Assignment Code: MEG-06 / TMA / 2022-23

Course Code: MEG-06

Assignment Name: American Literature

Year: 2022 - 2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Attempt all questions. All questions carry equal marks.

Q 1. Analyse Death of a Salesman as a realistic tragedy. 20

Ans) Willy Loman, a middle-class salesman, is the subject of the tragedy play Death of a Salesman. He lives in an old house in the heart of the city with his wife Linda and their two sons, Biff and Happy. The storey of a tragedy details the protagonist's downfall. The character fails due to a tragic flaw in his or her personality. Willy, the protagonist in Death of a Salesman, suffers from an unrealistic and impractical American Dream. He is obsessed with glitz and fascination, and he seeks success through celebrity. He struggles to realise his dream, however, because he makes the mistake of becoming a travelling salesman without realising what is most important to him. He becomes engrossed in his own spiritual redemption as a salesman. As he grows older, he realises that his life is slipping away while he is still a long way from realising his dream. He fails to accept and create new dreams, is defeated by his redemption, and decides to commit suicide.

Willy's first spiritual redemption begins with the salesman of his idol. Throughout the play, it is revealed that Willy has the potential to be a carpenter because he is talented and enjoys doing so. He was, however, inspired by a highly successful salesman named Dave Singleman. Because of him, he made the biggest mistake of his life by becoming a salesman. He gets his American dream from here, which causes him to constantly struggle with problems. Willy's erroneous job as a salesman does not benefit him much.

In fact, he has to borrow $50 from his successful friend "Charley" each week to convince his family that he is still making money when he is not. His redemption from being a salesman prevents him from being more successful than he is now. Willy's failure to accept his failure and create a new dream result in tragedy. For example, he refuses to accompany his brother to the jungle, which resulted in his brother becoming wealthy. In addition, when Charley offers Willy a better job under him, he refuses and continues to borrow money from him. This demonstrates how powerful his spiritual redemption was in the face of tempting offers or great opportunity.

Willy obstructs many spiritual redemptions because he is plagued by an unrealistic American Dream of becoming a successful salesman through recognition. When his son Biff was in high school, he was very popular with his peers. He was both attractive and a high school football star. Biff was in an ideal position to fulfil Willy's American Dream. As a result, Willy was preoccupied with Biff. Willy, who had yet to realise his dream, placed all his hopes in his son. Willy's support for Biff is demonstrated when Biff steals a football from his school. Willy believes it is acceptable for Biff to do so because he believes Biff's coach will generously forgive Biff and praise him for practising on his own instead. In this case, his American dream obstructs his son, and Biff develops a bad habit that leads to his own problems later. Willy's dream of Biff achieving his American dream begins to crumble when Biff discovers Willy having an affair with another woman.

Regardless of his father's circumstances, he has always respected him, but he is now filled with betrayal and disappointment. Biff quits his business and leaves his family to work on a farm. This announces Biff's success and liberation from his father's redemption. He betrays his father's dream to pursue his own dream of doing what he truly desires. Even if Biff abandons his father's dream, Willy cannot escape his redemption. He chooses death with the hope of seeing his son succeed until the end. Although Biff is successful in this case, Willy still fails to overcome his spiritual redemption, which constitutes tragedy as Willy is led to his death.

Many of Willy's spiritual redemptions have trapped him. As a result of his spiritual redemption, he struggles to overcome and eventually fails to achieve any of his goals. He eventually fails to accomplish anything from his heroic determination in defeat. In other words, Willy finally realises that he is incapable of doing or accomplishing anything and chooses to leave his legacy of his dream to Biff.

When Willy's son, Biff, gives him hope of pursuing his American Dream, he is defeated by his spiritual redemption and decides. He commits suicide to obtain life insurance. Willy, in my opinion, has made another mistake because there are always other ways to improve the situation. For example, he could have simply accepted his failure and tried to do new things and dream new dreams. Furthermore, he could have accepted numerous opportunities, such as a job offer from his friend Charley. Furthermore, his decision to commit suicide failed once more because it is shown in chapter requiem that Biff does not follow his father's dream but instead finds his own life. We know what the title refers to. The first is Willy the Salesman's actual death, and the second is his hope for Biff to become a salesman. As a result, this refers to another failure by Willy.

Q 2. Write a critical note on the dramatic form in the 20th Century. 20

Ans) The new early 20th-century drama had political, philosophical, and revolutionary themes, such as colonisation and loss of territory. They studied factory conditions, new political ideologies (socialism), and the rise of a repressed segment of the population (women). Industrialization influenced 20th-century drama, which lamented human alienation in a mechanical world. Industrialization and wars caused alienation. Two types of theatre existed between wars. Noel Coward and G.B. Shaw dominated West End theatre. Ivor Novello and Noel Coward's big-budget musicals at Drury Lane had lavish sets, costumes, and casts. After the wars, writers, directors, and actors with diverse perspectives emerged.

