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Obviously, students’ life stressors and their abilities to cope with them will vary from time to time and from one student to another. The problem of stress must be dealt with if students/teachers are to begin to learn/teach more successfully. The stress that adolescents experience can cause a great emotional block and resistance to the learning process. It is impossible to feed new information into an already fully logged computer disc and a student cannot be fed information if he/she is fully logged with life stress.
For simplicity, a universal approach must be taken in designing an educational structure to help this situation. This unit will provide an easy way to begin to deal with some of the stress that occupies the adolescent’s mind.
First, let’s be clear about what stress is and what recent research offers to deal with this problem. Stress is a created state or tension occurring in response to demands and pressures that come from the outside and the inside. It causes bodily as well as mental changes. Some bodily responses in dealing with stress pertain to hormone levels, high blood pressure and the lymphatic system. Stress has also been correlated with poor sleep patterns; either not being able to sleep restfully or the manifestation of increased sleep time. Most of these changes would not be readily visible to the teacher. Stress is usually most apparent during major life events. How might a teacher recognize stress? Early signs can vary and sometimes no signs are apparent.
Some of the mental signs of personal stress are:2
|1.||Lack of ability to think rationally. (A student is bumped accidently by another student and a fight ensues)|
|2.||Aggression and irritability that is manifested in a displaced manner. (Uncontrollable profanity directed at authority)|
|3.||Drawing away from a relationship. Isolation.|
|4.||An all around inability to relax.|
The result of adolescent stress is a classroom full of students unable to focus on anything. The teacher teaches to a room of chaos or a room of zombies. Listening and daily tasks suddenly become foreign to the students. The teacher begins to feel as though he/she is beating his/her head against a brick wall. The teacher becomes stressful because he/she can’t get enough work don in a classroom full of stressed students.
What do experts say will help? The most current answers deal with behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, cognitive-behavior therapy, distraction, physical activity, imagery, humor, escape time and relaxation techniques. Most of these are complicated and not readily available to all teachers, many of whom are already feeling an overload in the classroom.
This unit will borrow from all the current findings, combine them with drama, and take a form that can be easily used in the classroom to help students cope with stress. It will supply a light in the darkest part of the tunnel. It will produce laughter, tears, and hope. The unit will only need one hour of classroom time a week.
The unit borders on dramatic therapy with the difference being in its exclusively creative approach. Dramatic therapy would be presented as a definite tool to identify a problem and work it through. It would demand a willing participant, one who would agree that help and therapy is needed. The student in trouble may not realize that the need for help exists or might refuse it. The teacher will need to recognize the troubled student and provide as much help as possible.
The basic requirements for the teacher are not difficult, as they primarily consist of common sense tempered with compassion and warmth. The most important things to remember while using the unit are to remain calm and to be supportive through the initial phases of the unit. Students should be encouraged to decide for themselves what is safe to reveal under the tent of performing and should be offered other areas for possible stress release, if indicated, through teacher guidance. The unit is constructed in three phases.
|1.||For the unit to work successfully there must be a letting down of regular classroom walls during the hour spent on the unit each week. The students need to be allowed the freedom, while on stage, to use profanity, sexual comments and outbursts when necessary. When students confront the teacher with questions concerning these freedoms, students seem to respond best when phases like, “Use your own best judgement” and “Make sure you use common sense,” are used by the teacher. The teacher will need to walk a thin line of monitoring this freedom and allowing it at the same time. Full creative freedom for the student is essential for the unit to operate on its best level. The teacher is the best judge of creativity versus unwarranted behavior displayed by a student. Although you must be aware that even obnoxious behavior or strong displays are signals of a students mental well being.|
|2.||As a class, the students must be briefed on their role as a supportive audience. They won’t talk to the performer on stage, but they will “act” as still and quiet as possible. Laughing and clapping in support are acceptable. Each student needs to play the role’ of paying attention (the first attempt at good acting).|
|3.||The teacher should not expect immediate results with this unit. The students will test to see if they will be allowed complete freedom of expression. A student may present a written work containing strong language or content and ask if it is acceptable. If the teacher allows the student to make the decision of performing it in front of the class, rather than imposing restrictions, “the wind is usually taken out of their sails” and the student performs another piece. The students will also test to see if the teacher cares about each student as a person. When a student reveals personal information, he/she will look for acknowledgement from the teacher, and sometimes warmth. It may be advisable to show some simple form of physical affirmation such as a pat on the back or a hug as a simple way of showing concern for the student.|
The teacher needs to be a friend and a guide during this hour. The testing of the teacher is “being put through the fire.” If the teacher can make it through this fire somewhat calmly, then he/she is fifty percent of the way to a better classroom atmosphere for all. If the teacher is feeling abused, try talking with the students about the way “it feels.” The students have hearts, sometimes they just need to be prompted.
The nature of the unit is one that could be viewed much like group therapy. The unit should not be presented to the student as a form of therapy, it should be presented in its pure creative form. The creative work will produce results on its own merit. The teacher will be very much like a coach for the students. Because of the nature of the unit and the nature of dramatic performing, there will be some awkwardness. This awkward feeling is due to the vulnerable nature of the work. Once the ice has been broken the threat and fearfulness becomes lessened and enjoyment ensues.
The first and most crucial relaxation exercise consists of an imaginary trip. The students begin by lying flat on their backs and focusing on their breathing. The student should count silently to ten while inhaling and exhaling. (The teacher can count to ten out loud a few times to set the pace for the class.) This type of breathing enables the student to slow down mentally and physically. The teacher should talk in a basic tone, with a slow rhythm, guiding the students verbally through the tensing up and releasing of tension throughout the body. The teacher may begin with the toes progressing upward or the top of the head progressing down. An example would be: “Students tense your toes, breath, relax your toes.”*(See Lesson Plan) After guiding the students through this process the next step is to guide the student through an imaginary trip. Explain to the students that the trip is in the mind only and minimal movement is acceptable but extensive movement will disrupt the relaxed state. An imaginary trip is included in the lesson plan. The muscle relaxation technique can also be used without the imaginary trip after the completion of the exercise 2 or 3 times.
The use of this exercise should be explained to the students as a tool to use when developing their monologues or when working on characters. It is also a tool to help gain control of nervousness. The simple act of breathing slowly and with great awareness can give the student control again in a moment that lacks control. The teacher can use the exercise to help students begin to make choices in life. The old count to ten with breathing and then thinking will help the student learn to behave more rationally in irrational times.
The length of time devoted to the relaxation portion of the unit can vary. After the completion of the first technique two or three times as a class the students will be prepared for Phase II and Phase III. Mastery of relaxation could take a lifetime, so the teacher may want to return to this phase even after having moved forward into Phases II and III. It is the beginning of the unit, but should not be left behind when the students have gone through the phase.
Even the student who does not master this exercise will still reap some of its benefits. The idea is that without the pressure of actually going through therapy, the student will learn, slowly but surely, to transfer the control offered to help them as performers into control of everyday life situations. Just as the actor assesses unwanted behavior in a developed character, the students can begin to recognize unwanted behavior in their own lives and start to find ways to make new choices in situations where previously they may have reacted without forethought. Relaxation helps the imagination, strengthens the performer, puts ideas into perspective, and is the stepping stone to performing in life as well as on stage.
Objective Students will learn to actively take part in relaxing themselves physically and mentally. Students will learn to become aware of specific thought processes through relaxation exercises.
