English 104 - Cora Agatucci
Introduction to Literature: Fiction

Assignments (1) - Fall 2001
Online versions of Eng 104 Assignments will be webposted or linked here after they are discussed in class.
Webtip:  When you re-visit this webpage on your internet browser (Netscape or Explorer),
please click "Refresh" or "Reload" to ensure you are seeing the latest version of this webpage.
Short Cuts on this Web Page:
Week #1: Seminar #1 (Storytelling, Myths, & Folktales)
Week #2:  Seminar #2 (Poe & Maupassant); Seminar #2 Group Reports;
Week #3: Response Writing #1 (Poe, Maupassant, and/or Chekhov);
See  Example Response Writing #1 Topic & Student Response;
Go to Response Writings
URL:  http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng104/ResponseWritings.htm

Week #4:  Go to Midterm Discussion Paper (Online handouts)
URL:  http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng104/Midterm.htm
Go to Example Student Writing ~ Fall 2001
URL:  http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng104/studwrtgf01.htm
Weeks #5 - 10: Go to Assignments (2)
URL:  http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng104/assignments2.htm
Go to Response Writings
URL:  http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng104/ResponseWritings.htm
Week #11 & Finals Week: Go to ENG 104 Take-Home Final (Online handouts)
including ENG 104 Self-Assessment & Course Reflections (Online handout)
URL:  http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng104/Final.htm

See also Fall 2001 ENG 104 Course Plan for week-by-week Assignment Deadlines.

Week #2
For Deadlines, see Fall 2001 ENG 104 Course Plan  
For what we came up with, see Seminar #2 Group Reports

Seminar #2: Poe & Maupassant
Worth 6 points possible (3 points for Notes; 3 points for in-class Seminar #1 participation).
Directions:
Choose one "Contexts" topic (#1 or #2) from Part I; and chose one "Elements of Fiction" topic (#3 or #4) from Part II.  Prepare for Seminar #2 by (re)reading Week #2 assignments by Poe and Maupassant and taking notes on your chosen discussion topics. 

Seminar #2 is worth 6 points possible:  To gain full Preparation/Participation Credits for this assignment you must (a) Prepare individual written notes on separate sheet of paper to be turned in, and (b) Be in class on Wed. 9/26 to participate in Seminar #2.

Part I: Contexts
(Course Competencies A. #1 & #2; B. #4 & #5; C. #8)

1.  Poe's and Maupassant's Aesthetics of the Short Story.
    a.  Summarize the main points of Poe's "The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale" (854-856) and Maupassant's "The Writer's Goal" (831-832).  [Charters' introductions to Poe and Maupassant can also be helpful.]
    b.  Compare their views: On what point(s) do they seem to agree?  Where do they seem to differ in the points they make or emphasize?
    c.  Compare Poe's and Maupassant's respective aesthetic theories to their actual practices in "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Necklace."  Do they practice what they "preach" in theory?  Cite specific examples from the short stories to illustrate your conclusions.

2.  Characteristics of Romanticism and Realism  
    a.  List  characteristics of the literary movement Romanticism that you find applicable to  Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale."
    b.  Cite specific examples from Poe's work that illustrate the Romantic characteristics you list.
    c.  List characteristics of the literary movement Realism that you find applicable to Maupassant's "The Necklace" and "The Writer's Goal."
    d.  Cite specific examples from Maupassant's work that illustrate the Realistic characteristics you list.

Part II: Elements of Fiction
(Course Competencies A. #3; B. #4 & #5; C. #8)

3.  Character Analyses & Themes
    a.  Use Charters' Appendix 2, Appendix 4, and handout "Reading Fiction" to help you:
    b.  Analyze the main character Montressor of the "The Cask of Amontillado": e.g. what is his background, his strengths and weaknesses; what motivates him, what are his internal/external conflicts; what drives his plot actions and makes him interact as he does with other characters; is he a static (unchanging) character, or does he develop and change (dynamic character) by the end of the story? (And if you think he changes, where does the change occur and what causes it?) Cite specific examples from the story to support your points.
    c.  Analyze the main character Mme. Mathilde Loisel of "The Necklace": e.g. what is her background, her strengths and weaknesses; what motivates her, what are her internal/external conflicts, what drives her plot actions and interactions with other characters; is she a static or dynamic character? (And if you think she changes, where does the change occur and what causes it?)  
    d.  Write out your interpretation of the major themes of Poe's and Maupassant's stories.  What role does Poe's character play in creating the single, unified "effect or impression" of "The Cask of Amontillado"?  What role does Maupassant's character play in creating an "illusion of life" and producing "a profound impression of the particular truth [Maupassant] wishes to point out" in "The Necklace"?  

