Final Exam Study Guide IDENTIFY MOVEMENTS ALONG FREYTAG S PYRAMID How are we introduced to the characters setting situation etc First who are the characters Where are they What rising conflicts and tensions present themselves What is the climax of the story How does the story unravel after the climax How does the story resolve Or does it even resolve COMMENT ON THE WRITER STYLE How would you describe the level of diction Is the writing sharp and precise or overly excessive flowery didactic Linear non linear stream of conscious DISCUSS THE UNDERLYING THEMES OF THE STORY What s the theme Is it overt Is there more than one Does the mood of the story influence the theme How What are some key images or details that have special significane 1 Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Jr 1961 a The year is 2081 and because of amendments 211 212 and 213 every American is equal One April 14 year old Harrison was taken away from his parents Hazel and George and was sent to prison Hazel has average intelligence so she isn t able to think for long periods of time and because George is so intelligent the government forces him to wear a radio transmitter 24 7 that sends a noise to interrupt his thoughts One night they are watching Ballerinas dance on TV They are wearing masks to counteract their beauty and weights to weight them down The TV announcer has a speech impediment and after he is unable to read off the bulletin he has a Ballerina read The bulletin says that Harrison has escaped from prison A photo of Harrison appears on the screen He is 7ft tall and wearing 300 pounds of metal to counteract his strength huge earphones and big glasses to blind him and give him headaches to counteract his intelligence and a rubber nose black caps over his teeth and his eyebrows are shaved off to counteract his good looks The photo on the screen is replaced with an image of Harrison himself who has stormed the studio He declares himself emperor and everyone must obey which he then rips off all his handicaps He says the first woman brave enough to stand up will be his empress and a ballerina rises so he removes her handicaps and mask revealing a beautiful woman He orders the musicians to play saying he will make them royalty if they do their best Him and his empress dance and they kiss the ceiling Diana Moon Glampers comes in and kills Harrison and the empress with a shotgun George who left the room to get a beer returns and asks why Hazel had been crying She says something happened on TV but she can t remember what He tells her not to remember sad things and a noise goes off in his head and Hazel says it sounded like a doozy He says she can say that again and she repeats that it sounded like a doozy b Freytag s pyramid i Rising conflicts Tensions When we find out Harrison has escaped from prison and he comes to the studio ii Climax When Harrison breaks out of his handicaps iii Unravel after climax Harrison claims himself emperor and the ballerina his empress He forces the musicians to play their best and when he isn t satisfied he conducts waving a couple musicians in the air and they do better Then Harrison and his empress dance iv Resolution The handicapper general Diana Moon Glampers comes in and shoots Harrison and his empress with a shot gun and then threatens the musicians to put their handicaps back on Hazel just watched her son get shot and she doesn t remember why she is sad and George urges her not to remember sad things i Danger of total equality To reach total equality the government tortures its citizens The beautiful must wear hideous masks or disfigure themselves the intelligent have a radio in their ear that sends noises every 20 seconds to impede their ability to think and the graceful strong must wear weights around their neck Instead of trying to bring everyone up they try to bring everyone down to the same level Equality is striping Americans of their freedom and individual achievement The government officials also do not wear handicaps and that is not equality c Themes 2 Powder by Tobias Wolff 1992 a The dad wants to take his son on a ski trip but the Mom is reluctant because last time he took his son out he brought him to a nightclub The dad and the son are about to leave when it starts to snow and the dad wants to go down the slope one more time They went down more then once and once they got back to the car and try to go home the road is blocked off No matter what the dad says the state trooper is not letting him through The dad takes his son back to the diner and makes a phone call The son thinks he called his mom but he doesn t say anything when he sits back down Soon after the state trooper drives by and the dad gets up and rushes his son to get in the car He drives up to the barricade and tells his son to move it Reluctantly the son gets out and moves it and then gets back in the car The son knows that if his dad doesn t get him back in time for dinner the family will officially fall apart For a while the son is very cautious and concerned The son s strongest point as the dad mentions is that the son always thinks ahead He keeps clothes on numbered hangers to ensure proper rotation got homework due dates ahead of time so he could draw up schedules and he knew that on the other side of the roadblock that there would be more police He didn t know that his dad would plead his way past them and get him home in time for dinner b Freytag s pyramid i Rising conflicts Tensions When the state trooper won t let the dad go past the roadblock ii Climax When the dad drives back to the roadblock after the dad made a phone call to lure the state trooper away from the roadblock and the son moves the barricade iii Unravel after climax The drive down this road that is supposed to be blocked off iv Resolution The dad gets his son home in time for dinner and bought some time before his mom decided to make the split final c Themes i Father son relationship When we are first introduced to the father and the son we realize the son lives with his mom so they already have a rocky relationship The father takes him to nightclubs and isn t very responsible while the son is The ordinary role of father and son is reversed Toward the end we see a bigger connection between the father and the son and realize the father really is doing his best 3 The Sun the Moon and …