Literary Criticism Portfolio

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By: Melisa Bolán, Casta Robles, Jaqueline España, Sandra Ajvix, Isaac López.


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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Introduction Frankenstein. Summarize the theory of Literature of Frankenstein. Graphic of the Theory of Literature of Frankenstein. The Old Man and the Sea. Summarize the theory of The Old Man and the Sea. a. The Old Man and the Sea b. How is the book related to real life? 7. Dora a Case of Hysteria 8. Summarize of Dora a Case of Hysteria 9. Questions of Dora a Case of Hysteria 10.Hysteria image 11.The Lord of the flies 12.Summarize of the lord of the flies 13.Questions of the lord of the flies 14.Literary Criticism group presentation. 15. Group presentation 16. Group presentation 17. Stylistic presentation 18. Narratology Group presentation 19.Conclusion

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The following work done and analyze by students from Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, Sección de Idiomas, Facultad de Humanidades coursing the 10th cycle of Licenciatura, shows the summary of three important literary works. These works were analyzed from different points of view, and none of the comments or thoughts above must be taking as real or as part of an eternal truth. Once you read the books mentioned in this summary, you will understand the importance of reading and develop your own thoughts. In addition, reading the book Frankenstein, The Old Man and the Sea, Sigmud Freud, Dora An Analysis of a case of Hysteria, the time line created and the sources provided, will help the reader to understand in a better and easy way the books.


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1. Summarize, the theory of

to love Elizabeth, their relationship

Literature of Frankenstein

has incestuous tones since they grew up together as siblings. He also seems reluctant to marry her and is fixated

Frankenstein is a Gothic novel in

instead on his friend Henry. His desire

that it employs mystery, secrecy, and

to create life outside of typical sexual

unsettling psychology to tell the story

reproduction might reflect some level

of Victor Frankenstein’s doomed

of

monster. The Gothic emerged as a

heterosexuality,

literary genre in the 1750s, and is

general.

characterized

by

trauma

or

disgust or

sexuality

with in

supernatural

elements, mysterious and secretive

What is Gothic Literature?

events, settings in ancient and isolated locations,

and

psychological

undercurrents often related to family dynamics and repressed sexuality. In Frankenstein, readers get only vague descriptions of the process Victor uses to

construct

the

monster,

and

descriptions like “Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil” amplify the horror by prompting the reader to actively imagine what Victor must have done. Much of the action takes place at nighttime, and in mysterious circumstances. The novel also hints that Victor’s strange behavior may be rooted in repression. While he claims

Gothic Literature was first invented by Horace Walpole in 1764 with his novel “The Castle of Otranto'' and it is defined as a mixture or combination of horror and romance. Typically, a piece of Gothic Literature exhibits an appreciation of the many joys of intense emotion, and the thrills of fear


and admiration. Authors of Gothic

in the novel and on the supernatural.

Literature often associated medieval

However, the characters that are seen

buildings as something they thought

as “unrealistic” are the ones who

of as a gloomy and horrid period in

usually turn out to be the antagonist in

time. They saw that period in a time as

the story. Shelley illustrates the

an era that had harsh law, torture and

creation of something supernatural

different and somewhat strange rituals

when

so that is what many of the novels

experimenting his theory by creating

written in Gothic Literature focus on.

the creature with body parts and

she

writes

about

Victor

bringing it back to life. Shelley conveys the supernatural when she brings the dead back to life by taking advantage of earth's natural elements. The way that Mary Shelley took advantage of the story by writing about bringing the dead back to life, already

makes

her

story

sound

gruesome and brutal. While Shelley writes about a mad scientist testing a hypothetical experimental experiment Why is Frankenstein Considered

and having it turn out to be successful makes the story seem strange yet

Gothic?

terrifying to some. As Shelley displays Frankenstein,

written

by

Mary

the elements of horror and romance

Shelley, is considered to be Gothic

Frankenstein is definitely a perfect

because of how it revolves around

example of Gothic Literature.

mysterious circumstances that happen 7



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Summarize the theory of Literature

One the movements is regarding the

of The Old Man and the Sea.

socioeconomic context specifically in

During this section the book The Old Man and the Sea will be discussed trying to summarize it with important facts that come into real life by taking into

consideration

its

cultural,

economic and political background. Once the reader deeply understands its background and the aspects that the author included, the piece of writing will be easier to critically analyze it. It is important to mention that the theory that will be applied is Hermeneutics.

