Early American Fiction

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• Middelbare school
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• Leerjaar 5

Early American Literature

Road map

Edgar Allan Poe - The Black Cat (1843) 

• context
• literary aspects (genre)
• language 
• opinion

Lesson goals

At the end of this lesson you can

• give a brief description of the context of Edgar Allan Poe's life 
• outline the major events of his life
  
• describe the characteristics of a short story
• summarise the plot line of The Black Cat
• describe at least two characteristics of the story 
• analyse their effect on the reader
• give your well-founded opinion of the work

Context USA 1800-1850

Context America
1800-1850

Context: the period of Westward Expansion

• large-scale migration to land west of the Appalachian mountains
• in search of landownership, freedom, and a better life
• at the cost of the native American population (Trail of Tears 1832-1836)

Context: a lot of 'Firsts'

• First passenger railroad started (1828)
• First bank robbery in American history (1831)
• P.T. Barnum begins his first circus tour (1835)
• First female doctor is granted her degree, Elizabeth Blackwell (1849)

Context: discoveries with consequences

• Invention of a.o. the typewriter (1829), the Colt revolver (1836)
  
• Discovery of gold in California (1848)

His life in short

• born in 1809, Boston
• parents died before he was 3 years old
• raised by the Allan family in Richmond (Virginia)
• educated in Great Britain between 1815-1820
• University of Virginia (1825) but had to quit after one year

Edgar Allan Poe bio

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/edgar-allan-poe

His life in short

• short stint in the military but dishonourably discharged
• worked as a writer, editior, and literary critic   
• In 1836, at 27,  he married his 13-year old cousin Virginia
• In 1845 the poem 'The Raven' was published. This gained him recognition and success as an author
• 1847 saw the death of his wife of TB
• In 1849 Poe himself dies under mysterious circumstances

Literary aspects

Short story:

'a relatively short work of prose fiction, approx. 500 to 10,000 words, that, according to Edgar Allan Poe, can be read in a single sitting of two hours or less'. 

The short story works to create a single effect. 

(The Norton Introduction to Literature, 2013)

Literary aspects

Structure

1. Introduction 

2. Rising action - often there is some kind of conflict

3. Climax 

4. Falling action - attempts are made to work things out

5. Denouement  

The Black Cat

1. Highlight words you do not know
2. Pay attention to the person of the narrator:

• can you trust him? why? why not?
• how does your image of him change throughout the story?
• see if you can trace the story's structure

Literary aspects - structure

1. Introduction : narrator's initial situation

2. Rising action : narrator's drink problem and its effects

3. Climax : Fire!

4. Falling action: another cat with consequences

5. Denouement: all's well than ends well .... NOT!

Elaborate study guide

https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/black-cat-poe

The Black Cat

16 November 2021:

Finish the story and answer the questions to The Black Cat