Beryl Bainbridge Powerpoint

AP OPEN PROMPT

2008, Form B. In some works of literature, childhood and adolescence are portrayed as times graced by innocence and a sense of wonder; in other works, they are depicted as times of tribulation and terror. Focusing on a single novel or play, explain how its representation of childhood or adolescence shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.

Gelila Tefera

A.P British Literature

Mrs. Wilson

February 26, 2012

            In many pieces of literature, young characters are first portrayed as innocent and naïve. Some authors choose to take the path where they let their character grow from a journey situation to a more sophisticated and fulfilling adult life or they take the  path where the character’s choices leads to their loss of innocence and are ultimately unable to attain their aspirations. In the case of An Awfully Big Adventure, Beryl Bainbridge developed a character, Stella,  who wants to  be hurled into a grown up world to not only receive appreciation in her abilities but also acknowledgement and acceptance from the  person she loves.  Stella’s infatuation with adult ideals leads her to take on actions that will untimely lose her innocence.

            In Bainbridge’s  An Awfully Big Adventure, Stella is an aspiring actress at a local Liverpool theatre who falls in love with an older member of the theatre. Although Stella's beloved Meredith seems oblivious to her romantically, several of the adult males in the company find her more than attractive. Two of them make inappropriate advances, but Stella doesn’t give in into their advances at first. It occurs to her that it would be a good idea to practice so that she'll be a good lover when Meredith is ready for her. Because of this, she responds when young Geoffrey makes some advances.

Stella’s naïve and innocent nature is shown through her speech of colloquial diction. “He kept throwing up words whose meaning Stella more or less understood but would never have had the nerve to thread into a conversation. She was shaky on pronunciation (Bainbridge 30).” Stella’s colloquial diction , like using the word “muckier”, helps to portray her youth and innocence because there is not much complexity to it and is just regular conversational speech. This is very important to the development of the novel because it correlates with Stella’s fascination of being more of an adult and gaining experience. Bainbridge shows the sophisticated voice of Geoffrey by having him recite formal poetry lines from T.S. Elliot. The reader is able to grasp the idea that Geoffrey more experience and is older than Stella. Bainbridge uses this contrast between Stella and Geoffrey  help show Stella’s intrigue with this older character as she want to be hurled into adulthood  which is one of the major themes of this novel. Further, Stella’s use of Geoffrey as a way to attract Meredith shows that she is straying away from her naïve self by manipulating those around her.

            Although Stella has come to a point of maturity of sorts, her incomplete knowledge, naïve nature, and the discouraging behavior of the people around her leads to a discontent life through her quest for maturity.

AP Multiple Choice Questions and Answers For An Awfully Big Adventure

1.      How does Stella try to get Meredith jealous

       a.       Riding on O'Hara's motorcycle

       b.      Getting a new job at another theatre

       c.       Having a relationship with Geoffrey

      d.      Take his role in the play

       e.      Both A and C

2.      How is satire used in this novel

      a.      To make a parody or pror experences

      b.      To mock historical contexts

      c.       show absurdity

     d.       Both A and B

      e.       None of the above

3.      What type of diction was used for Stella?

I.                Coloquial

II.              elevated

III.             Both

          a.       I 

         b.      II and III

         c.       I and III

        d.      I, II, and III

         e.       None are true

4.      Whyis Stella intrigued by Geoffrey?

        a.       He is rich

        b.      He is older and more sophisticated

        c.       She wants to get experience with him to get ready for Merideth

       d.      He isn't intrigued with Stella

       e.      Both B and C

5.      How does Bainbridge pay attention to syntax?

       a.       Uses only short sentences for a choppy flow

       b.      Varies paragraph lengths

       c.       Uses concrete diction as a descriptive tool after the subject

      d.       All of the above

      e.       She doesn't incorporate any syntax techniques

1.  The answer is E because Stella thinks that getting closer to other males at the theatre will show her maturity and make  Meredith jealous.

2. The answer is C because she is not using previous work to mock but just an ideology to ridicule.

3. The answer is A because Stella uses words like "muckier" instead of more sophisticated ones during conversation with people around her.

4. The answer is E because Stella believes that if she can get some experience sexually with someone who is already mature to feel more grown up in the eyes of Meredith.

