Sophomore Review

1. Sophomore Review

2. West Side Story • Irving Shulman • 1950s • West Side, NYC • Characters—Sharks • Maria, Puerto Rican ingenue; Bernardo's sister • Anita, saucy friend of Maria and girlfriend of • Bernardo, Maria's brother, leader of the Sharks • Chino, Maria's hot-tempered suitor, Bernardo's best friend. Kills Tony.

3. Characters—Jets and Adults • Riff, quick-tempered but zany leader of the Jets • Tony, former joint-leader of the Jets, gone straight. Riff's best friend. • Baby John, the youngest Jet, who is beaten up during the opening sequence. A-Rab's best friend • Anybodys, a tagalong tomboy, eventually accepted into the gang after Riff's death • Officer Krupke, an aggressive but inept cop • Doc, a weary old candy store owner • Glad Hand, the inept chaperone at the dance • Detective Schrank, a racist police lieutenant

4. Conflict • Man vs. Man—Jets vs. Sharks • Man vs. Society—teenagers vs. police • Internal Conflict—Tony • Man vs. Man—Anita vs. Jets

5. Theme • Violence will only end in more violence. The Jets and Sharks continue to increase the violence in their lives and in the end it leads with them both losing important members of their families.

6. Tuesdays with Morrie • Mitch Albom • Novel • 1997, Detroit/Massachusetts • Newspaper sports columnist Mitch Albom recounts the time spent with his 78-year-old sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, at Brandeis University, who was dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

7. Conflict • Internal—Mitch dealing with fear of death, emptiness in his life, Morrie preparing for death

8. Theme • It’s important to live life to the fullest and not waste time being afraid.

9. A View from the Bridge • Arthur Miller • Play • The play is set in 1950s America, in an Italian American neighborhood near the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

10. Characters • Eddie Carbone -  A Longshoreman. Eddie lives with his wife, Beatrice and orphaned niece, Catherine, in Red Hook Brooklyn. Eddie is an inarticulate character and is powerless in the face of his tragic fate. He harbors a secret lust for his niece Catherine which causes his eventually destruction. • Catherine -  The niece of Eddie Carbone and Beatrice. Catherine is a beautiful, smart, young Italian girl who is very popular among the boys in the community. Catherine seeks approval from her uncle and struggles when Eddie does not approve of Rodolpho, the man she intends to marry. • Beatrice -  The wife of Eddie Carbone and aunt of Catherine. Beatrice has raised Catherine from the time she was very young and acts Catherine's mother. Beatrice is a warm and caring woman, more reasonable than Eddie.

11. Characters • Marco -  The cousin of Beatrice. Marco comes to the U.S. to work and make money to send back to his wife and children in Italy. Marco is a hard working Italian man who is a powerful, sympathetic leader. • Rodolpho -  Beatrice's young, blonde cousin from Italy. Rodolpho prefers singing jazz to working on the ships. To Eddie and the other Longshoremen, Rodolpho seems effeminate because he also cooks, sews and loves to dance. Rodolpho desires to be an American and have all the privileges of Western society including wealth and fame. • Alfieri -  An Italian-American lawyer. Alfieri is the narrator of the story. He speaks directly to the audience and attempts to make clear the greater social and moral implications of the story.

12. Conflict • Internal—Eddie’s feelings for Catherine • Catherine’s inability to separate from Eddie • Man vs. Man—Eddie vs. Rudolpho • Man vs. Man—Eddie vs. Beatrice • Man vs. Society—The community vs. Eddie

13. Theme • Loss of emotional control will ruin you.

14. The Notebook • Nicolas Sparks • Novel • 1940s—North Carolina • Characters • Noah Calhoun • Allie Hamilton • Lon Hammond

15. Conflict • Man vs. Man—different social classes, disease • Internal conflict—making the right choice of life partner • Theme • Love can conquer anything, even human frailty.

