Beginning in LITERATURE BY Mariana Gutierrez Pinto: Name: - 8th Grade

8th Grade Beginning in Literature Name: Date:
Beginning in LITERATURE BY
MARIANA GUTIERREZ PINTO
Name:
____________________
8th Grade: _______

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Content
Story Elements 2
Setting 2
Character 4
Plot 16
Conflict 18
Symbol 24
Motif 24
Theme 25
Message or Moral 26
More Advanced Elements 26
A. Point of View 26
B. Genre 35
C. Tone 43
D. Mood 43
E. Style 43
F. Most Common Literary Devices 43
G. Author Purpose 46
Let’s Practice 49
Identifying the story elements in The Three Little 61
Pigs by Joseph Jacobs
1.The Nine Billion Names of God 72
2. Lather and Nothing Else 93
3. Uncle Marcos from the house of the spirits 106
4. Caged Bird 119
5. The Black Cat 125
6. Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed 139
7. “Hope” is the thing with feathers 166
8. Pecos Bill's Wild Ride 173
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Story Elements
Stories created from imagination and not necessarily fact include real
events, settings, or other factual material. They can seem totally real
(realistic fiction) or total fantasy (fairy tale, modern fantasy, legend, myth,
science fiction).
Developing a solid understanding of the elements of a story is essential for you

to follow and fully comprehend the stories you read. However, before you can
understand how these elements contribute to the overall meaning and effect of a
story, you must first be able to identify the component parts confidently.
So, what are these elements then? You can usefully divide these elements into
two groups. The first group comprises the basic components and the second
more advanced elements
Elements of all stories include: character, setting, plot, point of view, style,
tone, mood. theme and so on. They are the parts that make a story. The
combination of them all determines a piece of literature's genre and how
they are used represent a determine piece.
Readers and viewers, who understand story elements increase their

enjoyment and understanding of different literary pieces. Once learners are
aware all stories generally have these same elements, they can use them to
comprehend, critically analyse, and appreciate a particular story and how
the elements are used within the story to combine to create a unique quality
experience. The more familiar we become with these elements and different
ways they are used, the better we will understand and critically analyse
stories.
1. Setting: A story's setting refers not only to the physical location, but also
the time the action takes place. It is the where and the when of a story.
What Is Setting?
Setting is the context in which a story or scene occurs and includes the time,
place, and social environment. It is important to establish a setting in
your story, so readers can visualize and experience it.
A setting can be a real time period and geographical location or a fictional world
and unfamiliar time period. Setting also includes the physical landscape,
climate, weather, and the societal and cultural surroundings that serve as a
backdrop for the action. Setting is revealed through the exposition of a story.
In fiction writing, the basic definition of setting is the time and place of a story.
But there are different elements that contribute to the creation of a setting,
including:
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Geographic location: A story might be set in a real-life, mappable place like a

particular city, state, or country, or it might be set in an imaginary world.
Physical location: A character’s immediate surroundings, like a room or a

temple, can be important information to highlight.
Physical environment: A story can be set in the natural world where

characters are affected by weather conditions, climate, and other forces of
nature.
Time period: As a writer, it’s necessary to ask, “When does this story take
place?” In literature, time period can be a historical period but it can also be a
season, a time of day, or time of year.
Social and cultural environment: The location and time period will dictate the
social and cultural environment in a story. If a short story is set in a high school,
there will be societal norms and trends specific to teenagers. If a story is set in
the late 1960s, it might be set against the cultural backdrop of the Vietnam War.
Authors choose a setting specific to the characters and plot of a story. Here is
a setting example:
Harry Potter: In J.K. Rowling’s famous series about a boy who discovers he is
a wizard, Harry Potter attends on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Replete with ghosts, floating candles, and mysterious corridors, this imagined
magical world delivers a setting that supports the storyline and stands in stark
contrast to the ordinary human world.
There are various ways that time and place indicate setting. Time can cover many
areas, such as the character’s time of life, the time of day, time of year, time
period such as the past, present, or future, etc. Place also covers a lot of areas,
such as a certain building, room in a building, country, city, beach, in a mode of
transport such as a car, bus, boat, indoors or out, etc. The setting of a story can
change throughout the plot. The environment includes geographical location such
as beach or mountains, the climate and weather, and the social or cultural
aspects such as a school, theatre, meeting, club, and so on.
Types of Setting
There are two types of setting, each having its own purpose.
Backdrop setting
Have you ever read a story, but found it difficult to figure out what time period in
which the story was written or where it is? The story probably had a backdrop
setting. The story is timeless and can happen at any point in history or anywhere.
The focus is on the lesson or message being delivered. Many fairy tales and
children’s stories have backdrop settings.
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“Winnie the Pooh” would be an example. Since the lessons that the characters
learn is the point rather than the time period, it’s hard to tack a “past, present, or
future” on the time aspect of the setting. It could also be any town or country,
which means children anywhere can relate to it.
Integral setting
With an integral setting, integral means to be a part of or important to, the time
and place are important to the story.
For example, a story dealing with a historical setting will have a direct impact on
the plot. A story that happens in the 1800s will not have technology, so the
characters will have to write a letter, ride a horse or take a carriage to visit each
other; they cannot travel long distances in one day as we do now with cars, buses,
and planes. This will have a direct impact on the events of the story, especially if
there is distance involved.
The Importance of Setting
Setting gives context to the characters’ actions in a story line. It can also create
the mood (how the reader or viewer feels). It’s easier to understand why the
characters in the story are doing what they’re doing when we know where they
are. The time of day, time of year, and ages of the characters will also affect how
they act and what they say.
All forms of literature will have some form of setting; even backdrop settings have
an age range of the characters, which is part of time, and a location, either indoors
or out, for example. Without a setting, readers and viewers cannot follow a story
plot. No story can exist without an element of time or place.
2.Character: Depending on the nature of the story, characters are most

often people, animals or figure represented in a piece of literature. Writers
use characters to perform the actions and speak the dialogue of a story.
They move a story’s plot forward. They are the who of a story.
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Major characters
These are the most important characters in the story. There are two types, of
which there may be a couple for each.
Protagonist – This is the main character, around which the whole story revolves.
The decisions made by this character will be affected by a conflict from within, or
externally through another character, nature, technology, society, or the
fates/God.
Antagonist – This character, or group of characters, causes the conflict for the
protagonist. However, the antagonist could be the protagonist, who is torn by a
problem within. Most times, something external is causing the problem. A group
of people causing the conflict would be considered society, perhaps the members
of a team, community, or institution. Additionally, the antagonist could be a part
of nature, such as an animal, the weather, a mountain or lake. A different kind of
antagonist would be an item such as a pen, car, phone, carpet, etc. These are all
considered technology, since they are instruments or tools to complete a job.
Finally, if the conflict comes from something out of the character’s control, the
antagonist is fate or God.
Minor characters
These are the other characters in a story. They are not as important as the major
characters, but still play a large part in the story. Their actions help drive the story
forward. They may impact the decisions the protagonist or antagonist make,
either helping or interfering with the conflict.
Types
Characters can have different traits. Major characters will usually be more
dynamic, changing and growing through the story while minor characters may be
more static.
Foil – A foil is a character that has opposite character traits from another, meant
to help highlight or bring out another’s positive or negative side. Many times, the
antagonist is the foil for the protagonist.
Static – Characters who are static do not change throughout the story. Their use
may simply be to create or relieve tension, or they were not meant to change. A
major character can remain static through the whole story.
Dynamic – Dynamic characters change throughout the story. They may learn a
lesson, become bad, or change in complex ways.
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Flat – A flat character has one or two main traits, usually only all positive or
negative. They are the opposite of a round character. The flaw or strength has its
use in the story.
Round – These are the opposite of the flat character. These characters have
many different traits, good and bad, making them more interesting.
Stock – These are the stereotypical characters, such as the boy genius,
ambitious career person, faithful sidekick, mad scientist, etc.
Character Development & Character Types
Character development refers to how developed and complex a character

is. Some characters start out as highly developed. For example, if we know
something about how a character walks and talks, what she thinks, who she
associates with, and what kind of secrets she has, she is naturally more
complex and developed.
Other characters develop over the course of a story, starting out one way
and ending up different, becoming changed by what happens to them. Or
you might only see one side of the character for a while but at some point,
another side is revealed, proving the character to be more complex.
The general purpose of characters is to extend the plot. Many stories employ
multiple types of characters. Every story must have main characters. These
are the characters that will have the greatest effect on the plot or are the
most affected by what happens in the story. There are many ways to
categorize main characters: protagonist or antagonist, dynamic or static
character, and round or flat characters. A character can also often fit into
more than one category or move through categories.
Protagonist vs. Antagonist
Nearly every story has at least one protagonist. A protagonist is a main

character who generates the action of a story and engages the reader's
interest and empathy. The protagonist is often the hero or heroine.
The opposite of the protagonist is the antagonist. An antagonist is a

character who opposes the protagonist.
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An antagonist is a character, group of characters, institution or concept

that stands in or represents opposition against which the protagonist(s)
must contend.
Harry Potter Series
Harry Potter Voldemort
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Protagonist Antagonist
Hunger Games
Katniss Everdeen The Society
Protagonist Antagonist
Dynamic vs. Static Characters
The concept of dynamic and static characters is closely tied to character

development. A dynamic character is one who goes through some sort of
change; they show character development. To be considered a dynamic
character, the person must have undergone a change based on the conflicts
experienced throughout the course of a story. A protagonist is usually a
dynamic character.
Static characters, on the other hand, are those who do not change
throughout the course of the story. They serve to show contrast to dynamic
ones, refusing to grow and remaining in one place or mentality.
Dynamic
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The Beast Harry Potter
Static
Scar Draco
Round vs. Flat Characters
The concept of round and flat characters is also closely tied to character
development. Round characters are fully-developed figures in the story.
They are more realistic and complex and show a true depth of personality.
They require more attention by the reader; they can make surprise decisions
or puzzling ones. Many factors can affect round characters, and they react
to those factors realistically.
Like real people, round characters have a fully developed personality

because the writer has given depth and three dimensions to these
characters. Often, these people will be the central characters in a work of
fiction.
Belle, is a round character. She is fully developed and has several layers
to her personality. At times Belle may be caring and gentle with her father,
but at the same time she shows wit and strength when warding off the
undesirable suitor, Gaston.
On the other hand, flat characters are those who do not develop or change
throughout the course of the story. These characters are uncomplicated and
one-dimensional, having only one or two obvious qualities or characteristics
A round character is not necessarily dynamic A dynamic character is one whose

