Introduction to Literature; Plot; Character

ENG 150 Reynolds 1 Online Lecture 1 Introduction to literary works maculation Character If youve ever fooln a literature class, you will guard realized that not on the whole literature is the same(p). Theres the stuff you aim for information (mostly nonfiction, and not our concern in this class), thithers the stuff you read for variation (literature with a little l), and theres the stuff you read in classes like this (Literature with a capital L). The stuff you read for fun (literature) is mostly favorable to read. Most romance, science fiction, and mystery novels go along into this category, for example. Okay, you hard-core sci-fi fans I said most ) Its usu solelyy p plenty-oriented that is, you read it to soak up whats going to happen next, and you savor it more if it builds suspense and keeps your interest. It entertains you. It doesnt require much thought no wizard needs to discuss it to regain its hidden messagesit doesnt have or so(prenominal). When youve finishe d it, youre finished. This sort of reading rargonly challenges your ideas almost the world. In fact, it usually reinforces the things wed all like to presuppose ar true everything happens for a reason, the good atomic number 18 rewarded and the bad suffer, everything comes push through sanction in the end.Youll notice that most of these books have happy endings. When they dont, you cry along with the characters, but their sad fates dont perplex you question the order of the universe. Those who die, die for a clear and logical reason. Literature with a capital L is different. It demands more of you. It requires both your attention and your bankrupticipation. It asks you to think, to analyze, to stop occasionally in the middle and ask, wherefore did that happen? or What is he doing in this scene? M some(prenominal) of these stories (or poems or plays) make you uncomfortable.They make you question your comfortable and easy assumptions nearly the world and your invest in it . And sometimes theres not a happy ending. In return, Literature friends you grow. It allows you to experience purgets emotionally and inenunciateectually without having to suffer the physical danger. You get to experience the Vietnam War in The Things They Carried without having to foreboding that youll be the next to die. You get to meet a serial killer in A intimately Man is Hard to Find without having to worry about being murdered. You get to follow a adult female into insanity in The Yellow Wallpaper ithout having to be institutionalized yourself. You get to look into the hearts and minds of the characters and take home for free what they teach you about yourself, your family, and your friends. Everything in this class is designed to enhance that experienceto help you learn to read more effectively, so that you john experience Literature more fully, and enjoy it more. And each ratifier will tell you, thats the point of all this enjoyment. I cant promise you that any of the information you apprehend in this class will ever make you a dime.I seriously doubt that any Human Resources director is going to look at your resume and say, Oh Heres someone whos read A cable tramway Named Desire Lets hire him Your gains will be less tangible an enhanced ability to see things from some other points of view, to detect patterns in peoples actions, to have a deeper understanding of the complexities of human motivation. Okay, okay, enough with the theory lets get to some real stuff. ENG 150 Reynolds 2 One example of a literary work that challenges the traditional canyon is alone about Suicide by Luisa Valenzuela, an Argentinean writer.A brief, shocking story, All about Suicide is part of a large and growing genre of literature from a down the world that purposely violates our standard literary expectations to make its point in this case, a point about the political realities of genus Argentina in the 1960s. LUISA VALENZUELA (1938- ) All about Suicide (1967) Translated by Helen Lane Ismael grabbed the gun and slowly rubbed it across his face. Then he pulled the travel and there was a shot. Bang. One more person dead in the city. Its getting to be a vice.First he grabbed the revolver that was in a desk drawer, rubbed it gently across his face, put it to his temple, and pulled the trigger. Without saying a word. Bang. Dead. Lets recapitulate the office is grand, fit for a minister. The desk is ministerial too, and c overed with a shabu that must(prenominal) have reflected the scene, the shock. Ismael knew where the gun was, hed hidden it there himself. So he didnt lose any time, all he had to do was open the right-hand drawer and stick his hand in. Then he got a good have got on it and rubbed it over his face with a certain pleasure before putting it to his temple and pulling the trigger.It was something almost sensual and quite unexpected. He hadnt even had time to think about it. A unprofitable gesture, and the gun had fired. The res something missing Ismael in the bar with a glass in his hand thinking over his future act and its come-at-able consequences. We must go back farther if we want to get at the truth Ismael in the cradle crying because his diapers are dirty and nobody is changing