5. The answer is C because this helped illuminate the subject of the paragraph and how that character develops.

AP Multiple Choice Questions and Answers for “A Dream” by Edgar Allen Poe

AP Multiple Choice Questions for “A Dream” by Edgar Allen Poe

1.      In line 9 , what type of literary device was used

      a.       pathetic fallacy

      b.      repetition

       c.      alliteration

     d.      caesura

      e.       None of the above are correct

2.      How does the Poe leave the interpretation to the reader?

     a.       Having more than one topic

     b.      Having multiple tones

     c.       A and B

     d.      ending with a rhetorical question

      e.       There is no other way it can be interpreted

3.      The alliteration of the poem serves to

I.                 Help the flow of the poem as it is read

II.               Draws attention to the preceding or following line

III.             To create a positive tone

    a.       I and II

   b.      II and III

    c.       I and III

    d.      I, II, and III

     e.       None are true

4.      What type of rhyme scheme is this poem written in?

     a.       Monorhyme

     b.      Couplet

      c.       Limerick

     d.      Sonnet

     e.       None of the above

5.      What is the tone of the poem?

     a.       Uplifting

     b.      Accomplished

     c.       Hopeless

     d.      Confusion

      e.       Melancholy

1. The answer is B because the the phrase "That Holy Dream " is repeated in the same line. The other choices do not deal with any repetition.

2.The answer is D because leaving a rhetorical question will give the reader enough to ponder  over and come up with their own reasons.

3.The answer is A because alliteration helps increase the pace of the person that is reading which adds to the overall flow of the poem. The change in pace creates an attraction within that same line.

4. The answer is D  because  it has an ABAB pattern. This is called a sonnet. The other choices are not about ABAB.                                             

5. The answer is E because words like "dark" and "broken-hearted" are usually associated with melancholy (sadness).

Poem #1: "Time Long Past"

Time Long Past

By Percy Bysshe Shelley

Like the ghost of a dear friend dead

Is Time long past.

A tone which is now forever fled,

A hope which is now forever past,

A love so sweet it could not last,

Was Time long past.

There were sweet dreams in the night

Of Time long past:

And, was it sadness or delight,

Each day a shadow onward cast

Which made us wish it yet might last—

That Time long past.

There is regret, almost remorse,

For Time long past.

'Tis like a child's belovèd corse

A father watches, till at last

Beauty is like remembrance, cast

From Time long past.

Poem #2 :"A Dream"

A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

In visions of the dark night
I have dreamed of joy departed-
But a waking dream of life and light
Hath left me broken-hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by day
To him whose eyes are cast
On things around him with a ray
Turned back upon the past?

That holy dream- that holy dream,
While all the world were chiding,
Hath cheered me as a lovely beam
A lonely spirit guiding.

What though that light, thro' storm and night,
So trembled from afar-
What could there be more purely bright
In Truth's day-star?

" A Dream " Analysis

In Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, “A Dream”, Poe uses the sentence structure, figurative language, and repetition to show the underlying emotions that connect with the inner conflict experienced from oneself or those around them.

Poe uses a gothic style of writing which creates a depressing tone.  Using words like “dark” and “broken-hearted” adds to the tone and the overall understanding of the meaning. This poem has a rhyme scheme of ABAB and enjambment of all for stanzas which help give the poem a faster pace. The mood of the poem is depressing because it is showing the pain of real life, how he must tolerate it, and shows the only way he could escape the dreadful fear of reality was through his dreams. Poe’s main style of figurative language is alliteration such as “ dream by day” and “world were (line 5)” because it emphasizes and draws the reader to “the holy dream”. The repetition of this line further shows theme will be shown throughout the poem and it amplifies the importance of the dream to the narrator. Poe chooses to incorporate rhetorical questions to allow the reader to interpret the poem in different ways. This poem was written to show how the narrator is immersed in this exclusive fantasy dream world. These dreams he had were his way of fleeing to his own utopia because his dreams were a way for him to not confront his own world and reality. Edgar Allen Poe expresses this concept of realism by a using a strong theme, a melancholic tone, and by the elaborate use of figurative language throughout this piece.

Like Morgan from Beryl Bainbridge’s Every Man for Himself , the narrator is plagued by recurring dreams that are now a consuming part of his life. With Morgan's dreams/day dreams centered on different experiences, Edgar's is different as it just focuses on one past experience. He is trying to hold on to some memory that is fleeting because it is still better than the reality he lives in. "I have dreamed of joy departed/But a waking dream of life and light/Hath left me broken-hearted.” This poem shows his fixation to something in the past. This is similar to Morgan as his dreams mostly deal with his past experiences. "That holy dream- that holy dream / While all the world were chiding / Hath cheered me as a lovely beam (lines 9-11)." The dream that is being referred to is something that brings him joy and that is why he is trying to hold onto it.