Cuba. Fishing is a common job where many people do it to get money, however, with the implementation of technology people started to acquire new devices that help them to make the

work

easier.

socioeconomic

In

view

growth,

it

of was

something that would really impact the field however, not everyone had access to get technological devices. Of course the ones who would get more benefits are the people who already have the possibilities to live in good standard but the rest which can be the

First of all it is needed to add

major part of the popularity are the

something

ones

about

literary

who

are

facing

economic

hermeneutics. According to Szondi

problems and old people who are

Hermeneutics is the theory of exegesis

putting into practice what they learned

which interprets literary works. With

when they were young struggling with

this in mind, the book will be

technology process to develop a work

analyzed.

in different fields.

Going back to 1930 and 1940 there

According

were

caused

Hemingway knew a lot about fishing

significant changes around the world.

because he shared time with his dad

movements

that

to

Dearborn

(2017)


doing that activity. His dad taught

The Old Man and the Sea

Hemingway the art of fishing and they spend a lot of time hunting, fishing and learning about nature. It is something that Hemingway could take advantage of because let him include his knowledge in a famous piece of writing that can encourage people in

The novel starts specifying that there was an old man who fished alone but he had not fished for 84 days. In the first 40 days he was helped by a boy whose name is Manolin. Manolin started to work with Santiago at the

many ways.

age of five. Santiago taught Manolin all about fishing and he loved It is worth mentioning the characters

Santiago. Due to the situation that

from the story. Santiago was the main

Santiago

character, he is a poor fisherman and

parents told him to go fishing with

he couldn’t catch a fish for a long time.

someone else because Santiago was

He shows the message of being bold

unlucky. Santiago understood the

in difficult circumstances. Manolin

situation however, they did not stop

was the boy who helped Santiago

chatting. Santiago told Manolin the

fishing since he was little, because of

plan that he had believing in himself

the

parents

to go away with a great confidence to

obligated him to work with someone

catch a big fish. The next day Santiago

else but he still takes care of Santiago

went fishing at the sea with the

loving him like a relative.

purpose of catching a big fish.

circumstances

his

was

facing,

Manolin's

Because Santiago was a fisherman his entire life he knew all about it. He put in practice what he knew following the sights to find a big fish. The sights were the movement of the water, the 11


weather, he carefully looked at the

so he couldn’t give up. He could kill

birds to accomplish his goal. Finally,

the shark but he was an old and wise

he was a fish that weighed thousands

man who knew many things about the

of pounds but he had difficulties

sea so he was sure to find more sharks

catching it, he really had to fight to

so Santiago got ready to fight with the

catch the fish. At that moment he

other sharks. He used his knife and the

wished to have the boy so Manolin

rowing to kill the other sharks. After

could help Santiago but he wasn’t

those events Santiago wanted to get

there. Due to the situation Santiago

home but at the end the only thing that

had to do it by himself, adding the fact

he kept was the fish skeleton. He

that it was difficult to catch the big

arrived when everybody was sleeping

fish. The sky was dark; after three

so he went to his shark to finally sleep

days he could catch the fish. Going

and rest after the long and difficult

back to his home to demonstrate his

adventure. The next morning people

achievement he was exhausted after

were admiring the big fish, they

many days floating in the boat with no

thought it was a shark because they

food or water so he could imagine

had never seen a big fish before.

eating the fish wishing for a lemon and

Santiago told Manolin his adventure,

salt but he knew that he needed the

Manolin told Santiago about the two

fish to prove his luck and that he still

fish that he caught and wanted to work

was able to continue fishing. During

with Santiago. Santiago slept and was

his return he found a shark that was

dreaming about the lions.

pretending to eat the Marlin fish but Santiago got strong to fight again defending the fish because it was difficult to go to the sea with no food or water, it was difficult to catch him 12


How is the book related to real life?

The topics that can be considered are poverty, technology advances, values and people not caring for the one who needs help. First Santiago was poor if he couldn't catch a fish for 84 he was facing economic problems. Many times

in

the

life

difficult

circumstances are the opportunity to float and better, they are opportunities to prove the abilities not matter the age of sex. The most important is to face them like a bold soldier forgetting the tiredness and things that have the only purpose of arise the positivizes from the negative events. Humans have two

Why do you think Santiago didn’t catch a fish

for many days?

