American Literature is an especially interesting and exciting branch of our worldwide literary heritage.

By reading
American literature, people attempt to explain and comprehend America. But despite how successful the American
experiment has been, the majority of people, even those with college educations, have a limited and superficial
understanding of the country's literary heritage. America's general lack of historical knowledge perpetuates
misconceptions.

Hello everyone and welcome to Group 5's reporting this afternoon.

In this American literature presentation, we will confront three out of some popular pieces about Americans and their
literature. This includes Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, and Still, I Rise by Maya
Angelou.

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The Tell-Tale Heart is a short horror story published in 1843 by one of the Giants of Gothic Literature, Edgar Allan Poe.

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Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, critic and editor best known for evocative short stories and poems that
captured the imagination and interest of readers around the world. His imaginative storytelling and tales of mystery and
horror gave birth to the modern detective story. Born on January 19, 1809, Kani si Edgar Allan Poe set the bar not only
for the genre nga spooky themes and characters but also for how goths should be portrayed in portraits. With black
clothing and sunken eyes. MAKITA MN CGURO SA IYANG PICTURE NO nga si Poe ang nagpasiugda SA GOTH.
But kaning bad boy behavior ni Poe, iyang excessive drinking, makig away pa cya with other writers, and severe criticism
of other literary actually helped him establish his name and reputation. Resulting in him being referred to as the father of
Gothic literature.

Enough said about Edgar Allan Poe. Let's move on to the main and minor characters in his literary masterpiece, The Tell
Tale Heart.

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The narrator - is the central character of the story. He is aware of his insane thoughts and yet justifies them as sane
because he can still strategize and think intelligently.

The Old Man - is a person of great suspense. He seems to be on good terms with the narrator and is, by all means, a good
person. However, he has one ugly looking pale eye and that creates a problem in the mind of the narrator.

Neighbor - who never actually appears in the story, hears the old man shriek in the night. Suspecting foul play the
neighbor contacts the police to lodge a report.

The Three Policemen - the three policemen don't really have any characteristics. Yet they play a major role in driving the
plot of the narrator's story.

We shall learn more about them as we proceed with the NARRATIVE.

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PLOT SUMMARY
At the start of "The Tell-Tale Heart," which is the exposition, the narrator is introduced. He wishes to prove his sanity to
the readers despite having killed a man over his deformed eye. So kani si narrator nagpuyo ni cya sa balay sa old man.
Every day he takes care of him. Ingon cya dawn ga he loves the old man. However, there is one thing he can't help but be
disturbed by. Dili gold or wealth sa old man ang motive ni narrator however it was the eye the old man. He described it as
"the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it.” Whenever, it fell upon him, it makes the narrator angry. With
this thought in his mind, he begins to develop a plot to murder the old man, brought about by his insanity. Pero kani si
narrator kay indenial ni cya that he suffers from some mental illness. He confesses that he has been ill but denies the fact
that he is insane. Furthermore, he announces that the illness has given him more strength especially to his “sense of
hearing”. As proof kuno of his sanity, he suggests that the audience observe how calmly he tells his story.

This suggests that there are two different types of conflict in this story.

External Conflict: Man vs man

Because the narrator wants to kill the old man because bothered man cya sa eyes sa old man and it drives him insane.

Internal Conflict: Man vs Self

The narrator has no complaints about the old man and in fact loves him - yet he feels compelled to kill him because of the
eye which he calls 'evil'. Ang internal conflict diri is how the narrator feels guilty after killing the old man.

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” Over the next eight days the narrator plots killing the old man to get rid of the "eye". Each night he enters the old man's
room with a lantern until he sees the eye.”

Sa rising action, he informs his readers that for seven continuous nights he would go into the old man’s room, quietly,
and would wait for the exact moment to commit the crime. He would examine the old man’s eye with the help of his
lantern and would find the old man’s eye nga nakapiyong. He would return annoyingly as it is his “Evil Eye” which
motivates him to murder him.

However, sa ika eight-night diri na mahitabo ang climax sa story. He does the same thing he’s doing for seen nights, but
more cautiously than usual. He, quietly, entered the room. The old man suspected something and asked “who’s there?”.
But wala nitubag si narrator. So si narrator wala cya ni move an inch for an hour knowing that the old man is alert. He
tells us that wala kahibaw ang old man sa iyang presence but the old man can assume his death impending upon him.
Afterwards, he eventually decides to open lantern and the light shines directly on the old man’s blue eye. at that point the
narrator hears the old man's heart beating but then it becomes so loud the narrator fears the neighbors could hear it. So, in
a swift movement, he decides to kill the old man by dragging the old man and pulling the heavy bed over his body
suffocating him to death. The narrator then proceeds to cutting the old man's dead body into pieces and places it under the
planks of the old man's room leaving no trace of evidence.

