ENG 102

1. Review of Character in Short Stories ENG 102

2. A character is any representation of an individual being presented in a dramatic or narrative work through extended dramatic or verbal representation. The reader can interpret characters as endowed with moral and dispositional qualities expressed in what they say (dialogue) and what they do (action). CHARACTERIZATION: An author or poet's use of description, dialogue, dialect, and action to create in the reader an emotional or intellectual reaction to a character or to make the character more vivid and realistic. Careful readers note each character's attitude and thoughts, actions and reaction, as well as any language that reveals geographic, social, or cultural background.

3. Methods of characterization Direct: Expository Explicit Indirect: Dramatic Implicit Most often used “Don’t’ simply say ‘the old lady screamed’; bring her on and let her scream.” Mark Twain

4. Principles of Characterization He or she does not behave one way on one occasion and a different way on another unless there is a clear reason for the change. Consistency The character’s words and actions must spring from motivations the reader can understand and believe. Motivation Plausibility The author must create the illusion that the person is real so we can forget we are reading fiction at all.

5. Degree of Change Static:The character is the same at the end of the story as he or she is at the beginning. Developing or Dynamic: The character undergoes a permanent change in character, personality, or outlook. Often provides a clue to the story’s meaning, or theme

6. Epiphany Epiphanyis Twelfth Night - 6 January - when Christ was visited by the Three Wise Men, and his divinity was revealed to the world. It derives from a Greek word, epiphainein, meaning 'to manifest', and in pre-Christian times it was used to record appearances of gods and goddesses. Traditionally the word has kept this specific religious association, but over the years it has been secularized to refer to other, non-divine forms of revelation. Joyce's secular epiphany The principal writer to extend the meaning of the word as a secular term was James Joyce, who was interested in sudden, dramatic and startling moments which seemed to have heightened significance and to be surrounded with a kind of magical aura.

7. IRONY IN FICTION VERBAL IRONY: THE DISCREPANCY IS BETWEEN WHAT IS SAID AND WHAT IS MEANT. DRAMATIC IRONY: THE CONTRAST IS BETWEEN WHAT A CHARACTER SAYS AND WHAT THE READER KNOWS TO BE TRUE. SITUATIONAL IRONY: THE DISCREPANCY IS BETWEEN APPEARANCE AND REALITY, BETWEEN EXPECTATION AND FULFILLMENT, BETWEEN WHAT IS AND WHAT WOULD SEEM APPROPRIATE.

8. Tobias Woolf Born 1945 Interview

9. “Hunters in the Snow” portrays shifting alliances Tub vs Kenny and Frank, from pars 3 through 50 This is when Kenny enters the farmhouse Hint of shift in allegiance at par 57 and in par 70, Frank says, “‘Drop dead’ and [turns] away.” Climax at par 80 . . . Tub shoots Kenny pars 131 to 139 Tub confronts Frank; Frank says “I’m sorry.” (touches his shoulder) pars 145 to 239, Tub and Frank vs Kenny, which includes the two confessional scenes: at the tavern and at the roadhouse with its“enabling” scene, from pars 224 to 230

10. Setting= bleakness in Washington: a world of whiteness that is essentially lifeless and inhospitable--empty The reader sees more clearly the egocentricity of their characters, their cruelty, their essential superficiality and immaturity as human beings. Each is struggling for dominance over the others without any real concern for the others’ fates. Kenny Tub Symbiosis Frank

11. Possibletheme for “Hunters in the Snow” Some human beings, especially when isolated in a natural, bleak setting, may shed their socially constructed humane traits and become as primitive and predatory as the most unevolved natural creatures, forming symbiotic alliances--devoid of charity or love-- purely to further their own gains.

12. T. Coraghessan Boyle Born 1948: Biography

13. Discussion Prompt The story’s structure shows us the narrator looking back at the tragic night’s events. Do you think this makes a reader see the author’s using dramatic irony, especially to depict three upper middle class teenagers as being “bad”? If you give credence to this “irony” theory, what specific things would you point to for support? For example, how about what the protagonists drive contasted with what the antagonist drives.’

16. Support for Boyle’s use of dramatic irony: (particularly the protagonists’ being “bad”) sniff glue . . . maybe did cocaine driving a Bel-Air station wagon what they drink “dangerous” Digby . . . goes to Cornell “trade ‘man’s with the best of them” “mirror shades at breakfast and dinner” “throwing eggs” chips his “favorite tooth” vocabulary literary and art allusions tire iron / first fight contemplates suicide and needing bridgework car excuses for parents . . . chess at Digby’s wants to “go home to my parents’ house and crawl into bed” “I thought I was going to cry”

17. How about vocabulary? Is this the vocabulary of a bad-ass? susurrus par. 2 inextricably par. 8 testudineous par. 9 apocryphal par. 10 extricate par. 10 disconsolate par. 19 deliquescing par. 21 catatonic par. 43 OK Here is some appropriate language for this story Motherfucker! par. 12 Muthahfuckah!