How long Santiago did not catch a fish? How do you imagine Santiago’s personality? How

do

you

imagine

Manolito’s

options, let the difficult circumstances

personality?

affect

How was it possible to keep just the fish

their

lives

or

transform

something bad into good knowing that

skeleton?

won’t be easy.

How would you draw a conclusion of the book?

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Sigmud Freud Dora An Analysis of a case of Hysteria

local manufacturer. Though Dora

Summarize and outline Published in 1905 by Sigmund Freud, Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria, is an essay in the form of a case

history

that

outlines

the

psychoanalytic treatment of “Dora,” a pseudonym for an eighteen-year-old

abruptly cuts off her therapy sessions with Freud before he settles on a treatment, Freud claims that the purpose of the presentation of the case study is to provide a real-life example of the underlying symptoms behind

girl he treated in Vienna for three

hysteria.

months

The case study is divided into five

in

late

1899.

sections. Freud begins the essay by anticipating certain criticisms he believes he will receive for publishing the

case

history.

Namely,

he

acknowledges that in revealing Dora’s personal thoughts and feelings, he is breaking

doctor-patient

confidentiality, but that he must do so if he is to study the causes of hysteria. Freud omits precise biographical

Freud also emphasizes the importance

details in order to protect his patient’s

of

identity; however, he reveals to the

psychoanalytic treatment, but warns

reader that Dora comes from a

against taking on the assumption that

provincial Austrian town, and was

dreams will occupy such a central

brought to him by her father, a wealthy

position in all modes of treatment as

dream

interpretation

in

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they do in Dora’s case. Further, he

Several years later, Dora was then

acknowledges the flaws of his case

brought by her father for treatment for

study, the main one being that the

a series of mental and physical

brevity of Dora’s treatment, combined

symptoms– depression and difficulty

with its abrupt termination, creates an

socializing, along with a nervous

incomplete study. Freud adds that

cough, a loss of voice, migraines, and

Dora’s case history should not be

difficulty breathing.

taken as a standard for all cases of

At this point, Freud describes the

hysteria.

family’s relationship with a married

The next section, entitled “The

couple. Dora’s father had become

Clinical Picture,” provides pertinent

close to the wife, Frau K., when she

facts about Dora’s life and the history

nursed him back to health after an

of her symptoms. Freud begins with a

illness, but this relationship had

brief summary of Dora’s family,

developed into a romantic affair. The

whose dynamic, Freud implies, is

husband, Herr K., had become close to

indicative of the Oedipal complex;

Dora through their walks together;

Dora adored her father but detested

however, Dora told her mother that

her mother, while Dora’s brother was

Herr K. made advances towards her, a

closer to his mother. Starting at the age

fact that he adamantly denied. Dora

of eight, Dora began to exhibit what

claimed that on one occasion, Herr. K

Freud calls “neurotic symptoms,”

attempted to kiss her, to which she felt

some of which worsened over time.

disgust, and tore herself free.

Freud describes how he had first treated Dora’s father for periods of mental confusion and disturbances, for which Freud prescribed him a course of treatment for syphilis.

Freud deduces that these encounters with

Herr

K.

are

central

to

understanding Dora’s hysteria. He characterizes her reaction from the experience as manifesting in two 16


psychological neuroses, the first being a ‘reversal of affect’, which occurs when a person feels one thing but expresses its opposite; in Dora’s case, she responded to Herr. K’s sexual advances with revulsion, when what she was actually feeling was sexual excitement. Freud imagines that Dora must have felt Herr K.’s erect penis in the embrace and experienced disgust

In the next two sections, Freud

instead of the normal response of

analyzes two of Dora’s dreams. In her

pleasure. The second reaction he calls

first dream, a house is on fire, and her

a ‘displacement’ of sensation, where a

father goes to wake her to get her out

stimulus felt on one part of the body is

of the house. Dora’s mother attempts

relegated to another, unrelated area.

to retrieve her jewelry box before they

Freud says that she repressed her

escape the fire, but Dora’s father

reaction to Herr. K’s kiss and that it

prevents her from doing so and the

was psychologically displaced onto

whole family gets out of the house.