Materials Needed Mats or towels (optional for students to lie on)
|1.||Explain to students they will be doing a relaxation exercise. It will help them act (on stage) and exercise their imagination.|
|2.||Have students lie flat on their backs with legs flat or knees bent. (their option)|
|3.||Tell students to close their eyes and that no looking around or talking should be done during the relaxation exercise.|
|4.||Have students focus on their breathing by saying something like: “Focus on nothing but breathing, feel the air going in, feel the air coming out. Concentrate on the sound of your breathing, notice if you are taking slow or rapid breaths. Try to release all the thoughts from your mind while exhaling.”|
|*5.||Tell students to continue to be aware of their breathing and to listen to the directions given by the teacher.|
|*6.||Now the teacher will begin giving directives to the student for body relaxation. Example lead in: “Now I will guide you through relaxing the entire body. Tense your toes, breathe in, release the air and tension in your toes. Tense your feet, breathe in, release the air and tension in your feet.” As students and teacher become more familiar the guiding can be simplified to: “Tense (guide word) and breathe and release. Using these guide words, toes, feet, ankles, calves, thighs, buttock, pelvis, lower back, upper back, shoulders, neck, chin, lips, face, scalp, entire head, students are lead through complete muscle relaxation.|
|7.||Tell students to continue to breathe and be aware of any body tension being released. Tell students to do this on their own while following in their minds the imaginary trip. Example Imaginary Trip: As you are lying on the floor, suddenly you realize it is sand beneath you not a floor. Then you realize the sun is on you and you are hot, very hot. The sand you are lying in is warm and the sound of the water is in the background. The heat is almost unbearable, you try to move and cannot. (Now give students a few moments to absorb this much.)|
|*Finally, you are able to move and slowly you make your way to the water to cool off. What color is your water? Blue, green, blue/green. Is it clear or dark? You look around and realize you are on an island. What type of trees does your island have? Palm, oak, etc. . . . Are there animals? What sounds do you hear? Do you hear birds, wild animals, bugs, wind, etc. . . . You see a raft over by the shore and you get into it. What color is it? Is it made of logs, wood or rubber? You get into the raft and lie down and begin to float. Feel the water underneath you. What does it feel like? Is it soothing or unsettling? You are very tired so you lie serenely on your raft. Suddenly you realize you are lying on the floor again.|
|8.||Tell students to take their time getting up and make sure all are awake as some may have fallen asleep. Evaluation should begin immediately with the students grouped together.|
- Were you able to feel relaxed and focus on the imaginary trip?
- Did your mind wander?
- What did your island look like?
- Did you decide why you were there?
- How do you feel right now?..More relaxed, the same, a little different?
- What color was your raft and what was it made of?
- Students should show some proficiency the first time they attempt this exercise. After a few times look for increased ability. The island trip can be used again, expanded on or new trips may be developed. Make sure new trips are of some sort of relaxed nature at the onset.
When beginning the performance of the monologue, it will probably be advisable to choose a student to go first who is likely to excel. Then give something extra to the student who does well in front of the group and be prepared to give the student actions to go with the piece. An example of something extra would be: A student does a piece on the death of someone, suggest they do the monologue again and improvise a conversation with the spirit of the person. An example of added action would be physically reenacting the event described. *(See Lesson Plan) If students who excel are resistant to extras try not to push them. If any student is unable to perform, have them write down and turn in what they would like to do.
During this phase, compassion and warmth, supportive statements and positive feedback from the teacher should be used. It may be necessary for the teacher to work with one student for the entire hour. The teacher should also have information on hand to direct students to extra help if necessary; such as books on presentations, experienced people, other students who have met with success.
This phase will also give the teacher some clues into what the student is like emotionally. The beauty of this phase is that it becomes a time of stepping out of the basic day to day doldrums. Whether a student does something silly or serious, as the emotions flow, everyone’s stress becomes lessened. There is no secret to why it works. It is simply wonderful to have the chance to express oneself. The personal monologues will help the teacher and student get to know one another. Personal Monologues can be done as long as the teacher chooses.
Objective The student will learn to express themselves creatively through a monologue, speak in front of an audience as well as learning to be a good audience to others.
Materials Needed Space provided for a stage area, a chair
|1.||Give students an explanation of monologue, and that it will be performed by them alone in front of the class. *Allow students time to prepare a personal monologue of their choice. (written or improvised)|
|2.||*Meet with students for several one hour sessions and work with individuals to help them formulate and feel comfortable with the subject chosen as well as the personal monologue itself.|
|3.||Explain to the students that being an audience is as important as being a performer. Classrooms that do not naturally respond to being a good audience can be given letter and/or conduct grades for being an audience member.|
|4.||Set a chair up on ‘stage’ (real or created) and choose a student to perform their personal monologue.|
|*See essay portion for suggestions in dealing with problems.|
|5.||Have a student perform their monologue and when finished give him/her additions and/or new ideas and the opportunity to perform again with these additional suggestions.|
|6.||*Close out student work on the monologue when deemed necessary. Have the audience applaud.|
|7.||Give student personal words of affirmation.|
|“I really liked ____________________________________”|
|“It was funny when ____________________________________”|
|“I could really empathize with ____________________________________”|
- Was student successful at choosing a monologue?
- Did the student perform monologue?
- Was the audience supportive?
Optional Letter grades may be used if the teacher feels they are helpful. Talent and effort should be balanced for letter grades.
Excerpts from Monologues actually written and performed by students . . .
“Has someone really close to you ever died? Well it’s happened to me. Two people within two months. First it was my Grandmother. Not only was she my Grandmother but she was my best friend. She gave me everything I needed . . . food, clothes, money and shelter. She was always there for me and always took care of me. But then things changed. I had to start taking care of her. The doctors said that she had cancer. After 3 weeks, she passed away.
Then, my Grandfather. He got really sick the day before my Grandmother died. He was admitted into the hospital. After two long months in the hospital bed, he died.“Have you ever really been in love? Well, I have, and it’s really shocking because I’m not the type of person to fall in love, and all my friends know that. They were really shocked when I poured my heart out to them and cried on their shoulders.
I really didn’t know what I was gonna do. I mean my friends were there for me, they were really supportive. But, I mean do you know how it feels lying awake at night and crying. I mean first you’re guilty cause you didn’t even get to say goodbye then you keep asking, ‘Why God, why this person?’ I mean you always think they’re gonna be there for you and they’re gonna see you graduate high school. But, as the months passed I realized that even though that person passes on their memory will be there forever.”
Now this is how it all started. It was about 2 weeks before Valentines Day when this certain person who never even looked at me started noticing me and saying ‘Hi!’ when he passed me in the halls. Then he started calling me. Well I thought he was just being nice. I never knew what I was in for. One thing led to another and we started going out. I wasn’t sure how much I liked him. I knew I liked him a lot but I has no idea it was love. It finally hit me on Valentines Day when he didn’t even call me. I was really upset, cried all day. I kept the crying to myself, I didn’t let anyone know it effected me. The next night he ditched me. I got dumped. Yeah, I guess you can say he played me. After that we didn’t talk. Well actually I didn’t talk to him for about two months. I went out with a few people that didn’t really mean much to me to try to take my mind off him and to help me forget him. But I knew no matter what, I still wasn’t over him. I wanted to kill myself, I was so miserable, until April vacation! He called me, I said ‘Wait a minute, this has to be a joke, you’re actually talking to me?’ We talked for an real long time and then just out of the blue he asked me out. I didn’t understand why, but I didn’t care at the moment because I was happy and going out with him! This relationship was going pretty good, well that’s what I thought. On our one week anniversary he called me up (himself) and said ‘I don’t think we should go out anymore, but he wants to stay friends’. Well I just said O.K. and hung up and cried for days. That is the worst thing to say, and he said it. I couldn’t believe what he was putting me through. I couldn’t even look at him, my eyes would get all glassy, but I refused to cry in front of him. I kept on saying to myself ... ‘He isn’t worth it’, but I knew in my heart it really was. Recently he started talking to me again, just when I was trying to get over him. Now I love him even more. I try to get over him, but I just can’t help myself. He tells me he likes me but I don’t believe him and I don’t want to because I really don’t feel like getting hurt again. He told me he would ask me out, but his best friend likes me. That was like a knife going through my heart. In a way I wanted to believe him but I couldn’t. Sometimes I say to myself . . . ‘Why do I love him? Why am I wasting my time on someone I don’t have a chance with? Why me?’