worldview is changed by the end of a story; undergoing a major shift in
perspective or personality.
"Roundness" refers to the depth and dimension of the character, and does not
require change.
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Albus Dumbledore, the Hogwarts headmaster from Harry Potter, is one such
character. A man of many secrets and contradictions, he changes very little over
the course of the series, and his attitude and worldview remain constant.
Although flat characters display personality, it is one that lacks dimension and
depth. For example, Gaston is a flat character. He is mean and has got a sexist
personality. He displays no other characteristics besides these selfish traits.
Luke's Uncle Owen is a flat character. He lives a simple farming life and we learn
little else about him before he is killed and Luke begins his adventures.
However, some characters start out as flat, but develop throughout the story,
which can propel the story along.
Round
Belle Albus Dumbledore
Flat
Gaston Owen
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Confidant: This type of character is the best friend or sidekick of the

protagonist. A confident character is a special kind of character who the main
character confides in. It is usually astatic character. Often the protagonist's goal
flows through the confidant. Although not every story needs one. A confidant
helps us to know more about the main character.
A particularly famous confidant is Hermione in Harry Potter.
Simba confides in Rafiki in The Lion King.
Primary or Main & Secondary or Minor Characters
Primary or Main Characters carries the weight of the narrative and may be
described as dynamic or round. Dynamic because they change in response to
the events of the narrative. Round because they are fully developed; shows a
variety of traits.
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Secondary or Minor Character remains flat or static and appears to serve a

function connected to the growth of the primary or main characters. They are
static because they stay the same throughout the narrative. They are flat and
one-dimensional because they usually show only one trait.
Depth and Dimension
A character shows depth when they have goth serious and interesting qualities
which are not immediately obvious and which you have to think about carefully
before you can fully understand them.
Three-dimensional characters seem real because authors give them

substance, heart, flaws, growth. To the point that these characters feel like your
best friend or perhaps, you, yourself.
A two-dimensional character is said to lack depth because this type of

character has few identifying features and not much of a personality. The reader
is given no background information and no explanation for why the character acts
or thinks the way he/she does.
A one-dimensional character lacks depth. This type of character can often be

summed up in one line or phrase.
Character analysis
A character analysis is the process of evaluating the specific traits of a

literary character. This will include consideration of additional elements such as
the role they play in the story and the various conflicts they experience
Characterization
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Characterization is an essential component in writing good literature.

Modern fiction, in particular, has taken great advantage of this literary device.
Understanding the role of characterization in storytelling is very important for any
writer. To put it briefly, it helps us make sense of the behavior of any character in
a story by helping us understand their thought processes. A good use of
characterization always leads the readers or audience to relate better to the
events taking place in the story. Dialogues play a very important role in
developing a character, because they give us an opportunity to examine the
motivations and actions of the characters more deeply.
Characterization is the representation of the traits, motives, and psychology of a

character in a narrative. Characterization may occur through direct description, in
which the character's qualities are described by a narrator, another character, or
by the character him or herself. It may also occur indirectly, in which the
character's qualities are revealed by his or her actions, thoughts, or dialogue.
Direct Characterization
In direct characterization, the author directly describes a character's qualities.
Such direct description may come from a narrator, from another character, or
through self-description by the character in question.
Indirect Characterization
This is a subtler way of introducing the character to the audience. The audience
has to deduce for themselves the characteristics of the character by observing
his/her thought process, behavior, speech, way of talking, appearance, and
manner of communication with other characters, as well as by discerning the
response of other characters.
In indirect characterization, rather than explicitly describe a character's qualities,

an author shows the character as he or she moves through the world, allowing
the reader to infer the character's qualities from his or her behavior. Details that
might contribute to the indirect characterization of a character are:
• The character's thoughts.

• The character's actions.
• What a character says (their choice of words)
• How a character talks (their tone, dialect, and manner of speaking)
• The character's appearance
• The character's movements and mannerisms
• How the character interacts with others (and how others react to the
character)
Indirect characterization is sometimes called "implicit characterization."
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3. Plot: The plot relates to the events that happen in a story. Plot can be
further divided into sub-elements such as: introduction, problem or conflict,
rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. It is the what of the story.
Plot usually begins with a problem and ends in the story’s resolution.
#1: Exposition/Introduction
The first part of the plot establishes the main characters/protagonists and setting.
We get to know who’s who, as well as when and where the story takes place. At
this point, the reader is just getting to know the world of the story and what it’s
going to be all about.
#2: The Problem or Conflict
The problem in the story is something between one or more characters that must
be solved by the end of the story. It is the tension around which the plot revolves
and it is introduced here in order to set up the course of events for the rest of the
narrative. This tension could be the first meeting between two main characters or
the start of a murder mystery; a battle, journey o quest begins and so on.
#3: Rising Action
In this part of the plot, the conflict creates tension both within the story and the
reader. This is the part of the plot that sets the rest of the plot in motion.
Excitement grows as tensions get higher and higher, ultimately leading to the
solution of the problem.
#2: Climax or Turning Point
The most important part because it is the turning point of a story, which puts
characters in a situation where a choice must be made that will affect the rest of
the story.
The main character starts to solve the problem.
In classic tales of heroes, the climax will be when the hero finally faces the big
monster and the reader is left to wonder who will win and what this outcome could
mean for the other characters and the world as a whole within the story.
#4: Falling Action
This is when the tension is released because the event or events of the story
begins to lead to its solution. Mysteries are solved or loose threads are tied up
#5: Resolution or Solution
The conflict or problem is solved or resolved and all loose ends are neatly tied up
unless the author is purposely setting up the story for a sequel.
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Plot Structure: All plots follow a logical organization with a beginning, middle, and
end.
Beginning Middle End
Exposition Rising Action Falling Action
Conflict Climax Resolution
The plot is what happens in the story and the order it happens in the story, too. The plot of
a story is made up of the problem, important events and de solution.
All the events that make up the story are described and related to each other in a sequence
or pattern.
Beginning: The beginning of a story captures the audience’s attention, introduces the
characters, setting, and the central conflict.
Middle: In the middle of a plot are events that directly impact what happens next in the story.
In other words, they introduce crisis points, obstacles, or various subplots along the way
to maintain the audience’s interest.
End: The end of a story brings about conclusion and resolution of the conflict, generally
leaving the audience with a sense of satisfaction, value, and deeper understanding.
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4. Conflict or Problem: Every story requires a conflict. This conflict can

be thought of as a challenge or problem that drives the action of the story.
No conflict, no story. Establishing a series of cause-and-effect events,

conflict gives these events their why.
It involves problems or obstacles that arise within a story; both internal (in a
character's mind) and external (caused by other characters or forces). Since all
readers are familiar with conflict in their own lives, it helps to deepen engagement
with a story or character and provide deeper meaning to the story.
The most commonly accepted types include: Man vs. Self, Man vs. Man, Man vs.
Society, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Technology, and Man vs. Fate or the
Supernatural. It is important to point out that in these literary terms, "Man"
insinuates "Human," so it includes the female gender.
A conflict is struggle between opposing forces.
The plot is created around the conflict:
• The problem is introduced between the end of the

exposition and the beginning of the rising action…
• It is confronted during climax…
• It starts to work itself out during falling action…
• It is resolved during resolution…
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Internal Conflict
Internal conflict exists inside the character. It involves a character in conflict with
himself or herself. The struggle takes place within the character’s mind often as the
character chooses between two courses of action. The character struggles with
morality, desire and belief and so on. This form of conflict is central to the character,
or characters and must be resolved by the character alone. Internal conflict is also
known as man versus self. Internal conflict is necessary for good characters, too.
Examples:
A young man goes through hard times after losing his father in a car accident.
An Olympic athlete pushes his performance to the limit despite his physical
condition.
External Conflicts
The main character struggles against an outside force:
Two characters fighting against each other or a group of people.
Examples:
Two girls compete for the same role in the school play.
A ninja warrior fights a rival clan to avenge his master's death
Man vs. Nature

Often, literature relies on the force of natural disasters or
natural phenomena to frustrate the protagonist.
This form of external conflict could involve desolation,

floods, fires, storms, animal attack or severe winds; all of
these forces are commonly used to symbolize the conflict
between man and the universe Individuals fighting against
nature:
Natural disasters like earthquakes or a character who is

lost at sea and trying to find land are examples of this
conflict, as well. In these stories, the concept of human survival despite the forces of
nature is highlighted. You can sometimes find the internal conflict of Man vs. Self
playing out simultaneously, too.
The elements of nature: Weather, Wilderness, Flood, Hurricane, Tornado and so on.
Illness
Aging
Example:
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Survivors is a popular television show; individuals are forced to survive in the

wilderness. Contestants are given the bare essentials for survival, and they must
survive the weather, harsh conditions and occasionally animals.
Man vs. Man

Man vs. Man is commonly seen in literature and modern storytelling and is a type of
external conflict. This conflict will most often play out between a protagonist and his or
her antagonist, although it can also appear between friends or acquaintances, as well.
Many protagonists must face down an adversary or

antagonist (character who causes conflict) that stands
in the way of them achieving their goals. The conflict
could be physical combat, or a more emotional or
psychological impasse between characters.
Classic fairy tales and myths often fall into this

category: Cinderella is freed from the household of her
evil step-mother; Theseus slays the Minotaur.
More examples:
Superman vs. Lex Luther
Batman vs. Joker
Austin Powers vs. Dr. Evil
Man vs. Machine/Technology

Another popular conflict is Man vs.
Technology, which is when a protagonist is
facing machines or technology such as
mechanical failure or robots and must prevail
against it. In many cases, you'll see
elements of Man vs. Society conflict
happening within these same stories, as the
technology is often used to enforce or
maintain social and cultural norms.
Common within science fiction or dystopian literature, man finds his enemy within
machines. Technology runs awry, evolving past man's control over it. This type of
external conflict presents a worst-case scenario of a world dominated by its own
inventions.
Places characters against machines or robotic forces with artificial intelligence.
Examples:
A group of strangers gets stuck in an elevator.
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A teenage boy is pursued by robots from space that transform into cars.
I Robot is set in a future Earth (2035 A.D.) where robots are common assistants and
workers for their human owners, this is the story of "robot phobic" Chicago Police
Detective Del Spooner's investigation into the murder of Dr. Alfred Lanning, who works
at U.S. Robotics, in which a robot, Sonny, appears to be implicated.
Man vs. Society
Man vs. Society is an external conflict that

involves a protagonist at odds with a ruling body
which could be one's family), social or cultural
norms.
Often, protagonists feel alienated or are treated as

outcasts of society. They may feel trapped, paranoid,
or have a sense that something is tragically flawed
about the world around them.
To their dismay, the majority of people are

unable to see their point of view. The protagonist
struggles to change conventions or institutions
like government or religion, often without
success. This type of external conflict is known
as man vs. society.
Examples:
A student takes his fight against the school dress code all the way to the Supreme
Court.
A group of students protest in front of a university known for its unfair and racially
motivated admission practices.
Most Character vs. Society conflicts involve some sort of dystopian or tyrannical
society which must be overthrown or weakened in order to restore basic human rights
such as freedom of speech and thought. The Hunger Games series is a perfect
example of a society that finds hope in Katniss Everdeen’s rebellion against the status
quo during the Games events.
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Man vs. the Supernatural or Unknown/Fate/God or Religion
Man vs. Fate conflict is often found throughout

