Eng 10 Notes-Jan 26 at Pearson ALC, School District 40, New Westminster

Up
Eng 10 Notes: May 17
Eng 10 Notes May 10
Eng 10 Notes May 3
Eng 10 Notes April 19
Eng 10 Notes Mar. 22
Eng 10 Notes: Mar. 15
Eng 10 Notes Mar 8
Eng 10 Notes Mar. 1
Eng 10 Notes Feb 23
Eng 10 Notes Feb 9
Eng 10 Notes Feb 16
Eng 10 Notes Feb 3
Eng 10 Notes-Jan 26
Eng 10 Notes-Jan 19
Eng 10 Notes: April 12
Eng 10 Notes April 5

PM Class Notes (AM Notes)

Characterization is one of the story elements.

In the story, we have a 4-year-old boy named “Johnny”, a mother, a 2 and a half-year-old baby girl, and an elderly man. These are the characters.

Characters are made by writers. How?

Sometimes, the writer tells you directly by saying, for example, Jackson tells us he was an “elderly man, with a pleasant face under white hair”. (direct characterization)

Writers also use indirect ways to make characters. The baby is crying, so we can know she’s unhappy, or needs attention.

The boy sees a witch outside the window, so we can guess he has a good imagination. He talks a lot, so he’s clearly a talkative boy.

Ways to make character: through dialogue; through actions described.

The boy goes over “to pet his sister's feet and beg her not to cry”. We can see he is a kind and considerate brother, but you could argue that he only wants her to be quiet and so might be called selfish or egotistical/egocentric or self-centred.

Shirley Jackson wrote a book about children called Life among the Savages. A savage (-) is a person who is not civilized, not able to live in a community. She calls children (jokingly) "savages".

When you write about a story, use the present tense. The boy tries to help his sister. The man comes into the train coach.

AM Notes

Stories have a title. This is one element of a story.

What is the function of a title?

	It may indicate the content. It may indicate purpose. It usually tries to make the reader curious about what follows. Remember that a story is published first in a magazine or journal, so reading it is optional.
	For yourselves, remember that a title may make the difference between someone reading your work or not.

What is the form of a title?

The form is as a word or a phrase, and not (generally speaking) a sentence.

Setting is an “element” of a story (a short story). Some also call them literary elements. There are several others.

What is setting?

	Setting is the place, the time (time of day; historical time; time duration), the general characteristics of the people (their dress, their manners, the social rules of the place).
	In The Witch, the time duration is 30 minutes (but perhaps the train ride is a long one), the historical time is unknown, and the time of day is the daytime. There is enough time for the incident to take place
	The place in The Witch is a train because, for one reason, strangers talk more often on trains than other places. Often this is because it is boring on a train, particularly for children. It is also a confined space; in other words, you can’t easily escape someone who is bothering you.
	There is a physical need for the mother to sit separately from her son, so the old man is able to easily speak to him.
	In all cases, a small detail, or better yet, a short quotation will give you the evidence you need.

The plot is what happens.

	As in life, events happen in a sequence. One, two, three, and so on. This sequence (plot) usually gets more interesting as you go. Inside the sequence are events between characters, between a character and him or herself, or between a character and the environment. These are called conflicts.
	The first clear conflict is between the mother and the son where he wants to talk and tell her things, and she finds this boring to hear again and again.
	The important conflict in this story, however, is between the man and the mother about what kind of story he is telling her son.