Motif: A unifying element in an artistic work, especially any recurrent image, symbol, theme, character type, subject, or narrative detail. A given motif may be unique to a work or it may appear in numerous works by the same author or different authors.

Source: Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Termspg. 277

Example of a motif that reoccurs in many works.

Cinderella motif

a poor, mistreated, beautiful, kind young girl is rescued by a dashing, kind, rich man.

How many movies, books, etc. can you name with this motif?

Painting Information:Title: Accused of Witchcraft (oil on canvas)Artist: Stephen Arnold Douglas Volk

Famous American artist(1856-1935)

Born in Pittsfield, Ma.

Established his reputation by painting romanticized historical subjects depicting life in Colonial America

Died at his retreat in Fryeburg, Maine, in 1935

Very intrigued with the historical events of the Salem Witch Trials which he did many paintings over

Look closely for a motif in the painting on the next slide.

Analyze the placement of hands in the painting.What does each person’s placement of their hands symbolize? We'll come back to this when we have read The Crucible.

·What is the difference between a motif and a symbol?·A symbol is a concrete object used to represent an abstract idea, and a motif is a symbol that is REPEATED in a work of literature, found on multiple occasions in the same work.

Motifs in Gatsby

geography color symbolism

Geography: Throughout the novel The Great Gatsby, places and settings epitomize the various aspects of the 1920's American society that Fitzgerald depicts.

Literally East Egg and West Egg are as alike as eggs from a proper perspective of analysis of wealth; however, they are superficially very dissimilar.

East Egg represents the old aristocracy.

Why the East?

Think historically...settlers, colonies

Who lives in East Egg?

The East Eggers have the inherited wealth and lack the "vulgarity" but they have been corrupted by the purposelessness and ease their money has provided them.

West Egg represents the newly rich.

Why West?

Who lives in West Egg?

Home of those who have amassed huge fortunes but lack the traditions associated with inherited wealth and are therefore "vulgar".

Both kinds of wealth result in similar human deficiencies, though manifested (originated) differently.

The Valley of Ashes represents the moral and social decay of America in the 1920's.

Who lived in the Valley of Ashes?

New York City represents the uninhibited, amoral quest for money and pleasure.

Who travels to the city?

On what occasions?

Drifters:Tom, Daisy, Jordan and especially Gatsby all lack such established traditions or have broken them by permanently moving east, and their consequent lack of a firm moral basis is symbolized by the way they drift aimlessly from place to place.

Midwest:Who is from the Midwest?

When Nick moves east, attracted by the false values of wealth and sophistication, his own moral sense is held in abeyance, and when his responsibility finally asserts itself he goes back to the Midwest, symbolically returning to a world of moral order based on personal tradition.

Long Island: East Egg to ManhattanThe Great Gatsby pg. 206Analysis information from paperback copy of Cliff's notes

Color Symbolism

WhiteYellow/GoldGreen

Homework: Chart