the upper part of the body, rather than

Freud interprets the jewelry box as

the lower.

being a stand-in for Dora’s genitals, a metaphor for her repressed fear of yielding to Herr K.’s sexual advances. In the second dream that Dora tells, she finds herself in a town she does not recognize. She receives a letter from her mother telling her that her father has died, and that she must come right 17


away. Dora tries to find the train

K. onto Freud himself, thereby

station to get back, but every person

terminating therapy as an act of

she asks for directions tells her it is

revenge.

five minutes away. She then meets a man in a forest who tells her the station is two and a half hours away, and even though she eventually sees the station, she still cannot reach it. Freud

suggests

that

this

dream

indicates Dora’s repressed desire for revenge against her father for his affair with Frau K., and that the scene in the woods represents her sexual fantasy involving Herr K. Freud relays in the final section, “Postscript,” that Dora preemptively broke off their sessions before he was able to treat her. He postulates that this is

due

to

the

‘transference,”:

phenomenon Dora

must

of

have

projected her emotions regarding Herr

He concludes the case history with details about Dora’s condition after their sessions ended; though she had relapses

of

her

symptoms,

she

eventually married and was more or less able to adapt to her life.

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Questions ·

How long does Freud take to write his analysis to the audience, and how does the writer

achieve this? As a therapeutic treatment, psychoanalysis generally takes three to five meetings a week and requires the amount of time for natural or normal maturational change (three to seven years). Length of treatment varies but psychoanalysis generally lasts an average of 5-6 years or longer. How does Freud View Dora's mother? Other symptoms such as a stomach ache in the absence of her parents were, according to Freud, an attempt to gain the attention and love of Dora's parents when she had to share such affection with her brother. Freud believed that she was also jealous of the affection that Frau K attracted from her father. How long does the Analysis of hysteria take place, and how does the writer set up the timeline? Telling and retelling secrets with Freud and Dora (An analysis of case of hysteria (1905) Femininity (1933) What does Freud have to say about the transference between Dora and himself? The simple answer is that Dora Freud realized that the game had fundamentally changed. It was no longer the diagnosis or interpretation that mattered, but the dynamics of the relationship that he had with his patient. Freud called this the 'transference', and it's this phenomenon that prompts Lacan's intervention Explain on what points was the Freudian discovery got confirmed and on which points did his analysis failed:

● Freud theorizes that hysterical symptoms stem from either psychological trauma or problems in the patient’s sexual life. ● Freud points out that "jewel-case" is also a common slang word for vagina and starts his interpretation from this observation. ● Freud regrets that just as he thought he would successfully resolve her case, she decided to end her therapy. ● He asserts that Dora’s decision was an act of vengeance on her part and wonders if he could not have persuaded her to stay on, had he used her feelings of transference and exaggerated the importance of her therapy to him.

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Why does the author describe Dora as sexual-abuse in the novel? Because Freud did not go back to Dora's first infantile traumas, but stopped instead at the period of her infantile masturbation. In analyzing this dream, Romano's theory begins to take shape around the idea that Dora suffered an early trauma: possibly, a sexual abuse inflicted by her father.

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We did everything adults would do. What went wrong?

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Why should you read THE LORD

where young boys get shipwrecked in

OF THE FLIES?

exotic locations. The protagonists in

William Golding was losing his faith in humanity serving aboard a British destroyer in World War II. The

these stories are able to master nature while evading the dangers posed by their new environments.

philosophy teacher turned Royal Navy lieutenant was constantly confronted

The

by the atrocities of his fellow man. and

problematic

when he returned to England to find

found in many British works at the

Cold War superpowers treating one

time, in which the boys teach the

another with nuclear annihilation, he

island´s

was forced to interrogate the very

allegedly superior British Values.

genre

also

endorsed

colonialist

native

the

narrative

inhabitants

their

roots of human nature. These musing on the inevitability of violence would inspire his first and most famous

Golding´s satire even goes so far as to

novel: “Lord of the Flies”.

explicitly use the setting and character names from R.M. Ballantyne's “Coral Island”, one of the most beloved

After being rejected by 21 publishers,

island adventure novels, but while

the novel was finally published in

Ballantyne´s book promised readers:

