VISUAL ARGUMENT [TELEPLAY] TO WRITTEN ARGUMENT [SHORT STORY]
WRITING ASSIGNMENT 3
We have been studying argument within the context of short fiction. After examining the
elements of short fiction and reading Eudora Welty’s short story, we viewed “The
Hitchhiker” and we will take that story (and argument—what do you think the claim is?)
in short fiction—a short story.
LENGTH:
Long enough to tell your story (three-five papges). Please no two page
stories.
SYNOPSIS
A young professional woman,, 27, (Nan Adams—you may rename the
character) is driving from Manhattan to Los Angles for an unspecified
reason. Early in her trip she has a problem with her car. You may use the
tire blowout , but you may use any other malfunction that could result in
death. As she getting the car repaired, she sees [a man] hitchhiking; she
keeps seeing him on her journey and he is always ahead of –hitchhiking.
Although, he is merely hitching and remains ahead her, she grows
increasingly alarmed about his intentions. He beckons her into a situation
that could have been fatal. (You may use the railroad crossing). She
decides he “wants her dead.” She meets various individuals who respond
to her with increasing skepticism. She calls her mother only to learn that
Mrs. Adams” daughter was killed in a car accident six days ago while
driving cross country. At last she knows what he wants and she becomes
calm—resolute he is waiting for her. She gets into her car, adjusts the
rearview mirror and sees he is in the backseat. He smiles and says, “I think
you are going my way.”
GUIDELINES As we discussed in class we can classify the genre of “The Hitchhiker” as
a traditional ghost story or a psychological thriller or a horror story in the
style of Stephen King.[Or all of these.] What you want to capture is a
person who must come to terms with the fact he/she is actually dead.
Unlike your other assignments, you are limited only by a few parameters.
PLOT: You must have a young person [any gender] driving cross
country alone who has a car malfunction that is potentially fatal.
He/she is being pursued by Death.
CHARACTERS: A minimum of two, Death and The Protagonist. You
may personify death any way you wish. [What is your claim—is death
ordinary, beautiful, seductive, humorous, relentless?] You may use any
gender for your Death as well as your protagonist. However, keep in mind
the gender dynamics in “The Hitchhiker.” Your character must be at least
curious of the personification of Death, who your protagonist does not
immediately recognize. If you choose to cast Death as seductive, perhaps
your protagonist is pondering the possibilities of picking up this person
and having what Erica Jong termed “a zipless f**k” in her feminist novel
Fear of Flying novel. This sexual encounter with a stranger with no
prelude and certainly no sequel is her metaphor for ultimate female
liberation. In All That Jazz, the male protagonist is flirting with Death, a
beautiful woman as she beckons him to what his ultimate desire is—her.
SETTING: A car because it allows the traveler to be solitary. Do not rely
on too much modern technology. If your protagonist has a Sirius system
in the car and a smart phone, these should be inoperable after the car
malfunction [no signal, just static, etc]. Having Death be a Hitchhiker
simplifies your task. But you may want Death to also be cross country
and his/her car is [stolen?] and your protagonist offers Death a lift to the
West Coast. Maybe Death says, “Excuse me I have noticed you at several
stops. You seem to be going my way. Are you traveling west?” “At this
point perhaps your protagonist is intrigued rather than frightened and says,
“Yes.” If you go this route then perhaps the protagonist only realizes
he/she is dead when they arrive at [a cemetery, a fatal accident, etc?] You
have a perfect closer with, “You see, you were always going my way,
weren’t you?’ Yu can have the story occur at any time cars or similar
vehicles are available. Just be sure your protagonist cannot get much
information from the “real world.”
POINT OF VIEW: You may use any point of view. “The Hitchhiker” is
told from a first person point of view, but you may prefer a third person
ominiscient narrator.
STORY ARC: “The Hitchhiker’s” opening scene is the man changing Nan’s
tire after the blowout—i.e. after she is dead and does not know it. The
tension builds as she becomes more and more frightened and unsure of her
own perceptions. The climax is the call home. The denouement is Nan’s
acceptance of her death. You may choose to begin and end somewhere
else. “The Hitchhiker “ is a chronological narration, which is really the
most simple and clean way to tell a story, but not the only one. Just do not
overwhelm yourself .
PURPOSE:
To recognize in presenting an argument, you must also be aware of your
medium. We did some of this when you did a slide presentation with your
research paper. Now you have viewed a visual argument [with dialogue]
and will write a short story “based on” or “inspired by” [as they say in
Hollywood] “The Hitchhiker”. You may follow the plot exactly or not.
Remember the short story is “the art of the glimpse”. You must consider
how to use figurative language, symbols and images, and dialogue and/or
monologue. You will not be able to just describe what happened in the
teleplay by giving a summary. You must create the tension and the “aha
moment!” So a poor way to start your story would be, “Nan Adams is
driving across the United States when she has a blowout and has to get a
mechanic to change her tire. The mechanic is surprised that she was able
to steer her car on to the soft shoulders to safety. He jokes that she should
be calling a hearse not a mechanic. A better way to start if you are
following the same story arc with something like this: “I cannot believe
how bad the roads are here in rural Pennsylvania, “ Nan Adams thought
as she rounded yet another curve on yet another narrow mountain asphalt
road. She found navigating on these twisting rocky roads both tedious and
a little bit scary. What shoulders these roads had were soft and really
almost nonexistent. [You have introduced Nan and that she is finding this
particular stretch of road both difficult and a frightening. Here you could
introduce a little exegesis in the teleplay by letting the reader see Nan
growing tired (not paying attention like she should and also apprehensive
of the conditions.)
AUDIENCE:
General audience of fiction readers. We will be sharing our drafts with the
writing group.
FORMAT:
Use standard MLA formatting for the paper. You need the heading on the
left and right side of the first paper and you will need an interesting title.
Do not use “The Hitchhiker.2” You may use if your really are stuck use,
“The Hitchhiker” , but just sitting here writing this assignment I can think
of many other titles that may be more intriguing for a short story.
DUE DATE:
7 DECEMBER 2015 (MONDAY) BY 5:00 PM. NO EXTENSIONS.
If an extreme emergency arises, contact me immediately and you will
receive an “I” as your grade. You will have six months to complete the
assignment and received the grade you earned in the class. After six
months, the “I” automatically converts to an “F.”