ancient literature and a lot in Shakespearean
plays. It is a conflict that occurs when the
protagonist finds himself or herself pitted
against a vengeful god or powerful
supernatural force. You can often see this
conflict combined with the Man vs. Self-
struggle. This is because the protagonist
must come to terms with his or her own
humanity and limitations when involved in a
Man vs. Fate conflict.
This type of conflict occurs when a character faces resistance from a supernatural
force, such as magical forces, aliens, religion, or deities. and the character is
compelled to follow an unknown destiny.
Man versus fate conflict breeds internal conflict,

while forcing a character to consciously, or
subconsciously, act on his or her fate
Even when they feature magic and supernatural

elements, many stories with this type of conflict
still center on highly realistic human struggles
with personal beliefs.
In Moby Dick, the character Ishmael joins a

whaling voyage aboard a ship named the
Pequod, whose obsessive captain, Captain Ahab, is on the hunt for Moby Dick in a
quest to fulfill his ultimate fate.
In Robinson Crusoe, the eighteenth-century English novel by Daniel Defoe, the

titular main character faces a crisis of religion when he finds himself shipwrecked
and fighting for his survival. Crusoe becomes religious while reading the Bible in his
improvised shelter.
James Blish’s 1958 science fiction novel A Case of Conscience is an example of the
protagonist’s conflict with aliens.
In the Harry Potter series, the supernatural takes the form of wizardry. Harry battles
Lord Voldemort with wits and magical powers in a classic good vs. evil story.
Note: Harry also battles with his own relationship to magic. This is a combination of
two conflicts: character vs. supernatural, and character vs. self. The combination of
these two types of conflict is common in literature: characters who struggle with fate,
religion, or the supernatural are likely to also wrestle with the confines of being
human in the face of the supernatural.
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In Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, the main character Billy Pilgrim struggles

with his relationship to fate, Christianity, and free will. The book is a 1969 anti-war
tale with science fiction elements, which Vonnegut uses to explore man’s
relationship to fate.
A short story with an excellent example of man versus man conflict is Saki's "The
Interlopers." In this story, the two main characters, Georg and Ulrich, appear willing
to kill or be killed in a conflict over property rights.
An example of man vs society can be seen in William Golding's "Lord of the Flies."
One of the main characters, Piggy, spends the majority of the novel acting in
opposition to the prevailing whims of the society that has formed among a group of
plane-wrecked boys. Later, the conflict actually turns violent when the entire society
of boys turns on its leader, Ralph.
Man versus nature is at the heart of Jack London's short story, "To Build a Fire." In
this tale, an unnamed man is racing against time and freezing temperatures to,
literally, build a fire, before succumbing to nature and slipping away into permanent
sleep. Nature, in this example, wins.
Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is an
example of a Man vs. Supernatural conflict. The conflict in this story is made manifest
in the actions and consequences brought on by the split personalities of Dr. Henry
Jekyll and Edward Hyde, both residing within a single individual.
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5. Symbol
A symbol is an object that is used to represent something else. For

example, when we see a red light in traffic we know it means “stop”.
In literature, however, when a red light acts as a symbol it is used to

convey an idea or emotion, like anger, death, or perhaps love. If a
broken glass appears in a scene, for example, think about what the
author might want us to understand, and if that symbol conveys
something deeper about the story.
If a glass breaks during a discussion about divorce it helps draw

attention to, and in many ways represents, a fragmented family.
A symbol occurs only once in a story. However, when a series of

related images or symbols appear, they reflect a motif.
6. Motif
A motif is a symbolic image or idea that appears frequently in a story. Motifs can
be symbols, sounds, actions, ideas, or words. Motifs strengthen a story by
adding images and ideas to the theme present throughout the narrative.
A motif is a recurring element in a literary work, meaning the idea or image

occurs again and again. When related images repeat to enhance or bring
attention to an idea, you know you have identified the story’s motif. Take the
shattered glass.
Let’s say a repeating symbol for brokenness appears many times as a series of
related images: a crushed glass, a car that won’t start, a bad investment, or an
injured pet. Each of these symbols occurs once, but services the larger motif of
brokenness or fragmentation in the narrative.
24
7. Theme
A theme emphasizes the big idea of a story.
Both symbols and motifs lead to a greater

understanding of the story’s theme.
If symbols for brokenness appear as the story’s motif,

what is the author trying to say about love, families,
and relationships?
If a child breaks the window of a misunderstood

neighbor’s house, the author might be using this
symbol to comment on the gaps in understanding
between people who don’t know each other.
Many stories have more than one theme.

There are several ways a reader can piece together the story's theme. The
reader can ask himself or herself these questions:
• Do the characters learn anything throughout the story?

• Do the characters change at all?
• Do the characters have any beliefs about life or people in general?
• Why do the characters act the way they do?
The theme of a story is never directly told to the reader. It needs to be figured
out by making an inference. An inference is putting together puzzle pieces to
determine a larger picture.
If your mother started putting on her galoshes and raincoat, what could you infer
the weather is like? You could infer that it is either raining, or it will rain soon. No
one needed to tell you the weather forecast. You can infer that by putting the
information together.
Themes are mostly universal values
Here are some examples:
Courage
Perseverance
Family
Friendship
Growing up
Acceptance
Loyalty
Transformation
Compassion
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Honesty
Cooperation
Revenge
Coming of age
Redemption
Love
Death
Isolation
Identity crisis
Optimism
Protection
8. Message or Moral
A message or moral is the lesson of a story.

It is supposed to teach you how to be a better person.
9. More Advanced Elements
A. Point of View
Point of view is the perspective from which a narrative is told. It indicates who is
telling the story and how the information is being filtered to the audience:
• First person employs the I or we pronouns

• Second person is told through the pronoun, you
• Third Person uses he, she, and they.
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27
A first person narrative is an extension of the way that we tell stories every day.
Often, the first-person narrator will be the protagonist. Examples:
• I poured my mother a glass of ice-cold milk.

• “Bring me the prisoner,” I told my chief of police.
• That turkey sandwich was mine!
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The second person point of view endows the reader with the narrative view point,
asking them to place themselves directly in the headspace of a particular
character: either the protagonist or a secondary personality. The pronouns
associated with second person include you, your, and yours, as in:
• You instruct the chief of police to bring the prisoner to your office.
• That turkey sandwich was yours!
Out of all the POVs, this one is the least popular — in part because it requires
such a large suspension of disbelief on the part of the reader.
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Third Person
The third person point of view uses third-person pronouns such as he, she, they
and character’s name to relate the story. Examples:
• “Bring me the prisoner,” she told her chief of police.

• He knew that that turkey sandwich was his.
• Little did the twins realize, they were both being watched.
• Brian cut off the alarm clock and jumped out of bed.
A narrator reports the facts and interprets events from the perspective of a
single character
The third-person limited point of view allows the reader to be inside the central
character's head. Everything in the story unfolds from that character’s point of
view.
Perhaps the most famous modern example of the limited third-person narrator
is the work of J.K. Rowling, in her “Harry Potter” books.
The reader experiences and feels everything Harry Potter does. But if
something happens out of Harry’s view, the reader does not know about it.
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The third-person omniscient point of view is a

method of storytelling in which an all
knowing narrator not only reports the facts but may
also interpret events and relate the thoughts and
feelings of all the characters.
It brings to life an entire world of characters and give

them significant depth and meaning.
It is useful for introducing the reader to a plethora of

characters. Using the third-person It relates
information to the reader about each character that
some of the characters in the story might not know
about each other.
For instance:
• He thought that Sarah was fantastic, but she didn't think the same of him.
• As Leslie and Andi kissed under the Eiffel Tower, a burglary was taking
place four miles east, in the 11th Arrondissement.
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THIRD PERSON OBJECTIVE
The narrator does not reveal the thoughts or feelings of any of the characters.
Only the character’s dialogues and actions are narrated.
The reader has to interpret the text and uncover the meaning.
For example: Tim slammed the door. He walked upstairs and read a note from
Shay.
EXERCISES:
Directions: determine from which perspective the passage is narrated. Explain your
answer.
Viewpoints: first-person, second-person, third-person objective, third-person

limited and third-person omniscient.
A. Brian could not bear to be on the roof of the skyscraper any longer. He wasn't
usually afraid of heights, but the wind was so strong and Rufus kept messing with
him. "Would you try to land on your feet or your head?" Rufus asked with a
straight face. Rufus could tell that he was getting to Brian, which only encouraged
him to keep going. "Let's go look over the edge, Brian," suggested Rufus, knowing
full well that Brian would refuse.
POV: _________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
B. The stars were burning brightly in the night sky. The evening breeze felt cool
on my skin. It was the last night of summer break and I was calm, oddly calm. It's
not that I was excited to go back to school. I wasn't. School is a lot of work for
me. But I was excited to see my friends again, and I knew that she would be
there.
32
POV: _________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
C. It was noon. The sun was high in the blue sky. The air was filled with the
sounds of lawn mowers and birds chirping. A door opened. A young boy walked
outside. A woman's voice could be heard from the house yelling, "Wait for me,
Michael." The young boy did not wait. He ran to the sidewalk and began jumping.
"Yeah! Yeah! Machine gun!" he yelled, pointing an invisible gun in all directions.
He took imaginary shots every few seconds and pantomimed the recoil.
POV: _________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
D. Chad tightened his grip on the rope. He could feel his fingers weakening.
"Come on, Chad! Pull! We're losing ground!" shouted his teammate George.
Chad gazed at the mud puddle toward which he and George were being dragged.
Then he looked up at his opponents. They were screaming something, but Chad
couldn't quite hear it. The muscles in his arms and shoulders were tightening. "It's
now or never!" George shouted. Chad dug his heels in the dirt and pulled with all
his strength.
POV: _________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
E. Grilling chicken is easy. First, give yourself plenty of time. If the temperature
rises much past 350 degrees, you may burn your chicken. So, keep the
temperature low, and give yourself plenty of time to cook the chicken. Set your
burners on low and leave the chicken on the top rack. Flip your chicken every 15
to 20 minutes. During final twenty minutes of cooking, brush some barbeque
sauce on your chicken. Now prepare to eat a delicious meal!
POV: _________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
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F. Most Improved Player by Robert Grisly
"Do you want to take the shot, Vince?" The coach asked me. I looked into his
eyes. They were ice-cold blue. His face did not betray his feelings, but I knew that
he meant it. "I do, Coach. I can make the shot." I replied. He nodded and then put
his hand on top of my head. "I don't know how long any of us will live, but we will
all remember what happens next for as long as we do." He then slapped me on
the back. The referee blew the whistle and it was time to find out just how I would
be remembered.
POV: _________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
G. A Cut Too Deep by Angela Marshall
Greg looked up at the bright lights in the operating room until they burned a white
spot in his field of vision. He looked at the face of the surgeon and saw only a
white blur. When he looked away, he could see the surgeon's masked face from
his peripheries. He could hear him readying an array of metal instruments, many
of which looked as though they might belong to a dentist. I hope he's not going
to use those on me! Greg thought to himself with terror. The surgeon picked up
one that looked like a bent up question mark.
POV: _________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
H. Tatakai Warriors: Fighting for Peanut Butter Instruction Manual by Tatakai