In Beryl Bainbridge’s Every Man for Himself, Morgan, the narrator, shares some of the disturbing dreams that he experiences that not only gives insight about his fears but also gives insight to his past. "Too early the next morning I woke with the fragment of a dream still in my head. It wasn't the one that had disturbed my childhood nights and brought Sissy running (Bainbridge 9)." In one of his dreams, he "saw a man on hands and knees, scrabbling at the soil, a piece of newspaper flapping on the sole of his boot"(Bainbridge 8). They also revealed his feelings about his mother and the type of relationship that he was seeking. "It was my mother who came into my dreams and that only as someone I cried out for when the old woman made those terrible noises and the yellow bile jerked on to my cheek (Bainbridge 9).”  Bainbridge uses the dreams of Morgan to show the reader how he reflects on his past experiences and he even says that dreams deal with the memories of the past, not tell the future. Similarly, Poe proves that the past memories can find their way back if they are wanted.

"Time Long Past" Analysis

In Percy Shelley’s poem, "Time Long Past",  Shelley uses repetition and  informal diction to express the melancholy tone that is associated with the idea of the fleeting memories of the past.

Shelley’s poem is about the emotions evoked from the past. In this case, it is most likely about a past love that is now gone but was thought that they loved them forever. Shelley style of figurative writing in this poem is alliteration. This is used to further emphasis the meaning of the poem. “Forever fled (line3)” emphasizes the memories of the past that are still transparent in the present. There is a constant repetition of the same consonant sound that is usually seen in the  middle of the poem. This consonant sound draws attention to the specific line that is attributed to it. Repetition is one of the major literary devices that Shelley uses. Along with the repetition of consonant sounds, he emphasizes the phrase “Time long past (lines 2,6,8,12,14,18)”. Seeing as this is hinted from the title of the poem, repetition reveals that past memories is major theme that will be prevalent throughout the poem. Also, Shelley uses informal diction that are simple such as “beauty”, “delight”,  and “remembrance” to invoke a certain type of emotion from the reader. These words aid the overall flow of the poem because of their soft connotations.

Instead of being consumed in the past like Bainbridge's An Awfully Big Adventure, Shelley makes it a point that the past is the past and that it doesn't last forever. "A love so sweet it could not last (line 5)". The narrator reflects on his past, wishing that he can re-live those moments again. "Each day a shadow onward cast/ which made us wish it yet might last (lines 10-11)". This creates a melancholy tone which makes the reader feel sorry for the narrator and to connect with him because it is a human experience that everyone goes through.  "Each day a shadow onward cast/ which made us wish it yet might last (lines 10-11)". This is a contrast to Bainbridge's novel because those characters would love nothing more detached from the past like O'Hara. Shelley also explains that memories in the past may not always be pleasant but they should still be treasured because "time long past" and there is nothing that he can do.

One main theme that evident often in Bainbridge's novel  An Awfully Big Adventure  and Shelley’s poem was the idea of self-reflection from past memories or experiences. Bainbridge’s novel focuses on the importance of someone's past always seems to catch up to a character. O'Hara explains "'Life is full of conflagrations;'...'We can never be sure when we'll be consumed by the past."' (Bainbridge 200). This same quote is also uttered by Uncle Vernon because Lily and he are worried that the mistakes of Stella's mother would be repeated by Stella. Another example is O'Hara's long line of broken hearts. He is consumed by the past memories of Stella Morris and his present love of the younger Stella. His past catches up to him when he finds out that Stella is actually his daughter from the time he was together with Stella Morris when he finds a picture of them during his visit to Uncle Vernon. "He swung his head from side to side, trying to get rid of that image of the girl he had known as Stella Morris holding a baby in her arms". This shows that he tries to repress a part of his past that he can no longer ignore. Like Shelley’s poem, this novel explores the tone that is created from the complex self-reflections of memories that now remain haunting to those that are affected.

