SAT Literature Examples
1) Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare:
[pic]
The classic love story – betrayals, broken friendships, family rivalries, and resistance to authority build up to shocking tragedy.
Themes:
• Revenge: Think of all the revenge killings, e.g. Mercutio. • Disobeying vs. following authority: Both Romeo and Juliet defy parental authority. • Love, friendship, loyalty: This one’s pretty self-explanatory… these forces can consume us, redeem us, cause us to do things we wouldn’t otherwise do. Romeo abandons his old friends to be with his lover. • Individual vs. society: Romeo and Juliet again, engaging in socially-forbidden love. • Fate vs. deciding your own path: Is the lovers’ destiny already written, or could they have changed it?
2) The Odyssey by Homer:
[pic] One of the earliest epic stories that humanity has recorded – an series of amazing adventures by a daring hero, stranded with his fighting men, far from home, away from his wife and son.
Themes:
• Duty vs. temptation: Odysseus and his men constantly indulge in minor distractions instead of continuing on their journey – e.g. eating the lotus fruit, or Odysseus strapping himself to the mast of his ship because he’s so curious about the song of the sirens. • Faithfulness and trust: Odysseus’s wife, who is trying to wait for him to return; the men on the voyage and their loyalty to each other and their leader. • Strength vs. cunning: The hero continually outwits his stronger enemies, such as the cyclops, and slays all of his wife’s rowdy suitors by disguising himself. Likewise, his wife Penelope delays her suitors by claiming to weave a burial shroud that she never intends to finish).
3) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley:
[pic]
Science-fiction fantasy clashes with human individuality as a “perfect” society slowly crushes anyone who decides they’d rather not take the feel-good pills.
Themes:
• Technology: Mainly used
[pic]
The classic love story – betrayals, broken friendships, family rivalries, and resistance to authority build up to shocking tragedy.
Themes:
• Revenge: Think of all the revenge killings, e.g. Mercutio. • Disobeying vs. following authority: Both Romeo and Juliet defy parental authority. • Love, friendship, loyalty: This one’s pretty self-explanatory… these forces can consume us, redeem us, cause us to do things we wouldn’t otherwise do. Romeo abandons his old friends to be with his lover. • Individual vs. society: Romeo and Juliet again, engaging in socially-forbidden love. • Fate vs. deciding your own path: Is the lovers’ destiny already written, or could they have changed it?
2) The Odyssey by Homer:
[pic] One of the earliest epic stories that humanity has recorded – an series of amazing adventures by a daring hero, stranded with his fighting men, far from home, away from his wife and son.
Themes:
• Duty vs. temptation: Odysseus and his men constantly indulge in minor distractions instead of continuing on their journey – e.g. eating the lotus fruit, or Odysseus strapping himself to the mast of his ship because he’s so curious about the song of the sirens. • Faithfulness and trust: Odysseus’s wife, who is trying to wait for him to return; the men on the voyage and their loyalty to each other and their leader. • Strength vs. cunning: The hero continually outwits his stronger enemies, such as the cyclops, and slays all of his wife’s rowdy suitors by disguising himself. Likewise, his wife Penelope delays her suitors by claiming to weave a burial shroud that she never intends to finish).
3) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley:
[pic]
Science-fiction fantasy clashes with human individuality as a “perfect” society slowly crushes anyone who decides they’d rather not take the feel-good pills.
Themes:
• Technology: Mainly used