Objects as Symbols in Story and Life
• Read In Class: “Discovering the Alphabet of Life”
Review From Tuesday:
Symbolism and “The Secret Lion”
• Freewrite:
• What are some of the objects in your "Alphabet of Life"?
• Describe one or two of them, and discuss how they have
had meaning in your life. What did they symbolize for
you?
• If you can, discuss how your objects are different from or
similar to those in "The Secret Lion."
Review from Tuesday
A Critical Analysis of “The Secret Lion”
• “The Secret Lion: Everything Changes” on page 20 is an
example of a paper which critically analyzes the use of
symbols in “The Secret Lion”.
• I highly suggest you read it to get an idea of what its like to
not only write a paper about literature, but also how to
specifically analyze symbol in short story.
• Later in the semester we will be discussing how you can
use a variety of critical theories as “lenses” through which
to focus your analysis of literature
Point of View
• The point of view in a work of literature answers the question
“Who’s telling this story?” (See p. 188 in your textbook.)
• The author chooses a point-of-view in every story.
• To create closeness to or detachment from the characters and
events in the story.
• To reveal or conceal important pieces of information about
character motivations and events.
First Person POV:
– Uses first person pronouns like “I,” “me,” and “we” when describing
events in the story.
– Not necessarily the author him/herself. In fact, unless it is
specifically stated, first person narrators are not the author.
– A participant in the story, either a major character or a minor
character who witnessed the events, is relating the events to the
audience.
– Even if unnamed, a first person narrator is usually an important
character to pay attention to.
– We learn about the character of the narrator by how he or she tells
events and what he or she chooses to tell us.
– Sometimes first person narrators are unreliable, which means we
can’t take what they say at face value.
• Examples: “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “Snow”, “The Secret Lion”, and
The Hunger Games
Point of View: Second and Third
• Second person (not in your textbook)
– Uses second person pronouns (you, your, etc.)
– Puts the reader in the position of the main character. (Remember the
“choose your own adventure” books? Those were often second
person.)
– Is a confrontational, “edgy” style. Works best for short-stories, not so
much longer works/novels.
– Examples: “Girl” pg. 90, “Accident” pg. 88
• Third person
– Uses only third person pronouns (he, she, they, etc) to describe the
action.
– Can be omniscient, limited, or objective.
Third Person POV, continued:
• (Third person) Omniscient narrators:
– Follow the action of more than one character
– Give the audience access to the thoughts of multiple characters.
• (Third person) Limited Omniscient narrators:
– Follow the action and give access to the thoughts of only one character.
• (Third person) Objective Narrators
– Relate events without giving access to the characters’ thoughts
– Relate events without interpreting them or commenting on them.
NOTE: Even if a story is in third person, it can still be limited to one
characters perspective and can therefore have some of the same
complications (unreliable narrator, etc) that first-person POV can have.
– Examples of Third Person POV: “Jinx” pg. 85, “The Plot” pg. 87, and
Brave New World
Discuss: “How To Talk To Girls At Parties”
• The story is on p.118 of your textbook.
• Who is the POV character in this story?
• Why is it significant that the story is told from his POV and not his
friend?
• How does this add to the mystery and meaning of the story?
• Vic tells Enn: “You’ve just got to talk to them [girls]. And that means
you have to listen to them too.”
•
•
•
•
•
•
Does Enn take Vic’s advice?
Carefully look at the dialog from the girls.
How is it significant?
What does it tell us about each of them?
What does it tells us about what’s really going on in this story?
Are we, as readers, listening more carefully than the POV character?
How is that possible if the story is from his POV?
“Girls at Parties” continued
• Does this story actually explain or illustrate “How to Talk to
Girls at Parties”?
• If not, what is it really saying about the whole situation?
• What does this story say about relationships between
men/women or girls/boys? About those we see as
exotic/other?
• What do you think Vic sees/experiences at the end of the
story that upsets him so much?
Myth and Allegory:
• As you know from Monday, Symbols are elements in stories that
have a more complex range of meaning than their literal meaning.
• Related to this, but not exactly the same thing, authors also use
allegory and references to myth in order to give their works
figurative meaning.
• An allegory is a story where the most important characters and
events represent abstract concepts.
• Animal Farm, for example, is an allegory about Communism.
• Myths are stories that contain the ideas by which a culture
constructs meaning.
• Myths are not the same as fairy tales, and calling something a myth
doesn't automatically mean that it is "fake“
• Referring to myth in a story can give depth and a sense of significance and
history to a story.
• Referring to myth can also give the reader symbolic hints to what is going
on in the story in a subtle way, without being obvious
Mythological Allusions in Literature
• An “allusion” is a reference in literature to another story.
• Mythological allusions might take the form of:
– A character with a similar name to a mythological character.
– Events in a story that closely parallel events from a myth.
• References from the Bible and Greek/Roman myth are quite
common in Western Literature, and being familiar with the
basics of these mythological systems will make reading literature
easier for you.
• If you are not familiar with them, they can be easily looked up.
For Next Class: DRAMA!
• Tuesday, February 25
• Topics: Introduction to Drama.
• Homework Due:
• Read: “Understanding Drama” p. 720-730 and “Recognizing Kinds
of Drama” p. 742-3
• Watch: “Sure Thing” by David Ives on You Tube:
http://youtu.be/4u4f0qP0lFo (link on Class Blog)