I guess I don’t really have a choice. There is one thing I know, and that’s he is my first true love and even if I never get him back I will never forget him.”
Role Play is similar to scene work but it is specifically used for working on standing in another person’s shoes. A common use of role play is to allow students to solve daily problems on stage. Problems with parents, teachers and one another are possible options. Role play can be very helpful in dealing with conflict situations.
Improvisational Work can be fun or a way to tackle serious issues. It is a great way to play while performing. It is work using thoughts from off the top of one’s head. There are many improvisational games. One is called the one word story. Each student is allowed to use one word with the next student adding a word and together the words are to form some sort of story. Another improvisation game is “draw the idea from the hat.” Different ideas for scenes are put into a hat and drawn by groups of 2 to 3 people. The students then must perform a scene using the idea. Listening and cooperating are focal points for improvisational work. Other improvisational games can be found in theater books, some of which will be included on the unit teacher resource book list.
Character Development is yet another area of enrichment. Character development can be done through the study of character within a play or through real people and their personalities. When deriving a character profile from a play, traits can be determined from context clues and/or personal interpretation. This project may be done by individuals or as a group. When using everyday people; observing and the use of stereotypes are fun. The key to developing a well rounded character is using one’s own life experiences and expanding them with observations and imagination. *(See Lesson Plan)
All of the suggestions of further enrichment in Phase III are easily found in books that deal with theater. Using the strengths of stressful emotional release found in Phase I and II in combination with other areas of drama, stress can be released in new and innovative ways. The teacher can create a system that works for his or her classroom.
Objectives Students will learn to work from instinct and think quickly.
Materials Paper and pen (optional)
Procedures The following is a basic outline for improvisational work.
|1.||Participants are chosen.|
|2.||Ideas are chosen. Conflict situations are usually the simplest to work with.|
|Friendship conflicts, etc. . . .|
|3.||Short discussion among performers (teacher may also participate) about how the improvisation will go.|
|4.||Put the scene on stage.|
|If necessary, the teacher can ask students to find way to end the scene.|
Evaluation As the class discusses choices made on stage new or alternative choices can be discussed. Now the option to restage with new choices exists.
Objective Students will learn to observe the characteristics that create personalities in life and stage.
Materials Needed Any written play (optional)
Procedures This is just one of several basic observation lessons used to give insight into character development and the following can be transposed for usage in other ways.
|1.||Discussion: Personalities, What creates them? Voice, movement, nice, cool, villain, hero . . .|
|2.||Have each student choose one person to observe for one week. The way they walk and talk. How do they act when happy, angry, upset, nervous, etc. . . . Noting as many characteristics, physical and/or emotional, as possible.|
|3.||Have students report their findings and emulate at least one thing observed.|
|4.||Discuss these traits as building blocks for characters.|
|5.||If using a play, after completing steps 1 through 4 have the class read the play and discuss possible traits of one or two characters and how they relate to the actual people observed.|
Did student participate in the discussion? Was student able to observe characteristic traits? Was student able to transfer this knowledge to understanding characters in a play?
Benedetti, Robert. The Actor At Work: An Introduction to the Skills of Acting. Englewood Cliff, NJ:Prentice-Hall, 1981.
Cohen, Robert. Acting Power: An Introduction to Acting. Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield, 111978.
Franklin, Miriam. Rehearsal: The Principles and Practice of Acting for the Stage. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1972.
Lane, Yoti. The Psychology of the Actor. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1960.
Stanislavski, Constantin. Building A Character. New York: Theatre Art Books, 1949.
Chilver, Peter. Improvised Drama. London: B.T. Batsford, 1967.
Martin, William and Vallins, Gordon. Exploration Drama. London: Evans, 1970-77.
Pierini, Mary Paul Frances. Creative Dramatics: A Guide for Educators. New York: Herder & Herder, 1971.
Barker, Clive. Theatre Games. London: Eyre Methuen, 1977.
Eberle, Robert. Games for Imagination Development. Buffalo: DOK Publishers, 1971.
Spolin, Viola. Improvisation for the Theatre: A Handbook of Teaching and Directing Techniques. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University, 1963.
Anjanaro, Altshuler. Response to Drama. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976.
Barranger, M.S. Theatre: A Way of Seeing. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1980.
Early, Michael and Keil, Philippa, Eds. The Best Monologues of the 80’s. (Women)
Early, Michael and Keil, Philippa, Eds. The Best Monologues of the 80’s. (Men)
Harling, Robert. Steel Magnolias.
Henley, Beth. Crimes of the Heart.
Howe, Tina. Painting Churches.
Kaufman, George S. and MacGrath, Leveen. Amicable Parting.
Nigro, Don. Seascape With Sharks and Dancer.
Noonan, John Ford. A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking.
Simon, Neil. Brighton Beach Memoirs.
Terkel, Studs. Working.
Wade, Kevin. Key Exchange.
|1.||Chandler, Louis A. Assessing Stress in Children. New York: Praeger, 1985.|
|2.||D’Onofrio, Jan and Klesse, Ed. Adolescent Stress. Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1990.|
|3.||Hanson, Peter G. Stress for Success: How to Make Stress on the Job Work for You. 1st ed. New York: Springer Verlag, 1986.|
|4.||Johnson, James H. Life Events as Stressors in Childhood and Adolescence. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1986.|
|5.||Kendall, Phillip C. (Eds.) Advances in Cognitive Behavioral Research and Therapy. Vol. 3, Florida: Academic Press, Inc., 1984.|
|6.||Klein, D.M. and Aldons J. (Eds.) Social Stress and Family Development. New York: Guilford Press, 1988.|
|7.||Krohne Heinz W. and Laux, L. Achievement Stress and Anxiety. New York: Hemisphere Publishing, 1982.|
|8.||Landy, Robert J. Drama Therapy: Concepts and Practices. Springfield, IL: CCThomas, 1986.|
|9.||Lefcourt, Herbert M. and Martin, Rod A. Humor and Life Stress: Antidote to Adversity. New York: Springer Verlag, 1986.|
|10.||Robertson, Warren. Free to Act: How to Star in Your Life. New York: Putnam, 1978.|
|11.||Schattner, G. and Courtney, R. (Eds.) Drama in Therapy. 1st ed. New York: Drama Book Specialists, 1981.|
Contents of 1991 Volume V | Directory of Volumes | Index | Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute


1.the discipline that records and interprets past events involving human beings"he teaches Medieval history" "history takes the long view"
2.all that is remembered of the past as preserved in writing; a body of knowledge"the dawn of recorded history" "from the beginning of history"
3.a record or narrative description of past events"a history of France" "he gave an inaccurate account of the plot to kill the president" "the story of exposure to lead"
4.the aggregate of past events"a critical time in the school's history"
5.the continuum of events occurring in succession leading from the past to the present and even into the future"all of human history"
HistoryHis"to*ry (?), n.; pl. Histories (#). [L. historia, Gr. 'istori`a history, information, inquiry, fr. 'istwr, "istwr, knowing, learned, from the root of � to know; akin to E. wit. See Wit, and cf. Story.]
1. A learning or knowing by inquiry; the knowledge of facts and events, so obtained; hence, a formal statement of such information; a narrative; a description; a written record; as, the history of a patient's case; the history of a legislative bill.
2. A systematic, written account of events, particularly of those affecting a nation, institution, science, or art, and usually connected with a philosophical explanation of their causes; a true story, as distinguished from a romance; -- distinguished also from annals, which relate simply the facts and events of each year, in strict chronological order; from biography, which is the record of an individual's life; and from memoir, which is history composed from personal experience, observation, and memory.
Histories are as perfect as the historian is wise, and is gifted with an eye and a soul. Carlyle.
For aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history. Shak.
What histories of toil could I declare! Pope.