16. A Raisin in the Sun • Lorraine Hansberry • Play • 1950s, Chicago

17. Characters • Walter Lee Younger -  The protagonist of the play. Walter is a dreamer. He wants to be rich and devises plans to acquire wealth with his friends, particularly Willy Harris. When the play opens, he wants to invest his father’s insurance money in a new liquor store venture. He spends the rest of the play endlessly preoccupied with discovering a quick solution to his family’s various problems. • Beneatha Younger (“Bennie”) -  Mama’s daughter and Walter’s sister. Beneatha is an intellectual. Twenty years old, she attends college and is better educated than the rest of the Younger family. Some of her personal beliefs and views have distanced her from conservative Mama. She dreams of being a doctor and struggles to determine her identity as a well-educated black woman. • Lena Younger (“Mama”) -  Walter and Beneatha’s mother. The matriarch of the family, Mama is religious, moral, and maternal. She wants to use her husband’s insurance money as a down payment on a house with a backyard to fulfill her dream for her family to move up in the world.

18. Characters • Ruth Younger -  Walter’s wife and Travis’s mother. Ruth takes care of the Youngers’ small apartment. Her marriage to Walter has problems, but she hopes to rekindle their love. She is about thirty, but her weariness makes her seem older. Constantly fighting poverty and domestic troubles, she continues to be an emotionally strong woman. Her almost pessimistic pragmatism helps her to survive. • Travis Younger -  Walter and Ruth’s sheltered young son. Travis earns some money by carrying grocery bags and likes to play outside with other neighborhood children, but he has no bedroom and sleeps on the living-room sofa. • Joseph Asagai -  A Nigerian student in love with Beneatha. Asagai, as he is often called, is very proud of his African heritage, and Beneatha hopes to learn about her African heritage from him. He eventually proposes marriage to Beneatha and hopes she will return to Nigeria with him.

19. Characters • George Murchison -  A wealthy, African-American man who courts Beneatha. The Youngers approve of George, but Beneatha dislikes his willingness to submit to white culture and forget his African heritage. He challenges the thoughts and feelings of other black people through his arrogance and flair for intellectual competition. • Mr. Karl Lindner -  The only white character in the play. Mr. Lindner arrives at the Youngers’ apartment from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association. He offers the Youngers a deal to reconsider moving into his (all-white) neighborhood. • Bobo -  One of Walter’s partners in the liquor store plan. Bobo appears to be as mentally slow as his name indicates. • Willy Harris -  A friend of Walter and coordinator of the liquor store plan. Willy never appears onstage, which helps keep the focus of the story on the dynamics of the Younger family.

20. Conflict • Man vs. Man—Walter vs. Ruth, vs. Lena • Internal conflict—Walter, Ruth, Beneatha • Man vs. Society—Segregation and Racism effect every aspect of their life

21. Theme • Dreams will wilt if they are not fostered with hard work and hope.

22. Taming of the Shrew • William Shakespeare • Play

23. Characters • Katherine -  The “shrew” of the play’s title, Katherine, or Kate, is the daughter of BaptistaMinola, with whom she lives in Padua. She is sharp-tongued, quick-tempered, and prone to violence, particularly against anyone who tries to marry her. Her hostility toward suitors particularly distresses her father. But her anger and rudeness disguise her deep-seated sense of insecurity and her jealousy toward her sister, Bianca. She does not resist her suitor Petruchio forever, though, and she eventually subjugates herself to him, despite her previous repudiation of marriage • Petruchio -  Petruchio is a gentleman from Verona. Loud, boisterous, eccentric, quick-witted, and frequently drunk, he has come to Padua “to wive and thrive.” He wishes for nothing more than a woman with an enormous dowry, and he finds Kate to be the perfect fit. Disregarding everyone who warns him of her shrewishness, he eventually succeeds not only in wooing Katherine, but in silencing her tongue and temper with his own. • Bianca -  The younger daughter of Baptista. The lovely Bianca proves herself the opposite of her sister, Kate, at the beginning of the play: she is soft-spoken, sweet, and unassuming. Thus, she operates as Kate’s principal female foil. Because of her large dowry and her mild behavior, several men vie for her hand. Baptista, however, will not let her marry until Kate is wed.

