Short Prose |
Plot & Structure (Perrine Handout: Plot & Structure)
- A&P by John Updike: "The title refers to the supermarket chain (formerly called The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company) that was predominant in America at the time this story was written. [The 1950's, when Sammy would have been forming his ideas, were the] "Eisenhower years" [and were] characterized by social conformity, consumerism, and the Cold War (it's to the last of these that Sammy alludes when he parodies the name of the supermarket with his prediction that in 1990 it will be "the Great Alexandrov and Petrooshki Tea Company" when Soviet-style total conformity will have taken over). Social conformity is central to the conflict, represented in various ways even before Sammy makes his rebellious gesture." View the questions for discussion.
Point of View (Perrine Handout: Point of View)
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Characterization (Perrine Handout: Characterization)
- Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates: View our class discussion handout for WYGWYB. (You may read the online pdf linked from the title, or you may read the story from page 469 of your text and take notes on paper. Read deliberately and annotate the story. Read to answer this question: How does Oates use literary devices to foreshadow the end of the story? Consider such devices as use of detail, point of view, imagery, metaphor, symbol, and character.)
Theme (Perrine Handout: Theme)
- A Worn Path by Eudora Welty (After reading the story, read the essay "Is Phoenix Jackson's Grandson Really Dead?" by Eudora Welty. Be prepared to discuss both the short story and the essay.)
- The Chaser by John Collier: PDF File (disregard the questions at the end of this pdf file)
- The Chaser by John Collier: mp3 audio verison from The Twilight Zone podcast series (approx. 11 min.)
Symbol, Allegory, and Fantasy (Perrine Handout: Symbol, Allegory, Fantasy)
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Humor and Irony (Perrine Handout: Humor and Irony)
- The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
- Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor: According to one critic, the title is a significant allusion to Teilhard de Chardin, "whose study of the biological processes of evolution convinced him that evolution itself is a continuing movement of various species into higher and higher forms of consciousness. Ultimately, these combine with or converge upon one another, in preparation for the final fusion of all being with supernatural consciousness at the 'omega point.'" This critic goes on to say that O'Connor dramatizes convergences "in various areas: racial, social, and spiritual." How does “Everything That Rises Must Converge” use irony of situation? Dramatic irony? Verbal irony? What functions do these ironies serve? After reading and discussing irony the story, read this essay.
- Prince of Tides: Coffin-shopping with Tolitha by Pat Conroy: We will read this excerpt in class. I do not have an electronic copy.
- Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl
- The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry
- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber: In James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," how does humor contribute to meaning? If we strip the humor away, what are we left with?
Short Story Project
Group 1: The Cask of Amontillado or The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe
Group 2: The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Group 3: A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
Group 4: A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor (PDF copy of HTML site)
Group 5: Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Group 2: The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
Group 3: A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
Group 4: A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor (PDF copy of HTML site)
Group 5: Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Point of View: The story we hear depends on who is telling it.
Character: So, who is telling the story? What is he/she like?
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