History piece, a representation in painting, drawing, etc., of any real event, including the actors and the action. -- Natural history, a description and classification of objects in nature, as minerals, plants, animals, etc., and the phenomena which they exhibit to the senses.
Syn. -- Chronicle; annals; relation; narration. -- History, Chronicle, Annals. History is a methodical record of important events which concern a community of men, usually so arranged as to show the connection of causes and effects, to give an analysis of motive and action etc. A chronicle is a record of such events, conforming to the order of time as its distinctive feature. Annals are a chronicle divided up into separate years. By poetic license annals is sometimes used for history.
Justly Cæsar scorns the poet's lays;
It is to history he trusts for praise. Pope.
No more yet of this;
For 't is a chronicle of day by day,
Not a relation for a breakfast. Shak.
Many glorious examples in the annals of our religion. Rogers.
HistoryHis"to*ry, v. t. To narrate or record. [Obs.] Shak.
definition of Wikipedia
science du passé (fr)[Classe]
qui se rapporte à une science humaine (fr)[Classe...]
conforme à la vérité (fr)[Classe]
qualificatif d'un genre littéraire ou d'un type de littérature (fr)[DomaineDescription]
intellectual, noetic, rational[Dérivé]
bygone, earlier, former, past[Similaire]
collection d'informations (fr)[Classe]
event; happening; occurrence[Classe...]
science of history[Classe]
contenu écrit des livres (fr)[DomainDescrip.]
photography, picture taking[Domaine]
Histoire (fr)[termes liés]
past; past times; yesteryear; ancient times; antiquity[ClasseHyper.]
bygone, earlier, former, past[Similaire]
History (from Greek ἱστορία - historia, meaning "inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation") is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it sometimes attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause and effect that determine events. Historians debate the nature of history and its usefulness. This includes discussing the study of the discipline as an end in itself and as a way of providing "perspective" on the problems of the present. The stories common to a particular culture, but not supported by external sources (such as the legends surrounding King Arthur) are usually classified as cultural heritage rather than the "disinterested investigation" needed by the discipline of history. Events of the past prior to written record are considered prehistory.
Amongst scholars, the 5th-century BC Greek historian Herodotus is considered to be the "father of history", and, along with his contemporary Thucydides, forms the foundations for the modern study of history. Their influence, along with other historical traditions in other parts of their world, have spawned many different interpretations of the nature of history which has evolved over the centuries and are continuing to change. The modern study of history has many different fields including those that focus on certain regions and those which focus on certain topical or thematical elements of historical investigation. Often history is taught as part of primary and secondary education, and the academic study of history is a major discipline in University studies.
A derivation from *weid- "know" or "see" is attested as "the reconstructed etymon wid-tor ["one who knows"] (compare to English wit) a suffixed zero-grade form of the PIE root *weid--'see' and so is related to Greek eidénai, to know "...
Ancient Greek ἱστορία (hístōr) means "inquiry","knowledge from inquiry", or "judge". It was in that sense that Aristotle used the word in his Περὶ Τὰ Ζῷα Ἱστορίαι (Perì Tà Zôa Ηistoríai "Inquiries about Animals"). The ancestor word ἵστωρ is attested early on in Homeric Hymns, Heraclitus, the Athenian ephebes' oath, and in Boiotic inscriptions (in a legal sense, either "judge" or "witness", or similar).
The word entered the English language in 1390 with the meaning of "relation of incidents, story". In Middle English, the meaning was "story" in general. The restriction to the meaning "record of past events" arises in the late 15th century. It was still in the Greek sense that Francis Bacon used the term in the late 16th century, when he wrote about "Natural History". For him, historia was "the knowledge of objects determined by space and time", that sort of knowledge provided by memory (while science was provided by reason, and poetry was provided by fantasy).
In an expression of the linguistic synthetic vs. analytic/isolating dichotomy, English like Chinese (史 vs. 诌) now designates separate words for human history and storytelling in general. In modern German, French, and most Germanic and Romance languages, which are solidly synthetic and highly inflected, the same word is still used to mean both "history" and "story".
The adjective historical is attested from 1661, and historic from 1669.
Historian in the sense of a "researcher of history" is attested from 1531. In all European languages, the substantive "history" is still used to mean both "what happened with men", and "the scholarly study of the happened", the latter sense sometimes distinguished with a capital letter, "History", or the word historiography.
Historians write in the context of their own time, and with due regard to the current dominant ideas of how to interpret the past, and sometimes write to provide lessons for their own society. In the words of Benedetto Croce, "All history is contemporary history". History is facilitated by the formation of a 'true discourse of past' through the production of narrative and analysis of past events relating to the human race. The modern discipline of history is dedicated to the institutional production of this discourse.
All events that are remembered and preserved in some authentic form constitute the historical record. The task of historical discourse is to identify the sources which can most usefully contribute to the production of accurate accounts of past. Therefore, the constitution of the historian's archive is a result of circumscribing a more general archive by invalidating the usage of certain texts and documents (by falsifying their claims to represent the 'true past').
The study of history has sometimes been classified as part of the humanities and at other times as part of the social sciences. It can also be seen as a bridge between those two broad areas, incorporating methodologies from both. Some individual historians strongly support one or the other classification. In the 20th century, French historian Fernand Braudel revolutionized the study of history, by using such outside disciplines as economics, anthropology, and geography in the study of global history.
Traditionally, historians have recorded events of the past, either in writing or by passing on an oral tradition, and have attempted to answer historical questions through the study of written documents and oral accounts. For the beginning, historians have also used such sources as monuments, inscriptions, and pictures. In general, the sources of historical knowledge can be separated into three categories: what is written, what is said, and what is physically preserved, and historians often consult all three. But writing is the marker that separates history from what comes before.
Archaeology is a discipline that is especially helpful in dealing with buried sites and objects, which, once unearthed, contribute to the study of history. But archaeology rarely stands alone. It uses narrative sources to complement its discoveries. However, archaeology is constituted by a range of methodologies and approaches which are independent from history; that is to say, archaeology does not "fill the gaps" within textual sources. Indeed, Historical Archaeology is a specific branch of archaeology, often contrasting its conclusions against those of contemporary textual sources. For example, Mark Leone, the excavator and interpreter of historical Annapolis, Maryland, USA has sought to understand the contradiction between textual documents and the material record, demonstrating the possession of slaves and the inequalities of wealth apparent via the study of the total historical environment, despite the ideology of "liberty" inherent in written documents at this time.
There are varieties of ways in which history can be organized, including chronologically, culturally, territorially, and thematically. These divisions are not mutually exclusive, and significant overlaps are often present, as in "The International Women's Movement in an Age of Transition, 1830–1975." It is possible for historians to concern themselves with both the very specific and the very general, although the modern trend has been toward specialization. The area called Big History resists this specialization, and searches for universal patterns or trends. History has often been studied with some practical or theoretical aim, but also may be studied out of simple intellectual curiosity.
|↑ before Homo (Pliocene)|
|Three-age system prehistory|
The history of the world is the memory of the past experience of Homo sapiens sapiens around the world, as that experience has been preserved, largely in written records. By "prehistory", historians mean the recovery of knowledge of the past in an area where no written records exist, or where the writing of a culture is not understood. By studying painting, drawings, carvings, and other artifacts, some information can be recovered even in the absence of a written record. Since the 20th century, the study of prehistory is considered essential to avoid history's implicit exclusion of certain civilizations, such as those of Sub-Saharan Africa and pre-Columbian America. Historians in the West have been criticized for focusing disproportionately on the Western world. In 1961, British historian E. H. Carr wrote:
The line of demarcation between prehistoric and historical times is crossed when people cease to live only in the present, and become consciously interested both in their past and in their future. History begins with the handing down of tradition; and tradition means the carrying of the habits and lessons of the past into the future. Records of the past begin to be kept for the benefit of future generations.
This definition includes within the scope of history the strong interests of peoples, such as Australian Aboriginals and New Zealand Māori in the past, and the oral records maintained and transmitted to succeeding generations, even before their contact with European civilization.
