Short Story Unit A:

“How to Tell a True War Story”“Battle Royale”

Choose Your Own

Concepts to be Learned:

Main focus-- 1. Genre and Text Structure- What elements make up an effective short story? What is the structure used within the short story? How does diction and syntax play an integral part in creating atmosphere, mood, and/or tone?

2. Time Period – How does the time period influence the author?

3. Cultural Analysis – How does culture influence the author?

Author #1: Tim O'Brien( 1946 - )

Personal Information: He was born

October 1, 1946 in Austin, MN.

He was married in 1973 to his wife Ann.

Education: Graduated from Macalaster College with a BA in Political Science. He graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1968. O'Brien then went to Harvard from 1970-1976.

Military Service: Served in the Vietnam war and was discharged in 1970 (wounded), gaining a Purple Heart.

O’Brien Today

Career awards: He won the O'Henry Memorial award in 1976 and 1978, National Book award in 1979, Vietnam Veterans of America Award in 1987, Heartland Prize in 1990 for The Things They Carried. In 1995 he was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Arts and Humanities Foundation, New York Times Notable Book Designation, James Fenimore Cooper Prize for historical fiction, all for In The Lake Of Woods.

Facts to Know Before Reading

About 58,200 Americans were killed during the war and roughly 304,000 were wounded out of the 2.59 million who served the war.

The average age of the wounded and dead was 23.11 years.

After the war, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and The Philippines stayed free of communism.

During the war, the national debt was increased by $146 billion.

90% of the Vietnam War veterans say they are glad they served in the war.

74% say they would serve again.

11,465 were less than the age of 20.

The number of Vietnamese killed was 500,000 and casualties were in the millions.

From the year 1957 to the year 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated nearly 37,000 South Vietnamese and nearly 58,500 were abducted. Death squads mainly focused on leaders like minor officials and schoolteachers.

Nearly two-thirds of the men serving the war were volunteers.

“How to Tell A True War Story”

Chapter in novel The Things They Carried

Written in 1990 (was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize)

Summary: The narrator attempts to show you how a true war story needs to be told as he is telling you various war stories. He tells you what aspects of story telling are needed in order for you to understand what point the story is supposed to make. And sometimes, there is no point.

Themes in “How to Tell A True War Story”:

IsolationLanguageTruthCourageRedemption

Annotations: Be on the look out for these themes and other literary devices (simile, metaphor, imagery, characterization, etc. ) while reading.

verisimilitude

Work that is blurred between fiction and reality.

Question: Do you need to make up details in order for the truth to revealed?Can create mood and understanding, so

truth can be felt

Do Now: You may work with your seat partnerFlip to the back of your packet and work on finding and filling in examples of literary elements into the chart for “How to Tell a True War Story”. Due for tomorrow!! I will be around to check your homework: the guided reading questions and vocabulary.

Definitions-- Genre & Structure

Genre: a literary species or form, e.g., tragedy, epic, comedy, novel, essay, biography, lyric poem. Determined by literary technique, tone, or content.

Structure: framework of a work of literature; the organization or over-all design of a work.

Structure: In the most basic form…structure means 'composed of parts' or 'the organization of something’. The structure of literature can be described as the organizational method of the written material.

Some common methods of organization include the following:

•Narrative (order of occurrence or order of telling)

•Chronological (time sequence)

•Comparison and contrast

•Cause and Effect

•Inductive (specific to general)

•Deductive (general to specific)

Most common elements of

structure are:

• Setting

• Plot

• Theme

Genre, structure, style…it’s all related Recap…what’s style?

Style: manner of expression; how a speaker or writer says what he says.

Diction: as style of speaking or writing determined by the choice of words by a speaker or a writer. Diction is not just a writer's choice of words it can include the mood, attitude, dialect and style of writing

Diction:

Individuals vary their diction depending on different contexts and settings.

Therefore, we come across various types of diction: It may be “formal” where formal words are used in formal situations e.g. press

conferences, presentations etc.

Similarly, we use “informal” diction in informal situations like writing or talking to our friends.

Moreover, a “colloquial” diction uses words common in everyday speech.

“Slang” is the use of words that are impolite or newly coined.

Diction: Language can be classified in a number of ways. Denotation: the literal meaning of a word; there are no emotions, values,

or images associated with denotative meaning. Scientific and mathematical language carries few, if any emotional or connotative meanings.

Connotation: the emotions, values, or images associated with a word. The intensity of emotions or the power of the values and images associated with a word varies. Words connected with religion, politics, and sex tend to have the strongest feelings and images associated with them.

For most people, the word mother calls up very strong positive feelings and associations--loving, self-sacrificing, always there for you, understanding; the denotative meaning, on the other hand, is simply "a female animal who has borne one or more children." Of course connotative meanings do not necessarily reflect reality; for instance, if someone said, "His mother is not very motherly," you would immediately understand the difference between motherly (connotation) and mother (denotation).

Diction Activity: Group 1: student, apprentice, disciple, junior, learner, novice, scholar,

undergraduate

Group 2: skinny, bony, angular, emaciated, gaunt, malnourished, scrawny, slender, thin, anorexic

Group 3: run, amble, bound, dart, dash, gallop, lope, scamper, sprint

Group 4: vacation, break, fiesta, furlough, holiday, intermission, layoff, recess, respite, sabbatical

Group 5: busy, active, diligent, employed, occupied, perserving, unavailable

Group 6: fear, dread, apprehension, anxiety, panic, terror

Group 7: fat, obese, chubby, stout, plump, stocky, corpulent

“How to Tell a True War Story” Review:

Genre: short story sub genre: historical fiction

Structure: narrative; flashbacks; inductive and deductive.

Style: verisimilitude Diction: informal; colloquial; slang

I’ll be around to check the literary elements chart.

Do Now:Turn AOW #3 into basket THEN… Answer the following question with your seat partner: ( 2-3 sentences )

What role does diction play in short story,“How to Tell a True War Story”?

Author #2: Ralph Ellison

Basics: Born: March 1, 1914 Birthplace: Oklahoma City

Best known for novelInvisible Man

Treatment of blacks during 1930’s

Racism was prevalent throughout the United States during the 1930’s. However, treatment and level of racism differed depending where you lived.

Racism during 1930’s

South: Racism prevalent Not allowed to use

same bathrooms, drinking fountains, restaurants

Affected socially, economically, politically

Many experienced harassment from the KKK (lynching, burning of churches/homes)

North: Racism still evident,

but had more economic freedom and political clout

Able to get better paying jobs

Able to walk on sidewalks without fear of being harassed

Great Migration

Many African Americans moved to the North during the 1930’s. It was during the Great Depression, so everyone had it hard. However, there was more employment opportunity and stories of getting treated better started to spread south, making those getting abused want to move North.

Location of most migration

Harlem Chicago

Invisible Man

Published in 1952

Explores the theme of an unnamed black man’s search for his identity and place in society in New York City during the 1930’s.

Explores contrast between racism in north and south and their alienating effects.

Ellison, after Invisible Man

Won several writing awards Taught at Bard College, Rutgers

University, University of Chicago and New York University

Died in April of 1994

“Battle Royal”

Originally published as a short story in 1947.

Themes: Violence Naiveté Economic power

Annotate: themes and literary elements… (guided reading due Monday) chart will be due Tuesday.

“Battle Royal”: Summary

The story of a nameless narrator who attends a meeting to accept a scholarship awarded to him by the white community members. However, the reader soon learns that he is there as part of the entertainment for the evening, even if the narrator doesn’t see this fact for himself.