...I have to admit, going shopping for books can definitely be entertaining, but I must also confess that when it comes to buying books, I am a little bias toward novels with pretty pictures on the cover. Maybe it is because in today’s society we are taught to judge everything by appearance, but maybe it is really because growing up my dad read me books with lots of colorful images before bedtime and usually the prettier the pictures in the story the better it was. In books for younger kids most books contain extravagant images accompanied by a few simple words. The artist’s job for children’s books is, in my opinion, is more important than the author’s. I relied on the artist to tell the story, like Mozart relied solely on music to get across his story. When I started to move on to chapter books such as the Cam Jansen series, I would flip through the book, letting the pages fly underneath my thumb, and be disappointed at the lack of color. Not a single picture appeared. I thought that it was the worst thing in the world because it meant from then on I would be forced to read dull pages. Contrary to my initial thoughts, when I cracked open that first book I was unable to put it down until I finished. I was amazed at how I had just seen into another person’s mind and lived with a different identity for that hour. I was no longer Sam Maxwell, I was Cam Jansen the crime solver. I had my own private movie showing in my head. I read lots of Cam Jansen books following the first one and...
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...Spring Semester, Unit 1 Common Assessment MWJH Seventh Grade Language Arts Instructions: For questions 1-16, read O. Henry’s “After Twenty Years” beginning on page 324 in the blue Prentice Hall literature book. 1. From which perspective does the narrator tell this story? A. First person B. Third person limited C. Third person omniscient D. Third person objective 2. Which of the following choices best describes how a reader can determine the narrator’s perspective in this story? A. The story features such pronouns as I, me, my, etc., and the narrator is a character. B. The story features such pronouns as he, she, they, them, etc. The narrator is not a character and only follows the thoughts and feelings of one character. C. The story features such pronouns as he, she, they, them, etc. The narrator is not a character and is apparently able to follow the thoughts and feelings of all characters. D. The story features such pronouns as he, she, they, them, etc. The narrator is not a character and only tells the events of the story through action and dialogue—no thoughts and feelings from the characters. 3. Which of the following choices features the type of figurative language that is used in the first sentence of “After Twenty Years”? A. idiom B. metaphor C. simile D. personification 4. Which of the following choices best describes the imagery produced by the figurative language and narration within the first few sentences...
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...short stories, 250 words long look up, look to the sides, just don’t look at the reflection in the bar mirror She’s a red dress and thick rimmed glasses and all sorts of wit and intelligence in conversation. Next to her is a man that’s just a little more dim witted and a flannel shirt that was pressed just slightly too recently. And all around them are duplicates; replicants- people that are acquaintances or soon to be fair weather friends. All around them are life paths that they were one butterfly away from taking. The woman in the red dress is yawning now- opening her mouth so wide people near her can see the fills in her molars- but she doesn’t yawn consciously. She is uncouth without even giving a thought to it. She is feeling tired. More importantly, she’s feeling hungry- trying to eat in all the air that is around to prove to herself that her heart still beats and it’s not all just a dream. Among all of the people by the bar there is color- various colors- some bright, some subdued and pastel. The coloring of their clothing tell stories that are alike in their uniqueness. She lays one hand on the bar and shakes her head. He looks at her, concerned, and asks what’s wrong. “Nothing,” she lies. “Are you sure?” he asks. “Yes. Let’s dance.” She takes his hand out of his pocket, lifts him away from the bar, and they sway back and forth, back and forth, until all the notes blend into one beat. Until she can create the illusion...
