![]() I ask them to be prepared to explain and defend their choice (especially against the potential responses by the other groups) and then we go, group-by-group, and have them do so. [LeDon Sweeney, ask students to select which of the various endings offered by Atwood is their favorite and then divide them into groups based on their choices. As the story is also about storytelling, it provides a nice way of getting them to discuss what they like in a good story – not just plot, but how the story is told. They have never failed to make excellent observations, which, of course, gives me an opportunity to applaud their ability to read and encourage them that they can do this with everything they read. [Travis Johnson, Classroom Strategies Round Table ReadingĪs this story is nice and short, I like to make my students read it aloud and ask them to comment on the variations. And I tell them that it’s on top of this foundation of plot convention that we’ll build our critical analyses in the coming semester. ![]() They know the conventions of narrative already. Ultimately, I try to use the discussion to build confidence in my students, to point out to them that they’re already experts on plot. It can be difficult to get the students talking during the first few weeks of class, so having reader-centered discussion activities like those listed below can help break the ice. [Lindsey Row-Heyveld, Lindsey and LeDon, I’ve always had great luck with this story at the beginning of the semester. It pretty much teaches itself, too, so there’s very little preparation needed in advance. It never fails to get students engaged and it helps them begin to think about who they are as readers in a way that many have not considered before. [LeDon Sweeney, is my go-to first week story. For some, I also think it strikes close to home and challenges them to read for more than plot. The students enjoy the story as well as find many aspects of the story clever and funny. I’ve taught with this story as I like to focus my students on learning the “hows and whys” of storytelling. I have begun almost every section of Interp. Ultimately, though, Atwood rescues her story from the dreary truths of storytelling by handing the reins over to the reader, “Now try How and Why,” inviting us to construct a reason for the construction.Like Paley’s “A Conversation with My Father”, Atwood’s story is a story about storytelling. “Happy Endings” repeats this pattern until we’re left with little reason to continue trusting all its constructions-section F stops pretending to care about endings altogether. Engaging the reader in the second person here amplifies our disconnect us from the pity we might otherwise feel for Mary, and it emphasizes the constructed nature of her story. So before we develop too much connection to Mary in section B, for example, Atwood points to a symbolic construction and hands it to us (“You can see what kind of a woman she is by the fact that it’s not even whiskey”) as evidence for her character’s weak personality. This pattern removes us from the characters, giving us an unusually clinical distance from their emotional experiences. Atwood casually weaves major details into minor ones, and often undercuts their significance by repeating clichéd phrasings (“stimulating and challenging”). ![]() It warns readers of its narrative shortcomings (“this is the thin part of the plot, but it can be dealt with later”), and cautions writers to remember that plot (“a what and a what and a what”) functions only as a vessel for the “How and Why” we’re trying to convey. This story is a concise, if somewhat acerbic, reflection on the act of storytelling.
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