Choose Your Own Short Story

READ

[Source]

Choose one story from the following short stories (sure you can read more than one, but for this unit having one under your belt will suffice).

Choose one from the following:
"Everything That Rises Must Converge"-Flannery O'Connor
"The Black Cat"-Poe
"Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?"-Oates
"A Good Man is Hard to Find"-O'Connor

DO THE FOLLOWING ON YOUR BLOG
Create Socratic Questions (one question for each type) covering the story you've chosen. Write your questions and the answers on a blog post. Be sure to answer each question you ask using complete sentences.

Anytime you want me to check your progress comment below 

and I'll look at what you've been writing.

Southern Gothic Romanticism: "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" and "A Rose for Emily"

Southern gothic - how to create a free slideshow

After reviewing the notes for Southern Gothic Romanticism (hover over the notes to show the play and pause buttons so you can pause and read as many times as you like) read the two stories below.

READ: "The Life You Save May Be Your Own"

READ: "A Rose for Emily"

ANSWER ON YOUR BLOG: What is Southern Gothic Romanticism? How do the two stories and their authors exhibit Southern Gothic traits? How do these stories and their literature compare to Romanticism and Gothic or Dark Romanticism?

In “A Rose from Emily”, why do you think Miss Emily’s crime goes undetected until her death? Identify at least three contributing factors and support them with reference to the story.

Flannery O’Connor, the author of “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, said that the hitchhiker Shiftlet picks up at the end ‘makes the story work.’ How do you think the episode with the hitchhiker does this?

WORDS TO KNOW
Irony (Situational, Verbal and Dramatic)
Like to learn about irony with irreverent humor? Click here. Want your irony in a more serious approach with a handy-dandy handout? Click here. Prefer your lesson on irony with sound? Click here.

And, because...well, um, who doesn't like an argument? Here's my favorite song about irony...or is it about irony at all? Argue with yourself as you listen:

Anytime you want me to check your progress comment below and I'll look at what you've been writing.

The Gothic Short Story (Write Your Own)

Note: You will need to be in class to get the due date and to draw for what motifs you'll need to include in your story.

Words to know
Motif (there's a sheet you can download from this file)

Gothic Romanticism: Hawthorne, Poe and Baudelaire

Gothic Romanticism - slideshows

In class we will be reading "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe. When reading "Spleen" by Baudelaire note the similarities and differences between the American approach to Dark Romanticism as compared to Baudelaire's European approach. Need a little help? Check out some reading here and/or here.

READ: "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"
READ: "The Fall of the House of Usher"
READ: "The Masque of the Red Death"

ANSWER ON YOUR BLOG: 

1. There are many interpretations of “The Fall of the House of Usher”. One interpretation suggests that Usher’s nervousness and weakness are the results of Madeline Usher’s being a vampire. Using details from the story, write an analysis of the story that supports this interpretation.
2. How do the Gothic fiction writers express—either directly or indirectly—a criticism of human nature. Explain what the writers criticize about human nature, and how they communicate this criticism to the reader. Do the writers have similar attitudes toward human nature? Explain.

Anytime you want me to check your progress comment below 

and I'll look at what you've been writing.

[The Father of Gothic Fiction: Edgar Allen Poe]