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FALLING ACTION: Summoned by a neighbor, the police arrive, citing that someone reported a scream. The narrator
tries to cover up by saying it was him that screamed, and that the old man was out of town.

Not long after narrator finishes at 4:00 a.m. nakadungog cya nga nay nanuktok sa pultahan and there nakit an niya were
three police officers who are responding to the neighbor’s complaint nga nakadungog c neighbor ug syagit. The officers
come in and they sit above the floor where the old man's body is hidden.
The story ends when the narrator believes he hears a ticking noise that grows louder and louder. He believes that it is the
sound of the old man's heart but the policemen don’t seem to hear it. The narrator eventually snaps confessing guilt to the
police.

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THEMES:

MENTAL HEALTH - Poe’s story shows its readers the importance of mental health. The story demonstrates that mental
illness can drive a person to the vilest acts.

Though the narrator clearly and repeatedly insists nga naa cya sa saktong pangutok, his actions, motivations, and words all
demonstrate that he is not. Psychological problems can lead individuals to act dangerously without any motive.

GUILT - is another significant theme in the story. Although the narrator does not feel guilty of his crime openly,
however, it is his guilty conscience which leads him to confess his crime.

Here the double meaning of Poe's title comes into play: the narrator thinks nga he hears the heart of the old man, telling
the tale of his guilt, but what he really hears is his own heart, pounding with guilt.

CONFINEMENT - is central to the story. The actions in the story are confined to a house only. Neither the narrator nor
the old man goes outside the house throughout the story.

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SYMBOLS

THE EYE - In the story, the narrator becomes obsessed with the old man's eye. He thinks it looks like ''the eye of a
vulture,'' and whenever he looks at it, the narrator becomes cold and fearful. This eye eventually drives the narrator to kill
the man. For this reason, the eye is considered to be a symbol of evil.

THE BEATING HEART - which represents the narrator's conscience. After he kills the old man, the narrator starts to
hear the loudly beating heart of the dead man. This increasingly loud noise causes the man to feel guilty.

THE HOUSE - The house represents the subconscious of the narrator. By trying to hide the body of the murdered old
man beneath the floorboard, the narrator is symbolically trying to hide the guilt of his crime in his subconscious.

And that is the End of Tell Tale-Heart Report.

The next topic will be covered by Philip Joshua Cebel.

 THE LOTTERY

‘The Lottery’ is a short story about a twisted tradition in a small town that was considered shocking to many when it was
published in the New Yorker in 1948 and was written by Shirley Jackson.
Shirley Jackson was born in 1916 in San Francisco, California, even though she claimed for the rest of her life that she
was born in 1919. Jackson’s socialite mother verbally abused her daughter, who consequently grew up with low self-
esteem and a fragile sense of identity. Jackson began writing when she was a teenager and focused seriously on her work
in high school and college. Shirley Jackson was American novelist and short-story writer best known for her story “The
Lottery”.
Let's first learn more about the characters so we can better comprehend the plot.

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MAIN CHARACTERS

Tessie Hutchinson - The unlucky loser of the lottery.

Davy Hutchinson - The youngest Hutchinson child, Davy, is too young to understand the proceedings of the lottery.

Mr. Joe Summers - The man who conducts the lottery.

Old Man Warner - The oldest man in the village. Old Man Warner presents the voice of tradition among the villagers.

Mrs. Janey Dunbar - Clyde Dunbar’s wife and the only woman to draw in the lottery.

Jack Watson - A youth who is old enough this year to draw in the lottery on behalf of himself and his mother.

MINOR CHARACTERS

Bill Hutchinson - Tessie’s husband.

Nancy Hutchinson - The twelve-year-old daughter of the Hutchinsons.

Bill jr. Hutchinson - The Hutchinsons’ son. He and Nancy joyfully show their blank slips to the crowd when they draw
them. They don’t appear to show anxiety or remorse at their mother’s fate.

Eva - Another child of the Hutchinsons, she is no longer considered part of their family for the purpose of the lottery
because she is married.

Don - Eva’s husband.

Mr. Harry Graves - The postmaster. Mr. Graves helps Mr. Summers prepare the papers for the lottery and assists him
during the ritual.

Mrs. Graves - A villager who reminds Tessie that they all take the same chance by entering the lottery.

Mr. Delacroix - A villager.

Mrs. Delacroix - A villager. She coaxes Mrs. Dunbar to hurry up as the killing begins.

Dickie Delacroix - The child of Mr. and Mrs. Delacroix, Dickie works with the other boys at the beginning of the story to
collect piles of stones.

