Next, we read our descriptive passages about the restaurant to a partner and then tried to write a scene which reveals character through dialogue. We set up the scene between a mother who had accidentally killed her budgie and an 18 yr old daughter, about to graduate, who wants to tell her mother that she's moving in with her long-time boyfriend, Luke. Don't reveal either secret directly. Allow the reader to infer the conflict through your descriptions, thoughts, and speech.
Next. We watched a video on the myth of OrpheusClick or paste this link into your browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltewSdCdAjM&feature=related
Homework: Read the story, by Don Bailey, in your text, called " A Few Notes For Orpheus". Post-it note the various ways Bailey reveals character. Look at our list from last day's class for ideas.
Finally, choose your favourite 5 techniques and put them on the chart. Explain what the technique is and what is revealed about the character. Use the chart below. Have a good weekend. Arrive to class with the chart completed for Tuesday.
Thanks.
HOW AUTHORS REVEAL CHARACTER
Read the story, “A Few Notes for Orpheus” by Don Bailey.
Create a chart where you find five different ways that character is revealed. (Look for diction, description, allusion, action, what other characters say, what they do, mannerisms, symbols, etc). You may focus on as many characters as you like. On the WHAT? side of the chart, provide the example from the text and the page number and on the SO WHAT? side, explain the implied trait and name the method the author using.
| “A Few Notes for Orpheus” the story’s title | The title is a pun and an allusion. The pun is the double meaning of “notes”. It implies that Jake needs to take a few notes from his father and learn to be a better father, himself, but also refers to the music in the myth of Orpheus. He’s wasting his life due to anger and regret. The allusion is to the myth of Orpheus, which could apply to Jake and to Jake’s father. Jake keeps looking back at the past and his memories are painful so he can’t move forward. He is paralyzed by his belief that he is not important to his father and perhaps as a consequence, he has never been a reliable husband or father himself and he’s an incommunicative and unfaithful son. In the myth, when Orpheus looks back to see if Eurydice is following him, he defies Hades’ order and thus loses her forever. His father is described as not looking back when he walks toward the house which implies that he trusts in his love for and from his son and does not have to look back at the past to believe that Jake will follow. Allusion adds incredible depth to a story in a subtle way. |
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