Warriors Inc.
Congratulations on purchasing the Tatakai Warriors: Fighting for Peanut Butter

computer game. Before you install this program, you'll need to make sure that
you have at least 24 kb of free space on your installation target. Insert the cd rom
disc into your drive. The disc should run automatically. Select "Full Install" from
the installation menu. The program will begin installing on your target drive. This
might take up to twenty-four hours. Once installation is complete, an alert box
should appear. If you see a successful installation message, remove the disc
from the drive and enjoy the adventure!
POV: _________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
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I. For the Stars and Heavens by Bradley Fox
Odin brushed the snowflakes off of his sword and replied, "I will never accept a
peace treaty from the Hamburgs. They are our sworn enemies and so long as I
can hold a sword, I will point it at Hamburgs." Epée looked at him and wrinkled
her face. A long moment passed in silence. Snow continued to fall from the sky.
Finally, Epée responded, "But, Odin, think about what peace might mean for the
children." Odin sneered and said, "Humph," but made no further comment. Epée
drew her weapon.
POV: _________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
J. The Great Divide and Other Freshman Tales by P. W. Dunhill
"Wow, look at his costume," said Annie. "He's dressed up like an electric jellyfish."
She observed the flashing lights with genuine admiration. Adrianna looked at the
costume and scoffed. Secretly, she envied the detail and craftsmanship that went
into the jellyfish costume, but she would never let on to Annie. “What kind of loser
goes walking around like a Christmas tree?” Adrianna said. Annie did not agree,
but did not want to be disagreeable. “Yeah… what kind?” The ladies walked by
another house. Annie did not like this. It seemed like Adrianna more interested in
criticizing others than in trick-or-treating. Annie adjusted the headband to her
costume. Adrianna was not wearing a costume.
POV: _________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
B. Genre
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Literary Genres and Subgenres
Drama
Drama is a text which has been written with the intention of being performed for
an audience. Dramas range from plays to improvisations on stage. Popular
dramas include Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin
in the Sun and so on.
Prose
Prose encompasses any literary text which is not arranged in a poetic form. Put
simply, prose is whatever is not poetry. Prose includes novels, short stories,
journals, letters, fiction and nonfiction, among others. This article is an example
of prose.
Poetry
As poetry has evolved, it has taken on numerous forms, but in general poetry is
the genre of literature which has some form of meter or rhyme with focus based
on syllable counts, musicality, and division of lines (lineation). Unlike prose which
runs from one end of the page to the other, poetry is typically written in lines and
blocks of lines known as stanzas.
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Drama: a composition Fiction: a story that did Nonfiction: writing Poetry: writing
in verse or prose not happen in real life that is real and factual using language
presenting a story in or that actually and sounds in
pantomime or = imaginative or made up happened special ways to
dialogue; a play that writing. express ideas
is performed in front = writing that is true
of audience on the = verse &
stage rhythmic writing
with imagery
= script
• Comedy • Fantasy • Narrative • Lyric

• Tragedy • Myth • Essay • Epic
• Farce • Legend • Biography • Prose poetry
• Melodrama • Fable • Autobiography • Satirical
• Musical drama • Fairy tale • Speech • Narrative
• Musical theatre • Tall tale • Article poetry
• Action • Epistolary
• Adventure • Research Paper
• Detective • Documentary
• Espionage • Informational
• Crime
• Mystery
• Murder
• Thriller
• Horror
• Suspense
• Ghost
• Romance
• Gothic
• Historical Romance
• Historical Fiction
• Realistic Fiction
• Science Fiction
• Parody
• Comedy
• Utopia
• Dystopia
• Sports Fiction
A genre is a category of literature identified by form, content, and

style. Genres allow literary critics and students to classify compositions
within the larger canon of literature.
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Poetry
Poetry is a type of literature that conveys a thought, describes a scene or tells a

story in a concentrated, lyrical arrangement of words. Poems can be structured,
with rhyming lines and meter, the rhythm and emphasis of a line based on
syllabic beats. Poems can also be freeform, which follows no formal structure.
Prose
It is a division of literature which covers a literary work that is spoken or written

within the common flow of language in sentences and in paragraphs which gives
information, relate events, express ideas, or present opinions. Under this division,
we have two sub-divisions: Fiction and Non-Fiction.
Stanza and Paragraph
Stanzas in poetry are similar to paragraphs in prose. Both stanzas and

paragraphs include connected thoughts, and are set off by a space. The number
of lines varies in different kinds of stanzas, but it is uncommon for a stanza to
have more than twelve lines.
Fiction
A novella is a short novel, that is, a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter
than that of most novels, but longer than most short stories.
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, normally written in prose

form, and which is typically published as a book.
Short story, brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and that
usually deals with only a few characters.
Fantasy: story containing monsters, magic, or other supernatural elements.
Myth: a classic story that usually focuses on a particular hero or event, and
explains mysteries of nature, existence, or the universe with no true basis in
fact.
Legend: a story about human events or actions that have not been proved nor
documented in real history.
Fable: a short fictional story that uses humanized animals, objects, or parts of
nature as main characters and teaches a lesson or has got a moral.
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Fairy tale: a story, often intended for children, that features fanciful and
wondrous characters such as elves, goblins, wizards, and even, but not
necessarily, fairies.
Tall Tale: a story sets in the Wild West; the main character’s strengths, skills, or
size have been exaggerated and the tone is funny. These tales were meant to
illustrate the abilities of a person or explain the natural phenomenon that people
were experiencing.
Adventure: this genre consists of stories where the protagonist goes on an epic
journey, either personally or geographically. Often the protagonist has a mission
and faces many obstacles in his way.
The adventure genre often pairs up with the action genre, since long epic
journeys have a lot of action in them. The adventure genre can be combined with
almost any other genre.
Action: stories in the action genre usually put more emphasis on exciting action
sequences than deep themes and character development. Of course, there are
exceptions. Stories that fall into the action fiction category are usually written and
read by men. However, many action books and movies have just enough
character development and meaning that women can enjoy them as well.
Detective: stories in the detective genre are about a detective or detectives,

either a professional or amateur who is involved in solving a crime. The detective
sometimes has to figure out how the crime or murder was actually pulled
off/committed in order to solve the case. The plot follows the detective as they
discover clues that lead to the apprehension of the criminal. The detective genre
is closely linked and similar to the crime and mystery genres.
Espionage: the espionage genre is made up of spy stories. The activity of

intelligence agencies and international intrigue are staples and core in the
espionage genre. The spies in the espionage genre can be either good or evil.
The main character can be a hero, set out to save the world by going undercover
to foil the enemies plot or the story in this genre can also be about the terrorists.
Crime: the literary genre that fictionalises crimes, their detection, criminals and
their motives.
Mystery: it is a genre of fiction that follows a crime like a murder or a

disappearance from the moment it is committed to the moment it is solved.
Murder: the stories in the murder genre involve a mystery-type investigation

surrounding a crime, often homicide; the investigator who seeks to find the
murderer may also find their loved ones in danger because of the investigation.
Thriller: it is a genre of literature, film, and television whose primary feature is

that it induces strong feelings of excitement, anxiety, tension, suspense, fear, and
other similar emotions in its readers or viewers: in other words it thrills the
audience.
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Horror: it is a genre that creates feelings of dread, repulsion, fear, fascination or

revulsion in the reader. In other words, these stories are designed to evoke horror
and this is done either through supernatural elements or psychological
circumstances.
Suspense: it is a literary device that authors use to keep their readers’ interest
alive throughout the work. It is a feeling of anticipation that something risky or
dangerous is about to happen. Readers are more concerned about the
characters, and to form sympathetic association with them.
Ghost: this genre has got stories that are about hauntings, ghosts or ghostly
circumstances. They are stories about the intrusion of the spirits of the dead into
the realm of the living. Sometimes the ghosts appear of their own accord or
through the summoning of magic.
Romance: this genre is smart, fresh and diverse, so readers who enjoy chivalry,
contemporary dialogue, historical settings, adventure, mystery, thrillers, spiritual
stories or any number of other themes, there is a romance novel or story waiting
for them! The novel or the story line is focus on a quest that involves bravery and
strong values, not always a love interest. However, modern definitions of
romance also include stories that have a relationship issue as the main focus.
Gothic: this genre incorporates horror, death and at times romance;

the settings are usually in distant regions, in large ancient houses that conceals
a terrible secret or serves as the refuge of an especially frightening and
threatening character. So, these stories feature dark and captivating characters.
Gothic stories became popular in the late 19th century and usually had a sense
of transcendence, supernatural, and irrationality. Popular Gothic novels still read
by many high school students today are classics such as:
▪ Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

▪ Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
▪ Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Historical Romance: it takes place in times long past and appears romantic due
to the adventure and wildness of the time. This also provides value and meaning
to the lifestyle of the characters. The following novels fit in this sub-genre:
▪ The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

▪ Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott.
Contemporary/Modern Romance: this genre focuses on a love relationship

and has a happy ending.
Historical fiction: is a genre where imaginary stories take place in the

past. Historical novels or stories capture the details of the time period as
40
accurately as possible for authenticity, including social norms, manners, customs,

and traditions.
Realistic Fiction: this genre is made up of stories set in a real setting that can
really happen to real people and animals. The realistic genre involves things that
can have taken place in real life, with the character reacting in the same manner
as real people might react. There is less dramatization and stretching of the truth;
the fantastical elements common in other works of fiction are somewhat
suspended.
Science fiction: this fiction is often called “sci-fi and it” and it is one of the most
creative genres in literature. These novels or stories take readers on
adventures from faraway galaxies to underwater worlds and everywhere in
between, introducing them to otherworldly characters and technologies along
the way whose content is imaginative, but based in science. It relies heavily on
scientific facts, theories, and principles as support for its settings, characters,
themes, and plot-lines, which is what makes it different from fantasy. Many
stories use hard facts and truths of sciences to:
▪ suggest what could really happen in the future

