1. Western Literature Week 2: Chapter 1: Plot Chapter 2: Point of View

2. Western Literature The class monitor has a copy of the syllabus.
Instructor: Katelyn McGehee
Peter Hall Room: B411
Phone #:
Office Hours: By appointment.
(Just send me a text or an and we’ll
figure out a time to meet. I love visits! )

3. Homework?
Did you get your pictures? Please pass up your contact cards with your pictures attached!
Class schedule?
Could you access the website all right?
Trouble posting the power point…
address:
Username:
Password:
literatureisfun

4. Plot Events in a time sequence Characters performing action
Basically… the plot is the story. It’s what happens.
Components of a story’s plot:
Exposition
Crisis /Conflict
Climax
Resolution (Denouement)

5. 1) Exposition: Elements of a Plot - Usually short - The introduction
- “Sets the scene”
- Introduces main characters
- Gives background information for the story

6. 2) Crisis / Conflict Elements of a Plot
- Complication that moves to the climax
- Problem in the story
- Moves to the climax

7. 3) Climax Elements of a Plot - The most exciting part of a story
- The height of the story’s tension

8. 4) Resolution Elements of a Plot - Also called “denouement”
- The outcome of the conflict
- How it all ends; what happens at the end of the story

9. The Star-Money by the Brothers Grimm
There was once on a time a little girl whose father and mother were dead, and she was so poor that she no longer had any little room to live in, or bed to sleep in, and at last she had nothing else but the clothes she was wearing and a little bit of bread in her hand which some kind person had given her. She was, however, good and pious. And as she was left alone by all the world, she went out into the open country, trusting in the good God.

10. Then a poor man met her, who said: “Ah, give me something to eat, I am so hungry!” She reached him the whole of her piece of bread, and said: “May God bless it to your use,” and went on. Then came a child who moaned and said: “My head is so cold, give me something to cover it with.” So she took off her hood and gave it to him; and when she had walked a little farther, she met another child who had no jacket and was frozen with cold. Then she gave it her own; and a little farther on one begged for a dress, and she gave away that also. At length she got into a forest and it had already become dark, and there came yet another child, and asked for a little shirt, and the good little girl thought to herself: “It is a dark night and no one sees thee, thou canst very well give thy little shirt away,” and took it off, and gave away that also.

11. And as she so stood, and had not one single thing left, suddenly some stars from heaven fell down, and they were nothing else but hard smooth pieces of money, and although she had just given her little shirt away, she had a new one which was of the very finest cloth. Then she gathered together the money into this, and was rich all the days of her life.

12. 1) What is the story’s exposition?
There was once on a time a little girl whose father and mother were dead, and she was so poor that she no longer had any little room to live in, or bed to sleep in, and at last she had nothing else but the clothes she was wearing and a little bit of bread in her hand which some kind person had given her. She was, however, good and pious. And as she was left alone by all the world, she went out into the open country, trusting in the good God.
- Introduces the main character: the girl.
- Gives the background: parents are dead, and she has
nothing left but her clothes and some bread.
- Tells how the story starts: she goes out into the world alone.

13. The Star-Money
2) What is the crisis/conflict of the story? The girl has nothing in the world but clothes, but she keeps meeting people who ask her to help them, and slowly she is giving away EVERYTHING she has left. 3) What is the climax of the story? At length she got into a forest and it had already become dark, and there came yet another child, and asked for a little shirt, and the good little girl thought to herself: “It is a dark night and no one sees thee, thou canst very well give thy little shirt away,” and took it off, and gave away that also.

14. The Star-Money 4) What is the story’s resolution?
Then she gathered together the money into this, and was rich all the days of her life.
What do you think about this story? Does it have a lesson? What do you think the lesson is? Would you do what the girl did if you had nothing but your clothes and a piece of bread? Talk about it in small groups.

15. The Brothers Grimm 1785(6)-1859(63)

16. The Grimm Brothers The Grimm Brothers were German.
Wrote hundreds of stories that often called “Fairy Tales.”
Their stories have been translated into more than 160 languages.
Most of their stories are “scary” and were often changed to make them easier for children to read.
Have you heard of Cinderella? Rapunzel? Hansel and Gretel? Snow White? The Sleeping Beauty?

17. Godfather Death What is a godfather?
A man who sponsors a child at baptism.
Why doesn’t the man choose God and the Devil as the godfather? (page 6)
God “gives to the rich and lets the poor go hungry.”
The Devil “deceives and misleads mankind.”
Why does the man choose death as the godfather? (page 6)
Death “makes all men equal.”

18. Godfather Death How does Death help the doctor? (pages 6-7)
What does Death warn the doctor about? (7)
Why does the doctor disobey Death the first time? (page 7)
Why does the doctor disobey Death the second time? (pages 7-8)
At the end of the story, what does it mean if a light goes out? (pages 8-9)

19. Godfather Death What happens in the exposition?
Pages 5-6
What is the basic conflict?
Page 7
What is the climax?
Page 8
What is the story’s resolution?
Page 9
Does it have a happy ending?

