Monthly Archives: September 2016

HW for September 21 (Kate Chopin)

Leave a reply

HW: Read “Story Of An Hour,” “Beyond the Bayou,” (45 mins-1 hr); post your blog (if in Group 5) or comment (if not) (30-45 mins); start work on Essay #1 (1-1.5 hrs). See the Assignment Description for details.  

Reading Questions:

-Pay attention to how Chopin depicts the struggles of her female characters.  Would you define these as “feminist” texts?  What does that mean?  Connect: Find a female character in one of the previous readings, and compare with one of Chopin’s protagonists.  Compare/contrast each author’s depiction of their character.  How much agency/power does each character have?

–dynamic versus static characters: pay attention to which characters grow and which ones don’t.  What details does Chopin include to signal growth?  Conversely, what details tell you that a character does not undergo change?  Create: Write a diary entry, from the perspective of one of the minor characters in either “Story of an Hour” or “Beyond the Bayou,”  set after the story has taken place.  What is that character’s attitude/opinion of the main character of that story?  After the creative piece, explain where you find evidence to support your view.

-”Story Of An Hour” and “Beyond The Bayou” are set in very different places: one is confined to a room, the other takes place in a region of the Louisiana swamp.  In light of our conversation today, pay attention to moments where Chopin uses setting details to develop/enhance any of the following Elements: plot (does setting advance important events?), point of view (does setting limit/expand the reader’s perspective of the story?), style (what words, phrases, or other linguistic patterns does Chopin use to ground you in the setting?)  Clue: pick a couple of passages and explain how setting develops/enhances any of the above Elements.

best,

Professor Kwong

The Small Towns People ( Rip Van Winkle and The Bride Comes To Yellow Shy)

10 Replies

When it comes to both the stories Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving and The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky by Stephen Crane they both share a similar yet different way of depicting the social dynamic of a small town. When it comes to the story Rip Van Winkle the people of the town do fit the way that people would normally think a small town would be. In the reading everyone knows each other and especially know who is Rip Van Winkle. Rip was known as the man that “would never even refuse to assist a neighbor”. When you think of small town peoples you think that everyone helps one another and is a peaceful town. So Irving took the more classic road when it came to describing the way the people of the town were. Especially with Rip.

When it came to The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky, Crane went in a different direction. He did not make the people of the town be as friendly with each other than how Irving did. In the story the drummer cried out “Scratchy Wilson’s drunk and has turned loose with both hands” meaning the old man that was in a gang once was so drunk that he is out and about to firing his revolver around town. Now when it came to this specific part of the story the towns people explained to the drummer that this was a normal thing that would happen in their small town and that when it did they would just close the door and lock themselves in because they knew that Wilson was a dangerous man when he was drunk. Now the drummer although he was scared that Wilson was outside drunk with his revolvers he saw that the people were not scared at all. When It comes to a small towns, people don’t normally think that gun fights would be a regular thing to happen. So in the end Crane did not go for a typical depiction of a small town.

I think that the only similarities that both stories do share would be that both people of the town counted on someone to help them. In the story Rip Van Winkle the people of the town would count on Rip to help them with anything that they needed help with. And the people in the small town the story The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky would normally count on Jack Potter to help them when it came to Scratchy Wilson.

Just Another Day in the West (“The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky” – Stephen Crane)