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...the message in the story. The waiting room can be a symbol of purgatory for some. “The doctor’s waiting room, which was very small was almost full when the Turpins entered and Mrs.Turpin, who was very large in her presence” (revelation 191) If O’connor would not have put in the story wouldn’t have as much meaning “it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is.” (O’Connor 334) This critic being O’connor herself, implies it takes everything necessary to establish the meaning in the story. Without the waiting room Mrs.Turpin revelation would not have been a reality. The key to the waiting room is when Mary Grace throws the book at Mrs.Turpin, another example of symbolism. “The book struck her directly over her left eye.”(206) It is with this act that helps Mrs. Turpin achieve her revelation. The throwing of the book is seen as symbolism because that violent act opens the eyes of Mrs.Turpin. “the short story requires more drastic procedures then the novel because more has to be accomplished in less space.”(333) This critic feels this act of symbolism must be drastic enough because it will be the only thing capable of showing the error of her ways. It was essential that the book was thrown, Mrs.Turnpin being how full of herself as she was, because the violence was the only way it would be the only way to get her revelation. What Mrs.Turpin dialogue is key, without her smug talk there would be no story. She degrades many people in the story, and she constantly...
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...joining the army. There are two stories that help to explain what exactly you do in the army and the effects it has on you. One of the stories is "Soldier's Home" by Ernest Hemingway and the other one is "How to Tell a True War Story" by Tim O'Brien. Both stories have similarities and differences. They are told from different points of view and different situations. “Soldier’s Home” is mainly about a boy named Krebs. Krebs is a boy who enlisted in the Marines in 1917 and did not went back home until summer 1919. I think that Krebs is the way he is because he went away to war without being fully mature. He ended up growing up while in the war, away from his family and everyone he loved. He came home from war so much later because he did not want to face the changes that have happened in his town. I think he was scare to come home because war also changed his way of thinking. Krebs does not get involved with women once he's home because he does not want to work to get a girl. He thinks that American girls are too complicated and that he needs to go through many things to get one of them. He got used to the way European women were because without you talking to them, they would become your friend. Now, thanks to his mother's advice, he is thinking of becoming successful in live. Things like getting a job are rounding his mind. “How to Tell a True War Story” is about O’Brien’s own experience as a soldier and a story his friend told him. The story is mainly about things that happened...
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...The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The The...
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...Theme Shapes a Story By Trina Carr English 125 Instructor: Clifton Edwards Running Head: Theme page 1 Like many people who haven’t studied literature, if someone asked me what the theme of a story was, I would have given a synopsis of the story detailing the actions and characters in it. As I have come to learn, theme is much more than a distilled retelling of a story. Theme gives a story a deeper meaning. The theme focuses the story and is the behind the scenes force that propels the story forward. In other words it gives the story purpose and shape. “Theme will attempt to hold all the elements of your story in place. It is like a cup. A vessel. A goblet”(Bain, T 2010). In this paper will attempt to explore how literary elements like symbolism and character build and affect the narrative of theme in a story. One element of a story’s theme is symbolism. Symbolism according to our text is something that has a literal identity but also stands for something else (Clugston, R 2010). For an example the five interlocking ring of the Olympic symbol. Clearly they can be identified as ring, but when they are colored blue, yellow, black, green and red, they become much more. They are a symbol of the pinicle of atheletic compition and excellence. Symbolism in literature gives the writer’s work texture. It is one element that is used to provide the reader with a deeper meaning of the story. It is what makes...
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...Richie Burner ENWR-106 How to Tell a True War Story 26 February, 2013 If you don’t know how to analyze writing and don’t understand metaphoric speaking then this is not a story for you. O’Brien constantly goes against every Americans thoughts of a war story; he tells the reader that they’re all fake. O’Brien believes war stories don’t actually have to do with people do with heroic things, because every solider is a hero. The average person who was not in combat would not get a true war story because no one has experienced what soldier’s experience. They have seen things and felt things emotionally that no other person will ever see or feel. A ex soldier out look on life is completely different than your average person because they are use to different life style. So all this boils down to one thing, no one will ever understand soldier’s and O’Brien uses “How to Tell a True War Story” to prove this. Through out the story O’Brien talks to the reader as if they don’t know anything. Although he has to approach the reader like this so he can thoroughly explain his point. Since no one understands a soldier’s life he has to write this way, the misunderstanding of soldiers is proven within the first page of the story when rat explains his friend to his sister in a letter that he sent her. “ Stainless steel balls, Rat tells her. The guy was a little crazy, for sure, but crazy in a good way, a real daredevil, because he liked the challenge of it, he liked testing him self, just...