An Awfully Big Adventure Analysis

In this passage of Beryl Bainbridge’s An Awfully Big Adventure, Bainbridge uses the old British traditional style of writing such as using the word “theatre” instead of theater in order to achieve a more authentic writing as it adds to the story line. In addition to British spelling, Bainbridge uses jargons such as “the stage was poorly lit”, “The fire curtain”, and “Rialto cinema (Bainbridge 30)” to add to the authenticity and helps connect the novel to the commercial intrigue of the age of the theatre in the 1950s. With the use of diction, jargons, and syntax techniques, Bainbridge captures the dramatic style of theatre and develops a distinct voice for each character.

Bainbridge gives each character a specific voice that becomes even clearer as the novel goes on. For this development, Bainbridge uses diction to help further differentiate characters. By using different vocabulary ranges, the overall complexity of each character can be understood. “He kept throwing up words whose meaning Stella more or less understood but would never have had the nerve to thread into a conversation. She was shaky on pronunciation (Bainbridge 30).” Stella’s informal diction , like using the word “muckier”, helps to portray her youth and innocence because there is not much complexity to it. This is very important to the development of the novel because it correlates with Stella’s fascination of being more of an adult and gaining experience. Bainbridge shows the sophisticated voice of Geoffrey by having him recite formal poetry lines from T.S. Elliot. The reader is able to grasp the idea that Geoffrey more experience and is older than Stella. Bainbridge uses this contrast between Stella and Geoffrey  help show Stella’s intrigue with this older character as she want to be hurled into adulthood  which is one of the major themes of this novel.

Bainbridge puts the subjects of her sentence in the beginning then uses concrete diction after as a descriptive tool to help illuminate the subject illuminate the subject. “His hair, being coarse and crinkly, sprang back at the moment he let go (Bainbridge 29)”. By using this syntax style, the most important part of the sentence, which is whatever Bainbridge wants you to take from the sentence, is easily transferred to the reader. Bainbridge’s use of incorporating both formal and informal diction with these syntax techniques expresses the overall development of each character, specifically the characterization of Stella.

 

 

Every Man For Himself Analysis

In Beryl Bainbridge’s Every Man for Himself, Bainbridge integrates lengthy sentences and other elongating techniques such as commas with elevated diction to reveal the narrator’s ideas more thoroughly by adding vivid imagery.

Bainbridge selects to use lengthy sentences rather than short, choppy ones because this combined with the narrative style of this novel allows the words to flow like the thoughts of any person would. This makes the writing seem more real and the thoughts of the narrator more genuine. Not only does this pacing give Morgan, the narrator, a streaming flow of thoughts but it also allows Morgan to be more descriptive as he reflects back to disturbing past memories to give the reader  vivid images of what still haunt him in the form of nightmares. “Sometimes when the dream had been really bad, Sissy would push up the balcony window telling me to suck in the night air, and those times I stopped breathing altogether , for when I looked down at the gas-lit street it had sunk beneath the sluggish waters of a canal (Bainbridge 29).” Bainbridge allows Morgan to complete his thoughts without being interrupted. When people are usually thinking about something or reflecting on past memories, their thoughts are usually continuous and this type of sentence length provides that.

Bainbridge style of diction isn’t specific to just one. She uses elevated diction in the midst colloquial diction for the purpose of a complex development to the speaker. Also, this helps draw attention to the specific word that is elevated. Instead of using words such as harsh noises, Bainbridge uses “cacophony” and instead of an item being thrown, she uses “hurled”. This instantly draws the attention of the reader to that sentence. This style of diction helps the overall character development of Morgan as it adds more of a complex aspect to his thoughts. These thoughts are what help set the tone for the passage. By using a specific diction and the descriptive style of this narrative – such as “a sudden gust of wind shook the trees in the gardens and a prolonged echoed along the streets (Bainbridge 30)-”a serious and almost terrifying tone is established.

Through these developments of sentence structure and diction for the purpose of creating detailed descriptions, Bainbridge is able to express the narrator’s complex thinking as he deals with his past.

 

 

Prose Passage #2 : An Awfully Big Adventure

The stage was so poorly lit it was impossible to see into the corners. The fire curtain had been lowered in an attempt to keep the worst of the dust from the auditorium. A solitary mas sat astride a paint bespattered bench sawing a length of wood. When he shoved his arm the shadow of his saw raced ahead and broke off like a blade. Geoffrey and Stella spoke in whispers, as though in church,

“It’s deeper than I expected,’ Geoffrey said.

