Nineteenth Century Literature Survivor:
Outwit...Outplay...Outlast
By Alice Bryson, Amy Stern, Anna Mazzariello, Jillian Davis

(Click on title to view powerpoint presentation)


1. QUEEQUEG (Moby Dick)

Speaker: Alice

Quote: ÒThere was excellent blood in his veins--royal stuff; though sadly vitiated, I fear, by the cannibal propensity he nourished in his untutored youth.Ó

Reason voted off: tried to eat fellow survivors after realizing there was a limited food supply

 

2. ELIZA (Uncle Tom's Cabin)

Speaker: Jill

Quote: "One soul was worth more than the world; and this boy has a soul, and if I let him be carried off, who knows what'll become of it?"

Reason voted off: spent all her time talking about her son

 

3. MISS WATSON (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

Speaker: Anna

Quote: "Take your hands away, Huckleberry; what a mess you are always making!"

Reason voted off: tried to ÔsivilizeÕ the island; caused erosion by sweeping away sand

 

4. PETER QUINT (Turn of the Screw)

Speaker: Alice

Quote: ÒQuint was much too free.Ó

ÒToo free with my boy?Ó

ÒToo free with everyone.Ó

Reason voted off: spent a little too much time trying to talk to Tom, Pearl, and Huck

 

5. SIMON LEGREE (Uncle Tom's Cabin)

Speaker: Jill

Quote: "Now, mind yourself," he said, with a stamp and a fierce glance of his gray eye, directed at Tom, "I'm your church now!  You understand,--you've got to be as I say."

Reason voted off: tried to enslave Jim

 

6. REV. ARTHUR DIMMESDALE (The Scarlet Letter)

Speaker: Amy

Quote: "...I must stand up on my pulpit, and meet so many eyes turned upward to my face, as if the light of heaven were beaming from it!- must see my flock hungry for the truth, and listening to my words as if a tongue of Pentecost were speaking!- and then look inward, and discern the black reality of what they idolize"

Reason voted off: by keeping a secret from the rest of his tribe he cost them an immunity challenge

 

7. TOM SAWYER (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

Speaker: Anna

Quote: "Oh, certainly. It's best. Some authorities think different, but mostly it's considered best to kill them Ðexcept some that you bring to the cave here, and keep them till they're ransomed"

Reason voted off: attempted to perform tasks with completely non-productive actions learned from adventure novels

 

8. ROGER CHILLINGWORTH (The Scarlet Letter)

Speaker: Amy

Quote: "He had begun an investigation, as he imagined, with the severe and equal integrity of a judge, desirous only of truth, even as if the question involved no more than the air-drawn lines and figures of a geometrical problem, instead of human passions, and wrongs inflicted on himself. But, as he proceeded, a terrible fascination, a kind of fierce, though still calm, necessity seized the old man within his gripe, and never set him free again, until he had done all its bidding."

Reason voted off: wasnÕt a team player

 

9. STARBUCK (Moby Dick)

Speaker: Alice

Quote: ÒFor, thought Starbuck, I am here in this critical ocean to kill whales for my living, and not to be killed by them for theirs..Ó

Reason voted off: started his own coffee chain while still in competition

 

10. THE GOVERNESS (Turn of the Screw)

Speaker: Alice

Quote: ÒI caught him, yes, I held him--it may be imagined with what a passion...Ó

Reason voted off: hallucinating; tried to perform an exorcism on Pearl

 

11. JIM (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

Speaker: Anna

Quote: "Then Jim manned the oars [again!], and we took out after our raft"

Reason voted off: always wanted to pilot the raft

 

12. PEARL (The Scarlet Letter)

Speaker: Amy

Quote: "...Hester could not help questioning... whether Pearl was a human child. She seemed rather an airy sprite, which, after playing its fantastic sports for a little while upon the cottage floor, would flit away with a mocking smile... An imp of evil, emblem and product of sin, she had no right among christened infants."

Reason voted off: was simply useless, and kind of a demon child

 

 

 

The Final Four

 

HESTER (The Scarlet Letter)

Speaker: Alice

Quote: ÒSuch helpfulness was found in her- so much power to do and power to sympathize- that many people refused to interpret the scarlet ÔAÕ by itÕs original signification.  They said that it meant ÔAbleÕ; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a womenÕs strength.Ó

Speech: This survivor was always around to help out, and proved to be a real team player. Even pretty self-sacrificing at times. When it came down to the wire, she wasnÕt stuck with conventional rules.... or morality, either. SheÕs got enough sass not to hide when sheÕs been defeated, but to keep trying.

 

CASSY (Uncle Tom's Cabin)

Speaker: Jill

Quote: "Cassy perceived that her shaft had struck home; and, from that hour, with the most exquisite address, she never ceased to continue the train of influences she had begun."

Speech: This fiery vixen proved more than once to be a fierce leader, refusing to be cowed by the other tribe or members of her own.  She consistently thwarted Simon LeGree's efforts to intimidate her and her tribe mates, and thwarted his attempts at sabotage.  Her deep understanding of her own power allowed her to play off the other tribe's insecurities, and combined with a sharp tongue and a mile wide stubborn streak, it makes her a viable candidate for the title of 19th Century Survivor.

 

HUCK (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)

Speaker: Anna

Quote: YOU don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly.

Speech: In the words of this survivor himself: "IÕm also real smartÑafter I faked my own death, Jim said Tom Sawyer couldn't get up no better plan; IÕm quick but NOT sivilizedÉ accordinÕ to Miss Watson and Aunt SallyÑwhoÕs going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before."

 

MOBY DICK (Moby Dick)

Speaker: Amy

Quote: "Corkscrew!" cried Ahab, "aye, Queequeg, the harpoons lie all twisted and wrenched in him; aye, Daggoo, his spout is a big one, like a whole shock of wheat, and white as a pile of our Nantucket wool after the great annual sheep-shearing; aye, Tashtego, and he fan-tails like a split jib in a squall.  Death and devils! men, it is Moby Dick ye have seen--Moby Dick--Moby Dick!... it was Moby Dick that dismasted me; Moby Dick that brought me to this dead stump I stand on now.  Aye, aye... it was that accursed white whale that razeed me; made a poor pegging lubber of me for ever and a day!"

Speech: This survivor faced nearly impossible odds to make the final four. The only contestant from a different species, the Whale was able to not just survive on (well, around) the island, but flourish. Through cunning, deceit, and a few well-timed swipes of his tail, Moby Dick has been able to eliminate anyone in his path, and clearly, he is the most worthy contender for the ultimate 19th Century American Literature Survivor.