Look through the list of Louise’s emotions and arrange in order she experiences them.

Kate Chopin

The Story of an Hour

The aim of the lesson is to learn the necessary elements of a short story as a genre of literature to teach you to estimate the value of every detail, however small, and of every word and describe the effect it produces upon the meaning of the whole story.

A short story as a genre of fiction has several necessary elements. These are setting, characters, plot and theme.

Setting isthe time when and the place where the events in a work of literature happen. Things such as the time of day, the trees, the animals, the sounds, the smells, and the weather described by the author are all part of the setting. Things that the characters use also belong to setting. Setting can be a very important part of writing because it can affect the people and the events of the story.

Read out all sentences, phrases, word combinations, words which describe the setting of this story: When does the story take place? Where do events of the story happen (at first.., then…)? What is the period of time of the story? What is the weather like? What time of the year is described? etc.

Historical background also contributes to the setting of the story. Listen to the text “The Woman Question” to understand the historical background of “The Story of an Hour”.

2. Charactersare the next necessary element of a short story. They have traits, features of their personality that define who they are. The traits may affect his or her actions and influence the plot of a story, a poem, etc. The traits a character possesses are what motivate his actions and often determine the plot, and theme. The author reveals a character’s traits through physical description, dialogue, action and comments made by other character or by the author. The more traits a character has the more complex and interesting he will be.

Read aloud the words and phrases which may characterize: a) Louise Mallard; b) Josephine; c) Richards; d) Brently Mallard. But before it, state their relationships.

Imploring; young; careful; gentle; with a fair, calm face; composed; exhausted; with white slender hands; hastening to bear the sad message; tender; abandoned; waiting for smth. fearfully; self-asserted; amazed; half concealing; travel-stained; free; waiting at the bottom.

The plotof a story is a series of events. Characters in fiction must go through a series of actions or incidents that make up a story. Writers can write a plot chronologically, from beginning to end. They can also use flashbacks. Flashbacks are interruptions that tell about an earlier episode or scene. Is the plot of the story by K. Chopin chronological or not? Is the story rich in events or in emotions?

Sum up the story according to the multiple choices:

I. Having learnt the news Richards hurries home:

a) to announce it as soon as possible;

b) to prepare Louise;

c) to prevent someone else from breaking the news less carefully.

II. Great care is taken to break to Louise the news of her husband’s death because:

a) her relatives are afraid of her reaction;

b) her relatives are afraid to do harm to her health;

c) her relatives bear in mind her age.

III. Louise reacts to the sad message:

a) in a way all women do;

b) with a paralyzed inability to understand it;

c) in a wild and uncontrolled way.

IV. In her room being physically exhausted Louise observes nature:

a) dark and gloomy;

b) full of spring sounds and scents;

c) rainy and cloudy.

V. A sense of freedom possesses Louise together with;

a) joy;

b) grief;

c) fear.

VI. When Louise leaves her room and descends the stairs with her sister she looks:

a) as if she were exhausted;

b) as if she realized something important;

c) as if she conquered (defeated) something.

VII. Brently Mallard’s sudden appearance causes his wife’s death because of:

a) joy;

b) surprise;

c) shock.

4. One important ingredient of the plot is conflict.Every story has to contain a conflict of some kind – a meeting of two opposing forces. Usually the central character is involved in a struggle with another character. Conflict can also exist within one (psychological conflict), between people and things, and between people and nature.

What type of conflict is in the plot of “The story of an Hour”: between characters, within one (a psychological conflict), between people and things, between people and nature (society)?

Mind: any conflict must have at least to sides, two forces or poles: there must be a desire and something that counters (=противоречить, противостоять) that desire. That’s why before defining the type of conflict in the story think what desire the main character has (to be alone, to be free, to be independent, to be with her husband, to marry someone else, etc.). Try to formulate what counters this desire (her family, the whole society, the morals existing in the turn of the 20^th century in the USA, her duty as a married woman, etc).

5. Once a conflict is established, the events of the story develop. A good story will make you ask yourself “What will happen next?” Early in a story, an important plot question is usually raised in the reader’s mind. As events happen, the action rises and leads to an exciting climax. The climax is a turning point in a story, a novel, a poem, etc. It occurs when a major conflict of the plot or characters is settled or resolved. The climax usually comes at or close to the end of a literary work and is often the most exciting part. The climaxis the event that answers the big plot question(s) raised. The character either succeeds or fails. The following action usually reveals the outcome (=the result) of the climax. The outcome of the climax usually reflects the final message, or theme of the author.

