Class Seven

Class Seven

What is a short story?
How do we appraoch a short story?

Many of the terms and ideas we learned while talking about how to approach poetry are useful for approaching short stories.

Let's look at: Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”

1) What is this story about?

1
2
3
ect...

2) What are the most important specific details in the story?

1
2
3
ect...

We can better understand this story if we think about Point of View

When we read a short story, we need to be aware that the story is comming to us from a certain point of view. That is, it is being told to us by someone. The more we know about who, or what, this "someone," is the more we will know about the story.

At the end, of Story of An Hour, we know that the point of view of the doctor is incorrect. We know that it is incorrect because we have come to know Mrs. Mallard and her point of view about the death of her husband.

3) How can an understanding of Mrs. Mallard's Point of View help us understand The Story of an Hour?

1
2
3
ect...

4) It is also important to notice the kinds of things we learn about a character as we come to understand his or her point of view. This can tell us a lot not only about the character, but about the story as well.

Who you are, and how life has shaped you, will impact how you read short stories.

4) What are some possible conculusions we can come to about Story of an Hour? How will different kinds of people read this story?

1
2
3
ect...

Let's look at a video of this story:






5) How does this interpretation of the story differ from your own?

1
2
3
ect...

Let's look at John Updike's "A&P"

6) General Reaction:

1
2
3
ect...

Let's begin by noticing that there are a lot of details in this story.
We have details about people, products, and the shopping environment.
But also notice that, even though we have all these details, they all come to us from one point of view.

Who is our point of view? Sammy.

Sammy isn't just reporting things as he sees them.

7) How does Sammy color our view of what is going on in the A&P

1
2
3
ect...


8) How would it be different through someone else's eyes?

1
2
3
ect...

9) What can we tell about Sammy by paying attention to his obervations

1
2
3
ect...

Read For Next Class:

Charlotte Perkins Gilman “The Yellow Wallpaper”

Watch These YouTube Videos For Next Class:

Video 1

Video 2

Listen to these Podcasts For Next Class:

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”