Crash Course AP Literature

her own person teaches her about love and life’s joys and sorrows.

Tags: dialect, self determination, quest, race and racism, feminism

As I Lay Dying by
William Faulkner,
published 1930

Genre: novel

Setting: fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, 1920s

Main characters: Darl Bundren (Addie’s son) and Anse Bundren (Addie’s

husband); 15 different characters tell the story in the first person

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: The Bundren family sets out on a somewhat heroic

journey to bury their mother. A series of setbacks and obstacles mar their

journey.

Tags: black humor, satire, flashback

Candide by
Voltaire, French,
published 1759

Genre: novel, adventure, satire

Setting: 1750s, various real and fictional locations in Europe and South

America

Main characters: Candide (whose adventures and experiences are related by a

third person narrator)

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: Candide and Pangloss’s optimism is challenged by

numerous disasters; Candide is expelled from his home for kissing Cunégonde;

he wanders the world attempting to preserve his life and reunite with his

beloved.

Tags: Satire, irony, corrupting power of money, political oppression

Othello by William
Shakespeare,
published 1622

Genre: play, tragedy

Setting: Venice

Main characters: Othello, Desdemona, Iago, Roderigo

Main Plot/Idea/Concept: Despite their differences in age, race, and

experience, Othello and Desdemona marry and attempt to build a life together.

The envious Iago attempts to sabotage their marriage by convincing Othello that

Desdemona has been unfaithful.

Tags: seeing and blindness, revenge, race

Genre: novel

Setting: 1931-1963, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Virginia