What is the climax of the story? At first try to formulate the plot question (on order to do it, return to the two sides of the conflict of the story). Then choose among the following events:

٭ The death of the main character.

٭The moment Louise realizes her freedom. (She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!”

٭ The moment Louise and her sister descends the stairs.

٭ The appearance of Brently Mallard.

6. A story, a poem, or a novel must be told by someone. The person, of course, is the author or poet. But the author may choose to tell his or her literary work through someone else. The view or voice from which the work is told is called the point of view.One of the characters may tell the story using the pronoun I or we. In this case the story is told from the first-person point of view (=от первого лица). In the third-person point of view,the narrator of the story is not a character. This point of view may be limited to the feelings and thoughts of a single person, or it may be omniscient [om`nisiənt](=all knowing) and include the feelings and thoughts of all characters.

Describe the point of view in “The Story of an Hour”: Does the point of view represent one person or many? How do you know? Who is the only character whose thoughts and emotions are accessible? Pick up necessary quotations to prove your idea.

7. There is no art without emotion. In every literary work the writer’s feelings and emotions are reflected in the tone. Tone is the attitude an author brings to his subject in a literary work. It may be serious, playful, formal, objective, ironic, sad, bitter, sympathetic, etc. And the author’s attitude is his view of the characters’ actions. It reflects his judgment of them. The attitude of a writer to his subject matter determines the tone of the story. The tone is the light in which the characters and events are depicted. Irony in literature happens when something takes place that is very different from what the characters or readers expect to happen. An ironic tone tells the reader that the author may be saying something quite different from what he or she appears to be saying. Satire is a humorous criticism of a person, group of people, or an idea. Words alone do not determine tone. The reader must also look at the following elements to understand the tone of a literary story: details, characters, events, situations, words. The tone of a story may convey more than one attitude; it may convey several at once.

Still let’s consider the choice of words at first. The tone may be identified by means of descriptive adjectives and phrases.

Look through the list of Louise’s emotions and arrange in order she experiences them.

Tumult, self-assertion, wild abandonment, a suspension of intelligent thought, a feverish triumph, a physical exhaustion, freedom, a monstrous joy, a strange feeling, shock, warmth and relaxation, illumination.

Now bear in mind the choice of words, the situation described, events, the characters and try to define the tone of the story. Is it serious, objective, sympathetic, ironic, understanding, sad, bitter, etc.?

8. Theme. Authors usually write stories because they have something to say about life. The message that they want to tell readers is the themeof the story. The theme is the meaning or the main idea of the story. Some writers will state the theme clearly in the story. Others ask you to figure out the theme for yourself. Many times what the main characters learn from the events, he or she has experienced gives clues to the theme. Sometimes what the reader learns reveals the theme. Some clues to the theme may be found in other literary elements - setting, character, dialogue and plot. Actually the theme answers the question: “What does the story mean?” Stories express a writer’s ideas about what is true in life. They often explain what an author thinks about topics (love, fear, etc). And at last remember you home test. The theme is defined their as the generalization about life that the story leads you to see. But be careful not to mix the theme up with the subject-matter!This term means a specific topic of the story. The subject-matter (or simply subject) describes what this story is exactly about.

So, at first define the subject of the story, choosing among the following phrases:

a) the story is about one woman’s marriage and death.

b) the story is about the relations between a husband and a wife.

c) the story is about what the main character (a woman in the turn of the 19^th century U.S.) thinks and feels as she finds herself thrust into solitude and self-contemplation for the first time.

d) the story is about a sudden death of a husband and about his wife’s reaction to it.

e) the story is about the main character’s sufferings.

f) the story is about the injustices as far as women’s rights are concerned.

g) the story is about a failed dream of a woman to be independent.

Now try to define the theme of the story. What does the story mean? What is (are) its main idea(s)? Choose among the following:

a) It is impossible to live without love.

b) Neither men nor women have a right to impose his or her private will upon a fellow-creature.

c) The traditional inequality of rights may lead to a personal tragedy.

d) Even for a married woman a desire for independence and freedom is natural.

e) Love can’t survive in the family where a person (traditionally a wife) loses her/his identity being dominated by the spouse.

f) Love and morals count for nothing (=are not important, mean nothing) if a person is deprived from independence and self-assertion which are the main parts of any personality.

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 1561