Historiography has a number of related meanings. Firstly, it can refer to how history has been produced: the story of the development of methodology and practices (for example, the move from short-term biographical narrative towards long-term thematic analysis). Secondly, it can refer to what has been produced: a specific body of historical writing (for example, "medieval historiography during the 1960s" means "Works of medieval history written during the 1960s"). Thirdly, it may refer to why history is produced: the Philosophy of history. As a meta-level analysis of descriptions of the past, this third conception can relate to the first two in that the analysis usually focuses on the narratives, interpretations, worldview, use of evidence, or method of presentation of other historians. Professional historians also debate the question of whether history can be taught as a single coherent narrative or a series of competing narratives.
History's philosophical questions
Philosophy of history is a branch of philosophy concerning the eventual significance, if any, of human history. Furthermore, it speculates as to a possible teleological end to its development—that is, it asks if there is a design, purpose, directive principle, or finality in the processes of human history. Philosophy of history should not be confused with historiography, which is the study of history as an academic discipline, and thus concerns its methods and practices, and its development as a discipline over time. Nor should philosophy of history be confused with the history of philosophy, which is the study of the development of philosophical ideas through time.
Historical method basics
The following questions are used by historians in modern work.
Herodotus of Halicarnassus (484 BC – ca.425 BC) has generally been acclaimed as the "father of history". However, his contemporary Thucydides (ca. 460 BC – ca. 400 BC) is credited with having first approached history with a well-developed historical method in his work the History of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides, unlike Herodotus, regarded history as being the product of the choices and actions of human beings, and looked at cause and effect, rather than as the result of divine intervention. In his historical method, Thucydides emphasized chronology, a neutral point of view, and that the human world was the result of the actions of human beings. Greek historians also viewed history as cyclical, with events regularly recurring.
There were historical traditions and sophisticated use of historical method in ancient and medieval China. The groundwork for professional historiography in East Asia was established by the Han Dynasty court historian known as Sima Qian (145–90 BC), author of the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian). For the quality of his timeless written work, Sima Qian is posthumously known as the Father of Chinese Historiography. Chinese historians of subsequent dynastic periods in China used his Shiji as the official format for historical texts, as well as for biographical literature.
Saint Augustine was influential in Christian and Western thought at the beginning of the medieval period. Through the Medieval and Renaissance periods, history was often studied through a sacred or religious perspective. Around 1800, German philosopher and historian Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel brought philosophy and a more secular approach in historical study.
In the preface to his book, the Muqaddimah (1377), the Arab historian and early sociologist, Ibn Khaldun, warned of seven mistakes that he thought that historians regularly committed. In this criticism, he approached the past as strange and in need of interpretation. The originality of Ibn Khaldun was to claim that the cultural difference of another age must govern the evaluation of relevant historical material, to distinguish the principles according to which it might be possible to attempt the evaluation, and lastly, to feel the need for experience, in addition to rational principles, in order to assess a culture of the past. Ibn Khaldun often criticized "idle superstition and uncritical acceptance of historical data." As a result, he introduced a scientific method to the study of history, and he often referred to it as his "new science". His historical method also laid the groundwork for the observation of the role of state, communication, propaganda and systematic bias in history, and he is thus considered to be the "father of historiography" or the "father of the philosophy of history".
In the West historians developed modern methods of historiography in the 17th and 18th centuries, especially in France and Germany. The 19th-century historian with greatest influence on methods was Leopold von Ranke in Germany.
In the 20th century, academic historians focused less on epic nationalistic narratives, which often tended to glorify the nation or individuals, to more objective and complex analyses of social and intellectual forces. A major trend of historical methodology in the 20th century was a tendency to treat history more as a social science rather than as an art, which traditionally had been the case. Some of the leading advocates of history as a social science were a diverse collection of scholars which included Fernand Braudel, E. H. Carr, Fritz Fischer, Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Hans-Ulrich Wehler, Bruce Trigger, Marc Bloch, Karl Dietrich Bracher, Peter Gay, Robert Fogel, Lucien Febvre and Lawrence Stone. Many of the advocates of history as a social science were or are noted for their multi-disciplinary approach. Braudel combined history with geography, Bracher history with political science, Fogel history with economics, Gay history with psychology, Trigger history with archaeology while Wehler, Bloch, Fischer, Stone, Febvre and Le Roy Ladurie have in varying and differing ways amalgamated history with sociology, geography, anthropology, and economics. More recently, the field of digital history has begun to address ways of using computer technology to pose new questions to historical data and generate digital scholarship.
In opposition to the claims of history as a social science, historians such as Hugh Trevor-Roper, John Lukacs, Donald Creighton, Gertrude Himmelfarb and Gerhard Ritter argued that the key to the historians' work was the power of the imagination, and hence contended that history should be understood as an art. French historians associated with the Annales School introduced quantitative history, using raw data to track the lives of typical individuals, and were prominent in the establishment of cultural history (cf. histoire des mentalités). Intellectual historians such as Herbert Butterfield, Ernst Nolte and George Mosse have argued for the significance of ideas in history. American historians, motivated by the civil rights era, focused on formerly overlooked ethnic, racial, and socio-economic groups. Another genre of social history to emerge in the post-WWII era was Alltagsgeschichte (History of Everyday Life). Scholars such as Martin Broszat, Ian Kershaw and Detlev Peukert sought to examine what everyday life was like for ordinary people in 20th-century Germany, especially in the Nazi period.
Marxist historians such as Eric Hobsbawm, E. P. Thompson, Rodney Hilton, Georges Lefebvre, Eugene D. Genovese, Isaac Deutscher, C. L. R. James, Timothy Mason, Herbert Aptheker, Arno J. Mayer and Christopher Hill have sought to validate Karl Marx's theories by analyzing history from a Marxist perspective. In response to the Marxist interpretation of history, historians such as François Furet, Richard Pipes, J. C. D. Clark, Roland Mousnier, Henry Ashby Turner and Robert Conquest have offered anti-Marxist interpretations of history. Feminist historians such as Joan Wallach Scott, Claudia Koonz, Natalie Zemon Davis, Sheila Rowbotham, Gisela Bock, Gerda Lerner, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, and Lynn Hunt have argued for the importance of studying the experience of women in the past. In recent years, postmodernists have challenged the validity and need for the study of history on the basis that all history is based on the personal interpretation of sources. In his 1997 book In Defence of History, Richard J. Evans, a professor of modern history at Cambridge University, defended the worth of history. Another defence of history from post-modernist criticism was the Australian historian Keith Windschuttle's 1994 book, The Killing of History.
Professional and amateur historians discover, collect, organize, and present information about past events. In lists of historians, historians can be grouped by order of the historical period in which they were writing, which is not necessarily the same as the period in which they specialized. Chroniclers and annalists, though they are not historians in the true sense, are also frequently included.
Historical study often focuses on events and developments that occur in particular blocks of time. Historians give these periods of time names in order to allow "organising ideas and classificatory generalisations" to be used by historians. The names given to a period can vary with geographical location, as can the dates of the start and end of a particular period. Centuries and decades are commonly used periods and the time they represent depends on the dating system used. Most periods are constructed retrospectively and so reflect value judgments made about the past. The way periods are constructed and the names given to them can affect the way they are viewed and studied.
Particular geographical locations can form the basis of historical study, for example, continents, countries and cities. Understanding why historic events took place is important. To do this, historians often turn to geography. Weather patterns, the water supply, and the landscape of a place all affect the lives of the people who live there. For example, to explain why the ancient Egyptians developed a successful civilization, studying the geography of Egypt is essential. Egyptian civilization was built on the banks of the Nile River, which flooded each year, depositing soil on its banks. The rich soil could help farmers grow enough crops to feed the people in the cities. That meant everyone did not have to farm, so some people could perform other jobs that helped develop the civilization.
