Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Arts and Humanities

1. A Telephone Call: Anxious Monologue

This story presents an interior monologue, a 'stream of consciousness,' of a nervous, anxious, and desperate woman awaiting a phone call. The narrative style emphasizes her emotional state through repetition, short sentences, and emotionally charged words like 'God.' The lack of descriptions, adjectives, and adverbs contributes to the fast-paced, anxious tone.

2. Special Damage: Rebirth and Symbolism

This story, told by an omniscient narrator, follows Mary's experience after an accident. Despite lacking physical injuries, she experiences a sense of amnesia and rebirth. The narrative utilizes symbolism related to birth, baptism, and purity (e.g., white imagery) to convey this theme. A feeling of strangeness... Continue reading "Analysis of Five Short Stories: Narrative Techniques and Character Development" »

Sculpture

Key Features

• Stone (royal) and wood (private) materials
• Predominantly free-standing or almost in the round
• Frontal view design
• Statism (lack of movement)
• Arms arranged along the body with fists (block statues)
• Expressionless faces, distant gaze (hieratic)
• Idealized, proportionate representation

Painting

Mural Painting

• Mixed technique (cool and tempera)
• Decorated tomb interiors (e.g., Valley of the Kings)
• Iconography: afterlife and real-life scenes
• Mythology, royal life, daily life themes
• Flat, intense colors (preference for warm tones)
• Precise drawing, gridded surfaces
• Combined perspective and profile view
• Juxtaposed figures, sense of physicality
• Lack of three-dimensional perspective
• Scenes structured by logs (bands with rows of characters)

Santa Maria Novella

Leon Battista Alberti, 1456-1470

(Bows and a decorative circular window in the middle)

The facade consists of two spirals that connect the central body with the sides, thus giving proportion and harmony to the work, which is, after all, the main feature of the Renaissance. Using a classical pediment is another element taken from the repertoire offered by antiquity. Alberti reworked this repertoire with great freedom. To achieve a harmonious relationship between the width of the lower body and the much narrower upper body of this facade, the architect designed the two scrolls already mentioned, which had a great impact on sixteenth-century religious architecture.

Note the use of many geometric shapes in the work, such as the... Continue reading "Santa Maria Novella: A Renaissance Facade in Florence" »

Textual Genres

Textual genres encompass various forms of communication, each characterized by distinct features and purposes. These include:

• Description
• Narration
• Explanation
• Reasoning
• Prediction
• Instruction
• Rhetorical talk and text

Informal Record

Colloquial

• Theme: General
• Channel: Oral
• Intentionality: Subjective
• Degree of formality: Low

Formal Records

Standard

• Topic: General
• Channel: Written / Oral
• Intentionality: Objective
• Degree of formality: Medium

Scientific and Technical

• Focus: Specialized
• Channel: Written or oral
• Intentionality: Objective
• Degree of formality: High

Literary

• Topic: General
• Channel: Written
• Intentionality: Subjective
• Degree of formality: High

Literary Analysis of Broken Mirror

Broken Mirror is a novel divided into three parts, narrating the beginning... Continue reading "Textual Genres and Literary Symbolism in Broken Mirror" »

English Affixes

Suffixes

Noun Suffixes (added to nouns)

• -eer: profiteer, lanceer
• -er: teenager
• -ess: hostess, priestess
• -ette: cigarette, kitchenette
• -let: booklet
• -ian: politician, technician
• -ion: companion
• -ist: pianist, guitarist, violinist
• -age: wastage, mileage
• -dom: kingdom
• -ery: slavery
• -hood: adulthood, neighborhood
• -ism: criticism, terrorism
• -ship: friendship, sportsmanship, leadership

Noun Suffixes (added to verbs)

• -ant: assistant, consultant, informant
• -ee: employee, trainee
• -ent: respondent, dependent
• -er: singer, painter, dancer, printer, computer
• -or: conqueror, visitor
• -age: linkage, carriage
• -al: dismissal, survival, proposal
• -ance: attendance, performance
• -ion: protection, conversation, decision
• -ence: existence, persistence, preference
• -ing: building,

Journalism: Definition and Key Concepts

Journalism is the collection and treatment of written, oral, visual, or graphic information in all its forms and varieties. A journalist is a person professionally engaged in a newspaper, an audiovisual medium, a literary work, graphic information, or creating opinion.

Classification of Journalistic Genres

News Genres

In news genres, the journalist tries to express information of general interest or specific to any group of people in an impersonal way, adjusted to reality. The most used forms are the story, the chronicle, and the report.

The News

The news is the main informative subgenre. It is characterized by a complete yet brief presentation of a current fact of interest, carried out with objectivity. The... Continue reading "Journalistic Genres: News, Features, Editorials, and Interviews" »

Baroque Sculpture: Main Characteristics

• Triumph of Realism: The goal was a specific and individualized realism, without sacrificing formal correctness. Depending on trends, it could be natural realism or a more idealized, heroic realism.
• Theatrical and Bombastic Language: Dynamic and expressive, aiming to impress, move, or persuade through emotions and feelings:
  • Interest in expressing feelings and passions in a heightened, theatrical, and dramatic way.
  • Figures in attitudes of great dynamism, projected outward, describing unstable positions.
  • Diagonal compositions prevail. Robes swell and wave.
• Pictorial Conception: Interest in visual values, chiaroscuro effects, pretense of qualities, and merging the figure with the environment through light and the

Understanding Newspaper Articles

Newspaper articles are primarily intended to report on events and issues of interest to the public.

Key Features

Newspaper articles include heterogeneous information, entertainment, and opinion sections.

The medium (newspapers, magazines, radio, and television) shapes the message.

They combine verbal, photographic, and graphic codes.

The language used in newspaper articles serves several functions:

• Representative: Covering current topics.
• Appellate: Presenting opinions.
• Poetic: Using resources to capture the reader's attention.

Language Resources

Morphosyntactic Level

• Correct use of the imperfect subjunctive.
• Use of the past perfect indicative.
• Abundance of verbal phrases.
• Use of longer words.
• Direct quotations.
• Frequent use

Popular Poetry: Traditional Narrative - The Old Ballads

The romances are short, lyrical, epic compositions arising from the fragmentation of the ancient epics. These romances, whose first manifestations date back to the late fourteenth century, were transmitted orally during the fifteenth century. Throughout the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth century, authors collected and cultured the Songbooks and included them in Romanceros.

In response to the issues addressed, they can be classified into:

• Historic-nationals: They come from the old Castilian epics and exalt their heroes.
• Romantic and lyrical: Created by popular imagination.
• Border and Moors: They tell military episodes that take place on the border between Moorish and

Conjunctions and Conjunctive Phrases:

• Cause: because, since, as.
• Consecutive: therefore, so, thus.
• Conditional: if, on condition that, provided that, in case, only if, while.
• Final: so that, in order that.
• Concessive: although, though, even though, despite, unless.

Theatrical Structure

Theater acts are complete fragments or parts. These are divided into scenes. A character's entrance or exit marks the beginning or end of a scene. Scenes intercross to form a cohesive whole.

Theatrical Text

The theatrical text has two levels:

Text-Negotiated

• Dialogues: Conversations between characters that advance the action.
• Monologues: A character's speech to themselves, revealing intentions and feelings.
• Soliloquy: A monologue with questions the character answers themselves.