Wednesday 10/31

Freewrite:

Joseph Conrad
: There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery.

1.  Discuss Freewrite

2.  Read/Share 1 page fictions (Trevor)

3.  Workshop:  Tom's "Faith and Trust"

4.  Short Story Review:  Share plot lines.  

Wednesday 10/31

Freewrite:

Joseph Conrad
: There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery.

1.  Discuss Freewrite

2.  Read/Share 1 page fictions (Trevor)

3.  Workshop:  Tom's "Faith and Trust"

4.  Short Story Review:  Share plot lines.  

Wednesday 10/24

Respond to the following passage from William Trevor's "After Rain".

“They didn't mention the jealousy their love of each other had bred in him, that had flourished into deviousness and cruelty. The pain the day had brought would not easily pass, both were aware of that. And yet it had to be, since it was part of what there was.”
― William Trevor, After Rain 

 

1.  Analyze "Dressmaker's Child"

 

Focus:  **Religious Symbolism

 

**Character of Mother

 

**Cahal's Guilt

 

***End:  Read/Analyze

 

 

2.  Activity:  Write a short 1 page narrative using the first few lines of "After Rain"  15 mins:  Share.  

 

 

Monday 10/22

                                                    William Trevor -  "The Dressmaker's Child"

Respond to the following quote of Trevor's:

“As a writer one doesn’t belong anywhere. Fiction writers, I think, are even more outside the pale, necessarily on the edge of society. Because society and people are our meat, one really doesn’t belong in the midst of society. The great challenge in writing is always to find the universal in the local, the parochial. And to do that, one needs distance.” 
― William Trevor

1.  Discuss Freewrite.

2. The Dressmaker's Child:  Activity:  With a parner, craft a plot line.
 Is there a climax?  How does this affect Cahal?

3.  Identify an excerpt to read to the class.  Explain the literary significance of it as it reltates to the respective narrative elements of the story.

4.  Activity:  With a partner, consider the "symbolism" in this story.  Give examples.

5.  Discussion:  Exploration of religious tension.

6.  Analyze the narration of the passage below.  Consider if there are any thematic correlations.

"The Dressmaker's Child"
Thirteen years ago, the then bishop and two parish priests had put an end to the cult of the wayside statue at Pouldearg. None of those three men, and no priest or nun who had ever visited the crossroads at Pouldearg, had sensed anything special about the statue; none had witnessed the tears that were said to slip out of the downcast eyes when pardon for sins was beseeched by penitents. The statue became the subject of attention in pulpits and in religious publications, the claims made for it fulminated against as a foolishness. And then a curate of that time demonstrated that what had been noticed by two or three local people who regularly passed by the statue—a certain dampness beneath the eyes—was no more than raindrops trapped in two overdefined hollows. There the matter ended. Those who had so certainly believed in what they had never actually seen, those who had not noticed the drenched leaves of overhanging boughs high above the statue, felt as foolish as their spiritual masters had predicted they one day would. Almost overnight the Weeping Virgin of Pouldearg became again the painted image it had always been. Our Lady of the Wayside, it had been called for a while.
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/10/04/041004fi_fiction

Tuesday 10/16

Consider:  What is the most important aspect of short story writing?  The most challegning?
5 min. discussion w/ partner:  Share

1.  Philadelphia Stories:  "Basket Stories"  Read (link on previous post)
**Activity: Write reflection:  Share.  Turn in 1 pg for HW on Friday.

2.  Workshop:  Tom's  "Faith & Trust"

3.  Focus story for week:  "Dress Maker's Daughter"  3 page analysis due Wed. 10/ 24
HW:  Read.  Be prepared for discussion.

10/15 Monday Freewrite

Respond to the quote below:

I was in enough to get along with people. I was never socially inarticulate. Not a loner. And that saved my life, saved my sanity. That and the writing. But to this day I distrust anybody who thought school was a good time. Anybody.
Stephen King 

1.  Discuss Journal

2.  Short Story Workshop  

3.  Read:  "Basket Case"  H.W.  1 page reflection.  

http://www.philadelphiastories.org/basket-case

Short Story Workshop 10/10

Activity:  Craft a plot line for your short story that marks the main action.

**Identify a climax or turning point in the narrative:  Be prepared to discuss.  15 mins:  Share
***Consider how this important event affects your protagonist.

Workshop:  Read Bethany Parks' story on line.  

Constructive Criticism:  Participation points offered.

Tuesday 10/9

Respond the the quote below:


I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all.  ~Richard Wright, American Hunger, 1977


Goals:

1.  Discuss Freewrite

2.  Read:  Point of View assignments from "Igloo"

3.  Short Story Workshop:

Identify:  --Protagonist
                 --Conflict
          

Activity:  Add one more sentence to your ending.  Does it affect resolution?  Explain.

**Final Copy due Wed.  10/10.

Igloo

1.  Finish reading end of

"Igloo".

10 minute Write:  Examine the narrator's relationship with David:  before and after he dies.  Be specific.


2.  Class Discussion:  Consider significance of the tile, "Igloo".  How might this title relate to David's character?

3.  Activity:  With a partner, Record short answers in preparation for class discussion:

--Describe the mother's relationship with Bill.

--What do you think is "wrong" with David?

--Why does David kill himself?

--How do you think his death has affected the family?

--Are there any elements of surrealism regarding Shelly's talking to David after his death?  Explain.

15 mins:  Share

4.  Short Term:  1 page   **Assume the first person voice of any character in the story.  Describe how you were affected by David's death (if you choose David, explain yourself) and how you manage to cope.  Due:  Friday:  Oct. 5th in lieu of an analysis. http://www.philadelphiastories.org/igloo-0