Chopin, Kate. “A Respectable Woman.” The
Conscious Reader Brief Edition. Ed. Caroline
Shrodes et. al. New York: Pearson, 2008. 145-148.
Print.
Argument: The Interpretation
Claims -- assertions
Grounds -- evidence
Warrants -- reasoning
Arguments are NOT
Facts
Vague
Stated thoughts, beliefs, feelings
We Interpret any aspect of
Fiction:
Character
Setting
Plot
Point of View
Theme
“A Respectable Woman”
PLOT: Ambiguous Ending means the
series of stages is interpretable.
The story ends with the quote:
“This time I shall be very nice to
him.”
Make an assertion about what
this quote means.
Support this assertion with evidence
from the story: paraphrase,
summary, quotation (citation).
“The Bet”
SETTING: Does the setting represent
changes going on inside the
character’s mind? Is the setting
created from a character’s state of
mind? How does the setting
comment on the action (plot)?
“The Bet”
POINT OF VIEW: Whose perspective
is the story told from? Why?
“Araby”
SETTING: Notice word choice for
ideas, for example.
“North Richmond Street, being blind, was a
quiet street except at the hour when the
Christian Brothers' School set the boys free.
An uninhabited house of two storeys stood at
the blind end, detached from its neighbours
in a square ground. The other houses of the
street, conscious of decent lives within them,
gazed at one another with brown
imperturbable faces.”
Any story, any element:
Character
Theme
CHARACTER
motives, inner conflicts, doubts,
change, relationship
mentally ill, imbalaced, or obsessed
defined by society and self
power constructs and struggles
THEME
“A Respectable Woman”
Feminism
“The Bet”
Nihilism
“Araby”
Coming of Age