"The Dead" Test Terms & Vocabulary Preview

For the test on James Joyce's "The Dead" (read it online, here) on Sept. 20, you should know the meanings of the following literary terms, vocabulary words, etc.:
Tone/Mood Descriptions:

• Apathetic
• Blasphemous
• Compassionate
• Festive
• Humble
• Humourous
• Melancholic
• Nostalgic
• Optimistic
• Vengeful

Literary Terms

• Alliteration
• Hyperbole
• Imagery
• Irony
• Metaphor
• Point of View
• Simile

Vocabulary

• Amusement
• Arrogant
• Banal
• Bewilderment
• Cloak
• Coincidental
• Convenient
• Embarrassment
• Emotion
• Fury
• Ghastly
• Insecure
• Ironic
• Nonchalance
• Overcoat
• Punctual
• Ridiculous

There's at least one mythological allusion in the story. You should refer to Hamilton's Mythology to aid in your understanding.

Harrison Bergeron Storyboards

Retell "Harrison Bergeron" (link to story) in the six sections of the Storyboard Handout.

In the three boxes across the top, draw a picture representing the Setting/Exposition (Box 1) and two points of the story's Rising Action (Boxes 2 and 3; the segment of the story in Box 2 should come before the segment in Box 3). Accompany each illustration with a quote from the story that goes with what you've drawn.

In the bottom three boxes, draw a picture of the Climax (Box 4), the Falling Action (Box 5), and the Resolution (Box 6). Again, a quote from the story should roughly match your picture.

POV Reaction

Look at the two versions of your story intro and then answer these two questions:

1. Which form of third-person narration did you use in the third-person POV draft
   • Limited: Access to only one character's thoughts, feelings, etc.
   • Omniscient: Access to any/all characters' thoughts, feelings, etc., as well as possibly future events
   And how can you tell?
   
   
2. Which POV (first- or third-person) works best, and why?

Staple your response behind the two drafts of your story.

Change Your Point-of-View

Take the Story Intro you wrote the other day and revise the point-of-view from which it's told.

If you started in first person (I/Me/My ... We/Us ... Our/Ours), change it to third person (He/Him/His ... She/Her/Hers ... They/Them/Their/Their). Or vice-versa, switch it from third person to first.

Turn both in on Mon., Sept. 13.

Done with the Summer Project Already?

Following is a list of short stories that will prepare you for reading the first text of the year, How to Read Literature Like a Professor. We'll be reading many of these during class, but the "Professor" book will make a little more sense if you've read these stories ahead of time. Each of the stories is available online, which means they may disappear without warning, and although there may be typos, you should be able to figure them out. (Post a comment/e-mail me if you discover a story to be missing.)

Enjoy!

Araby - James Joyce

The Arrow of Heaven - G.K. Chesterton

Barn Burning - William Faulkner

The Dead - James Joyce

Cathedral - Raymond Carver

Daisy Miller - Henry James

The Fall of the House of Usher - Edgar Allan Poe

The Gingerbread House - Robert Coover (The story is the 42 numbered sections on the left-hand side of the page; ignore the ads.)

The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

The Overcoat - Nikolai Gogol

Rip Van Winkle - Washington Irving

Rocking-Horse Winner - D.H. Lawrence

Sonny's Blues - James Baldwin

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Why I Live at the P.O. - Eudora Welty