▪ to explore what could happen if certain events or circumstances came to be
or
▪ suggest consequences of technological and scientific advancements and
innovation.
Comedy: it is a broad genre of literature film and television in which the goal is
to make an audience laugh. It exists in every culture on earth; although the
specifics of comedy can be very different from one culture to another, It has
always been an extremely popular genre of storytelling.
Parody: this genre is an imitation of a particular writer, artist, or genre, mimics

the style of another work, artist, or genre in an exaggerated way, usually for comic
effect exaggerating it deliberately to produce a comic effect with the purpose of
both making the audience laugh and perhaps implicitly critiquing the works in
question The humorous effect in parody is achieved by imitating and
overstressing noticeable features of a famous piece of literature, as in
caricatures, where certain peculiarities of a person are highlighted to achieve the
humorous effect. Parodies can take many forms, including fiction, poetry, film,
visual art, and more.
Utopia: utopian stories are generally written to explore ideas about how
society should or could be. These books or stories denote an illusionary place
that projects the notion of a perfect society to the reader. The “perfect society”
refers to ideal conditions achieved within the material world, as opposed to the
expected idealism of afterlife in Christianity or other religions. So, the citizens
presiding in such utopias are bearers of a perfect moral code, or at the least,
every violator of the moral code is harshly punished. A utopian society is one
where all social evils have been cured.
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Dystopia: dystopian stories take place in a world in which everything is imperfect

and everything goes terribly wrong. Books or stories show us a nightmarish image
about what might happen to the world in the near future. Usually the main themes
of dystopian works are rebellion, oppression, revolutions, wars, overpopulation,
and disasters.
Sports Fiction: this genre is made up of stories where a sport has got an impact
on the plot or main character. The story can be about a coach who struggles with
life and finds peace and comfort when he or she is with the team and the game.
The story can be about a teen that lives in poverty and his or her skill at a certain
sport helps this teen rise above his or her struggles with life or keeps the teen
away from drugs. In this genre, the “sport” is the main theme and has to do
something special for or be something significant to the characters.
Non fiction
Narrative Nonfiction: information based on fact that is presented in a format
which tells a story.
Essay: a short literary composition that reflects the author’s outlook or point. A
short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and
generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.
Biography: a written account of another person’s life.
Autobiography: the history of a person’s life, written or told by that person. Often
written in Narrative form of their person’s life.
Speech is the faculty or power of speaking; oral communication; ability to express

one’s thoughts and emotions by speech, sounds, and gesture. Generally
delivered in the form of an address or discourse.
Article: this genre is a non-fictional prose composition that appears in

magazines, newspapers, academic journals, the Internet or any other type of
publication. Articles are divided into two main categories: news and features.
Epistolary: a literary genre pertaining to letters, in which writers use letters,

journals and diary entries in their works, or they tell their stories or deliver
messages through a series of letters. Though the usual format of epistolary is
letters, writers sometimes use other forms of document such as newspaper
clippings and diary entries. Recently, writers also use electronic documents like
emails, blogs, radio broadcast, and recordings.
Research paper: the culmination and final product that involves a process of
research, critical thinking, source evaluation, organization, and composition.
Documentary: a written work, film television or radio programme that gives

information and facts and information about a subject.
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Informational: the primary purpose is to inform the reader about the natural or
social world.
C. Tone: A writing’s tone is established through word choices and use of

literary devices. Tone is the overall ‘flavour’ of the story that is created by
using all of these techniques combined. It is the attitude the writer displays
towards their subject or theme.
D. Mood: This is about the effect the writer creates in the reader and how
they evoke it through their use of language.
E. Style: Related to tone in many regards, style is the individual author’s

unique voice and it is again evidenced in their word choices, plot patterns,
sentence structures and so on. The writer’s personal style is a strong
contributor to a writing’s tone.
F. Most Common Literary Devices: Authors of literary text make use of

what are called literary devices, in order to beautify the language of the text
and convey meaning at the same time. Some literary devices are exclusive
to poetry; others can be used anywhere.
Alliteration: when multiple words in a row, or close to one another, begin

with the same consonant. For example, bad babies bother my brother
Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds to set the mood or add to the

meaning of the word. For example, ‘From the molten-golden notes’
Consonance: consonance means repetitive sounds produced by consonant

within a sentence or phrase. Example of consonance is: "Traffic figures, on
July Fourth, to be tough."
Imagery/Sensory: usage of words to create a mental image in a person, by

appealing to one of our senses. Imagery can be auditory or visual. For
example, phrases like ‘clanging bells’ or ‘sweet smelling roses’ immediately
evoke images of the objects along with the associated sense once we read
about them.
Flashback: it moves an audience from the present moment in a chronologic

al narrative to a scene in the past. Often, flashbacks are abrupt interjections
that further explain a story or character with background information and
memories.
Figurative language: any use of language where the intended meaning differs
from the actual literal meaning of the words themselves. There are many
techniques which can rightly be called figurative language, including metaphor,
simile, hyperbole, personification, onomatopoeia, verbal irony, and
oxymoron, allusion.
Metaphor: a comparison device, but without words such as like or as. For
example, ‘She is a real pit bull’
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Simile: a comparison device, using words such as like or as. For example,
‘Her voice was like a fork against a plate’.
Hyperbole: a description which exaggerates an action so much that it cannot

possibly be true. It is often used to evoke strong feelings. For example, the
sentence “I have been waiting here forever!”
Personification is a technique used to give living, human characteristics to

non-living objects. For example, ‘chatter of the brook’ implies that a brook
can perform a living action such as chattering while it cannot, but conveys
the sound.
Onomatopoeia: the use of words which sound like the noise they refer to. 'Hiss',
'buzz', and 'rat-a-tat-tat' are examples of onomatopoeia.
Irony: a situation in which there is a contrast between expectation and reality.

For example, the difference between what something appears to mean versus
its literal meaning. Irony is associated with both tragedy and humor. There are
different types of irony: situational, dramatic irony, verbal irony.
Dramatic irony: occurs when the audience knows more about what's going on
than the characters. It can create suspense as the audience waits to see if the
characters will realize what’s happening before it’s too late.
Situational irony occurs when something happens that is completely different

from what was expected. Usually, these instances incorporate some type of
contradiction and a certain level of surprise or shock.
Verbal irony occurs when a character says one thing, but means another.
Oxymoron is a term made of two words that are opposites of each other
and therefore imply each other’s opposite. For example, ‘cruel love’ or
‘terrible beauty’, are oxymoronic terms.
Allusion is a brief, indirect reference that is made to a person, place, thing, or

idea of historical, cultural. literary, or political importance with which the reader is
presumably familiar. However, allusions are only effective to the extent that they
are recognized and understood by the reader, and that they are properly inferred
and interpreted by the reader.
Rhetorical questions: questions which are asked but seem to require no

answer. They are simply language tools to convey an idea, but not actual
questions which require an answer. For example, ‘If practice makes perfe ct,
and no one’s perfect, then why practice?’ This is a rhetorical question that
is asked simply for its effect. The speaker would not be looking for an
answer.
Repetition: when an author repeats a word or line multiple times to reinforce

its importance to the audience.
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Rhyme: when words end in a similar sound. For example, mouse and
house.
Foreshadowing: where future events in a story, or perhaps the outcome, are

suggested by the author before they happen.
Rhyme scheme; is the pattern of rhyme that comes at the end of each verse or
line in poetry. In other words, it is the structure of end words of a verse or line that
a poet needs to create when writing a poem. Many poems are written in free
verse style, so they have not got a rhyme scheme.
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G. Author’s Purpose
1. Persuade
This is a very common purpose of writing, particularly in nonfiction writing.

When a text is written to persuade it will aim to convince the reader of the
merits of a certain point of view. With this type of writing the author will
attempt to persuade the reader to agree with this point of view and/or
subsequently take a particular course of action.
To identify when the author’s purpose is to persuade, students should ask

themselves if they feel the writer is trying to get them to believe something or
take a specific action. They should learn to identify the various tactics and
strategies used in persuasive writing such as repetition, various types of
supporting evidence, hyperbole, attacking opposing viewpoints, forceful
phrases, emotive imagery and photographs and so on.
Ex: The school day should be shorter.
2. Inform
When an author’s purpose is to inform, they usually wish to enlighten their

readership about a real-world topic. Often, they will do this by providing lots of
46
facts. Informational texts are geared toward imparting information to the reader
with the purpose of educating them on a given topic.
In the process of informing the reader, the author will make use of facts and
this is one sure fire way to spot the intent to inform.
Ex: An article about the classification of mammals.
However, when the author’s purpose is persuasion they will also be likely to
provide the reader with some facts in an attempt to convince the reader of the
merits of their particular case. The main difference between the two differing
ways facts are employed is that, when the intention is to inform, facts are
presented only to teach the reader. When the author’s purpose is to persuade,
they will commonly mask their opinions amid the facts.
Students must become adept at recognizing ‘hidden’ opinions through practice.

Teach your students to beware persuasion masquerading as information!
3. Entertain
When an author’s chief purpose is to entertain the reader they will endeavour
to keep things as interesting as possible. Things happen in books that are
written to entertain, whether in the form of an action packed plot, inventive
characterizations, or sharp dialogue.
When a writer is attempting to entertain or amuse the reader they will use a
variety of techniques to engage their attention. They may employ cliff hangers
at the end of a chapter, for example. They may weave humour into their story,
or even have characters tell jokes. In the case of a thriller, action-packed
scene may follow on action-packed scene as the drama builds to a
crescendo. Think of the melodrama of a soap opera here, rather than the
subtle touch of an art house masterpiece.
47
Ex: The Adventures of Robin Hood.
4. Explain
When writers write to explain, they want to tell the reader how to do
something or reveal to them how something works. This type of writing is
about communicating a method or a process. Often you will find this type of
writing organized into bulleted or numbered points. As it focuses on telling the
reader how to do something, often lots of imperatives will be used within the
writing. Diagrams and illustrations are often used to reinforce the text
explanations too.
Ex: Chinese Cooking.
5. Describe
Often writers will use words to describe something in more detail than be
conveyed in a photograph alone. After all, they say ‘a picture paints a
thousand words’ and text can help get us beyond the one dimensional
appearance of things.
Ex: Comparing and Contrasting London and New York.
In the case of fiction writing which describes, the reader will notice the writer
using lots of sensory details in the text. Our senses are how we perceive the
48
world and, to describe their imaginary world, writers will draw heavily on
language that appeals to these senses. In both fiction and nonfiction, readers
will notice the writer will rely heavily on adjectives in their writing.
Let’s Practice
I. Alliteration.
A. Underline the alliteration in the sentences below.
The warm wind wafted across the window.

I accidentally ate an awful apple.
Slipping and sliding, I stumbled in the snow and slush.
B. Finish these sentences with alliterations of your own:
Swiftly swimming _________________________________.
The tired traveller __________________________________.
While wandering __________________________________.
II. Identifying onomatopoeia.
Underline the words you “hear” in these sentences:
The train rumbled down the track.

