Short Story Questions

The Lamp at Noon

1) Fill in the following chart to identify the 7 points of analysis for this short story:

Main Characters
The wife and the husband

Plot
There is little leading up to the climax of the story since it is a short story. The part that leads up to the climax is when they argue then it drops down for a bit then they hit the climax.

Conflict
The wife wants to leave and the husband wants to stay with the land

Setting
Very dusty dry landscape that was once a farm

Mode of Narration
Limited omniscient narration.

Ending
The ending was extremely short and didn’t give a precise conclusion to what happened. It was tragic because the baby dies, the wife runs away and the husband stays.

Theme
The ability to let go


2) Answer the following questions about narrative mode in full sentences:

a. What is the mode of narration for this short story (you should have identified this above)?
Limited omniscient narration is the mode of narration for this short story.

b. There is a distinct shift in the mode of narration for this story. What is it?

It is when it shifts from the wife to the husband part way through the story.

c. When and how does this shift occur?
It happens part way through the story and it happens by the husband asking to talk it over in the morning because they are getting nowhere and then it switches to completely his view.

d. What is the effect of this shift in the narrative mode?
The effect is you’re getting both sides of the story. With the wife you got her views on why they should leave and with the husband you get his views why they should stay.

e. Why is this shift in narrative mode effective or not effective as a means of enhancing our understanding of the main character(s), theme(s), or conflict(s) in the story?
It is very effective because you get a better understanding of the character’s personality, both sides of their argument which contributes to the conflict and theme because if you only got one view from one person the theme would be completely different.



3) HOMEWORK: Sinclair Ross made a distinct choice of narrative mode for his story. Complete the following chart by identifying the mode of narration you think would work best for the following kinds of stories, explaining your choice in detail (see first example). As you fill out the chart, think about what kind of short story you would like to write for this unit, and decide upon the mode of narration you plan to use for next class.

Detective Story

First-Person Limited Narration

A first-person limited mode of narration would allow suspense to be built throughout a detective story so that the reader is following the protagonist (assuming the protagonist is the detective) as he or she uncovers different pieces of the story he or she is trying to uncover. Just as the detective is forced to reach judgments and conclusions based on limited information, so is the reader. When the case is finally solved, the reader would reap as much satisfaction from the overcoming of suspense as the detective.


Disaster Story
(e.g., a story about the Halifax explosion and the people it affected)

Omniscient narration

I chose this because in a disaster story it would not be very interesting knowing about how it affected one person, but it would be much more interesting if you talked about people in different situations.

Love Story
(e.g., a story which traces the relationship of two unlikely people falling in love)

Third person narration

I chose this because third person narration refers to people by saying he, she or they and in a love story it is usually between two people, so if your mentioning one of them u say he/she, but if they’re together you can say they.


Coming-of-Age Story (or bildungsroman)
(e.g., the story of a young teenager having to face the harsh realities of adult life)

First person narration

I chose this because in a book about coming-of-age it’s usually all about one person, so it would only make sense to use first person narration which would give the author more of the ability to get in depth to the character’s feelings and thoughts.


Happy Endings Response
· Is Atwood suggesting that authors rely too much on traditional and unoriginal storylines? How does she do this?

Yes, Atwood is suggesting that authors rely too much on traditional and unoriginal storylines. This is shown in the style she writes her story. Her story is written in sections labelled from A to F. This is effective because the author can refer back to each section instead of writing it out all over again. This happens in every single section of the story. When the author at the end of each section says no matter what you do at the end of the story you will always end with A, instead of writing it out she just writes “and everything continues as in A”(Section C). She also suggests that authors rely too much on the traditional storylines at the end of the story. Section F isn’t part of the story, but in it she explains her reasoning for writing her story in sections. “Remember, this is Canada. You’ll still end up with A”(Section F) This means that we live in Canada and because of this you will always end up with section A no matter what happens. This is an interesting story because of the way the story line is written, but if I had a choice I would still prefer the traditional storylines.



An Ounce of Cure
The Title
The title is really three-fold in what it discusses. It shows how doing a small thing proactively to prevent or minimize a problem will have better and more effective results than having a problem and then having to fix that. This is related to the experience with alcohol where as a result of getting sick, the young girl will most likely not drink much or at all in the future vs. a person with an alcohol problem. In addition, the same thing is true for first love. The young girl has the wonderful experience of first love but also the pain associated with it. Again with the way that first love is shown in the story she has an easy lesson about it and will not have long term pain and hurt from it so a small amount of pain will be a major life lesson for her. Finally, the story is also a discussion of a teenager having to learn and cope with the issues of becoming an adult whether it is first love or dealing with alcohol or the other pressures of becoming an adult. Again in this sense, the exposure that the young girl to the adult world is a proactive life lesson for her.

The title is changed from the original meaning which is ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ and it is a very effective title. For the reasons shown above, it allows the young girl to proactively learn some major and long term life lessons with only a small amount of learning and suffering. The original title more relates to fixing problems after they occur which while still providing a good result can take a lot longer to fix and can be more complex to fix with much more pain. The better way is to be able to learn quickly and easily from dealing proactively with a small situation and then to be able to relate to it later in life.