Some were radically political, while others rejected naturalism and questioned long-held beliefs. The term "theatre of exorcism" became popular because so many plays conjured the past to confront and accept it. Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Brian Friel, Caryl Churchill, and Tom Stoppard are late-20th-century playwrights. The century ended with a return to realism and Europe's first children's cultural centre.

William B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, and J.M. Synge founded the Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. They wanted to provide a Celtic and Irish venue for works that "stage Irish emotions." Sean O'Casey, J.M. Synge, W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, and Edward Martyn were playwrights at the Irish Literary Theatre (later renamed the Abbey Theatre). In England, well-made play genre was rejected in favour of actors and directors dedicated to reform and a serious audience by appealing to a younger, socially conscious, and politically aware audience. George Bernard Shaw, Harley Granville Barker, W. Somerset Maugham, and John Galsworthy created new stereotypes and standards by imitating this new crowd.

Early in the 20th century, Britain split between 'frocks and frills' drama and serious works."

In Britain, these continental innovations converged with the counter-cultural revolution in the late 1950s and 1960s to transform English language theatre." Smaller theatres and Irish venues took a different approach than the West End, England's Broadway. New direction: political, satirical, and rebellious.

Realism and Myth

As playwrights became acquainted with Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic studies, they developed an interest in myth and dreams. The two psychiatrists, with the assistance of Carl Jung, influenced playwrights to incorporate myths into their works. This integration provided new opportunities for playwrights to push the boundaries of realism in their work. As playwrights began to incorporate myths into their work, a "poetic form of realism" emerged. This type of realism deals with universal truths shared by all humans, as supported by Carl Jung's concept of the collective unconscious.

Poetic Realism

Much of the poetic realism written at the turn of the twentieth century was concerned with depictions of Irish peasant life. Poetic realism was used by several writers, including John Millington Synge, W.B. Yeats, and Lady Gregory. Their depiction of peasant life was frequently unappealing, and many audiences reacted harshly. Many poetically realistic plays contain unpleasant themes, such as lust between a son and his stepmother or the murder of a baby to "prove" love. These plays used myths as a substitute for real life to allow the audience to experience the unpleasant plot without fully connecting with it.

Women

Female characters progressed from oppressed, useless women to empowered, emancipated women. They were used to raise subversive social order questions. Many of the female characters reflect the author's masculine views on women and their place in society. However, as time passed, women began to gain power. G.B. Shaw was one of the first English playwrights to emulate Ibsen and create roles for real women. Mrs. Warren, Major Barbara, and Pygmalion are all stories with strong female protagonists. Women were granted the right to vote for the first time in 1918. Later in the century, females and males were subjected to social alienation and were frequently not given names to indicate to the audience the character's worth within the play.

Political Theatre and War

Political theatre uses the theatre to represent “how a social or political order uses its power to ‘represent’ others coercively.” It uses live performances and often shows the power of politics through “demeaning and limiting” prejudices. Political theatre often represents many different types of groups that are often stereotyped – “women, gay men, lesbians, ethnic and racial groups, [and] the poor.” Political theatre is used to express one’s political ideas. Agitprop, a popular form of political theatre, even had its roots in the 1930s women’s rights movement. Propaganda played a big role in political theatre, whether it be in support of a war or in opposition of political schemes, theatre played a big role in influencing the public.

The wars also affected the early theatre of the twentieth century. The consternation before WWI produced the Dada movement, the predecessor to Surrealism and Expressionism.

Q 3. Discuss the development of the revolutionary prose in America. 20

Ans) By the time of the American Revolution (1775-83), American writers had moved beyond the Puritan literary style and its religious themes, developing writing styles based on uniquely American experiences. (The Puritans were a group of Protestants who rebelled against the Church of England, believing that church rituals should be simplified, and people should adhere to strict religious discipline.) The Revolutionary period's writings reflected the colonial fascination with science, nature, freedom, and innovation. The colonists also developed their own way of speaking, abandoning the more formal style of British writers.

In his book The Colonial Experience, author David Hawke provided an example of American literary style. "Three may keep counsel, if two be away," wrote Founding Father Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), "and converted it into 'Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead."

Some of the best colonial-era literature described everyday life in New England while also depicting aspects of the fledgling American character. The colonists who would find a new nation believed in the power of logic; they were ambitious, inquisitive, optimistic, practical, politically astute, and self-sufficient.