Clyde Dunbar - The only villager not in attendance at the lottery.

Horace Dunbar - The Dunbars’ eldest son who, at sixteen, is still too young to draw in his mother’s stead for their
family.

Mr. Martin - A villager who, with his son Baxter, holds the black box during the ritual of the lottery.

Baxter Martin - Mr. Martin’s oldest son who holds the black box with his father as slips of paper are drawn.

Bobby Martin - A young son of Mr. Martin’s, Bobby fills his pockets with stones at the beginning of the story.

Harry Jones - A village boy who works on collecting piles of stones at the beginning of the story.

Steve Adams - The first villager to draw his family’s slip of paper from the black box.

Mrs. Adams - Steve Adam’s wife, who joins him in conversation with Old Man Warner about the possibility of giving
up the lottery.

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This time, mo proceed ta sa plot summary sa story.

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EXPOSITION

The crowd in the small village has gathered for an annual lottery that takes place each year at the end of June. Every head
of household is called to grab a slip of paper from the box in the center of the village square. Mr. Summers is in charge of
the lottery

So, the story diay begins in a tiny village of about 300 ka residents. Kaning mga townspeople are both excited and
nervous on the 27th day of June around 10:00 in the morning para sa tinuig nga event called as “the lottery”. Kani nga
annual event is a local traditioin undertaken to bring forth good harvest based on the adage quoted by Old Man Warner
“Lottery in June, corn is heavy soon”. However, naay mga sturya-sturya or rumors nga some communities in the north
daw are contemplating whether e give up na ang ing ani nga traditon. Some are even said to have done so already.
Preparations for the lottery begin the night before meaning gabie sa June 26. Si Mr. Graves and Mr. Summers ang
nagprepare sa sa mga paper slips and listing doqn all families. After ana, ilang gibutang ang mga paper slips into a black
box.

But the conflict arises pag abot sa buntag when Tessie Hutchinson realizes her husband, Bill, is the center of the villagers'
attention. The slip of paper he took has something on it. Tessie begins to yell that it isn't fair, and that Bill wasn't given
enough time to choose the paper he wanted by Mr. Summers.

As Mr. Summers called each family name, the representative would come forward and pick a piece of paper from the box
without looking at it. When Old Man Warner drew his slip, he declared it was his seventy-seventh time participating in
the lottery. Ang mga nahabilin nga wala kabunot kay nibunot nasad. Nya kay si Bill man ang nakabunot sa paper slip nga
naay black spot, this means that his family is the chosen one. Even though ni protesta si Tessie, wala na siyay mabuhat.

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RISING ACTION

The entire Hutchinson family, Bill, Tessie, Bill, Ir., 12-year-old Nancy, and toddler Little Davy, are called up to the box.
Mr. Summers puts five slips of paper into the box, including the one Bill Hutchinson had been holding when he was
chosen.
So, sa final round, tanang membro sa pamilya must participate sa draw regardless of age.

Pag abot sa CLIMAX,

Each member of the Hutchinson family draws a slip of paper from the box. All of the papers are blank, except for Tessie's
which has a black dot in pencil on it.

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We’ve finally reached the FALLING ACTION of the story when

Tessie begins to scream that it's not fair, it's not right. The villagers begin to pick up the stones they'd gathered earlier and
form a circle around Tessie. They want to get this over with before noon dinner.

This whole lottery business is getting weirder and weirder. Nakadaog si Tessie sa lottery – so why does she claim it's
unfair?

As Tessie screams, a stone hits her on the side of the head. Old Man Warner, the oldest man in the village, urges the
villagers on. The villagers descend upon Tessie with the stones.

Here in the resolution, all suspense is resolved. This is when we finally find out what exactly is wrong with the lottery,
which has seemed only a bit suspicious up until now. The realization dawns on us, the readers, that the lottery's winner
will be murdered. Execution is the only thing left to do. Here we see the worst betrayals in the story, as Tessie tries to foist
the drawing onto her own daughter, Bill doesn't try to protect his wife, and Mrs. Delacroix chooses an especially giant
stone to throw at her friend.

As we discover what the lottery is really about, we see how twisted the tradition has made these villagers, that they are
unable to protest the ritual murder of their neighbor, friend, wife, and mother, Tessie Hutchinson.

This story shows how some traditions are not worth hanging on to. They believed that a human sacrifice would help their
crops grow, but they had no basis for this correlation, and the death of a fellow human does not seem worth having some
extra corn.

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SYMBOLS

THE BOX - represents tradition. Even though it is deteriorating and Mr. Summers discusses making a new one, the
villagers do not like to upset tradition. They know that inside are slips of paper that will decide their fates. It is also a
symbol of power over life and death.
THE STONES - are a source of fear as well as power and camaraderie. The switch from an orderly, structured, lottery
drawing with paper to the stones also represents the village's frightening change from civilized to utter brutality in the
matter of moments.