20. Godfather Death What happens in the exposition?
Pages 5-6
Background, intro 5 characters, has son, finds godfather.
What is the basic conflict?
Page 7
Death tells the doctor the rule, but the doctor disobeys.
What is the climax?
Page 8
Doctor disobeys Death again… Will he die for it???
What’s the resolution? Is it a happy ending?
Page 9
The doctor dies.

21. Godfather Death
Can you summarize the plot of “Godfather Death” in 1-4 sentences? Discuss it in your group for a few minutes. “Godfather Death” is about a man who has Death as his godfather. The man becomes a doctor, and Death helps him by telling him when people will die and when they will live. But the doctor disobeys Death and ends up dying himself.

22. Point of View Who is telling the story? Who is the narrator/speaker?
First-Person
“I,” “We”
Major character
Minor character
Third-Person
“He,” “She,” “They”
Third-Person Omniscient (knows everything)
Third-Person Limited:
Sees one major character
Sees one minor character
Objective – does “see into” any characters

23. What kind of point of view are each of these? Discuss.
“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago -- never mind how long precisely -- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.” - Moby-Dick, excerpt from the first page ANSWER: First-Person Point of View

24. What point of view?
“Jenny and Monica had been friends since they were little, but they were not very close anymore. Today they had gone to the park to see a special performance with two other friends of theirs. Monica did not know this at the time, but Jenny was very unhappy with her life and was planning to run away. Jenny did not think that Monica would notice, and Monica did not think that Jenny would ever do such a thing.” ANSWER: Third-Person Omniscient

25. What point of view?
“Jenny looked to the left, then to the right. Her friends were still watching the performance and paying no attention to her. This was the time for her to leave. Would Monica see her? No, Jenny felt sure that Monica would not even notice. In fact, she felt sure that no one would notice she was gone until she had been good at least a month. Thinking these thoughts, Jenny slipped away into the crowd without looking back, blinking back tears.” ANSWER: Third-Person (Limited)

26. What point of view?
“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by someone else, these pages must show.” - David Copperfield, excerpt from the first page ANSWER: First-Person

27. “The Appointment in Samarra” W. Somerset Maugham

28. Quick Vocabulary Can you define the following words? provisions
trembling
jostled
threatening gesture
fate
mounted
gallop

29. There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions. In a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, “Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd, and when I turned, I saw it was Death that jostled me.  She looked at me and made a threatening gesture!  Now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate.  I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me.”  The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went.  Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, “Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?”  “That was not a threatening gesture,” I said. “It was only a start of surprise.  I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.”

30. Discuss in small groups.
Questions
Discuss in small groups.
What is the story’s point of view?
Who is the speaker/narrator in the story? How do you know?
What is the main conflict in the story?
What is the story’s resolution? How is it surprising/ironic?
Do you think the story is difficult to understand? Why or why not?

32. Edgar Allen Poe Considered the “father” of the modern mystery story.
Wrote horror (scary) stories.
His writing is usually very dark and serious.
Wrote science fiction stories.
Was also a great poet.

33. Excerpt from “The Raven”
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. `'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more.' … And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating `'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door - Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; - This it is, and nothing more,'

34. What point of view is “The Raven” told from?

35. Excerpt from “The Bells”
Hear the sledges with the bells -  Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, In the icy air of night! While the stars that oversprinkle All the heavens seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells -  From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells…

36. The Tell-Tale Heart
What does the narrator dislike about the old man? (pages 38-39)
What does the narrator do every night? (pg. 39)
What bad thing does the narrator do? (pg. 42)
What makes the narrator go crazy? Why does he finally tell the police at the end that he killed the man? (pages 43-44)

37. The Tell-Tale Heart Who is the narrator?
Why did Poe choose this point of view?
Can you believe what the narrator is telling you?
Where do you think the narrator is when he is writing the story?
What is the “Tell-Tale Heart?”

38. The Tell-Tale Heart
Can you explain the plot of “The Tell-Tale Heart” in 1-4 sentences? Discuss it briefly in your group. “The Tell-Tale Heart” is a story told by a man who murders an older man and then hides his body underneath the floor. The police come to find out if anything happened to the old man, and the narrator feels so guilty that he thinks he hears the old man’s heartbeat, and in the end he confesses his crime to the police.

39. Review: Understand this vocabulary!
Plot
Exposition
Conflict
Climax
Resolution.
Authors make choices about their plot. Why?
Point of View
First-Person
Third-Person
Why does the author choose a point of view?

40. Homework
Look over the introductions to Chapters 3 and 4: “Characters & Characterization” and “Setting.” YOU DON’T HAVE TO READ ALL OF IT… Just look briefly at some of the important words.
Read “Cat in the Rain,” Pages
Look at the vocabulary on the website/the account.
Expect a quiz on…
the story’s content
literary words from this week’s lesson (“plot,” “point of view,” etc.)
the red vocabulary from the story