24. Characters • Lucentio -  A young student from Pisa, the good-natured and intrepid Lucentio comes to Padua to study at the city’s renowned university, but he is immediately sidetracked when he falls in love with Bianca at first sight. By disguising himself as a classics instructor named Cambio, he convinces Gremio to offer him to Baptista as a tutor for Bianca. He wins her love, but his impersonation gets him into trouble when his father, Vincentio, visits Padua. • Tranio -  Lucentio’s servant. Tranio accompanies Lucentio from Pisa. Wry and comical, he plays an important part in his master’s charade—he assumes Lucentio’s identity and bargains with Baptista for Bianca’s hand. • Baptista -  MinolaBaptista is one of the wealthiest men in Padua, and his daughters become the prey of many suitors due to the substantial dowries he can offer. He is good-natured, if a bit superficial. His absentmindedness increases when Kate shows her obstinate nature. Thus, at the opening of the play, he is already desperate to find her a suitor, having decided that she must marry before Bianca does.

25. Characters • Gremio and Hortensio -  Two gentlemen of Padua. Gremio and Hortensio are Bianca’s suitors at the beginning of the play. Though they are rivals, these older men also become friends during their mutual frustration with and rejection by Bianca. Hortensio directs Petruchio to Kate and then dresses up as a music instructor to court Bianca. He and Gremio are both thwarted in their efforts by Lucentio. Hortensio ends up marrying a widow. • Grumio -  Petruchio’s servant and the fool of the play—a source of much comic relief. • Biondello -  Lucentio’s second servant, who assists his master and Tranio in carrying out their plot. • Christopher Sly -  The principal character in the play’s brief Induction, Sly is a drunken tinker, tricked by a mischievous nobleman into thinking that he is really a lord.

26. Conflict • Man vs. Man—Katherine vs. Petruchio • Man vs. Society—Women’s roles

27. Julius Caesar • William Shakespeare • Play

28. Characters • Brutus -  A supporter of the republic who believes strongly in a government guided by the votes of senators. While Brutus loves Caesar as a friend, he opposes the ascension of any single man to the position of dictator, and he fears that Caesar aspires to such power. Brutus’s inflexible sense of honor makes it easy for Caesar’s enemies to manipulate him into believing that Caesar must die in order to preserve the republic. While the other conspirators act out of envy and rivalry, only Brutus truly believes that Caesar’s death will benefit Rome. Unlike Caesar, Brutus is able to separate completely his public life from his private life; by giving priority to matters of state, he epitomizes Roman virtue. Torn between his loyalty to Caesar and his allegiance to the state, Brutus becomes the tragic hero of the play. • Julius Caesar -  A great Roman general and senator, recently returned to Rome in triumph after a successful military campaign. While his good friend Brutus worries that Caesar may aspire to dictatorship over the Roman republic, Caesar seems to show no such inclination, declining the crown several times. Yet while Caesar may not be unduly power-hungry, he does possess his share of flaws. He is unable to separate his public life from his private life, and, seduced by the populace’s increasing idealization and idolization of his image, he ignores ill omens and threats against his life, believing himself as eternal as the North Star.

29. Characters • Antony -  A friend of Caesar. Antony claims allegiance to Brutus and the conspirators after Caesar’s death in order to save his own life. Later, however, when speaking a funeral oration over Caesar’s body, he spectacularly persuades the audience to withdraw its support of Brutus and instead condemn him as a traitor. With tears on his cheeks and Caesar’s will in his hand, Antony engages masterful rhetoric to stir the crowd to revolt against the conspirators. Antony’s desire to exclude Lepidus from the power that Antony and Octavius intend to share hints at his own ambitious nature. • Cassius -  A talented general and longtime acquaintance of Caesar. Cassius dislikes the fact that Caesar has become godlike in the eyes of the Romans. He slyly leads Brutus to believe that Caesar has become too powerful and must die, finally converting Brutus to his cause by sending him forged letters claiming that the Roman people support the death of Caesar. Impulsive and unscrupulous, Cassius harbors no illusions about the way the political world works. A shrewd opportunist, he proves successful but lacks integrity.