World history is the study of major civilizations over the last 3000 years or so. It has led to highly controversial interpretations by Oswald Spengler and Arnold J. Toynbee, among others. World history is especially important as a teaching field. It has increasingly entered the university curriculum in the U.S., in many cases replacing courses in Western Civilization, that had a focus on Europe and the U.S. World history adds extensive new material on Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Military history concerns warfare, strategies, battles, weapons, and the psychology of combat. The "new military history" since the 1970s has been concerned with soldiers more than generals, with psychology more than tactics, and with the broader impact of warfare on society and culture.
The history of religion has been a main theme for both secular and religious historians for centuries, and continues to be taught in seminaries and academe. Leading journals include Church History, Catholic Historical Review, and History of Religions. Topics range widely from political and cultural and artistic dimensions, to theology and liturgy. Every major country is covered, and most smaller ones as well.
Social history, sometimes called the new social history, is the field that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies and institutions for coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments. In two decades from 1975 to 1995, the proportion of professors of history in American universities identifying with social history rose from 31% to 41%, while the proportion of political historians fell from 40% to 30%. In the history departments of British universities in 2007, of the 5723 faculty members, 1644 (29%) identified themselves with social history while political history came next with 1425 (25%). The "old" social history before the 1960s was a hodgepodge of topics without a central theme, and it often included political movements, like Populism, that were "social" in the sense of being outside the elite system. Social history was contrasted with political history, intellectual history and the history of great men. English historian G. M. Trevelyan saw it as the bridging point between economic and political history, reflecting that, "Without social history, economic history is barren and political history unintelligible." While the field has often been viewed negatively as history with the politics left out, it has also been defended as "history with the people put back in."
The chief subfields of social history include:
Cultural history replaced social history as the dominant form in the 1980s and 1990s. It typically combines the approaches of anthropology and history to look at language, popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past knowledge, customs, and arts of a group of people. How peoples constructed their memory of the past is a major topic.
Diplomatic history, sometimes referred to as "Rankian History" in honor of Leopold von Ranke, focuses on politics, politicians and other high rulers and views them as being the driving force of continuity and change in history. This type of political history is the study of the conduct of international relations between states or across state boundaries over time. This is the most common form of history and is often the classical and popular belief of what history should be.
Although economic history has been well established since the late 19th century, in recent years academic studies have shifted more and more toward economics departments and away from traditional history departments.
Environmental history is a new field that emerged in the 1980s to look at the history of the environment, especially in the long run, and the impact of human activities upon it.
World history is primarily a teaching field, rather than a research field. It gained popularity in the United States, Japan and other countries after the 1980s with the realization that students need a broader exposure to the world as globalization proceeds.
The World History Association publishes the Journal of World History every quarter since 1990. The H-World discussion list serves as a network of communication among practitioners of world history, with discussions among scholars, announcements, syllabi, bibliographies and book reviews.
A people's history is a type of historical work which attempts to account for historical events from the perspective of common people. A people's history is the history of the world that is the story of mass movements and of the outsiders. Individuals or groups not included in the past in other type of writing about history are the primary focus, which includes the disenfranchised, the oppressed, the poor, the nonconformists, and the otherwise forgotten people. This history also usually focuses on events occurring in the fullness of time, or when an overwhelming wave of smaller events cause certain developments to occur.
Historiometry is a historical study of human progress or individual personal characteristics, by using statistics to analyze references to eminent persons, their statements, behavior and discoveries in relatively neutral texts.
Gender history is a sub-field of History and Gender studies, which looks at the past from the perspective of gender. It is in many ways, an outgrowth of women's history. Despite its relatively short life, Gender History (and its forerunner Women's History) has had a rather significant effect on the general study of history. Since the 1960s, when the initially small field first achieved a measure of acceptance, it has gone through a number of different phases, each with its own challenges and outcomes. Although some of the changes to the study of history have been quite obvious, such as increased numbers of books on famous women or simply the admission of greater numbers of women into the historical profession, other influences are more subtle.
Public history is a term that describes the broad range of activities undertaken by people with some training in the discipline of history who are generally working outside of specialized academic settings. Public history practice has quite deep roots in the areas of historic preservation, archival science, oral history, museum curatorship, and other related fields. The term itself began to be used in the U.S. and Canada in the late 1970s, and the field has become increasingly professionalized since that time. Some of the most common settings for public history are museums, historic homes and historic sites, parks, battlefields, archives, film and television companies, and all levels of government.
Pseudohistory is a term applied to texts which purport to be historical in nature but which depart from standard historiographical conventions in a way which undermines their conclusions. Closely related to deceptive historical revisionsm, works which draw controversial conclusions from new, speculative, or disputed historical evidence, particularly in the fields of national, political, military, and religious affairs, are often rejected as pseudohistory.
From the origins of national school systems in the 19th century, the teaching of history to promote national sentiment has been a high priority. In the United States after World War I, a strong movement emerged at the university level to teach courses in Western Civilization, so as to give students a common heritage with Europe. In the U.S. after 1980 attention increasingly moved toward teaching world history or requiring students to take courses in non-western cultures, to prepare students for life in a globalized economy.
At the university level, historians debate the question of whether history belongs more to social science or to the humanities. Many view the field from both perspectives.
The teaching of history in French schools was influenced by the Nouvelle histoire as disseminated after the 1960s by Cahiers pédagogiques and Enseignement and other journals for teachers. Also influential was the Institut national de recherche et de documentation pédagogique, (INRDP). Joseph Leif, the Inspector-general of teacher training, said pupils children should learn about historians’ approaches as well as facts and dates. Louis François, Dean of the History/Geography group in the Inspectorate of National Education advised that teachers should provide historic documents and promote "active methods" which would give pupils "the immense happiness of discovery." Proponents said it was a reaction against the memorization of names and dates that characterized teaching and left the students bored. Traditionalists protested loudly it was a postmodern innovation that threatened to leave the youth ignorant of French patriotism and national identity.
In most countries history textbook are tools to foster nationalism and patriotism, and give students the official line about national enemies.
In many countries history textbooks are sponsored by the national government and are written to put the national heritage in the most favorable light. For example, in Japan, mention of the Nanking Massacre has been removed from textbooks and the entire World War II is given cursory treatment. Other countries have complained. It was standard policy in communist countries to present only a rigid Marxist historiography.
In 21st-century Germany, the history curriculum is controlled by the 16 states, and is characterized not by superpatriotism but rather by an "almost pacifistic and deliberately unpatriotic undertone" and reflects "principles formulated by international organizations such as UNESCO or the Council of Europe, thus oriented towards human rights, democracy and peace." The result is that "German textbooks usually downplay national pride and ambitions and aim to develop an understanding of citizenship centred on democracy, progress, human rights, peace, tolerance and Europeanness."
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Table of Contents |Previous |Next
Or how to enjoy some of the great literature of the world, and learn Composition skills, without buying more textbooks!
To learn strategies to facilitate our understanding of
What follows is a mere overview, an attempt to consolidate terminology and a general approach which will allow us all to work better together, with a common vocabulary and understanding. This handout should be supplemented with, at minimum, the study of Chapter 37 in LITERATURE: AN INTRODUCTION TO FICTION, POETRY, AND DRAMA (LIT), "Writing about Literature" (1393). All parenthetical page references that follow are to LIT (Second Compact Edition).
If you are using Kennedy & Gioia's anthology, LITERATURE: AN INTRODUCTION TO FICTION,POETRY, AND DRAMA (LIT), the normal EWRT 1B text, look up the terms in the index in the back of the book. Also scan the table of Contents in the front of the text. You will note that there is an entire section in the back of this text called "Writing" (LIT 1391-1499). It is worth the price of the text by itself.
