Unit I: Short Stories

Unit I: Short Stories

Message of the unit:

In life we as individuals need to learn to see things from another perspective. Henry Ford stated, “If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as from your own.”

Objective: By the end of the unit students will be able to

• Analyze and text and mark the text, so that students will understand how to closely read a piece
• Understand and identify the point of view and purpose of the text
• Identify and cite explicit textual evidence
• Make, draw and support inferences using several pieces
• Determine theme and central idea of a piece
• Understand character traits, plot development, and character interactions
• Determine and understand figurative language and denotative and connotative meaning

Common Core Standards:

Reading:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.3
Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

Language:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.5
Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

Writing:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

Speaking and Listening:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1
Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Please include the following in your unit folder:

Short story background /10

Marked text for each short story/60

Soapstone for each short story/60

Handout or activity for each short story/30

Total/160

Short Story – A brief work of fiction

Setting – The setting of a literary work is the time and place of the action. Setting can include the following:

*

*

*

*

*

Example including a variety of settings:

Plot – The sequence of events in a literary work.

Exposition-

Narrative Hook-

Rising Action-

Climax-

Falling Action-

Resolution/Denouement-

Conflict –A problem within the literary work.

Internal-

External-

• Man vs.
• Man vs.
• Man vs.

Point of View – Is the narrator or speaker that tells the story, the narrator determines the point of view, which directs the type of amount of information that the writer reveals.

• Omniscient-
• 1st person-
• 3rd person-
• Limited 3rd person-

Characterization – A person, animal, or personified object that takes part in the action of a literary work.

• Protagonist –
• Antagonist –
• Round –
• Flat –
• Static-
• Dynamic-
• Direct -
• Indirect-

Distinguishing between POV

When is each used and why?

• 1st: Audible speech
• 2nd Commercials and commands
• 3rd Mostly used in fiction

1st person

• Narrator is a character in the work
• Narrating action as he/she perceives it

2nd Person

• “You” POV
• Least used in fiction

3rd Person

• Form of verb used when subject of the sentence isn’t the audience or the one making the statement.

Imagery – Vivid descriptions employing the five senses of objects in literary work

Repetition- Words and phrases are repeated to stress a theme or to provide unity to the work.

Symbolism – The uses of a person, place, or object to suggest further meaning.

Personification – Giving human characteristics to non-human things.

Irony - The use of words to convey the opposite of the literal meaning; a state or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of an idea.

Verbal irony – statement differs from the meaning that the words appear to express

Ex: Sarcasm

Situational Irony – Between what is expected/intended and what actually occurs

Ex: Bought a plane ticket for a vacation and died the next day

Dramatic irony – Audience knows more than the character in the story.

Audience knows the circumstances and future of the story. Ex: Horror flicks

A character foil- is portrayed as opposite of another character in a particular way. By putting two characters tighter next to each other the different characteristic is emphasized

Theme – Is the central message or insight revealed through a literary work and can be stated directly or may be implied and the reader must think about what the work suggest about the people or the life in the work.

“Hairs” by Sandra Cisneros

Everybody in our family has different hair. My Papa’s hair is like a broom, all up in the air. And me, my hair is lazy. It never obeys barrets or bands. Carlos’ hair is thick and straight. He doesn’t need to comb it. Nenny’s hairslippery-slides out of your hand. And Kiki, who is the youngest, has hair like fur.

But my mother’s hair, my mother’s hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty because she pinned it in pincurls all day, sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, it is the warm smell of bread before you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin, and you sleep near her, the rain outside falling and Papa snoring. The snoring, the rain, and Mama’s hair that smells like bread.

“Hairs” Modeling Assignment

Writing Situation: In the vignette “Hairs”, Sandra Cisneros reals a lot about the narrator’s family, especially her mother, through a discussion of one physical trait: Hair. Her first paragraph describes the hair of the narrator’s father and the hair of her siblings, using those descriptions to give the reader insight in to each of their personalities. Cisneros also reveals the narrator’s feelings towards her mother in the passage, using a variety of stylistic devices to achieve this effect. Think about the people in your own family, the characteristics you share with them and those which make them (and you) distinctive. Decide which physical trait you would like to write about. Is the trait one you share with your family or yours alone? How might you present your piece? Cisneros did “Hairs” with metaphors, similes, personification, alliteration, repetition, and sensory details (imagery).

Writing Directions: Using “Hairs” as a model, write a vignette about your own life that discusses an important physical trait and how it reveals something about the person who possesses it and your relationship to him/her. You may choose to discuss a trait that all of you share, or one that makes a particular family member or you stand out from the others because it is different. You must incorporate at least four stylistic devices in your vignette. Type in MLA format.