THE BLACK DOT - represents impending death. For Tessie, the dot means she has been chosen to die in this twisted,
festive event. The dot also brings to an end the "fairness" she found in all of the other lotteries she's participated in before
now.

STILL I RISE
To help you learn what Angelou’s “Still I Rise” poem is all about, let us first have a look at this video.
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In order to fully understand the meaning of a poem, it’s important to start by looking at the life of the
poet who wrote it.
Meet the Poet, Maya Angelou. The woman delivering her own poetry Still I Rise that you just saw in the
video.
Maya Angelou, original name Marguerite Annie Johnson, (born April 4, 1928, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.—
died May 28, 2014, Winston-Salem, North Carolina), American poet, memoirist, and actress whose
several volumes of autobiography explore the themes of economic, racial, and sexual oppression. She
spent most of her childhood and youth mute, but found her voice in poetry.
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One of the most well-known poems of Maya Angelou is "Still I Rise". “Still I Rise” was originally published
in the 1978 poetry collection, And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou.
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Now, let’s dig into the POEM ANALYSIS of “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou
SUMMARY
The title itself reveals that this poem is a proclamation against the society that tried to dominate
Angelou. She also talks about being able to overcome anything through her self-esteem, self-respect,
and confidence. Nothing can hold her back, not even her skin color.
SPEAKER
The speaker is Maya Angelou, as she is speaking from her own perspective and experiences as a black
woman. The narrator is clearly confident, strong, and powerful, and addresses the reader directly
through the repetition of the pronoun “you”. The “you” refers to white readers, in particular, those who
perpetuate racist and colonialist attitudes. Pero we could also read Angelou’s use of “you” as her way
of asking all readers to look inside themselves to see if they’re complicit in racism, too. Complicit means
kunsabo. Pasabot Maya Angelou doesn’t just refer sa mga white people but sa tanang taw nga
nagasupport sa racism.
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SETTING
“Still I Rise” does not have a physical setting. Instead, the poem is set within the social context of when
the poem was published – 1978, almost a decade after the height of the Civil Rights Movement. So
wala gimention sa poem ang setting, but one could assume that it is America.
Thereby, the poem deals with themes of self-empowerment, perseverance, injustice, ad racism. The
central theme of “Still I Rise” can be summed up like this: despite America’s violent and discriminatory
treatment of Black people, Black resilience is an unstoppable force that will rise up in opposition of
hate, discrimination, and oppression.
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The poem has an Angry and triumphant tone because the speaker is angry at her oppressors but also
has obvious pride in her identity as a powerful black woman.
SYMBOLISM
Angelou’s ‘Still I Rise’ is a symbolic poem. It contains several symbols that refer to different ideas. For
example, in the first stanza, the poet uses the “dirt” as a symbol. It represents how the black community
was treated in history. In the fourth stanza, the moon and sun represent the speaker herself. There is
also an important symbol of the “black ocean” in the eighth stanza. This ocean represents the black
people. The speaker says, “I’m a black ocean”. The last stanza contains another symbol in the usage
of the word “night”. It is a symbol of fear, oppression, and pessimism.
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"Still I Rise" uses a number of POETIC DEVICES.
The speaker uses SIMILE throughout the poem. A simile is a comparison between two unlike things that
uses the words “like” or “as”
Ex:
"But still, like dust, I'll rise"
"Just like moons and like suns"
The speaker also uses METAPHOR when she compares herself to an ocean, dream and hope:
Ex:
"I'm a black ocean"
"I am the dream and the hope of the slave"
ALLITERATION
Angelou creates a sense of rhythm with alliteration, which means placing words that begin with the
same consonant in close proximity.
For example, the d sound is alliterative in "I dance like I've got diamonds"
ASSONANCE
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds across a line of text or poetry.
Ex:
"Bitter, twisted lies" - The "i" vowel is repeated here.
"Welling and swelling"
PERSONIFICATION
"History's shame" personifies history and gives it the attribute of feeling an emotion like shame.
ANAPHORA
or the device of repeating the same words at the beginning of consecutive lines of verse, adds a sense
of religious litany to the poem: for example, in stanza six, the speaker repeats "You may" at the
beginning of three of the four lines.
ALLUSIONS
An allusion is making an indirect reference to something
Ex:
"Huts of history's shame" likely refer to where slaves were housed.
REPETITION
The speaker also employs repetition, which amplifies and emphasizes certain points. For example, she
repeats the words "I rise" several times throughout the poem.