Writing About Short Stories

Here is the essay topic we worked on today and yesterday:

For one of the short stories you already read, write a brief (about 350 words) response to the following prompt:
How is the story you chose an effective short story?
First, define what makes a “good” short story.
Then, explain how the story you chose meets those criteria.
Make sure you quote the text in order to support your argument.
Do not forget to mention the title and author of the story.

Creative Response to Short Stories

Come up with a creative response to one of the stories you have already read.

You might do something such as:

Write an alternate ending to the story.

Create found poems out of source text from the story.

Write a screenplay version of a scene.

Two Short Story Exercises involving choice

1.

Select a short story from one of the books on the cart at the front of the room.
Make sure you pick a story that seems interesting.
Read it.
Take note of the title and author.
Write a brief summary of the action.
Did you like it?  Why or why not?

2.  

Select a new story.

Make a traditional plot diagram (Freytag’s pyramid) in order to make a visual representation of the story.

How does the story adhere to or differ from an “ideal” plot?  If it does not have a traditional plot, is it still a story, or is it something else?

Edgar Allen Poe: "Ligeia"

Here are the questions for "Ligeia." 

Please read the story.
Define any words you do not know. The most obscure words have footnotes, but you might need to use a dictionary for others.
What is the conflict in the story?
What is the purpose of the poem on page five? How does it connect thematically to the story as a whole?
What do you think about the mental state of the narrator? Is he reliable? Why or why not? Show through evidence.
What is the meaning of the ending of the story? In a literal sense, what is happening? Is anything symbolic happening? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.
Why does the narrator love Ligeia?
How does the narrator feel about Rowena?
George Bernard Shaw said, “The story of the Lady Ligeia is not merely one of the wonders of literature: it is unparalleled and unapproached.” Why? What makes the story so unique? What makes it great?

"The Fly"

Today we read "The Fly," by Arthur Porges. 

There are several explanations for the “fly” in this story. 
Provide two different explanations for what the fly is.  For each one, write down several (3-5) quotations from the text that support the explanation

Two short stories

We read the story "The End of Something," by Ernest Hemingway.  Here are the questions:

Express in a sentence or two what the story is about.
What is the purpose of the first paragraph?
What is Bill’s role in the story?
What does the story tell us about Nick and Marjorie’s relationship?
What questions might a reader have about the story?
 What does Hemingway leave out?

We also read "The Jockey," by Carson McCullers.
Here are those questions:

What is the setting?
What is one of the conflicts?
Why is the jockey so angry?
What is left unsaid here by the author and/or the characters?

A Clean Well-Lighted Place

Here are the questions about the story:

Ernest Hemingway said, “I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it underwater for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg. It is the part that doesn’t show.”  What is beneath the surface in this story?

 What is not in the story but essential to understanding it?

 “Why is it important to have a “clean, well-lighted place?” to spend time?  What is the relationship of each character to the “place?”

This story is also grouped with novels and plays such as No Exit, The Stranger, and Waiting for Godot.  Why?  What ideas do they have in common?

Here are the questions about the essay on the story:

What is the writer’s thesis?

What literary devices does he discuss?  How do they affect his understanding of the Hemingway story?

What is unclear about the passage?  Write three questions about it.

Compassion and Sacrifice Essential Questions

Our second marking period theme deals with compassion and sacrifice.  Here are the essential questions.  Remember, so far, we have read "A & P," by John Updike, and "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

1) How can perspective affect the reader's understanding of compassion and/or sacrifice?  
2) What motivates characters/individuals to be (or not to be) compassionate and/or to sacrifice?  
3) When characters/individuals decide to be (or not to be) compassionate and/or to sacrifice, what internal and/or external conflicts might they face?  
4) What are the outcomes of acts of compassion and/or sacrifice?  
5) How are characters/individuals ultimately affected by compassion and/or sacrifice?

Marking Period One Essential Questions

Essential Questions:  Please answer these questions using examples from the stories we read last week. ("The Utterly Perfect Murder," "The Jockey," "The End of Something," "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams," and "Only the Dead Know Brooklyn.")

1) What do we mean by this metaphor, the human heart?

2) Why does a human heart feel conflict?

3) What are the various conflicts the human heart feels?

4) How is the human heart affected by conflict?

5) How is resolution of conflict dealt with?

Please make sure you are finished reading your summer reading book.  We will write about the book on Wednesday.