5 Replies

“The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky” by Stephen Crane gives us a depiction of the social dynamic of a small town which can be compared to the small town from “Young Goodman Brown” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. To first understand the social dynamic, one needs to understand the story and who Jack Potter is. Jack Potter is the town marshal of Yellow Sky which is a little town that is in Texas. Being the town marshal, Jack Potter is a person who people look up to because he is an authority figure and also as someone who deals with the town’s conflicts that arise. Jack Potter is a newlywed who is bringing his wife along home and feels like a traitor to his own town because he got married without the affirmation of the town. Jack Potter feels like he had “committed an extraordinary crime” (29) in his own words which show that this isn’t a crime that happens every day and will leave a strong impression on the town. At this point, it is well understood since Jack Potter is an authority figure who is even feared at times still owes the town to be completely honestly and is comparable to religious figures who also hold an authoritarian figure in Nathaniel Hawthorne work. The main difference in how each author depict the social dynamic in their own story deals is how the characters are involved in the story. In Stephen Crane’s story, he is able to provide a typical day in the west due to involving the drummer whose unfamiliarity with Scratch Wilson, the town drunk who arms two revolvers which causes the reaction of the Mexican men to leave right away. The other men that are left are also familiar with the situation and are irritated with the drummer due to him asking questions. To the reader, based on the reaction of the people in the town, we are able to understand that this is a common occurrence that occurs and a certain routine will be taken to ensure their safety. Hawthorne uses religion and what it stands for to describe the small town actions and behavior. Crane uses a conflict to give insight while Hawthorne uses consequences of religion to drive home the point of loss of faith through deconstructing the people in the town and how they go on their day after they are exposed.

Re vised diary entry for RIP VAN WINKLE

Leave a reply

Dear Diary,

I thought I knew Rip so well. I was sure that he would not have been able to cope with this new town and this new way of doing things. He certainly surprised me, I thought maybe he would be remorsely or shed tears once he had heard about the passing of his wife years ago while he was asleep in the woods. Rip seemed to be at peace with the fact that his nagging wife would no longer cause him headaches or question him about the small work he did around the town they once knew. Watching Rip get use to this new town that now included federals and democrats, without him having knowledge of what those might even be, he still seemed as if he could get use to everything. He was free to be amongst his now adult children in a comfortable home that he did not have to do any maintenance too. Rip telling his stories to the strangers in the Dr. Doolittle hotel seems to be keeping him alive and happy. The kids flock to him and listen carefully, and some of the elders still think he’s crazy and doubt his stories. Rip has always been just him, that small town guy with a mind of his own.

HW and reading questions for Stephen Crane readings

Leave a reply

Dear class,

Great work today.  This week, we’re leaving off Colonial America, and heading into a new period of American short fiction: the late 19th century.  Below is the homework for next Monday’s class.

HW: –Read “The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky” and “The Men In The Storm,” taking notes and using the reading questions as a guide (2 hrs).  There will be a closed book quiz on Monday!

-write a blog post (if you’re in group 4) or comment (if you’re not), and then spend the rest of your prep time reviewing your notes (1 hr)

-If you have time, please peruse the Essay 1 description: paper1assignment_f16 We will discuss this in detail in class on Monday.  Please print out a copy to bring to class.

Reading questions:

  1. We’ve talked about point of view as a term for thinking about who a narrator is, and what their relationship is to the story they’re telling.  In these stories, what is the narrator’s attitude toward his characters?  Are there characters that he’s amused by? Sympathetic to?  How can you tell?

2.  The stories we’ve read thus far have dealt with small towns and the wilderness.  This week, we’re incorporating the city into our discussion of setting in American fiction.  Do the men of “Out of the Storm” behave the way you expect city dwellers to behave?  What about characters in “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” – do they behave in accordance with, or in contrast with, common perceptions of “small town” behavior? Connect: compare the small town citizens of “The Bride Comes To Yellow Sky” with the small towners in “Young Goodman Brown” OR “Rip Van Winkle.”  Is there a difference in how each author depicts the social dynamics of a small town?

 

3.  Both of these stories involve depictions of trains, cars, and other kinds of transportation technology.  Pay attention to how Crane depicts these vehicles, and how different characters relate to them.  What do you think these vehicles might represent or symbolize in these stories?   Create: Write a monologue from one of the “Men in the Storm.”  Who is he?  Where is he from?  Is there anything he enjoys about life in the city? As always, after the creative writing exercise, explain your monologue with reference to the text.

You’ll notice that I haven’t listed a Clue option for the blog groups.  That’s because, starting this week, I’m opening up the Clue option: if you’re doing Clue, you can write your post on any of the above questions, or you can address a different question.  As usual, though, Clue posts should explain how a quote or passage helps you better understand some aspect of the story as a whole.

best,

Professor Kwong