The theme of ‘an ounce of cure’ is explored in three different ways as mentioned earlier. Two themes are first love and dealing with adult vices and the final overall theme is how a teenager has to deal with growing up and becoming an adult.

What is the Main Character Feeling?
The main character who is the young teenage girl has a range of feelings and emotions as a result of her first love, the situation with the alcohol and finally dealing with being a teenager who is now becoming an adult and having to deal with the pressures and responsibilities of being an adult. Related to first love, she experiences the thrill of first love, the anticipation of seeing Martin and being with him and an overall happiness about being ‘involved’ with someone. These feelings make her light-hearted and giddy at times as she allows her mind to wander when thinking about him. She also experiences the opposite feelings as well as she encounters sadness, loneliness, envy and frustration when Martin appears to like another girl.

Related to the alcohol incident, she experiences a completely different set of emotions. She is initially defiant and confident when she decides to take a drink which is caused by her feelings about Martin. Then after she has been drunk and is recovering, she feels guilty, embarrassment and ashamed at what she has done and that she has been caught.

Finally, as a teenager learning to adapt in the adult world, she experiences embarrassment when caught by the Berryman’s. She also is very anxious as Mr. Berryman drives her to her home where she is confronted by her mother. After her discussion with her mother she is very shy as well and wants to forget about the whole incident. At the end of the story where she is an adult and sees Martin again, she has a different set of emotions which are related to composure, resolve, and an inner sense of satisfaction that she has met and defeated the issues that she had to deal with as a teenager.

Who is the Main Character and what Experiences does she learn from?
The main character in the story is a young teenage girl who is living in small town Ontario. She lives a very sheltered life with parents who are not really well off financially and she is dealing with the pressures of becoming an adult and the life experiences associated with that. She is starting to deal with relationships and experiences her version of first love. The major vice of the time for young people is alcohol and having to learn to deal with it. Both of these items are really components of understanding and learning to deal with and adapt to the pressures of an adult world. In some ways the story is most likely a reflection of the young life of Alice Munro the author herself as she was born in the early 1930’s, lived in Wingham which is a very small town in Southwestern Ontario in the middle of farming country and was influenced by this simple upbringing. Each of the life experiences that we see in the story, first love, dealing with alcohol, personal relationships with her friend, relationships with her classmates, family relationships with her parents and their views of the world and how a person should act, the small town environment, the difficulties of living in financially difficult times, are all items that she had to experience either directly or indirectly which she was able to learn from.

Thoughts and Conversations from the Main Character
There are many significant thoughts and conversations between the main character and the other people in the story. These thoughts while being specific to the story itself, are really thoughts that all teenagers have as they learn and grow in todays very complex and pressure filled world. So while a different time and place and a much simpler world, the same thoughts and conversations occur today so the story is very relevant. The young girl’s thoughts about first love and the range of emotions with that, her naivety about alcohol and its use, her interactions with her close friend and her classmates, and her dealings with the adults being her mother and Mr. Berryman, are all areas which are very significant. Also more indirectly her thoughts about her environment and the place that she lives are thoughts that influence how she reacts to situations.

Specific conversations that are important are:
- her chat with her mother about Martin and her mother saying that she did not like him
- her secret chats with her close friend Joyce about Martin
- the discussion with Joyce’s friend Kay as she worked to make her sober after drinking
- the serious discussion with Mr. Berryman after he found her drunk at his home
- her talk with her mother and then her mother’s talk with the Berrymans
- the chatter from all the kids at school when they found out about her being drunk

What is the Basic Plot of the Story?
This is a story about a young teenager in small town Ontario being exposed to and dealing with the pressures of becoming an adult. She finds and loses her first love, handles the loss in a bad way by drinking and at the same time learning a harmless by effective lesson. She then remembers it in her adult life as one of her life lessons.

- the story begins with a discussion of alcohol so it is a catalyst in the story
- the young girl then meets her first love Martin and they kiss and she then spends a lot of time thinking about Martin and being with him
- Martin then starts to like another girl so the young girl then has to deal with the emotions of envy and losing her first love
- we are introduced to the Berryman’s as an adult couple where she babysits
- she is asked to babysit soon after losing her love and then when the Berrymans are drinking before going out with friends, she decides to have a couple of drinks as well but without understanding the power of the alcohol
- she becomes drunk and ill and then has to have her friends rescue her but the Berrymans return from their night out and catch her and her friends
- Mr. Berryman has a stern conversation with her and then her mother does as well before talking to the Berryman’s herself
- the teenager is the talk of the school for a period of time and she learns the humiliation of dealing with that and also the fact that no one would use her for babysitting services so she could not make money
- at the end of the story she sees Martin again as an adult and is comfortable with herself and the fact that she has learned valuable lessons as a teenager and was able to apply them to her adult life

2 Themes

A little danger is a learning thing
This is a very meaningful theme for the story as it highlights the danger of alcohol among young people and also the self discovery that teenagers go through as they learn more about the adult world and how to deal with the pressures associated with it. The story shows how the person was exposed to some of the ‘adult dangers’ and was able to learn from them without too much or long lasting effects.

