jake was waking him up in his office.

16.Whom does Hemingway present as 'Lost Generation 'in his The Sun also Rises?

A: Brett.

17.Mention one distinctive quality of Hemingway's narrative technique?

A: The short and brief sentences that give the narrative an almost journalistic quality.

18. Why did Robert Cohn want to go to South America?

A: Robert Cohn wanted to go to South America after reading The Purple Land..

19.Who is the writer of The Purple Land?

A: W.H.Hudson.

20.What does the title The Sun also Rises signify?

A: The title is an apt depiction both of the despair of the Lost Generation of which Hemingway was a part as well as
the potential for optimism in the perpetual rising of the sun..

21.What do you mean by "Lost generation "?

A: Brett, Cohn,Jake,Bill and their acquaintances are presented as Lost Generation in the novel..

22.Who is the narrator of the novel The Sun also Rises?

A: Jake.

23.What is San Fermin.?

A: San Fermin is the fiesta of Spain. It is also a religious festival.

24.Who were the friends of Cohn in Europe?

A: Braddocks and the narrator of the novel were the two friends of Robert Cohn in Europe.

4.Seize the Day by S. Bellow).

1.Q: From which philosophy does the title come?

A: Crape Diem philosophy.

2.Q: What was the novella called?

A: It is modern novel, American novel,Novella. The novel has even been called a Jewish -American novel although,
when asked, Bellow considered himself more " American" than "Jewish ", or "Jewish -American. "

3.Q: Why is Tommy going down to rhe lobby?

A: He wants to collect his mail and to have breakfast.

4.Q:What was hus philosophy about going out our early in the morning?

A: He realized that hw could not continue going our early in the morning.

5.Q: Who was Rubib?

A: Rubib is an agent at the newsstand.

6.Q: What did his father say about Wilhelm's income?

A: His income was up in the five figures.

7.Q: What did Wilhelm think with the change of his name?

A: He could not change his lungs, temperament with his name.

8.Q: What was the Broadway crossing?

A: From the Hudson and New Jersey.

9.Q: What was at the side Of the Broadway?

A: Super modern cafeteria with gold and purple mosaic columns..

10.Q:Who was not born artist?

A: Catherine.

11.Which story did Dr.Tamkin tell Wilhelm?

A: He told a strange story of a women who had two husbands.

12.Who said to Wilhelm "Seize the Day ".?

A: Dr.Tamkin.

13.Who was the only person to cry in the funeral procession?

A: Wilhelm..

14. What did the present people think Wilhelm in the funeral procession?

A: Wilhelm is a relative of the dead man..

15.Where was Tommy Wilhelm living?

A: He was living in hotel Gloriana in New York..

16.What is novella?

A: It is bigger than short story but smaller than novel. It has one plot but mo sub-plots.

17.What is flashback?

A: Flashback is a part of a story that describes something that happened in the past.

19.What is the meaning of the title Seize the Day.

A: Think about the present, don't worry about the past and future.

20.What brings a great change in Wilhelm?

A: The disillusionment about the harsh reality of the modern world brings a great change in Wilhelm.

21.Who is Dr.Tamkin.?

A: He was a so -called psychologist.

22.What was the main cause of failure in Wilhelm's life?

A: His good appearance.

23.Whom did Wilhelm support financially?

A: He had to support his wife and two children.

24.What does the phrase Seize the Day mean.?

A: Think about the present, don't worry about the past & future.

5.Beloved: Toni Morrison

1.Q: Who tells Sethe that her scars resemble a chokecherry tree?

A: Amy Denver..

2.Q: Schoolteacher could be said to represent what?

A: The abuse of science and the role of science in justifying slavery..

3.Q: How did Sethe pay for the word "Beloved " on her deceased child's tombstone?

A: By having sex with the stone carver..

4.Q: How many children did Sethe have with Halle?

A: Two boys and a girl.

5.Q: Sethe escaped from a farm called what?

A: Sweet home.

6.Q: Whose heart is compared with tin tobacco box?

A: Paul D.

7.Q: Where is 124 Located?

A: Just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio.

8.Q: Who is Devner?

A: Denver is Sethe's daughter.

9.Q: Who is Sethe?

A: Sethe is the protagonist of beloved..

10.Q: What is 124 Bluestone?

A: 124 is the address of the house where Sethe, the protagonist of the novel, lives with her eighteenth years old
daughter Denver.

11.Q: Who are the "men without skin " in Beloved.

A: White men that haunt Beloved's thoughts