him. Not that far. Ismael in the first grade fighting with a classmate wholl one day become a minister, his friend, a traitor. No, Ismael in the ministry without being able to tell what he knew, forced to be silent. smael in the bar with the glass (his third) in his hand, and the irrevocable decision better death. Ismael pushing the revolving door at the entrance to the building, pushing the swing door leading to the office section, saying good morning to the guard, opening the door of his office. Once in his office, seven steps to his desk. Terror, the act of opening the drawer, taking out the revolver, and rubbing it across his face, almost a single gesture and very quick. The act of putting it to his temple and pullin g the trigger another act, presently following the previous one.Bang. Dead. And lsmael coming out of his office (the other mans office, the ministers) almost relieved, even though he can predict what awaits him. (When reading this, re section that the ENG 150 Reynolds 3 story takes place in Argentina there, a minister is a highly placed government employee, similar to a Cabinet member in the U. S. ) Then tell me what happened? Did Ismael kill himself? What details of the story make you think he did or didnt? Did Ismael kill the minister? What details of the story make you think he did or didnt? Are there other possibilities?How does the use of pronouns (he, him, his) contribute to the ambiguity of the story? (Ambiguous means susceptible to more than one definition. ) If Ismael didnt kill the minister, wherefore is the story called All About Suicide? why doesnt Valenzuela tell the story in chronological order (that is, in the order in which the events happened)? Do you think Val enzuela is deliberately confusing the ratifier? What point faculty she be making about the political situation in her country by doing that? Theme When I asked that last question, I was asking you to think about the authors intentions.Most authors, in asset to telling a story, want their stories to explore ideas. The theme is the dominant or central idea of the story. It is rarely stated explicitlymost stories do not have a Moral at the end. A theme is not the same as a plot. The plot is what happens in a story, the events that take place in the story. A theme is the ideas the story asks you to think about. For example, in All About Suicide, Luisa Valenzuela is telling you about Ismaelbut not just about Ismael. We survive hes just one of many people in the country who have died. (Its becoming a vice. ) So maybe the story is asking you to think about what its like to live in a country where you cant speak freely and where its easy for the government to kill. How might that affe ct a persons character? How might it affect his way of handling problems? And Valenzuela doesnt tell her story straightforwardly, in the same way that people may not be able to speak straightforwardly in this country. So the truth gets confused, and you never really cognize what it isjust as someone living in this country would have to deal with never knowing the real truth the most he could entrust for would be the official version of the truth for that day.A story may have one theme more often, it has several, as you can see from Valenzuelas story. Interpreting Literature As you can see, it is possiblein fact, its likely, that different readers will come up with different interpretations of stories and poems. some(prenominal) works are deliberately pen so as to allow more than one interpretation. So if, in the discussions, you find yourself disagreeing with anyone elses ideas about the story, entertain dont hesitate to say so, and volunteer your ideas. The point of having the discussions is to allow readers to learn from each other, to show each other things they might not have noticed themselves.ENG 150 Reynolds 4 But A note of trouble here. While it is usually true that there is no single correct reading of a text, your interpretation must be supported by the text. It is often tempting to read into a work things that are not there. After all, we all bring our own experiences and preconceptions to anything we read. Like scientific theory, literary interpretation must have a basis in fact you must be able to support your interpretation with dialogue, descriptions, events, or other details from the text. The ordering Process To read more effectively, follow these steps Read the story once, all the way through.Highlight or otherwise mark the text to identify come across elements words, phrases, or images that are repeated any elements that seem out of place or unnecessary. Make notes in the margins of any ideas that occur to you about what the writers theme(s) might be, any questions you might have, or the definitions of any words you didnt know and had to look up. Read the story a second time, and make note of anything else that occurs to you. Literary Criticism Many books and articles have been written by professional literary critics who analyze and interpret literature.Reading their work can help you gain new perspectives on particular works and help you understand them better. But you should not accept the ideas of any critic unquestioningly. Each critic, like other readers, has