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...Short Stories – A beneficial piece of teaching material by Christoph Kant Matr. Nr. 282-345-86 Kurs: Short Stories in the EFL-Classroom Dozent: Stephen Mason Kassel, 20.09.2012 Content: 1. Introduction3 2. A brief history of EFL teaching-styles3 3. Teaching „the skills“4 4. Motivational advantages8 5. Providing literary knowledge8 6. The cultural aspect 10 7. Encouraging/developing critical thinking 11 8. Conclusion 12 References 14 1.) Introduction: In this paper I would like to discuss the advantages that teaching the short story as a major part of a teaching concept brings to the EFL classroom and present several example tasks of how to integrate short stories into ones „teaching portfolio“. Whereas some people might believe that teaching the short story benefits students only from a linguistic standpoint, those people really do not get the big picture. Yes, there are obvious linguistic benefits you can draw from teaching short stories, but the most important factor is motivation. This hales from the structure of short stories themselves. As almost all of them have a beginning, a main part and an ending, students are most likely encouraged to read the story all the way through, to see what the outcome might be. Sure, the structure of most novels or plays might be similar, but the length of the short story is the big advantage. If a student knows, that he does not have to read 200 and more pages to finish the story but rather...
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...During the past two weeks, our American Literature class has covered the short stories of The Fall of the House of Usher, The Minister’s Black Veil and Rappaccini’s Daughter. These poems/stories were constructed by two well-known authors: Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Each poem and story written by these two men contains an intricately, deep meaning. In fact, criticizers maintain the position that there are several meanings to these works, but this may never be known by anyone except the actual author. The author is the only individual who truly knows the real meaning behind the poem or story. Out of these three stories we read, I enjoyed The Fall of the House of Usher the most as it proved to be most interesting to me. The reason I enjoyed this work the most was due to the fact that I was transacting with the text in this poem, I was able to really understand why Poe utilized certain elements in it in order to help convey the work’s actual meaning. It also helped to raise logical questions about certain other aspects of the story. I did not feel I was able to do this as well with the other two stories as they did not flow as well to me as did The Fall of the House of Usher. Though the plot turned out to be quite unusual, I found it to be very interesting and out of the ordinary, which I seemed to like in this instance. The book ends with an unexpected surprise and by the fall of the house of course. The theme is really dark and mysterious, which made the book kind...
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...Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown” Goodman Brown was not asleep in this short story. As I read, I believed that Goodman did indeed meet the devil in the forest. If he had indeed dreamt about the trip he was sent on and meeting the devil, I think his nervousness would have been described in more detail then it was. Concentrating more on the anxiety he was feeling would have led the reader to believe that the events were not real. I also saw this story as an allegory. I saw the allegory after reading the story two times. I think it is centered on Goodman Brown having a bumpy past and that he wants to go beyond his past and reach heaven. The characters names also show the religious allegory in the story. The names Goodman and Faith are used and the characters are then soon faced with terrifying evil. I think that Goodman Brown and his wife, Faith’s names symbolize that they are good, religious people and that Goodman is making up everyone being evil in his head. I found an essay by Alexa Carlson that described the symbolism in light vs. dark, forest vs. town, nature vs. human, and fantasy vs. reality. In her paper, Essay #1: Young Goodman Brown, she states that “…fantasy vs. reality are employed to reinforce the idea that good and evil have been set up as strict categories into which no one, not even the religious figures of the community, fit neatly.” As she later writes, if Hawthorne was apprehensive about “what he considers right and wrong in terms of human behavior, I...
