Literature Flashcards
(25 cards)
Who wrote Old Tom’s Cabin?
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Was is Uncle Tom’s Cabin about?
Depicts brutality of slavery and clash between Christian faith and slavery. Ending in Tom’s martyrdom inspiring others to renounce slavery.
How many copies of Uncle Tom’s Cabin were sold in the first year?
approx. 300,000
When was Uncle Tom’s Cabin published?
1852
What did Lincoln say about Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Harriet Beecher Stowe?
‘A book of power’
‘Is this the little woman who started this great war?’
What was the impact of the Christianity in Uncle Tom’s Cabin?
Society at the time was very religious so this provoked many people to reconsider their viewpoints on slavery.
Who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird?
Harper Lee
When was To Kill a Mockingbird written?
1960
Statistics over the popularity of to kill a mockingbird.
Translated into 40 languages and sold over 40 million copies worldwide.
1961 won a Pulitzer prize.
What is to kill a mockingbird about?
Set in Alabama during the Great Depression.
Through the eyes of children they watch as their father Atticus Finch defends a black man, Tom Robinson against raping a white woman.
What is the power of Harper Lee telling To kill a mockingbird through a child’s perspective?
Without preconceptions. Haven’t been tainted by societies opinions.
What was the impact of to kill a mockingbird?
Became a moral compass for the reader, challenges the reader to look into themselves and determine if they would hold the same moral convictions.
Demonstrates how fear and ignorance can corrupt communities.
Who wrote Gone With the Wind?
Margaret Mitchell
When was Gone with the Wind written?
1936
What is Gone with the Wind about?
A romantic story set during the civil war from the perspective of the confederates. Follows the journey of Scarlett O’Hara. Explores social class, gender roles, love, redemption and resilience.
What was the impact of Gone with the Wind?
Sold over 1 million copies in the first six months of its success. Won Pulitzer Prize in 1937 and has been translated into over 40 languages.
What stereotype was explored in Gone with the Wind?
Mammy Trope.
Mammy is supposed to be wise and her judgments are supposed to be true; however, she protects the strict social, and racial power of the South.
Who wrote The Help?
Kathryn Stockett
When was The Help written?
2009
Summarise The Help.
Black maids working in Southern Mississippi in white homes in 1960. Skeeter returns to her family’s plantation to find her maid and nanny is gone but no one will tell her why.
What is the impact of The Help?
sparking important conversations about racism, classism, and the power of female friendships
Criticism of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Black characters were too simplified and stereotypical.
Constructed racial epithet ‘Uncle Tom’ which is still an insult today.
Some critics thought Uncle Tom was too saintly to be real and his story was an extreme and unrealistic depiction.
Criticism of To Kill a Mockingbird.
The novel’s tendency to sermonise and the narrative voice unconvincing.
Faulting climax as melodramatic.
Inclusion of racial epithets and depiction of hypocrisy in religion led to occasional short-term censorship.
Criticism of Gone with the Wind.
Accused of whitewashing slavery and romanticising treatment of black people.
