HUS 210 Template

ASSIGNMENT #1: Unreliable Narrators

A. After completing the class analysis of Ana María Matute's "The Golden Tree," freewrite for five minutes about the following questions.

1. Who tells the story? How old is the narrator?

2. Does the narrator write as he observes, or does he tell the story many years later? Why is this important?

3. Why is the narrator unable to see Ivo's golden tree until he returns to the hamlet years later? What is the symbolism of the golden tree?

B. Write a letter to Miss Leocadia expressing your reaction to lvo's privilege regarding the key to the tower. Explain why you think he should/should not have this privilege. Time: 5 minutes

ASSIGNMENT #2: The Structure of a Short Story

1. Read the first two paragraphs of "Eva's Indifference." After discussing them with your group, freewrite for 8 minutes about the following: a. What does the narrator's description of Eva tells us about him? b. How objective do you think he is? c. Is this a person you would like to have as a friend? Why or why not?

2. Discuss p 150 with your group. Freewrite for 8 minutes about the following:
Why do you think Eva cries at the end of the interview, even though she has succeeded in orally pummeling and humiliating the narrator? Why does the narrator think she cries?

3. Discuss the dénouement with your group. Freewrite for 8 mins. about the following: Who wins this battle? Who seduces whom? How does the dénouement challenge traditional sex roles in 1970's Spain? Is Eva really "seduced and abandoned"?

4. After discussing the structural sections of the story with your group, freewrite for 5 mins. about the main subsections in the development, labeling each one according to its theme.

ASSIGNMENT #3: Staging of Textual Analysis

Introduction to the method of textual analysis. Stages 1-6: Close reading, identification of author, plot summary and central idea, structure, analysis of form and content, and conclusion. Apply the method to "Eva's Indifference" by Soledad Puértolas.

1. The class is divided in groups of three or four. After locating biographical notes about the author from the text, encyclopedias or other sources, students discuss which pieces of information are pertinent and which are irrelevant to the analysis in questions. They must also determine what is factual information which does not need to be quoted, and what is a critic's opinion that needs to be acknowledged. They proceed to freewrite for 11 minutes about stage 2.

2. Plot summary, central idea and structure need no special instructions at this point, since they have been doing that for homework for four weeks.

3. The analysis goes by section,

a. Exposition. Students work with their groups to discuss the following elements in the exposition: Who tells the story? Where does it take place and when? How is the atmosphere created (what words or descriptions are used/) Who are the main characters and how are they portrayed (characterization techniques: descriptions/dialogue). Then they freewrite for 11 minutes about the exposition.

b. Development. With your group, identify the main subsections in the development and label each one (They have already done this in a previous assignment). Discuss with your group how the struggle between Eva and the narrator unfolds. Point out the contrast between what the (unreliable) narrator thinks about Eva and what the reader concludes from Eva's reactions. Identify the turning point in the story and analyze why Eva cries (the narrator's opinion vs. the student's opinion) and why she agrees to a tryst with the narrator. Explain the function of the descriptions of nature in the turning point. Freewrite individually for 11 mins.

c. Dénouement. With your group, try to determine the meaning of the last sentence: "The rest of the story was common." What was considered a "common ending" for a tryst of this nature in the Spain of the 70's? What "feminist spin" does Puértolas introduce in the story? How does the use of an unreliable narrator pull the reader into the story? How would a different narrator make this story more/less effective? Freewrite as usual.

4. Conclusion. With your group, work on a final paragraph summarizing what you have discussed about the story and forging a critical evaluation of the story. Has the writer succeeded in communicating her main idea in an effective way? What are the esthetic merits of the story? Is the open ending an effective way to end the story? Freewrite as usual.

ASSIGNMENT #4: Borges, "The South"

A. In this assignment we will explore the use of symbolism, intertexts and open endings.

1. Freewrite for 5 minutes about the associations of "the South" What does it mean to Dahlmann? To Borges? To you?

2. Freewrite for 15 minutes about the symbolism of the following street names: Ecuador, Constitution, Brasil.

3. There are three main intertexts in this story: Martín Fierro, The One Thousand and One Nights and Paul et Virginie. Research the main idea of each of these texts and come to class ready to freewrite for 15 minutes about their relevance to the story.

4. Why do you think Borges ends the story without determining who wins the duel between Dahlmann and the young gaucho? Freewrite for 15 minutes.

B. Incorporating secondary sources.

1. Bring to class a copy of a critical essay about Borges's story. With your group, determine what sections of the article are pertinent to your analysis of the story. Copy or highlight these sections.

2. Critical quotes are always incorporated in the analytic section of your essay, after localization and plot summary. Find a place in your analysis where you could insert these comments, whether directly quoted or paraphrased.

3. Make sure that you introduce the critical comment with a transitional sentence, and that you then react to the comment. Make sure that the reader knows when the quote student and your comments begin again. DO NOT LET THE CRITICAL COMMENT TAKE OVER YOUR PAPER.

4. Document your source with a parenthetical note.
Make sure that you have all the bibliographical information you need for the list of works cited at the end of your paper.

ASSIGNMENT #5: "The Closed Door"

1. After consulting Cirlot's Dictionary of Symbols, come to class ready to freewrite for 15 minutes about the following symbols in the story: a) the window b)the closed door c) the pigeon d) the reproduction of the Venus of Milo e) the child.

2. Freewrite for 11 minutes about the use of the crescendo in the development leading to the climax in the story.

3. Freewrite for 11 minutes about how the use of mockery in the climax determines the tragic outcome of the story.

ASSIGNMENT #6: "Letters From the Park"

1. Freewrite for 11 minutes about the different tools used by a writer and a filmmaker to deliver their esthetic and ideological messages.

2. After reading the brief episode from Love in the Time of Cholera that served as the basis for the film, freewrite for 15 minutes about what you see as the main turns in the plot that you would develop if you were making a film from the story.

3. Freewrite for 15 minutes about the structure of the film and about what you see as the main idea in each section.

4. Compare a contrast the characterization of Pedro and Juan. How does each one dress? What do they like to talk about? How do they move? Which one do you think is more akin to María. Freewrite for 15 minutes.

5. Freewrite for 11 minutes about some examples of Pedro's "grammar of flowers" and "grammar of handkerchiefs."

6. There are no words in the final scene. Freewrite for 15 minutes about the symbols (as per #5 above) on which the camera focuses to bring about the climax and resolution of the film.