18. Discussion Prompt Although the lake itself is fetid, with its “primordial ooze” and “bad breath of decay,” i.e., characterized by stasis, do you also see it as a force for the narrator’s epiphanic moment, as some critics do when they look at the contrast in views of “nature” represented in paragraphs 2 and 32?

19. Discussion Prompt When at the end of the story the girl offers them drugs and a chance to party, why do you think the narrator says, “I thought I was going to cry”?

20. Boyle: “It seems too me that the narrator wants to cry because something has been revealed to him about the nature of life, its dark accidents and the limitations of hip. There is always a badder character than you. And what are you searching for anyway? Death? Yes, but for an accident of fate he could have been the guy bobbing in the lake.” Greasy Lake

21. Possible Theme for “Greasy Lake” based on an analysis of the primary conflict: narrator vs. himself Possible Theme for “Greasy Lake” The various experiences young adults have on their road to maturity may lead them to unleash violent passions, confront their own mortality, and recognize the need for an exploration of self as well as a discernment of human limitations; these lessons, perhaps due to careless behavior and a distraction of their ideals, often, if the people are not obdurate, provide them the strength to move from innocence to potentiality.

22. Raymond Carver 1938-1988 Biography

23. Discussion prompts Carver, obviously, uses the dramatic (indirect) method of characterization to show us “Bub.” What do you learn about his character in the sixteen paragraphs of exposition, prior to Robrt’s arrival in paragraph seventeen? Because Bub’s wife’s character is not as delineated as the two men’s, she remains flat: however, do you see her role as meaningful in the story ? Do you think Robert is a foil for the unnamed narrator? Explain by using examples. Some critics of the story classify the narrator as an antihero? What do you think?

24. Regarding Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” A foil is a secondary character who contrasts with a major character and, in so doing, highlights various facets of the main character's personality. The author may use the foil to set up situations in which the protagonist can show his or her character traits. The term refers to the practice of putting polished foil underneath a gemstone to make it shine more brightly. An antihero is a “protagonist conspicuously lacking in one or more of the usual traits of a traditional hero (bravery, skill, idealism, sense and purpose). The antihero is an ordinary, unglorious citizen of the modern world, usually drawn (according to Sean O’Faolain) as someone “groping, puzzled, cross, mocking, frustrated, and isolated.’”

25. Discussion prompts What symbolic value do you attach to the cathedral? Why do you think Carver used it as the title? Does the cathedral have a strong enough catalytic effect to make us “see” the the Narrator’s insightful moment as numinous?

26. Possible Theme for “Cathedral” For some repellanty insular, self-absorbed, blinded-by-ignorance individuals, even a seemingly meaningless experience may lead them to a point where they “a-spire” to “see” that through collaboration with others they may free themselves from the slavery of confinement, that compassion is a prerequisite not just for happiness but survival.

27. My former students’ possible themes for “Cathedral” Barriers tend to break down when people effectively communicate with one another. Even those not physically blind sometimes need to be taught to see. Stereotyping often renders sighted people blind to the common humanity we all share.

28. Alice Walker Born 1944 Biography

29. Discussion Prompts Coincidentally, this story has about the same amount of expository paragraphs as “Cathedral”; do you see this section of “Everyday Use” as having the same function as Carver’s, i. e., revelation of character of the narrator? Discussion prompt Can a case be made for depicting Maggie as a foil for Wangero ? If so, what would you exemplify?

30. Foils In Short Stories A foil is a secondary character who contrasts with a major character and, in so doing, highlights various facets of the main character's personality. The author may use the foil to set up situations in which the protagonist can show his or her character traits. The term refers to the practice of putting polished foil underneath a gemstone to make it shine more brightly.

31. Some see the following lines (par 13) as a foreshadowing of Mama’s reaction to Wangero’s predatory behavior. Do you? “I used to love to milk till I was hoofed in the side in ‘49. Cows are soothing and slow and don’t bother you, unless you try to milk them the wrong way.” Discussion prompt

32. Critics who see Wangero as not respecting her African American heritage and being an opportunistic individual find much in the story to defend Mama’s epiphanic moment in paragraph 76, for example, pointing to specific contrasts between utilitarian, deeper attachments and aesthetic, more superficial ones. If you agree with this point of view, what evidence do you think they would effect? If you see her character in a different light please discuss your reasons. Discussion prompt

33. “Heritage” Protagonist Antagonist Mother and Maggie Dee/ Wangero Honestyand Integrity Self posturing / artificiality Self-Sacrifice Rapacity Authentic relationship to a heritage of things made for “everyday use” Ethnic Pretentiousness

34. The quilts symbolize the following: Inherited values Family attachments, especially a bond between women Independence Self-reliance The beauty of useful objects The virtue of craftmanship

35. Possible themes for “Everyday Use” Ingrained habits may be given up if justice makes a greater demand. or A person whose honesty and tolerance have long made her susceptible to the strong will of another may reach a point where she will exert her own will for the sake of justice.

36. END