All literature may be better appreciated from the title of the late John Ciardi's great critical work, HOW DOES A POEM MEAN? If we analyze a poem, a short story, a novel, or a play or movie from the perspective of its component parts, we can "put it back together againî with a better understanding of HOW it works. Not only will you understand the work better, you will be able to more clearly articulate your own evaluation of the effectiveness of the work and the techniques that underly the effectiveness.
We shall examine how THEMES (175) are developed by an author 's using
THEMES are major ideas that are contained WITHIN a work.
(You'll find an index of major themes on page 1511.) Themes are
different from MEANING--which is your PERSONAL RESPONSE to the
Typically, we shall examine POETRY from the three-headed vision of IMAGERY, SOUND, and STRUCTURE. But we supplement this by asking the questions 1. "Who is the speaker?" which carries implications about CHARACTER andPOINT OF VIEW and 2. "What is the occasion?" which carries implications about SETTING and CHARACTER. SOUND is typically of greater import in poetry than prose, and may contribute to themes. The British poet, Henry Reed, has written a poem, "Naming of Parts," which is ideal for examining how contrasts in each of the three elements, IMAGERY, SOUND, and STRUCTURE, contributes to the author's THEME.
THEMES (175) are those major ideas that the author is concerned about. A partial list of recurring THEMES includes GOOD vs. EVIL; APPEARANCE vs. REALITY; The INDIVIDUAL and his/her relationship to GOD, NATURE, COMMUNITY (or STATE as a special case of community), SELF, &/or FAMILY; MATURITY; GUILT; RESPONSIBILITY; IDENTITY, and others. Themes that are specific to the novel LOVE MEDICINE include alcoholism, the Ojibwa culture vs. the Roman Catholic (or White) culture, Life on the reservation vs. city Life, child and spousal abuse, & Vietnam. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "Young Goodman Brown (see 10.4.1, below)," and Oliver Stone's movie, PLATOON (see 10.2.8, below), the authors both treat the themes of a maturing protagonist, and Appearance vs. Reality. Stories with recurring themes and plots (Here, young man goes into the woods/jungle and confronts the forces of evil), are called METASTORIES. Note the similarities of plot and theme between Disney's THE LION KING and Shakespeare's HAMLET--they are virtually the same story.
PLOT or STRUCTURE (9) refers to the order of events in a work. In addition to the chronology, the causation, may be very important. A great story, like a great life, usually has a beginning, a middle, and an end. INTRODUCTION, COMPLICATION (The interacting of characters and events), CLIMAX, FALLING ACTION OR DENOUEMENT, and RESOLUTION are terms that we often use in analyzing PLOT or STRUCTURE. A Shakespearean play normally has five acts, with the Introduction occuring in Act 1, the Rising Action or Complication in Acts 2 and 3, followed by the climax in Act 4, and the Falling Action and resolution occuring in Act 5. Most stories are told in linear, chronological fashion, from the perspective of one narrator. But LOVE MEDICINE, like Faulkner's AS I LAY DYING, is an episodic novel--or a book of episodes, which, seemingly has little plot.
SETTING (92) is the context of the work. Where does it take place? What is the weather? What is the time of day or night, or the time frame? What props or other items are introduced? The stick of the old man (Devil?) in "Young Goodman Brown" is a good example of the latter, or the sewing needle that keeps going through the ear of Tang Ao in Maxine Hong Kinston's "On Discovery." A poem set in the Maine woods (Edwin Arlington Robinson's "New England") brings different assumptions than the tale of the Trung Sisters set in Viet Nam.
IMAGERY (or DICTION) (588) are the word pictures or language used in the work. IMAGERY is particularly critical in poetry. The TONE of the language in a novel or short story is normally important. In Albert Camus' THE STRANGER, the imagery in the latter part of the novel is that of incarceration; the tone is that of a detached, indifferent protagonist. Word choice, or Diction, also influeneces the Tone of a work. The language in PULP FICTION is different in tone from that of Truman Capote's great story about a boy, his kite, and an older woman who befriended him, "A Christmas Memory." Images may be images of sight, smell, touch, or hearing. Images may be metaphors (Nguyen is a deer.) or similes, comparisons using the terms "like" or "as." (Nguyen is like a deer.) See LIT, 610 for a detailed explanation of metaphors and similes.
CHARACTER & CHARACTERIZATION (60). Characters are the
people (or animals) in the story or poem. We can think of them as
the MAIN character or PROTAGONIST, MAJOR CHARACTERS, or MINOR
CHARACTERS. In Flaubert's MADAME BOVARY, Emma is the PROTAGONIST,
Emma and Charles and Homais are the MAJOR CHARACTERS, and
Hippolyte is a minor character. Think, however about the THEME
developed by Hippolyte's operation. CHARACTERIZATION refers to HOW
characters are developed.
Characters may be further categorized as major or minor, flat or round, or foils, characters who exist in order to tell or show us things about another character. (see 10.4.9 Forrest Gump, below).
POINT OF VIEW (20) refers to WHO is telling the story (or who is the speaker in poetry). Point of View is generally FIRST PERSON, in which a character tells the story, or THIRD PERSON in which an outsider tells the story. The THIRD PERSON may be omniscient, knowing everything, including character's minds, and able to move to the past or present, or future. The third person may or may not be objective, or his omniscience might be limited to one character. The answer to the question of who is (are) the narrator(s) in John Crowe Ransom's poem "Bells for John Whiteside's Daughter,î is critical to the development of the author's THEME, and your understanding.
By looking at the parts and pieces of a literary work we are
able to put them back together into a whole with a far greater
appreciation for the THEMES of the work itself. This will heighten
our understanding and therefore the MEANING of the work to our own
To effectively write about literature we may ARGUE how an element contributes to a THEME, or we might do a CLOSE READING of a representational passage. As always in effective writing, we want to think small and RESTRICT. A detailed analysis of a minor character is preferable to a surface analysis of a major character.
In 'Mr. Green' Butler develops the theme of a woman's self-discovery through the use of a plot that illustrates the inner conflicts she feels because of her traditional Vietnamese upbringing. The structure of the story unfolds throughout the life of the protagonist from a child living in Vietnam to middle adulthood living in America. The story is told in first person through the point of view of the main character. In the setting of a family environment, a female, the protagonist, maintains a close relationship to two antagonists, her grandfather, and a parrot, who symbolizes family and the passage of time. While a child, the female develops conflicts with the harsher aspects of being Vietnamese. Her grandfather is the catalyst for her struggles with religion, gender, and death. In the story, she becomes invalidated for being female when her grandfather tells her that she cannot worship ancestors because she is not male. She also learns that her Catholic religion is less than admired by her grandfather. Her struggles become more complex when she acknowledges her first experience with death. Her grandfather takes her to the market to purchase some sparrows, brings them home, and she learns from her mother how to twist the heads to prepare them for dinner. Eventually, her struggles are further complicated by the experience of her grandfather's illness and death. In adulthood she provides care for Mr. Green, the parrot bequeathed to her from her grandfather. It is while she is caring for this parrot that she comes to realize that her current struggles are due to conflicts from the past; mainly because of her grandfather. I believe the climax of the story is when she realizes that her grandfather, while dead, continues to influence her conflicts through the life of the parrot. The parrot symbolizes the presence of her grandfather and eventually she kills the parrot when the first signs of its impending death are near. By swiftly ending the parrot's suffering, the act symbolizes her deeper self realization and self acceptance.
"Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest, and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch meeting?" (Hawthorne 71) This is a concluding question in the short story "Young Goodman Brown" written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Were the events of the night actual or a dream? Real or not? Brown receives a shocking blow in this story when he becomes aware that people, whom he has revered his entire life, are not what they appeared to be. Appearance can be an unreliable measure. In "Young Goodman Brown," the author uses point of view to help develop the theme of appearance vs. reality. I say this because the author chose a non-omniscient, third person to tell his story. This speculative narrator uses words that contribute to an atmosphere of uncertainty, while he intentionally fosters ambiguity by presenting two interpretations of the same event.
