Crash Course AP Literature

parties who seem to want him dead.

Tags: satire, loss of religious faith, power of bureaucracy, symbolism

Light in August by
William Faulkner,
published 1932

Genre: novel

Setting: 1920s in Jefferson, Mississippi and surrounding area

Main characters: Joe Christmas, Gail Hightower, Lena Grove, Byron Bunch

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: Joe Christmas is an adopted orphan who ends up

killing his overly stern father. Years later, he is punished for his crime, but in

the time intervening, he struggles for self-acceptance and to find his place in the

world.

Tags: flashback, alienation, burdens of the past, sense of self

Portrait of the
Artist as a Young
Man by James
Joyce, published
1916

Genre: novel, autobiographical novel

Setting: 1882-1903, Dublin, Ireland

Main character: Stephen Dedalus

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: Stephen struggles with whether he should be loyal to

his family, the church, and to Ireland, or to pursue his dream of being an artist.

Tags: Irish independence, the church, self determination

Ceremony by
Leslie Marmon
Silko, published
1977

Genre: novel, with poetry (Native American)

Setting: primarily Laguna Reservation in the Southwest of the United States in

the years following World War II; time is circular, events are remembered and

foreshadowed

Main characters: Tayo, whites, and Emo

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: After recovering in a veteran’s hospital, Tayo

returns to his reservation. He must find a way to cure his mental wounds as

well as to bring rain back to his people.

Tags: non-linear structure, tradition, clash of cultures

Their Eyes Were
Watching God by
Zora Neale
Hurston, published
1937

Genre: novel (coming of age, spiritual journey)

Setting: Florida, 1920s or 30s

Main characters: Janie, Pheoby, Joe Starks, Tea Cake

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: From poor plantation beginnings, Janie’s quest to be