‘And muckier,’ said Stella who, left to

 herself, might have conjurded a blasted heath out of the darkness, an air craft hangar, an operatic, book-furnished study in which Faustud could sell his soul to the Devil. She was distracted by Geoffrey who was trying to tug a lock of his hair down over his forehead. It was one of his mannerisms. His hair, being course and crinkly, sprang back at the moment he let go. Almost at once Stella tiptoed to the back of the stage and returned through the sliding door to the prop room. Geoffrey was a thorn in the flesh.

She had thought when she was summoned

 to work in the theatre that she was one of a chosen few. Finding Geoffrey included in the roll-call of honour shook her illusions. He was nineteen. Three years older than herself.Anephew of Rushworth, chairman of the governing board, he had recently left a military academy after firing a gun at someone he wasn’t supposed to.

Geoffrey and Stella were both called students. George, the property master, said they were really assistant stage managers, but this way meant the thatre didn’t have to pay them. Geoffrey wore a paisley cravat and walked with his heands nbbgfr4.

Geoffrey and Stella were both called students. George, the property master, said they were really assistant stage managers, but this way meant the thatre didn’t have to pay them. Geoffrey wore a paisley cravat and walked with his hands clenched into fists as though he still strutted a parade ground. He kept throwing up words whose meaning Stella more or less understood but would never have had the nerve to thread into a conversation. She was shaky on pronunciation.

For instance, button-holing Bunny whose eyelids quivered with boredom, Geoffrey said that in his opinion T.S. Eliot was a poet manqué. He went as far as to recite several obscure lines:

Declines. On the Rialto once.

The rats are underneath the piles.

The Jew is underneath the lot

Money in furs. The boatman smiles

 

It was a rum quotaion. Of course Sella knew he wasn’t referring to the Rialto cinema on Upper Parliament Street, but she couldn’t help smiling. Uncle Vernon had piles.

On behalf of a Bank was incapable, a priori, of speaking with authority. Stella wondered whether Geoffrey was ant-Semitic. No one but a bigot, after what happened, would lump rats

Prose Passage #1: Every Man For Himself

I paused in the corridor, did what I intended to do—it took but a moment—brushed the square of dust away with my sleeve and went to the head of the stairs. As fate would have it, Cousin Jack was coming up as I descended. There followed a conversation of sorts, though my heart beat so loud I scarcely heard it. The evening sun shone through the stained glass window on the landing and set his beard ablaze. ‘Ah,’ he said, peering. ‘It’s you.’ ‘The very same,’ I replied, dazzled. ‘Are we well?’ he asked. ‘Pretty well.’ ‘Excellent,’ he thundered, and stepped on past. One floor up the pet monkey hurled the length of its chain along the picture rail and leapt atop the banister. Later I reproached myself for being so jumpy. Jack may have an eye for commerce but in most other respects he’s monumentally blinkered. He is, after all, about his father’s business. In all the weeks I’d stayed at that house in Princes Gate we had never once dined together, although it’s true that we should have met for breakfast the morning after my arrival. On that occasion the cable working the dumb­waiter snapped between basement and dining room and the resulting cacophony of breaking china so unnerved me I fled before Jack appeared. At no time since had we occupied anything more spacious than the threshold of a room, he generally being on his way out as I entered, or the other way around. Beyond a grunt, possibly in reference to the weather, he had never acknowledged the cuckoo in his nest. I wasn’t entirely sure he even knew who I was. But then, he was nearly thirty years my senior and I no more than twelve years of age when he had last set eyes on me in the library of his father’s brownstone on Madison Avenue. I wouldn’t like to give the impression that I thought badly of Jack. Quite the reverse; it was he who told my aunt it was time she stopped feeding me moonshine in regard to my beginnings. Up until then I knew little of my parents, beyond they were both headstrong and dead, my father two months before I was born and my mother, half-sister-in-law to my Uncle Morgan, three years after. I wasn’t really bothered about the whys and wherefores, being well cared for by my aunt and my cousin Sissy, but often crazy images came into my head, either when I was on the point of dropping off to sleep or on the edge of waking, images of an old woman’s face lying next to me on a soiled pillow. And then I’d come fully awake and scream the house down, begging for the window to be opened to let out the stench of her breath. Sometimes, when the dream had been really bad, Sissy would push up the balcony window and hold me there in my night-gown, telling me to suck in the night air, and those times I stopped breathing altogether, for when I looked down at the gas-lit street it had sunk beneath the sluggish waters of a canal. I didn’t find the truth all that upsetting, though Sissy wept for days.