Colonial Period

Until about twenty-five years before the Revolutionary War, American children's reading material was essentially limited to the Bible and other religious works. Additional books were gradually published and widely read. Almanacs were as popular as the Bible. Children enjoyed reading them because they contained stories, weather forecasts, poetry, news events, advice, and other random and useful information. Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack, first published in 1732, was the most famous of these. Franklin claimed he wrote Poor Richard because his wife couldn't stand seeing him "do nothing but gaze at the Stars; and has threatened more than once to burn all my Books... unless I make some profitable Use of them for the good of my Family." "Eat to live, not live to eat," "He who lies down with dogs, shall rise with fleas," "Little strokes fell big oaks," and "Early to bed and early to rise/Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise" are all quotes from Poor Richard.

By 1760, all the American colonies had printing presses, but Americans and their children continued to rely on England for the majority of their books. John Newberry, a London publisher, is said to have had the greatest influence on children's literature in pre-Revolutionary America. In the 1740s, he began publishing children's books. Most of them were educational in nature, with titles like A Museum for Young Gentlemen and Ladies and A Private Tutor for Little Masters and Misses. Because books were quite expensive in the 1700s, children usually progressed from the Bible and religious verses to adult-type literature. Storybooks like Robinson Crusoe and Arabian Nights were particularly popular in this category.

The Role of Satire in the Revolutionary Era

Until the Revolutionary War, the Puritans who had settled in New England had a profound influence on what was printed in the colonies: nearly all publications focused on a religious topic of some kind. Dramatic performances were also frowned upon by the Puritans. However, by the mid-1700s, the Puritan influence had faded. The first American acting troupe was founded in Philadelphia in 1749. Seventeen years later, in the same city, America's first permanent playhouse was built; in 1767, the South wark Theatre staged Thomas God Frey’s Prince of Parthia, the first play written by a native-born American.

By the mid-1760s, colonists' political writings were becoming more common and more forceful. In 1764, Boston lawyer James Otis published The Rights of British Colonists Asserted and Proved. And the despised Stamp Act, a British tax law passed in 1765, prompted an even greater outpouring of political writing.

Satire, particularly plays, essays, and poems, was a popular form of political writing. Satire makes fun of human vices and folly. While most satiric works were written by men, a woman named Mercy Otis Warren wrote some of the most well-known plays of the time.

Q 4. Write a note on imagism in Ezra Pound’s poetry. Cite instances from his poems prescribed in your course. 20

Ans) Imagism emerged in the early twentieth century in England and America. Imagism, a reactionary movement against romanticism and Victorian poetry, emphasised clarity of expression, simplicity, and precision using exacting visual images.

Though Ezra Pound is credited with founding imagism, the movement was founded on ideas first developed by English philosopher and poet T. E. Hulme, who spoke of poetry based on an absolutely accurate presentation of its subject, with no excess verbiage, as early as 1908. Hulme wrote in his essay "Romanticism and Classicism" that poetry's language is a "visual concrete one.... Images in verse are not mere decoration, but the very essence."

Pound adapted Hulme's ideas on poetry for his imagist movement, which began in earnest in 1912, when he first used the term in a meeting with Hilda Doolittle. Pound suggested some revisions to her poem "Hermes of the Ways" after reading it and signed it "H. D., Imagiste" before sending it to Poetry magazine in October of that year. Pound used the term "Imagiste" in print for the first time in November, when he published Hulme's Complete Poetical Works.

Imagism, a branch of modernism, sought to replace abstractions with concrete details that could be expanded upon using figuration. These typically short, free verse poems, which had clear forerunners in the concise, image-focused poems of ancient Greek lyricists and Japanese haiku poets, moved away from fixed metres and moral reflections, subordinating everything to what Hulme once referred to as the "hard, dry image."

The image, according to Pound, is "that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time." "It is the instantaneous presentation of such a 'complex' that gives the sense of sudden liberation; that sense of freedom from time and space limits; that sense of sudden growth, which we experience in the presence of the greatest works of art," he said. Poetry published "A Few Don'ts by an Imagiste" in March 1913. F. S. Flint, an imagist poet, defined the tenets of imagist poetry in it, quoting Pound:

Direct treatment of the “thing,” whether subjective or objective:

1. To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation.

2. As regarding rhythm: to compose in sequence of the musical phrase, not in sequence of the metronome.

By 1917, even Lowell began to distance herself from the movement, whose tenets were eventually absorbed into modernism and influenced 20th-century poets. The "instance of time" may be the speaker's gaze. The speaker may be imagining a crowd of people in a metro station or a bough of petals. The "intellectual and emotional complex" is the images' presentation and relationship. As seen above, the speaker's gaze is unclear. Are the "apparition" faces real? It suggests a dreamy speaker. The speaker mentions "these faces" but moves on to the petals. The speaker observes and contemplates the crowd, disengaged. Despite not knowing the speaker, we get a strong impression of their "intellectual and emotional" activity. Pound depicts a mind making connections and experiencing that weird déjà vu-like feeling we've all had.