The use of a nonparticipant narrator, who stays with Goodman Brown from beginning to end, provides a reliable witness to the events that take place, while his lack of omniscience adds to the mysterious nature of the story. Although he does not know everything, he can see into Brown's mind and he lets the reader know what this character is thinking and feeling. For example, when Brown decides not to go any further into the forest, the narrator tells us, "The young man sat a few moments, by the roadside applauding himself greatly and thinking with how clear a conscience he should meet the minister..."(Hawthorne 201). Or, at the beginning of the story we are given: " 'Poor little Faith!' thought he, for his heart smote him" (Hawthorne 197). Most information, though, comes to us from conversations and from descriptions of the characters and the events as they unfold. Since Hawhtorne uses the third person the reader gets a more reliable rendering of this trip into the forest than if it was told by the emotionally involved main character. By way of this calm and impartial narrator, the reader actually sees more than Goodman Brown does, as Brown is distracted by his own feelings as things are revealed to him. When the devil throws down his staff at Goody Cloyse's feet "where, perhaps, it assumed life," Brown misses seeing it because he is so astonished by the revelation that Goody Cloyse knows this evil man, he looks away for a moment (Hawthorne 200). The mysterious occurrences are more believable coming from the witness, which makes them even more mysterious. The reader can not dismiss his observations as those of an unbalanced or distraught main character; he is just reporting what he sees, or at least what he thinks he sees. Or is he?
The narrator uses words and asks questions that cause the reader to feel uncertain about what is really happening. Words like "might," "appeared to," "seemed to," "perhaps," "as if," "fancied," "might almost," and "were such a thing possible," are used to describe events, creating doubt on the part of the reader and a desire to know what is real. When Brown's companion bursts out laughing, the narrator tells us he shook so hard "that his snake-like staff actually seemed to wriggle in sympathy," causing the reader, again, to question whether the staff might actually be a serpent (this was the second time it was mentioned in the story) (Hawthorne 199). He did not say the staff "actually wriggled," which would imply that it did, or "seemed to wriggle," which implies that it just looked like it did, but "actually seemed to wriggle," which falls somewhere closer to saying it did, but not quite. The reader finds himself squinting his eyes trying to see it for himself. The speaker also asks questions that he never gives the answers to. When the devil was about to dip his hands in the baptism bowl, the narrator asks, "Did it contain water reddened by the lurid light, or was it blood? or perchance a liquid flame?" (Hawthorne 205) The reader will never know. And the narrator only gets trickier.
Throughout the story, he teases the readers by presenting two interpretations of the same event. One of the best examples of this is the first description of the staff belonging to the man Goodman Brown met in the forest "which bore the likeness of a great black snake, so curiously wrought, that it might almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself, like a living serpent. This, of course, must have been an ocular deception assisted by the uncertain light" (Hawthorne 198). Is the staff twisting or is it an illusion? Another example is the horses and riders in the woods. Goodman Brown hears the hoof-tramps of horses and can hear the voices of the riders. The sounds appear to be "within a few yards of the hiding place; but owing, doubtless, to the depth of the gloom" the riders and horses can not be seen" (Hawthorne 201). Are they invisible, or is it too gloomy to see them? We simply do not know. When the narrator uses the words "this of course must have been" and "but owing, doubtless," offering pat explanations for these strange circumstances, he actually increases the reader's curiosity and doubt. "These ambiguities he conveys and fortifies by what Yvor Winters has called 'the formula of alternative possibilities,' and F.O. Matthiessen 'the device of multiple choice,' in which are suggested two or more interpretations of a single event....This device of multiple choice, or ambiguity, is the very essence of Hawthorne's tale" (Fogle 16). And he uses the narrator to accomplish this task.
Nathaniel Hawthorne chose a third person, non-omniscient narrator to tell this story. The speaker uses words that cause uncertainty and he teases the readers by offering more than one interpretation of a single event, in order to create ambiguity that is central to the story's theme. In "Young Goodman Brown," the author uses point of view to help develop the theme of appearance vs. reality. We live in a society that thrives on appearances; and yet, it is near impossible to understand and attain insight into the actions and motives of others, good or bad. In the story, the reader never can conclude if anything is real or not. It offers a great example of the consequences of disappointment and disillusionment one risks when judging by appearance.
D, Richard. Peer Editor. Cyber-classmate to the author of this paper. 17 May 2000: 30 minutes
Fogle, Richard Harter. HAWTHORNE'S FICTION: THE LIGHT & DARK. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1952.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." LITERATURE: AN INTRODUCTION TO FICTION POETRY, AND DRAMA. Eds. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 2nd compact ed. New York: Longman, 2000: 196-206.
S, John. Peer Editor. Cyber-classmate to the author of this paper. 18 May 2000: 20 minutes
W, Bill. Peer Editor. Cyber-classmate to the author of this paper. 20 May 2000: 45 minutes
A young man, Chris Taylor, drops out of college and volunteers for Viet Nam. He is white, well-educated, and naive. In the setting of the jungle he meets the contrasting forces of good in Sgt Elias (a Christ figure--note the biblical name, the crucifixion imagery when Elias, played by Willem Dafoe, is killed) and the forces of evil in Sgt Barnes (note the scar, the image of evil on the face of this character played by Tom Berenger.) Initially blamed for a blown ambush in which he is wounded, Chris returns to the unit and his soul is torn between the two camps in the Platoon. After he realizes that Barnes has caused the death of ELias by shooting him and then lying about it, Chris resolves to kill Barnes, but not before the great battle (based on the actual battle of Suoi Cat). After he kills Barnes, who dares him to, Chris leaves the jungle setting on a helicopter, resolving to tell "The World" about the meaning of Viet Nam, namely that we were our own enemy, and defeated each other. I personally believe the climax of the story is not when Tayler kills Barnes, but earlier when he broke up the rape in the village, just after he had been as evil as he ever was in shooting at the feet of the mentally handicapped, one legged boy--that to seem seems the irrevocable turning point. The Point of View is often First Person, with an interior monologue done in voice over. This is virtually the same tale as Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," but with a happier ending. (Not in PLATOON, Chris Taylor eventually became a community college teacher, with his own televised course about Viet Nam.)
Another Oscar-winning Best Picture (PLATOON won in l986), FG has a flat major character, he of the title. The flatness derives from the mental retardation (IQ of 75), nicely set against Jenny, the girl he met going to first grade on the bus. Jenny goes through much character development throughout the movie. Other major characters include Forrest's mother, Bubba, and LT Dan Taylor. The movie covers the American cultural waterfront with an allusion to Herman Melville's MOBY DICK in the scene in which Gary Sinise (LT Taylor) rides out a storm lashed to the mast, and goes from that historical starting point--and the concurrent joke of Forrest's being named for Gen Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Ku Klux Klan, all the way to Viet Nam, and Jenny sadly dying of AIDS. My 84 year-old father-in-law said it was the greatest movie he had ever seen. I concur.
I wonder where FIRE BIRDS comes in--it, like TOP GUN, is heavily based on the metastory in WINGS, the first (1928) Best Picture winner. If Paramount had let us reuse the title. . .
THEMES are developed by an author and are major ideas with
which s/he are concerned. MEANING is the personal significance of
the work to you, given your particular universe. An author might
develop alchoholism as a theme; the meaning of that theme to you
may be colored by your having a friend or relative who is an
Authors develop THEMES using PLOT or STRUCTURE, SETTING, CHARACTER & CHARACTERIZATION techniques, IMAGERY (or tone or diction), and POINT OF VIEW.
You can begin to evaluate poetry by asking the question, "How does a Poem Mean?" IMAGERY, SOUND, and STRUCTURE are the major elements of Poetry, and you should also ask the questions: "Who is the Speaker?' and "What is the Occasion?"
Recurring THEMES are noted above.
The key to effective writing about literature is to think small, and restrict. Write about a minor character, not a major one. Develop one theme, or one element, but do not try too much. Focus is the key.