“Stories for Further Reading”
Instructions
Choose one story from Chapter 18 of your book entitled “Stories for Further Reading” on pages 499-541.
When you have chosen a story, write a profile of it that analyzes the plot, one of the characters, the setting, and the point of view from which the story is told. Your profile should consist of 5 distinct parts (see below). Below each part I have listed some questions that relate to each part of the profile.
NOTE: You do NOT have to answer all the questions under each item. They are there to help get you started and to give you guidance.
- Write one paragraph analyzing the structure of the plot of the story.
- Why do the events occur in the order that they do?
- What would you identify as the primary conflict n the story, and how does the author present it?
- What would you identify as the climax of the story?
- Does the author build suspense or tension as he or she leads the reader toward the climax? How? Note: Please do not summarize the plot in your paragraph.
- Write one paragraph one paragraph that contains a sketch of one of the characters.
- Does the author use the “showing” or “telling” method of characterization?
- Is the character you have chosen a “dynamic” character or a ” static” character? Why do you think so?
- Does the author want you to identify with the character? How do you know?
- Write one paragraph analyzing the importance of the setting.
- Is the setting used symbolically? Are the time, place, or atmosphere related to the theme?
- Is the setting important in shaping your response to the story as a reader? • If it were changed, would your response to the story’ s action and meaning be significantly different?
- Write one paragraph analyzing the importance of the point of view in which the story is told.
- How does the narrator’s first- or third- person point of view contribute to how you experience the story?
- If the story were written in a different point of view, how would it change?
- Is the narrator reliable or objective, or would you consider him or her to be an unreliable narrator? Why?
- Write a paragraph describing the theme, style/tone, or a symbol in the story you chose.
- What is the symbol, theme, or style/tone of the story?
- How does the author establish the theme, style, tone or symbol in the story?
- What dose it add to the story? How is the meaning of the story expanded or expressed through the theme, symbol, style or tone of the story?
- Write one paragraph tying all these things together to explain how they all contribute to the overall meaning of the story.
Your analyses should draw from what you have read in our text about each topic.
Each paragraph should be 8-10 sentences long. Your analysis should be as specific and concrete as possible. You can include quotations in your profile, but they should not overshadow your own thoughts.
