Never fear, Ms. Petch is here!
2) Group Discussion Questions - a little something to wake up the brain...
- Who can remind us what happened in A&P? Tell us the PLOT but in short form. No judging or critiquing the central character (yet)... just give us the "First this happened and then that happened..." and so on and so on.
- Is Sammy's quitting a form of rebellion or a statement of some sort? Does it have any meaning? What is he rebelling against? Are there unconscious targets of his rebellion? Who is the enemy here? Are there any forms of oppression at work in the story? Who is oppressed (or "embarrassed" for that matter)? Is Sammy's standing up for the girls in some way a form of standing up for himself?
- Is the girls behavior itself a kind of statement or rebellion of some sort? What message are they sending by walking into the A&P in their bathing suits? What messages do the girls send to "the sheep" of the store? Why is it significant that they choose a supermarket for their self-display?
- What are Queenie and the girls symbolic of? Is Queenie an upper class girl? How do you know? Is she more free than Sammy? Why? How does he imagine her life? How does he contrast his own existence to that of Queenie? What does Sammy know for a fact about her? What in a sense is he trying to achieve by impressing Queenie?
- What does Sammy want? How do you know? What are we told he wants? What are we shown that he wants?
3) Character - consider the following slides, and the notes that follow,
Certain types of characters appear in many stories. They are:
< The protagonist is the
central character (person, animal, or personified object) in the plot's
conflict.
< The antagonist is the
force in conflict with the protagonist. It may be society, nature, or fate, as
well as another person. It can also be the protagonist's own self, if he or she
has an internal conflict.
< A character foil is a
character whose traits are in direct contrast to those of the principal
character. The foil therefore highlights the traits of the protagonist. The
foil is usually a minor character, although if there are two protagonists, they
may be foils of each other.
Also:
- A Flat Character is one dimensional, only has one character trait. Ex. Lengel, the store manager is conservative.
- A Stock Character or Stereotyped Character is one of a type that we all recognize - the nerd, the jock, the grumpy boss. Yup, Lengel is also an example of a Stereotype.
- A Static Character is a character that does not change. Ex. You guessed it... Lengel.
- Sammy is a round and dynamic character because he has many character traits and he changes over the course of the story; he has an epiphany. An epiphany is a moment of sudden realization.
4) Your Task:
With a partner, or on your own, make and fill in a chart that looks like this:
Sammy – protagonist, round
character, dynamic character
|
|||
| Direct Presentation Quote: |
What were we told about the
character: |
Indirect Presentation Quote: |
What do we infer about the
character” |
Find TWO examples of direct Presentation and at least SIX of indirect.
DUE TOMORROW.
5) Assembly or.... for the other block: How is a short film like a short story? What do we learn about character studies from Pixar?