Pound interacts with Imagism's three aims in the poem. He's not overly wordy. In the first line, he uses a regular rhythm, but in the second, he changes it with "Petals." Non-regular beat.

It's unclear whether he directly addresses the poem's subject. He skips over who the speaker is, why they're there, how they got to the station, etc. Pound makes the poem ambiguous by juxtaposing two images without explanation and using words like "apparition." He gives us a speaker whose intellect and emotions subtly affect how the images are presented.

This is just one interpretation of the poem. It's a rich poem that shows Pound's description of the image and Imagist goals. Pound, one of the Imagist group's founders, is flexible with its rules. Writing about your poem's subject may be impossible. Always choose what to include and exclude.

Q 5. Write a critical note on the ideology of Puritanism reflected in American literature. 20

Ans) There will be literature wherever there are people. A literary work is a record of human experience, and people have always felt compelled to record their observations of life. They express themselves in diaries and letters, pamphlets and books, essays, poems, plays, and stories. In this regard, American literature is no different from any other. However, there are many characteristics of American writing that distinguish it. This was not always the case.

The first English colonies in Virginia and New England spawned American literature. Colonists came to the New World in search of religious liberty and prosperity. They did not, however, arrive in a revolutionary spirit. They came as Englishmen, carrying the literary riches of English legends, ballads, and poems, as well as the richness of the English language. They were obedient to the Crown. These settlers did not even identify as Americans.

The storey of how English colonists gradually came to think and act as "Americans" is well known. It is less well known how their literature gradually evolved into "American" writing. The development of American literature, on the other hand, closely parallels the nation's history from its inception to the present. Puritanism's ideology as reflected in American literature

Numerous essays and songs, poems and plays, novels and short stories have been written by American authors. There is only enough room here to discuss a few of the most important. Even a brief overview reveals something of the magnificent achievement of American literature since its humble colonial beginnings more than 300 years ago.

Colonial Times in America

First American writer was Captain John Smith. Soldier-adventurer who arrived in Virginia in 1607 and wrote about it. A True Relation of Virginia was written to attract settlers and raise money for the colony. His General History of Virginia (1624) elaborates. Pocahontas saved his life, he writes. Smith was a good leader and reporter. First to write about English settlements, his books are highly regarded.

William Byrd, owner of a 180,000-acre James River estate, best described colonial Virginia. The home is a showplace today. Byrd returned from England to become a country gentleman. His business was well-run. His most notable act was fighting through Dismal Swamp to survey the Virginia-Carolina border. In 1841, he published History of the Dividing Line, detailing 1728-29. He told funny backcountry settlement stories. Byrd's Secret Diary, discovered in 1940, gives intimate glimpses into colonial times and brings this refined and witty man to life.

Virginia plantation life was refined. People weren't intellectual and wrote little. Church of England members descended from England's Royalist or "Cavalier" group. They took religion for granted and didn't write about it. Plantation life, like feudalism, created isolated communities. This reduced urbanisation.

Southern colonists had little need to write, and social conditions didn't encourage it. The South's statecraft and literature contributions came later. In New England, where colonial writing took place, American literature began.

The Pilgrims' 1620 landing at Cape Cod began New England colonisation. Before landing, they signed the Mayflower Compact, a peace agreement. Plimoth Plantation's history contains it. Governor William Bradford wrote this moving account of the colonists' early struggles. Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop kept a similar journal ten years after Plymouth. These two colonisation narratives describe Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims' interactions with Indians, and other first-settlers' experiences.

The Influence of Puritanism

After the Pilgrim landing in 1620, Puritanism dominated New England life and writing. Puritanism was a major influence on colonial life and literature.

First New England settlers were Protestants. England became Protestant when Henry VIII divorced the Catholic church. Some Englishmen thought the split wasn't final. Puritans wanted to "purify" the church of Catholic elements. Separatists wanted to leave the Church of England. Pilgrims. Both groups came to the New World to worship God and avoid English persecution. They felt called by God. They believed God wanted a religious community in the wilderness. This belief helped them endure colonial hardships.

Puritans revered God. Puritans believed the Bible literally revealed God's will. Everyone was required to study the Bible, not just clergymen. Bible reading, discussion, and writing required education. Harvard was founded in 1636 to educate the public. Other colleges and universities soon followed. The Puritans' desire for a well-educated and literate populace influenced the intellectual quality of life in New England and other parts of the country.