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...The Theme of a Story Ace Ventura ENG 125 Introduction to Literature Roger Rabbit July 14, 2011 The Theme of a Story Throughout life a person can recall a memory that basically shaped their lives. Often they recount important events that made them into the person they were meant to be. The selection this week is about a memory of a 15 year old young woman that is shaped by something that happened to her while working for a doctor and his wife. She tells about the events when she was 15 that ironically led to the introduction of her eventual husband into her life. Clugston (2010) shows us that “we all filter our relationship to literature through our individual experiences” (Section 7.1, para. 4). In other words, personally, How I Met My Husband, by Alice Murno (1974), is written with the themes of love, heartbreak, and secrecy. Love is a common recurring theme throughout the story. Although love is a common theme in fiction, the type of love in this story is ignorant love. Edie is the main character of How I Met My Husband. Alice Murno sets the story in a first-person point of view. The reader captures the story from Edie’s viewpoint. Henry Baron tells us, “Edie is both eager for and rather innocent about romance” (Section The Story, para. 2). She is young and naïve to anything of love and intimate relationships. The connection she makes with Chris Watters and the eventual “intimacy” they share brings out the young innocent girl in her. Murno (1974) makes this...
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...The story of an hour Like many contemporary women living in the nineteenth century, Mrs. Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin bore social ties of traditional requirements. Under the strict control of social requirements, married women’s lives were formed around their husbands. They were happy with their husband’s happiness and sad with their husband’s depression. They were regarded as the properties of their husbands even in daily lives. Kate Chopin did not directly express women’s dependence, but the readers could realize this truth through the chaos in Mrs. Mallard’s mind. After her instinct reaction when hearing the news of Mr. Mallard’s death like “wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (p.106), there was something a little bit hopeful and happy appearing in her feelings. Then, “she did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her” (p.107). For one moment she was afraid to allow herself to be joyful about her freedom "she was striving to beat it back with her will" (p.106). This showed us that Mrs. Mallard was a product of her time and was dependent on society rules. We often need a whole life to comprehend one person’s soul and desire. Though, sometimes, in only a while, we are able to realize some meanings of life. In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, in just one hour, Mrs. Mallard’s thought and feelings revealed profoundly the desire for freedom of women in the nineteenth century. Through only one hour...
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...The Story of an Hour In the short story, The Story of an Hour I was able to pull two main themes. Love and Alienation is depicted throughout the entire story. Not only is love the theme but romantic love. The first theme love is exemplified in more than one way. In the beginning of the story, it explains how Mrs. Mallard has heart troubles and that they try to break the news of her husbands death sequentially as possible. Stating “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.” (Chopin) The first sentence of the story automatically portrayed love; it was obvious she would take the new of husband harshly because she loved him. Upon hearing the news Mrs. Mallard had a “paralyzed inability to accept its significance.” (Chopin) The news hit Mrs. Mallard hard and she cried in her sister, Josephine, arms. After accepting the matter of circumstances, Mrs. Mallard left to be alone. This is where the alienation plays a part in the story. Instead of accepting the comfort of family and friend, she decided to be alone. Maybe this was her way of dealing with grief, being alone and silent was her best remedy. Sitting alone in a room consisting of a chair and a window, Mrs. Mallard sat there and continued to think about the event that just occurred. At first, it seemed as if Mrs. Mallard just needed alone time, but later on in the story it seems as if something is coming over her. She...
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...Trevin R. Montgomery Mrs. Williams ORM 400 - MCMI 5 July 2011 The Heart of “The Story” Kate Chopin’s “The Story of the Hour” gives the reader an up close and personal account of a woman’s devastating and liberating experience when she is informed of her husband’s death. Chopin wrote during a time immediately following the women’s suffrage movement. She took a very liberal approach to explaining how women felt and how women dealt with the issues facing them. In “The Story of the Hour” we watch Mrs. Mallard and her through process as Chopin develops the themes of love and oppression. The short story begins with Mrs. Mallard being informed of untimely death of her husband in a tragic train accident. The characters informing her are cautious of their relay of devastating news due to Mrs. Mallard heart condition. Chopin immediately begins to show the theme of love. As the reader and the characters continue to think about Mrs. Mallard’s heart, Chopin begins to express her heart condition is one of a physical and literal sense. Mrs. Mallard is a loves her husband and is immediately struck with grief when she learns of his death. She daydreams of the times that they shared and how her life may be insignificant without someone to share love. At the same time, she then begins to think about the love she has having a life of independence and not having to share with anyone. Just as quick as Chopin develops her theme of love, she subtly addresses the theme of oppression. ...
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