30. Characters • Octavius -  Caesar’s adopted son and appointed successor. Octavius, who had been traveling abroad, returns after Caesar’s death; he then joins with Antony and sets off to fight Cassius and Brutus. Antony tries to control Octavius’s movements, but Octavius follows his adopted father’s example and emerges as the authoritative figure, paving the way for his eventual seizure of the reins of Roman government. • Casca -  A public figure opposed to Caesar’s rise to power. Casca relates to Cassius and Brutus how Antony offered the crown to Caesar three times and how each time Caesar declined it. He believes, however, that Caesar is the consummate actor, lulling the populace into believing that he has no personal ambition.

31. Characters • Calpurnia -  Caesar’s wife. Calpurnia invests great authority in omens and portents. She warns Caesar against going to the Senate on the Ides of March, since she has had terrible nightmares and heard reports of many bad omens. Nevertheless, Caesar’s ambition ultimately causes him to disregard her advice. • Portia -  Brutus’s wife; the daughter of a noble Roman who took sides against Caesar. Portia, accustomed to being Brutus’s confidante, is upset to find him so reluctant to speak his mind when she finds him troubled. Brutus later hears that Portia has killed herself out of grief that Antony and Octavius have become so powerful. • Flavius -  A tribune (an official elected by the people to protect their rights). Flavius condemns the plebeians for their fickleness in cheering Caesar, when once they cheered for Caesar’s enemy Pompey. Flavius is punished along with Murellus for removing the decorations from Caesar’s statues during Caesar’s triumphal parade. • Cicero -  A Roman senator renowned for his oratorical skill. Cicero speaks at Caesar’s triumphal parade. He later dies at the order of Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus.

32. Conflict • Man vs. Man—Julius Caesar vs. the Conspirators, Mark Antony vs the conspirators • Internal conflict—Brutus • Theme • Fate vs. Free Will

33. Antigone • Euripides • Play, Greek Tragedy • Antigone is a daughter of the unwittingly incestuous marriage between King Oedipus of Thebes and his mother Jocasta. She is the subject of a popular story in which she attempts to secure a respectable burial for her brother Polynices, even though he is seen as a traitor to Thebes and the law forbids even mourning for him, punishable by death.

34. Characters • Antigone -  The play's tragic heroine. In the first moments of the play, Antigone is opposed to her radiant sister Ismene. Unlike her beautiful and docile sister, Antigone is sallow, withdrawn, and recalcitrant. • Creon -  Antigone's uncle. Creon is powerfully built, but a weary and wrinkled man suffering the burdens of rule. A practical man, he firmly distances himself from the tragic aspirations of Oedipus and his line. As he tells Antigone, his only interest is in political and social order. Creon is bound to ideas of good sense, simplicity, and the banal happiness of everyday life. • Ismene -  Blonde, full-figured, and radiantly beautiful, the laughing, talkative Ismene is the good girl of the family. She is reasonable and understands her place, bowing to Creon's edict and attempting to dissuade Antigone from her act of rebellion. As in Sophocles' play, she is Antigone's foil. Ultimately she will recant and beg Antigone to allow her to join her in death. Though Antigone refuses, Ismene's conversion indicates how her resistance is contagious.

35. Characters • Haemon -  Antigone's young fiancé and son to Creon. Haemon appears twice in the play. In the first, he is rejected by Antigone; in the second, he begs his father for Antigone's life. Creon's refusal ruins his exalted view of his father. He too refuses the happiness that Creon offers him and follows Antigone to a tragic demise. • Chorus -  Anouilh reduces the Chorus, who appears as narrator and commentator. The Chorus frames the play with a prologue and epilogue, introducing the action and characters under the sign of fatality. In presenting the tragedy, the Chorus instructs the audience on proper spectatorship, reappearing at the tragedy's pivotal moments to comment on the action or the nature of tragedy itself. Along with playing narrator, the Chorus also attempts to intercede throughout the play, whether on the behalf of the Theban people or the horrified spectators.