The truck’s brakes screeched in the distance.
The old floor creaked as we walked across the room.
Complete the following sentences using onomatopoeia of your own:
The rusty gate ___________________________________________.
The branches ____________________________________________.
The motorcycle _____________________________________________.
III. Metaphor and Simile
A. Read the following sentences. At the end of the sentence, write in

brackets whether the sentence is an example of a metaphor (M) or simile
(S).
Example: The clouds were fluffy like cotton wool. (S)
1. As slippery as an eel.
2. He was a lion in battle.
49
3. She is as pretty as a picture.

4. The striker was a goal machine.
5. The moon was a misty shadow.
6. His eyes sparkled like a diamond.
B. Now you are going to make up similes and metaphors of your own by
finishing these sentences.
1. As heavy as ______________________________________
2. He was a cold _____________________________________
3. She had skin like a _________________________________
4. As cool as ________________________________________
5. The mountain was a ________________________________
6. Slippery like a _____________________________________
IV. Directions: Read the descriptions of the texts. Look for details that reveal the
genre. Write the genre and subgenre on the lines and write a sentence explaining
your answer.
Genre: fiction nonfiction
Subgenre: historical fiction fable realistic fiction persuasive writing
science fiction and fantasy fairy tale informational writing
1. The Hard Way Out by Terry Vaughn
In this novel, Brian is struggling. After losing both of his parents in a tragic car
accident, Brian is living at his Aunt's house and sharing a room with his cousin.
Basketball is his only escape. But after getting benched for low progress report
grades, Brian's world shatters. Does he have it in him to improve his grades?
Will Brian come to peace with his emotions? Can anyone help him?
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: ______________________
Explain your Answer
____________________________________________ _____________________
2. Newton's Law by Morton Mallon
After a life of studying the nano-transportation sciences, Professor Melton

stumbles upon a major breakthrough. On April 20th, 2042, Melton discovers a
way to transport particles at light-speed across fixed distances. Now he can
teleport from one location to another. But Professor Melton soon discovers that
50
there is no such thing as a free lunch. He learns that the body ages relative to
the distance travelled, not just the time. This means that a teleporting body ages
very rapidly. Can Melton solve this problem before his time is up?
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: ______________________
Explain your Answer
____________________________________________ _____________________
3. Intermediate Math Problems for Students by M. Colwell
This workbook explains how to perform basic mathematical operations, like

double-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It also explains
fractions and decimals.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: ______________________
Explain your Answer
____________________________________________ _____________________
4. "If a Tree Falls" adapted by Stan Tanner
This is the very short story of a buck. The buck was admiring his horns in the
water's reflection and feeling bad about his skinny legs. Then a hunter tries to
kill him. As the buck tries to escape, his big horns get stuck in some tree
branches, but his skinny legs manage to pull him free. The moral is that what is
truly valuable is often unappreciated.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: ______________________
Explain your Answer
____________________________________________ _____________________
5. The Tinfoil Key by Rob Burnside
When young Ian Bradley accidently switches suitcases with an intergalactic

space explorer, he ends up going on the trip of a lifetime. Now that he's left
holding the bag, Ian must deliver it to the light scientists on Gamma Outpost 9 in
51
time. Every life form in the galaxy is unknowingly depending on the success of
Ian's efforts.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: ______________________
Explain your Answer
____________________________________________ _____________________
6. Seeing More, Being More by Fletch Carpenter
"Dr." Fletch gives readers a dose of hard medicine. He believes that most
people cause their own problems. Fletch teaches readers to solve problems
such as bullying, insecurity, and relationship troubles.
He does this with a three-step strategy: letting go of ego, seeing the "real"
reality, and finding a role. Some readers find Carpenter's ideas to be refreshing.
Others find them to be offensive.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: ______________________
Explain your Answer
_________________________________________________________________
7. Bronze Star by Irwin Keene
World War II has been hard for Mama Conner. While her husband and three
sons have been away at war,
Mama Conner has had to fend for herself. She keeps the house together, raises
money, and provides for Baby Maple. The mood in town suddenly darkens
when her neighbour Betsy loses one of her loved ones in battle. At Mama
Conner's ladies club, several upstanding ladies of the town are on edge. They
heard a garbled news report announcing that a man from their town was lost in
battle. But the man's name went unheard and the women are left to speculate.
This novel ends in a surprising twist.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: ______________________
Explain your Answer
____________________________________________ _____________________
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8. "Rapunzel" adapted by Craig Hooper
Once upon a time a young girl named Rapunzel was running an errand for her
mother. An evil witch kidnaps Rapunzel and imprisons her in the tower of a
castle. After years in the tower, Rapunzel grew long, beautiful hair. Having seen
nobody but the evil witch her whole life, Rapunzel is very lonely. One day a
prince wanders by and climbs up her hair. The witch doesn't like this and action
ensues. Eventually the prince and Rapunzel live happily ever after.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: ______________________
Explain your Answer
____________________________________________ _____________________
V. Directions: Read the titles and descriptions of the stories. Identify the
genre and subgenre using the word bank. Some items may repeat.
Main Genre: fiction, nonfiction, folk tale, drama, and poetry (poetry may not
have a subgenre).
Subgenre: autobiography, biography, comedy, essay, fable, fairy tale, historical
fiction, informational writing, legend, myth, science fiction, tall tale, technical
writing, and tragedy.
1. Story of Alfred Bulltop Stormalong by unknown: Stormalong was said to

be a sailor and a giant, some 30 feet tall; he was the master of a huge clipper
ship known in various sources as either the Courser or the Tuscarora, a ship so
tall that it had hinged masts to avoid catching on the moon.
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: _____________________
2. The Endurance: Shackleton`s Legendary Antarctic Expedition by

Caroline Alexander: Photos and first person accounts describe Shackleton's
1914 expedition to Antarctica in this companion volume to a museum exhibit.
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: _____________________
3. The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer: Humans and clones

populate a corrupt drug empire located between the United States and Mexico
in this futuristic thriller.
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: _____________________
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4. Story of Robin Hood by unknown: Robin Hood is a highly-skilled archer

and outlaw who actually existed. He is known for "stealing from the rich and
giving to the poor" assisted by a group of outlaws known as his "Merry Men".
There are many songs and stories about him. Though he was a real person,
many of the facts surrounding him have been distorted or greatly exaggerated.
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: _____________________
6. This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody
Guthrie by Elizabeth Partridge: An award-winning author has taken the life of
this song writing genius and woven his lyrics and other material into a touching
and entertaining portrait of a true genius.
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: _____________________
7. What are My Rights? 95 Questions and Answers About Teens and the
Law by Thomas A. Jacobs: Teenagers have many questions about the law,
but often they don't know where to turn for answers. This book makes it easy to
explore 95 legal questions that pertain specifically to them.
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: _____________________
8. The Wall: Growing up behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis: In his most
personal work to date, Peter Sis offers a brilliant graphic memoir, taking readers
on an extraordinary journey as he recalls his youth growing up in
Czechoslovakia in the 1960s, when his country was on the Communist side of
the Iron Curtain.
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: _____________________
9. Story of Achilles by unknown: During the Trojan War, Achilles was the
Greek's best warrior; his nymph mother, assisted by the gods, held him by his
heel when she dipped him in the River Styx making him immortal everywhere
but there.
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: _____________________
10. Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett: In the eleventh century, the teenage
princess Anna Comnena fights for her birth right--the throne to the Byzantine
Empire--which she fears will be taken from her by her younger brother, John.
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: _____________________
54
11. Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack

Obama: Born in 1961 to a white American woman and a black Kenyan student,
Obama was reared in Hawaii by his mother and her parents, his father having
left for further study and a return home to Africa. So Obama's not-unhappy
youth is nevertheless a lonely voyage to racial identity, tensions in school,
struggling with black literature. This is his story in his own words.
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: ___________________
12. “My Summer Vacation in The Dells” by Jerome Gardner: Jerome

Gardner describes his trip to Wisconsin Dells in five thrilling paragraphs.
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: _____________________
13. Goldilocks and the Three Bears” by Robert Southey: Goldilocks, a little
girl with blonde hair, is lost in the forest. She comes upon a house that seems
comfortable and safe, but the house is actually the home of a family of bears.
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: _____________________
14. “The Lion and the Mouse” by Jerry Pinkney: A lion almost eats a mouse
that woke him, but the mouse begs forgiveness and promises to return the
favour. The lion lets the mouse go. Later, the lion is captured by hunters and
tied to a tree; the lion roars for help. The mouse hears the lion's pleas and frees
him by gnawing through the ropes. The last line of the story is: “Little friends
may prove great friends.”
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: _____________________
15. “Xbox 360 Operations Manual” by Microsoft: Explains how to operate

the Xbox 360 and includes a trouble shooting guide.
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: _____________________
16. “Little Red Riding Hood” by Charles Perrault: a girl walks through the
woods to deliver food to her sick grandmother. A wolf goes to the grandmother's
house, eats the grandmother, and waits for the girl, disguised as the
grandmother.
Genre: ____________________ Subgenre: _____________________
55
VI. Identifying Author’s Purpose.
Write the correct number and letter into each box.
Purpose Definition Example
A B C
AA
The author wants the The author wants to tell The author wants you to
reader to enjoy his or her you how to do or how visualizer experience a
writing. The purpose is to something works providing person, a place or event,
amuse readers with all directions on how to do it so he or she often
type of texts (sad, funny, or telling the steps in a evokes the 5 senses and
terrifying, and so on.) process. details to tell about a
topic.
56
E
D
The author wants to
The author gives true and convince you to do,
factual information about a believe or buy something.
topic- He or she wants you to
agree with him or her.
1 2 3
A magazine article A realistic fiction book
Directions on how to
that provides healthy with complex
play chess.
food alternatives to characters and a plot.
fast food menu items.
4 5
An essay telling about A nonfiction book about
a beautiful spring day elephants.
spent in the mountains.
VII. Identifying Genre, Subgenre, & Author’s Purpose
Directions: Read the descriptions of the texts and determine the genre
and subgenre. Then write a sentence explaining your answer. You will
also identify the author’s purpose.
1. “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury
This short story is about a class of school children on Venus, a planet where
the sun is visible for only two hours every seven years. A mean group of school
children lock a young girl from Earth in the closet and forget about her for the
whole two hours. She cries.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: _______________________
Author’s Purpose:
Entertain Persuade Inform
57
Explain Your Answer:
__________________________________________________________
2. “The Story of the Three Bears” Retold by Robert Southey
This is the story of a young girl who stumbled upon the home of three bears
while walking through the woods. She eats the baby bear’s porridge and sleeps
in his bed, finding it to be “just right.” She is awoken when the three bears
return to find an intruder in their home and action ensues.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: _______________________
Author’s Purpose:
__________________________________________________________
3. Intermediate Science by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing

Company
This is a science textbook. It contains the most up to date information about

Earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, geology, astronomy and more.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: _______________________
Author’s Purpose:
__________________________________________________________
4. “More Sports at Ericson” by Kelvin Williams
Kelvin writes five paragraphs arguing for more sports programs at Ericson
Scholastic Academy. He previews his points in his introduction and develops
his three arguments in body paragraphs.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: _______________________
Author’s Purpose:
58
__________________________________________________________
5. The Fallen by Paul Langan
In this novel Martin Luna, a troubled teenager, struggles with the decision to
take revenge on the person who killed his brother. A fight threatens to end his
sophomore year at Bluford High School. And Frankie, the most feared homeboy
from his neighborhood, is hunting him.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: _______________________
Author’s Purpose:
__________________________________________________________
6. I’m Still in School by Mr. Morton
This is Mr. Morton’s life story, which he wrote himself.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: _______________________
Author’s Purpose:
__________________________________________________________
7. Breaking Dawn (the Twilight Sage) by Stephenie Meyer
The story of a teenage girl named Bella Swan who is in love triangle with a
teenage vampire and werewolf. She must choose to either join the dark world
of immortals or pursue a fully human life.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: _______________________
Author’s Purpose:
59
__________________________________________________________
8. “Paul Bunyan” retold by James MacGillivray
A collection of hilarious stories about a 40-foot lumberjack adventuring across

the American frontier: It took three storks to carry Paul Bunyan to his parents,
he sawed the legs of his parents’ bed at seven months old, Paul dug the Grand
Canyon while dragging his axe behind him, and so forth.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: _______________________
Author’s Purpose:
__________________________________________________________
9. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
A fictional story set in Nazi-occupied Denmark in 1943 telling of a 10-year-old

girl who undertakes a dangerous mission to save her best friend, Ellen Rosen,
on the eve when Nazi’s will capture Jews.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: _______________________
Author’s Purpose:
__________________________________________________________
10. The Tell-Tale Heart by Alan Poe
In this short story the narrator attempts to prove his own sanity in the wake of
having murdered an old man.
The unreliable narrator explains that he loved the old man very much, but was
disturbed by the old man's "evil eye," which he alleges drove him to murder.
After killing the old man, the narrator chops up his body and hides it beneath the
floorboards.
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The police arrive after a neighbor reports having heard a scream, and the
narrator begins to hear the old man's heart beating beneath the floor. Disturbed,
he admits his crime to the police.
Genre: ______________________ Subgenre: _______________________
Author’s Purpose:
__________________________________________________________
Identifying the story elements in The Three Little Pigs by

Joseph Jacobs
Joseph Jacobs
Thank You, Joseph Jacobs

What would your childhood have been like without some
of these popular fairy tales?
''Goldilocks''
''The Three Little Pigs''
''Jack and the Beanstalk''
Can you imagine growing up without having heard one -

or all - of these classics? Well, without the help of author
Joseph Jacobs, some of these famous stories may
never have made their way to the listening ears of
youngsters everywhere.
Joseph Jacobs helped spread the tale of Goldilocks and

other popular fairy tale characters.
Let's take a close look at the life and works of this English folklorist (one who
studies and interprets the artifacts of a group of people).
Learning More about Joseph Jacobs
Joseph Jacobs was born in Australia in 1854, the son of John and Sarah
Jacobs. Jacobs was educated at Sydney Grammar School and, later, the
University of Sydney, before moving to England and enrolling at St. John's
College.
61
Jacobs was described as a ''voracious reader'' from an early age, and was first
told the story of ''Henny Penny'' and ''Jack and the Beanstalk'' when he was
only six years old. One of those stories appeared in Jacobs' first anthology, or
collection, of English fairy tales.
A Career Evolves
Jacobs later became involved in the Society of Hebrew Literature, where he

wrote about Jewish persecution and, later, a book titled Bibliotheca Anglo-
Judaica: A Bibliographical Guide to Anglo-Jewish History.
A few years later, Jacobs dipped his pen into the world of fairy tales, editing
English Fairy Tales, the start of his focus on fairy tales over the next decade. He
followed it up with More English Fairy Tales shortly thereafter.
Though he was smitten with compiling and popularizing European fairy tales, he
also worked on stories from the Jewish culture as well as from India. He was
motivated by the opportunity to present fairy tales to an English-speaking
audience, where they were previously presented in other languages, such as
French and German.
Jacobs would later use his own children, two sons and a daughter, to try out the
stories he would collect from the library to include in his books. He was
especially focused on writing the stories the way they would be read aloud to a
young audience.
Historians believe he was inspired by the works of the popular fairy tale writers,
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.
Yet, fairy tales were not the only stories that Jacobs enjoyed. He also worked
on versions of Fables of Bidpai and Fables of Aesop. Fables, like fairy tales, are
short stories, but generally include a clear moral or life lesson for readers.
Giving Fairy Tales a Boost
Perhaps Jacobs' largest claim to fame was his work to popularize fairy tales
which, at that point, were only available in non-English languages.
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The Three Little Pigs
Once upon a time there was a mum

pig with three little pigs who lived
in a village. One day she said to
them: “My children, it is time for
you to go and build strong houses
for yourselves. But take care that
the wolf does not catch you.” .
Before they left, their mother
told them " Whatever you do , do
it the best that you can because
that's the way to get along in the
world So, bidding their mother
good-bye, the three little pigs set
out to earn their
Tom, Billy and Henry set off. "We will take care that
the wolf does not catch us," they said. Soon they
met a man who was carrying some straw. "Please will
you give me some straw?" asked the first little pig.
"I want to build a house for myself."
"Yes," said the man and he gave the first little pig
some straw.
The second little pig and the third little pig went on
along the road. Soon they met a man who was
carrying some sticks.
"Please will you give me some sticks?" asked the
second little pig. "I want to build a house for myself."
"Yes," said the man and he gave the second little pig
some sticks.
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Then the second little pig built himself a house of

sticks. It was stronger than the house of straw.
The second little pig was very pleased with his house.
He said, "Now the wolf won't catch me and eat me."
"I shall build a stronger house than yours," said the
third little pig and left in a hurry because he had to
get some bricks.
The third little pig walked on, along the road, by

himself. Soon he met a man carrying some bricks.
"Please will you give me some bricks?" asked the

third little pig. "I want to build a house for
myself."
"Yes," said the man and he gave the third little pig
some bricks.
Tom and Billy are happy because they have

built their houses very quickly, so now they
sang, danced and played all day. They were
lazy and laughed at their brother who was
never in a rush.
The third little pig worked hard all day. He
took his time and he enjoyed building his
house with bricks.
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Eventually Henry finished building his house.

But here was a big, bad wolf looking for food
who finally discovered the three little pigs.
One afternoon all of a sudden they heard
the sound of wolf, they were scared and
went back to their own houses. The mean
wolf was hungry and wanted to eat the three
little pigs were his target.
The next day the wolf came along the

road. He went to Tom pig’s house, which
is made from straw. So the wolf showed
his huge teeth and said, "Little pig, little
pig,” “Won’t you let me come in?”
“No!” said Tom Pig. “Not by the hair of
my chinny, chin, chin. I will not let you in!”
“Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow
your house down!” said the wolf and
easily broke it with one blew.
Tom pig run to Billy pig’s house, which is
a wooden house.
But along came the wolf and knocked

at the door of Billy’s house.
“Little pig, little pig,” he said. “Let me
come in.”
“No, no,” replied Billy in great fright.
“Not by the hair on my chinny-chin-
chin!”
“Then I’ll puff and I’ll huff and I’ll
blow your house in.”
So the wolf puffed and he huffed and
at last he blew the house in.
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The wolf chased them down the

lane and he almost caught them.
They had to run as fast as they
could until they reached Henry’s
house. Both were so scared. The
homeless pigs took refuge in the
third pig's brick house.
Then the bad wolf came and knocked

and knocked at the door of Henry
pig’s house. “Little pig, little pig,” he
called. “Won’t you let me come in?”
said the wolf.
“No!” said Henry Pig. “Not by the hair
of my chinny, chin, chin. I will not let
you in!”
“Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll
blow your house down!” said the wolf
and he did.
Well! he huffed and he puffed. He

puffed and he huffed. And he huffed,
huffed, and he puffed, puffed; but he
could not blow the house down.
At last, he was so out of breath that he
couldn't huff and he couldn't puff
anymore. So he stopped to rest and
thought a bit.
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The wolf walked around with rage and kept

thinking hard. Then he got an idea.
He would come down the chimney and eat
up the little pigs for his supper.
The next day the wolf went to Henry’s house again.

The wolf climbed on the roof. Then he began to
come down the chimney.
The third little pig was too clever for him. Henry
saw the wolf climbing up on the roof. So he lit a
roaring fire in the fireplace and placed on it a hue
pot where he was boiling turnip soup. The little pig
took off the lid from the pot. Into the pot fell the
wolf, with a big splash.
A burnt and scalded wolf fled to the lake in a

faraway forest. The pigs did not see him again.
The older pig, Henry, reprimanded the other two
little pigs because they were so lazy.
Tom and Billy now felt sorry and they too built
their houses with bricks and lived happily ever
after.
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Plot Structure
1. Exposition
The beginning of the story in which the setting and the characters are
introduced.
Mother pig and her three sons lived in a village. Then she decides it is time
for her three sons to make their own houses, but they have to be aware of
the wolf.
2. Conflict
The tension or interest created in a story by a problem or challenge that needs

to be solved.
The hungry wolf wants to eat the pigs.
3. Rising Action
A series of challenges that build to the climax. The character tried to solve the problem
or conflict, but he or she failed. So, complication or a new challenge arises.
The wolf wants to get inside the pigs’ houses to eat them. The shelters build
by the first two pigs are not able to resist his mighty breath. The wolf is not
able to blow down the house made with bricks.
4. Climax
It is also known as the turning point because it marks a change for the better or
the worse of the character’s affairs. It is the point of the greatest suspense or
action of the story.
The wolf becomes frustrated and tried to go down the brick house’s
chimney.
5. Falling Action
The tension eases because the character works to solve the problem or conflict
and things start to get worked out in the story,
The wolf lands on the pigs’ pot of soup and gets burned.
6. Resolution
The problem or conflict is solved and story ends.
The wolf runs to the forest and never returned. Tom and Billy also build
strong houses and they live in peace.
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Point of View
Third Person Omniscient because the story is told from an outsider's, person not
in the story. The narrator knows the thought of the pigs and wolf.
Theme
What does the wolf ask the pigs to do? What does the wolf do when the pigs
do not open the door? = abuse of power
Do the first and second pig live or die? Where do they take refuge? = survival.
Do they live because they can run faster than the wolf? Do the live because the
wolf was out of breath after huffing and puffing? Or do the pigs live because
they were willing to help one another out when the situation was really bad? =
cooperation and care.
Why does the third pig build a brick house? = protection.
Motif
These lines are always repeated by the wolf:
"Little pig, little pig, let me come in.'
'No, no, by the hair of my chinny chin chin'
Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in."
Message or Moral
Hard work and dedication will bring success, while carelessness and sloth
can bring bad consequences
The author’s message will help you remember that taking your time to do your
homework well will pay off in the end. Here we are telling how this lesson applies
to our lives.
Genre
Fiction, fairy tale and fable.
69
Character Analysis
Tom is lazy and he does things in a hurry.