1954, it takes its title from Beelzebub,

pleasure,

a demon associated with pride and

amusement Golding´s had darker

war, two themes very much at the

things in store.

profit,

and

unbounded

heart of Golding's book. The novel was a break satire of a classic island adventure story, a popular genre 23


“Lord of the flies” opens with the boys

the presence of an adult authority;

already on the island, but snippets of

initially, the survivors try to establish

conversation hint at their terrifying

some sense of order. A boy named

journey, their plane had been shot

Ralph blows into a conch shell to

down in the midst of an unspecified

assemble the group and delegate tasks,

nuclear war, the boys ranging in age

but as Jack fights for leadership with

from 6 to 13 are strangers to each

Ralph, the group teachers and the boys

other, all except for a choir, clad in

submit to their darker urges, the mob

black uniforms and led by a boy

of children soon forgets their plans for

named Jack. Just as in Ballantyne's

rescue silences the few voices of

“Coral Island”, the boy´s new home

reason and blindly follow Jack to the

appears to be a paradise with fresh

edge of the island, and the edge of

water, shelter, and abundant food

sanity.

sources, but even from the novel´s opening pages a macabre darkness hangs over this seemingly quiet situation. the boy´s shadows are compared

to

“black,

bat

like

creatures” while the choir itself first appears as something dark, fumbling along the beach within hours of their arrival, the boys are already trading terrifying rumors of a vicious beastie living and lurking in the woods; from

The novel´s universal themes of morality, civility, and society have made it a literary classic, satirizing both conventions of its time and long held beliefs about humanity, while island adventure stories often supports colonialism “Lord of the Flies” turns this trope on its head rather than cruelly casting native populations as stereotypical

these ominous beginnings.

transforms Golding´s

narrative

reveals

how

quickly cooperation unravels without

savages, his

angelic

Golding British

schoolboys into savage characters and as the boys fight their own battle of the 24


island the far more destructive war

most bare and though not all readers

that brought them there continues off

may agree with Golding´s forbidden

the page, even if the boys were to be

view, “Lord of the Flies” is unsettling

rescued from themselves, what kind of

enough to challenge even the most

world would they be returning to?

determined optimist.

with so few references to anchor the characters in a specific place or period the novel feels truly timeless an examination of human nature at its

Can we nowadays preserve our minds in a society where you have to fit in and free will, curiosity and selfexpression are offensive for all?

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QUESTIONS LORD OF THE FLIES

1. What message is William Golding trying to convey in Lord of the Flies? In Lord of the Flies, Golding has the idea that civilization and civility are fragile structures. As social norms break down on the island, Golding shows that humans have primal instincts that can make them behave savagely. The isolated setting of the island is meant to illustrate that a group of normal, generally well-behaved boys will revert to animalistic behavior when the rule of law is dissolved. 2. What is the meaning of the title in Lord of the Flies? The title Lord of the Flies alludes to the demon Beelzebub and symbolizes the presence of evil on the island. The severed pig's head is named the Lord of the Flies and offers Simon insight into the true identity of the beast while he hallucinates. The Lord of the Flies confirms Simon's belief that the beast is the inherent wickedness in each boy, which underscores Golding's primary theme regarding mankind's essential illness. 3. Why did William Golding write Lord of the Flies? One could argue that William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies because he wanted to show that there's a thin line between barbarism and civilization. The privileged young boys who crash land on a desert island may think they're civilized, but it isn't very long before they descend into outright barbarism. 4. How do Ralph and Piggy view Simon's death in Lord of the Flies? Both boys feel extreme guilt, but they deal with it differently. Ralph is shocked by the role all the boys play in killing Simon. At the beginning of chapter 10, he is ridden with guilt and tells Piggy that it was murder. Piggy seeks to explain what happened and why. He attributes the death to the boys' fear and calls it an accident, then he attributes responsibility to Simon for creating the fear. Piggy tries to end the conversation, while Ralph cannot help but talk about the savagery that has taken over.

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Using the different methods and approaches to analyze a book, a student can make a really good critic about any literary reading. In addition, a student can promote the analysis and interpretation of a book from different sources and methodologies.

It is quite important to express that reading is a fascinating world once you understand the point of view of an author, in the same way, to analyze what is saying in the letters written down by the author.

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