“The Bass the River and Sheila Mant”

Draw a PLOT MAP that identifies the sequence of events in detail:

Exposition-

Narrative Hook-

Rising Action-

Climax-

Falling Action-

Resolution/Denouement-

“Everyday Use”

1. Create a detailed character foil chart for Maggie and Dee:

1. Write a paragraph outlining how the two characters are foils. Provide at least one piece of evidence for each.

“The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”

Explain and discuss the following literary devices in the piece:

Subject: What is the piece about?

Topic: What is being discussed – One Word

Theme: Broad idea and what the author feels about the topic

Symbols: The use of person, place, or object that suggest meaning

Wings: Freedom (irony-Why?)

Couple: lack of faith/exploit the angel

Irony

• The man is not treated as an angel and tries to put him in a biblical context, but winds up treating him like a dog
• Elsenda sighs relief when the angel leaves, even though he made them Pelayo, Elsenda, and the villagers wealthy.
• “It is awful living in a Hell full of Angels”

Major Themes

• Human reception of the Supernatural

-How the people treat the angel as an oddity/circus freak Foils

-More freak than something beyond nature

• The Spider Girl is a clear contrast to the angel

-Clarity of her story

-They don’t debate her status

• Blurred Distinction b/n Natural and Supernatural

-Invasion of the natural (crabs) both=nuisances

-Invasion of the supernatural (decrepit angel)

-Huge decrepit hen among the fascinated chickens

-Sense of age and disease

• What is human?

-old man with animal characteristics

- described as a human

- dehumanized because of wings too complex

- Contrast of the spider girl

- More appealing attractions

- Simple to understand it supports their faith

* Cruelty and Compassion

- Examine the human response to those who are weak, dependent, and different.

• Humans must interpret events

-Attach meaning to the Old Man or reduce his meaning in terms of their lives

-Perspective

-Not grateful to the angel who makes their fortune-judgment clouded by greed

What are some of the internal and external conflicts in the story?

Understanding Theme

Task: Most themes in literature are implied. This means the reader must draw conclusions form the setting, characters, and plot to determine the theme of the story. Use the following graphic organizer to gather details from the story and draw conclusions about theme. Fill out the following chart to accompany the short story “The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.”

“Two Kinds”

A prodigy is a person endowed with exceptional abilities. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which an implicit comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common.

Read the following metaphors:

“I was a dainty ballerina girl standing by the curtain, waiting to hear the music that would send me floating on my tiptoes. I was like the Christ child lifted out of the straw manger, crying with holy indignity. I was Cinderella stepping from her pumpkin carriage with sparkly cartoon music filling the air.”

1. Explain the effect of these metaphors. What is the author trying to do?

1. Have you ever tried to be someone because someone else pressured you to be? Was it a success? Explain.

Read the following metaphor:

“It was as if I had said magic words. Alakazam!- her face went blank, her mouth closed, her arms went slack, and she backed out of the room, stunned, as if she were blowing away like a small, brown left, thin, brittle, lifeless.”

1. What makes this metaphor effective?
2. What else could the author have compared her mother to in order to make this an impacting scene?

Further Analysis:

1. Consider that the story is written in the 1st person POV. How might this story have been different if told from the mother’s POV? What does this say about her as a reliable narrator?

1. Why is the story titled “Two Kinds?” Find the quote from the story and cite it here in MLA format:
2. At the end of the story, the narrator notices that the piece of music that she struggled with as a child (“Pleading Child”) has a companion piece, “Contented Child.” She realizes that these are two halves of the same song.” Explain how this can be understood as a metaphor for the story:

While reading “Two Kinds” you will witness a conflict between a girl and her mother. As the conflict develops, you may find that your sympathies seesaw back and forth between the two characters. As you read, note the interactions between the characters that cause you to sympathize with the daughter and those that cause you to sympathize with the mother.

1. Weigh all of your notes. For which character do you have the greater sympathy? Explain.

Imagery in “The Pedestrian”

Directions: Quote passages from the story that demonstrate different types of imagery. Indicate whether this is a positive image or a negative image. Then in your own words, and using complete sentences, discuss what the effect this image has on the story. You should find five instances of imagery. You may use two for one type.

Four main effects imagery has on a story: (1) produces an appropriate mood for the events in the story; (2) produces an appropriate emotional response from the reader to the events in the story; (3) reveals the personality of the narrator or character in the story; (4) makes the theme or message in the work easier to understand.

Imagery: Language that appeals to our five senses with descriptive language.

Mood: The feeling or atmosphere created in a story

TypeImagery (quote the descriptive language)Effect of Imagery on the Story