Be careful who you wish for
This theme focuses on first love and the fun, pleasure and thrill of your first love but also the emotional upheaval that a person goes through. In this story the young girl falls for Martin and in this ‘relationship’ goes through the complete list of emotions and does so on a moments notice. As a teenager it is important to be noticed and recognized as being important so in many cases first love is also one of being able to say that a person exists and is special. The young girl encounters all these emotions and suffers the consequences of drinking in order to forget about her first love.

The Management of Grief
Journal Entry #1 Response
At the beginning of the story, Shaila, Vik, Kusum and Dr. Rangnathan are all portrayed as paradigms. The individuals exhibit stereotypical roles as their characters are being developed. We see traditional male and female roles where the male is the provider and the female cares for the children and the home. We also see this from a financial viewpoint where the woman knows little about the financial needs of the home or family and the male looks after the ‘mundane’ details. This is true as well from a monetary and social status view where the family ‘makes it in Toronto’ meaning that the family has become successful socially and monetarily. The paradigm also occurs from a religious viewpoint where historically there has been an inherit distrust between the Hindu and Sikh religions. Finally, all these characters exude traditional Indian cultural values and upbringing in the manner in which they handle pain, stress and dealing with family.


I believe that these paradigms do in fact assist in understanding the issues. Their reactions to certain situations in the story are based on their traditional cultural and environmental upbringing. We see this in the interactions with strangers, acquaintances or friends. It is especially true when they are dealing with family members, whether with their more North Americanized children or their even more traditional Indian parents or relatives. It is also very prevalent when they talk about the Sikhs involvement in the Air India disaster. Finally we see it when the characters each talk about how they handle pain and how they look to traditional Indian spiritual teachers to support them in their time of need.

The main characters in the story are paradigms. Through their comments, actions and reactions we are able to see the strong cultural and environmental influence throughout this tragic story.

Exercise #2 How Character Illustrates Theme

1. The characters that illustrate contrast are:
· Kusum and her daughter Pam where Kusum is a traditional Indian woman and her daughter is a North Americanized teenager
· Shaila and her sons where Shaila is a traditional Indian woman and her sons like to do North American things like watching hockey games
· Dr. Sharma and his wife where it is a traditional relationship where he looks after business items, planning details, and money while his wife looks after the care of the home and family
· Vikram and Shaila and Satish and Kusum exhibit the traditional Indian male and female spousal roles
· Judith Templeton and Shaila where Judith is meant to represent the successful North American business woman and Shaila the traditional homemaker
· The Irish, Canadian and Indian cultures are contrasts in approach, style and emotions
· Shaila and her parents where she is the pampered only child who has changed due to her time in North America vs. her parents still being a very traditional Indian couple
· Religious contracts between the Sikhs and the Hindus
· Contrasts between the children themselves
· Shaila herself at the beginning of the story and at the end as she has evolved and grown in strength and focus as she faces the reality of her family’s deaths

2. The contrasts that we can identify are:
· Generational between the child and the parent
· Cultural between North America and India
· Religious between Sikhs and Hindus
· Male and female role contrasts
· Indian Spousal role contrasts
· North American business woman and Indian homemaker
· Contrasts between the children Pam and her younger sister

3. Two passages that illustrate contrast:
· She starts to brush her mother’s long hair. She’s the daughter who is always in trouble. She dates Canadian boys and hangs out in the mall, shopping for tight sweaters. The younger one, the goody-goody one according to Pam, the one with a voice so sweet that when she sang bhajans for Ethopian relief even a frugal man like my husband wrote out a hundred-dollar cheque, she was on that plane.
· The Irish are not shy; they rush to me and give me hugs and some are crying. I cannot imagine reactions like that on the streets of Toronto. Just strangers and I am touched.

4. Focus on Contrast
· The use of contrast is very power in the story. Given the fact that we live in a very multicultural world today, we are able to immediately visualize the different types and examples of contrast being used by the author. It is a very effective way to generate strong and powerful images and pictures as we are able to associate with the scenes based on our own backgrounds. This eliminates the need for many words and the author gets us to use our own imaginations as part of the story development. The author’s use of contrast whether it is generational, cultural, religious, spousal or relationship is key in the development of the story

5. Is Blame Being Assigned?
· I do not believe that the author is trying to assign blame. She is using the Air India story to develop two themes. The first is the personal tragedy that a number of people are experiencing who otherwise would not be connected in their lives, how they deal with it as individuals and how they are culturally and environmentally influenced in the way that they deal with the situation. The second theme is the personal path of self-discovery for Shaila and her ability to evolve beyond the traditional female role in Indian culture. In many ways this evolution is very similar to the author’s personal journey as she came to America from India.