his own interpretation. And different critics come up with very different conclusions about the same work. For an example of this, look on pp. 1912-1920 followed by a assay student paper on page 1921-1926 each with a different interpretation of a story. bandage The plot of a story is simply the events that take place in the story. Most people read only for plotbut you now know to look for theme, too.And often, clues to the authors intentions can be found in the plot. For example, pay attention to beginnings and endings of stories, and ask yourself questions Why did the author favor to begin the story with this event? Why choose to end it with that event? What has changed between the beginning and the end? The Secret Lion, for instance, begins when the boys are in minor(postnominal) high, and then moves back in time. Why wouldnt Rios choose to begin when the boys were younger, and then work his way up to junior high? And what has changed in the boys, and in their lives, between the beginning and the end of the story?Look overly at the stages in all the important changes. What happens to change things or people? Why do you think the author chose to take this fall of action? In Happy Endings, Atwood ENG 150 Reynolds 5 details the possible outcomes of a single event. What is her point in showing us all these alternatives? Look for events, people, and/or pile that work against the action of the story. In The Things They Carri ed, for example, the narrator tells us what happens to the soldiersbut he also repetitively tells us what they carry, and this slows down the story. Why would OBrien choose to include all this information?Why not just tell us what happened? Look for characters, events, and details which seem to make no contribution to the plot or move of the story, and ask yourself why they are there. In This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona, (pg. 474) for instance, the narrator tells us a lot of stories about Victors and Thomass past which seem to have nothing to do with the events taking place on their trip. Why tell us? We are told about a gymnast they meet but the gymnast is unnecessary to the plot why is she there? The reservation where the boys live is described what details are we told about the reservation?What is left out? Why? Look for repetition of events and details. What details repeat themselves in Faulkners A Rose For Emily? (pg. 29) Is there any sort of pattern that you can detect in this repetition? The narrator of The Tell-tale Heart also repeats himself why? Note the conflicts that occur in the story, whether they are between the characters, the characters and their surroundings, or within the characters themselves. And look at how those conflicts are resolved. In Kansas, the narrator describes the conflict between the boy and the farmer why is he so excite? How does this affect his later actions?And how is the conflict resolved? What does this resolution reveal about the boy? About the reader? Character Characters in books and stories can function in two ways they can be individuals, with erratic characteristics, habits, quirks, and personalities, so that they seem like real people or they can be typesthat is, they can epitomise or represent something larger than themselves. The best characters do both. In a story, the main character is called the protagonist. The protagonists opposition is the antagonist. The antagonist is usually another pe rson, but in some stories it is an animal, or a spirit, or even a natural force.Figuring out which character is the protagonist can help you to interpret the storys theme. For example, in A Rose for Emily, we might say the protagonist is Emilyor we might say the protagonist is the town. If we choose Emily, we might see the storys theme as having to do with fear, loneliness, or mental illness. If we choose the town, we might see the story as having to do with social isolation or social class. Some characters are monotonic others are round. Flat characters may play a small or a large aim in a story, but they experience no change or development throughout the course of the story.Round characters change, grow, develop. (This does not make round characters superior to direct characters it simply means they serve a different function in the story, depending on the authors ENG 150 Reynolds 6 intention. ) In The Yellow Wallpaper, (pg. 436) for instance, the husband is flat we do not see him experience any growth or development during the story. But the narrator, his wife, is round her experiences change her. Sometimes it is not easy to figure out whether a character is round or flat, and that in itself can help you arrive at an interpretation of the story.For example, is the narrator of The Tell-tale Heart flat or round? Does he change or develop during the course of the story, or does he stay the same? The way you answer this question may affect the way you see the theme(s) of the story. Often, the names of characters are revealing. Authors are usually careful to give their characters appropriate names. Charles Dickens, for example, in Nicholas Nickleby, names a schoolmaster Mr. Choakumchild right away, we know that Nicholas is in for a rough time at this school. Sometimes, the