4.  Plot Structures & Themes
    a.  Review Charters' Appendix 2, Appendix 4, and handout "Reading Fiction" to help you identify plot elements (e.g. exposition & major conflicts that set the plot in motion, events &  complications that constitute the rising action, moments of crisis (high tension), the climax (peak moment of crisis) and/or turning point (at which outcome is decided), the falling action (outcome, resolution, conclusion, denouement)
    b.  Analyze the plot structure of "The Cask of Amontillado" by identifying (chart or list) the above plot elements, supported by specific citations from the story.
    c.  Analyze the plot structure of "The Necklace" by identifying (chart or list) the above plot elements, supported by specific citations from the story.
    d.  Write out your interpretation of the major themes of Poe's and Maupassant's stories.  How does Poe's characterization of Montressor contribute to creating the single, unified "effect or impression" of "The Cask of Amontillado"?  How does Maupassant's plot contribute to creating an "illusion of life" and producing "a profound impression of the particular truth [Maupassant] wishes to point out" in "The Necklace"?  

Week #3
For Deadlines, see Fall 2001 ENG 104 Course Plan  

Response Writing #1: Poe, Maupassant, and/or Chekhov
Worth 5 points possible: Your Response Writings will be evaluated in terms of how well they demonstrate achievement of targeted English 104 course Competencies (see Eng 104 Syllabus) relevant to your Topic Choices.  You must also address one of the assigned topic choices given in class on Mon., Oct. 1.  These Topic choices will be drawn from Seminar #1 Topics, in-class Seminar #1 discussion, and will include some options to address Chekhov's "The Lady with the Pet Dog" (reading due Mon., Oct. 1).

Directions:  You will have at least 15 minutes in class on Mon., Oct. 1, to write Response Writing #1.  This writing  is "Open Book/Open Notes"--not a memory test--so use any course materials and notes that will help you.  Be sure to support and illustrate your points with well-selected specific passages from the literary work(s) under discussion.  Follow your quotations and/or paraphrases with brief parenthetical citations: that is, name the author and page number in parenthesis like this (Chekhov 164).  

We went over the following Example topic and student response in class on Wed., 9/26/01.

Example Response Writing #1 Topic and Student Response

Example Topic Choice:

Key Plot Conflict.  Western story plots typically hinge on a central "conflict or struggle between opposing forces" (940).  For either "Cask of Amontillado," or  "The Necklace," or "The Lady with the Pet Dog":
    (a) What do you interpret to be an important "conflict or struggle" driving the plot of the story? Be sure to identify the "opposing forces" in conflict or struggle.
    (b) Support or illustrate your interpretation by citing and commenting on one or more specific passages from the story.

Example Student Response:

At the beginning of Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," the conflict seems to be between Montresor and Fortunato. However, after reading "between the lines," I discovered that at least one major conflict is the conflict that goes on inside Montresor himself. On first reading, my impression was that Montresor is a devious, evil man set only on revenge, for some unexplained wrong that Fortunate has done him.  Montresor's single-minded desire for revenge sets the plot in motion and drives it forward, and he seems to feel no remorse for what he is doing. However, I have discovered, through a second reading of the story, that at two or three key moments near the end, Montresor may in fact be struggling against guilt and remorse within himself.

On the surface, Montresor seems very pleased that his revenge scheme is working so perfectly: he enjoys Fortunato's fearful moans, and even interrupts sealing the grave to sit on a pile of bones "that I might hearken to it [the noise] with the more satisfaction" (670).  Yet when Fortunato begins to scream, it gets to Montresor: "For a brief moment I hesitated--I trembled" (670).  This comment leads me to believe that, for at least a moment, Montresor was afraid of the screams of Fortunato and may have had second thoughts. This shows me that there was in fact a fight between good and evil occurring inside Montresor.

The task nearly finished, only one stone left to fit in place to seal Fortunato's grave (670), Montresor hesitates again.  "But now there came from out of the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head" (670).  Again, the murderer pauses and, for one brief moment, seems to be in fear of what he is doing to Fortunato.  But what really convinces me that Montresor is struggling with his conscience is his confession: "My heart grew sick--on account of the dampness of the catacombs" (670).  The dash suggests Montresor hesitates one more time, and I don't believe his stated excuse: heart sickness is not caused by physical dampness.   He "hastens" to  finish the dirty deed quickly (670-671)--perhaps because he's afraid he might change his mind.  Although evil wins out in the end, it is not without a few punches from the side of good to Montresor's conscience. In the last stages of the plot, a struggle emerges within the murderer's soul.

Go to Response Writings for Topics
(to be webposted after written in class)
http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng104/ResponseWritings.htm

Week # 4: Go to Midterm Discussion Paper (Online handouts)
URL:  http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng104/Midterm.htm

Weeks # 5 - 10: Go to Assignments (2)
URL:  http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng104/assignments2.htm

See also Fall 2001 ENG 104 Course Plan for week-by-week Assignment Deadlines.

Fall 2001 ENG 104 Syllabus | Course Plan | Course Pack Table of Contents | Assignments | Site Map
ENG 104 Author Links Table of Contents  | (1)  A - E  | (2)   F - L  | (3)   M - Z
Literature Links | Contexts: Literary History & Movements | Genre Studies: Fiction
ENG 104 Course Home Page

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Last Updated:  03 July 2003   

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