This weekend, please review the two yellow handouts (Purpose and the Short Story and Plot/Character and the Short Story) as we will have a small quiz on the terms in bold on Monday. I might ask you a few questions on escape versus interpretive literature too.
Also, please answer the two questions on the "Handful of Dates" question sheet that we worked on in class. In addition here are four more questions on the short story that I would like you to complete:
1. A flashback is "a literary device in which an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronological order of a narrative". Give an example of a flashback from this story in which the reader learns something about Masood.
2. How is the information "...the Sheik...asked me to...recite the Chapter of the Merciful" significant to the story?
3. What is significant about the boy's final act in the story? What is significant about the location of this act? Remember, in a short story, every detail must have meaning to give the piece of writing artistic unity.
4. In this story, Masood and the grandfather are opposites in many ways. Why is it important to have these contrasting characters in the story? That is how do these two characters serve the purpose of the story?
Thank you, Maryam, for this very interesting website where people can listen to podcasts of great short stories. Listen to "A Handful of Dates" here (the story begins about one minute into the podcast):
http://www.miettecast.com/
Finally, here is the short video clip from the movie The Bear that I tried to show you in class today. Take a look at it and then chart the plot of this four minute story on the yellow plot diagram sheet using terms such as "exposition" and "conflict" etc. Do not worry about the two "plot points" as we have not discussed those in class yet. Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjLCJKoot4U&feature=related
Enjoy your weekend!