Billy is slothful and he does things in a haste.
Henry is hardworking and he takes his time to do things.
The wolf is always hungry and he only thinks of eating.
Tom and Billy are flat characters at the beginning of the story because they are
two-dimensional and relatively uncomplicated, but at the end of the story they
become dynamic characters because they change their attitude.
Henry is a complex and multidimensional character like real people. So he is a

round and static character because we know a lot about him and he is intelligent
and hard working. His good attitude never changes.
The wolf is a superficial and one dimensional character. For this reason, the wolf
is a flat and static character because we do not know much about him and he did
not change his attitude. The mean hungry wolf only wanted to eat pigs.
Setting
A village.
Literary Devices
Imagery: Words and phrases that appeal to the five senses (taste, touch, sight,
smell, sound).
"So the wolf showed his huge teeth and said…"
Alliteration:
The repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of words.

Little pig, little pig,
Not by the hair of my chinny, chin, chin. I will not let you in.
Words in a row, or close to one another, begin with the same consonant. In
this case the assonance of U.
I’ll puff and I’ll huff …
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Tone
The attitude of the author toward his/her subject or towards the reader (think of tone
of voice when someone s talking).
Cheerful and suspenseful: “I'll blow your house down.”
Mood
The feeling or state of mind that dominates a story, creating a certain atmosphere.
Anxious and humorous.
Writing Style
It is just right for small children because the story is lively with action, with repetitive
patterns of language and incident and villain whose fate precisely fits is crime.
Conflict
There is an external conflict.
Person vs Person = Pigs vs Wolf
Author’s purpose
To entertain
Joshep Jacobs Author
Illustrator Do yeon Kim
71
1. The Nine Billion Names of God
BY
Arthur C. Clarke
72
Renowned British writer and inventor,

Arthur C. Clarke is most known for his
thrilling stories that bring into play several of
the scientific and technological advances of
his day and those to come. Many of his
stories would have the underlying theme of
technology and its relationship with another
factor.
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, (December 16,

1917–March 19, 2008) was a British science
fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most
famous for the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey,
and as a host and commentator in the British
television series Mysterious World.
As a boy he enjoyed stargazing, fossil collecting and reading pulp fiction

magazines. He was a member of the Junior Astronomical Association and
contributed articles on space travel to its journal Urania.
Arthur served as a radar specialist in the RAF during the Second World
War. After demobilization, he took a first class honors degree in physics
and mathematics at King's College, London.
He published more than 70 books and made many appearances on radio

and television, most notably with Walter Cronkite on CBS during the NASA
Apollo missions. His 13-part "Mysterious World" and "Strange Powers"
television programs have been seen worldwide, and reappear frequently on
PBS in the US.
He was a council member of the Society of Authors, a vice president of

the H.G. Wells Society, and a member of many other scientific and literary
organizations. He had a life-long passion for science, innovation and space
travel, writing about these topics in his many science fiction novels. He
collaborated with director Stanley Kubrick on the 1968 film of his
novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, which many people regard as one of the
most influential films ever made. He was nominated for an "Oscar" for this
screenplay.
Arthur also wrote a number of non-fiction books describing the technical

details and societal implications of rocketry and space flight. He is thought
to be the first to suggest geostationary satellites could be used as relay
points for telecommunications. The Clarke orbit, 36,000km above the
equator, is named in recognition of his contribution to the field.
73
The Nine Billion Names of God
“This is a slightly unusual request,” said Dr. Wagner, with what he hoped was
commendable restraint. “As far as I know, it’s the first time anyone’s been asked
to supply a Tibetan monastery with an Automatic Sequence Computer. I don’t
wish to be inquisitive, but I should hardly have thought that your — ah —
establishment had much use for such a machine. Could you explain just what
you intend to do with it?”
“Gladly,” replied the lama, readjusting his silk robes and carefully putting away
the slide rule he had been using for currency conversions. “Your Mark V
Computer can carry out any routine mathematical operation involving up to ten
digits. However, for our work we are interested in letters, not numbers. As we
wish you to modify the output circuits, the machine will be printing words, not
columns of figures.”
“I don’t quite understand....”
“This is a project on which we have been working for the last three centuries —
since the lamasery was founded, in fact. It is somewhat alien to your way of
thought, so I hope you will listen with an open mind while I explain it.”
“Naturally.”
“It is really quite simple. We have been compiling a list which shall contain all
the possible names of God.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“We have reason to believe,” continued the lama imperturbably, “that all such
names can be written with not more than nine letters in an alphabet we have
devised.”
“And you have been doing this for three centuries?”
“Yes: we expected it would take us about fifteen thousand years to complete the
task.”
“Oh,” Dr. Wagner looked a little dazed. “Now I see why you wanted to hire one
of our machines. But exactly what is the purpose of this project?”
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The lama hesitated for a fraction of a second, and Wagner wondered if he had
offended him. If so, there was no trace of annoyance in the reply.
“Call it ritual, if you like, but it’s a fundamental part of our belief. All the many
names of the Supreme Being — God, Jehovah, Allah, and so on — they are
only man-made labels. There is a philosophical problem of some difficulty here,
which I do not propose to discuss, but somewhere among all the possible
combinations of letters that can occur are what one may call the real names of
God. By systematic permutation of letters, we have been trying to list them all.”
“I see. You’ve been starting at AAAAAAA... and working up to ZZZZZZZZ....”
“Exactly — though we use a special alphabet of our own. Modifying the

electromatic typewriters to deal with this is, of course, trivial. A rather more
interesting problem is that of devising suitable circuits to eliminate ridiculous
combinations. For example, no letter must occur more than three times in
succession.”
“Three? Surely you mean two.”
“Three is correct: I am afraid it would take too long to explain why, even if you
understood our language.”
“I’m sure it would,” said Wagner hastily. “Go on.”
“Luckily, it will be a simple matter to adapt your Automatic Sequence Computer

for this work, since once it has been programmed properly it will permute each
letter in turn and print the result. What would have taken us fifteen thousand
years it will be able to do in a hundred days.”
Dr. Wagner was scarcely conscious of the faint sounds from the Manhattan
streets far below. He was in a different world, a world of natural, not man-made,
mountains. High up in their remote aeries these monks had been patiently at
work, generation after generation, compiling their lists of meaningless words.
Was there any limit to the follies of mankind? Still, he must give no hint of his
inner thoughts. The customer was always right....
“There’s no doubt,” replied the doctor, “that we can modify the Mark V to print
lists of this nature. I’m much more worried about the problem of installation and
maintenance. Getting out to Tibet, in these days, is not going to be easy.”
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“We can arrange that. The components are small enough to travel by air — that
is one reason why we chose your machine. If you can get them to India, we will
provide transport from there.”
“And you want to hire two of our engineers?”
“Yes, for the three months that the project should occupy.”
“I’ve no doubt that Personnel can manage that.” Dr. Wagner scribbled a note on
his desk pad. “There are just two other points —”
Before he could finish the sentence the lama had produced a small slip of paper.
“This is my certified credit balance at the Asiatic Bank.”
“Thank you. It appears to be — ah — adequate. The second matter is so trivial

that I hesitate to mention it — but it’s surprising how often the obvious gets
overlooked. What source of electrical energy have you?”
“A diesel generator providing fifty kilowatts at a hundred and ten volts. It was
installed about five years ago and is quite reliable. It’s made life at the lamasery
much more comfortable, but of course it was really installed to provide power for
the motors driving the prayer wheels.”
“Of course,” echoed Dr. Wagner. “I should have thought of that.”
The view from the parapet was vertiginous, but in time one gets used to anything.
After three months, George Hanley was not impressed by the two-thousand-foot
swoop into the abyss or the remote checkerboard of fields in the valley below. He
was leaning against the wind-smoothed stones and staring morosely at the
distant mountains whose names he had never bothered to discover.
This, thought George, was the craziest thing that had ever happened to him.
“Project Shangri-La,” some wit back at the labs had christened it. For weeks now
the Mark V had been churning out acres of sheets covered with gibberish.
Patiently, inexorably, the computer had been rearranging letters in all their
possible combinations, exhausting each class before going on to the next. As the
sheets had emerged from the electromatic typewriters, the monks had carefully
cut them up and pasted them into enormous books.
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In another week, heaven be praised, they would have finished. Just what obscure
calculations had convinced the monks that they needn’t bother to go on to words
of ten, twenty, or a hundred letters, George didn’t know. One of his recurring
nightmares was that there would be some change of plan, and that the high lama
(whom they’d naturally called Sam Jaffe, though he didn’t look a bit like him)
would suddenly announce that the project would be extended to approximately
A.D. 2060. They were quite capable of it.
George heard the heavy wooden door slam in the wind as Chuck came out onto
the parapet beside him. As usual, Chuck was smoking one of the cigars that
made him so popular with the monks — who, it seemed, were quite willing to
embrace all the minor and most of the major pleasures of life. That was one thing
in their favor: they might be crazy, but they weren’t bluenoses. Those frequent
trips they took down to the village, for instance...
“Listen, George,” said Chuck urgently. “I’ve learned something that means
trouble.”
“What’s wrong? Isn’t the machine behaving?” That was the worst contingency
George could imagine. It might delay his return, and nothing could be more
horrible. The way he felt now, even the sight of a TV commercial would seem like
manna from heaven. At least it would be some link with home.
“No — it’s nothing like that.” Chuck settled himself on the parapet, which was
unusual because normally he was scared of the drop. “I’ve just found what all this
is about.”
What d’ya mean? I thought we knew.”
“Sure — we know what the monks are trying to do. But we didn’t know why. It’s
the craziest thing—”
“Tell me something new,” growled George.
“— but old Sam’s just come clean with me. You know the way he drops in every
afternoon to watch the sheets roll out. Well, this time he seemed rather excited,
or at least as near as he’ll ever get to it. When I told him that we were on the last
cycle he asked me, in that cute English accent of his, if I’d ever wondered what
they were trying to do. I said, ‘Sure’ — and he told me.”
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“Go on: I’ll buy it.”
“Well, they believe that when they have listed all His names — and they reckon
that there are about nine billion of them — God’s purpose will be achieved. The
human race will have finished what it was created to do, and there won’t be any
point in carrying on. Indeed, the very idea is something like blasphemy.”
“Then what do they expect us to do? Commit suicide?”
“There’s no need for that. When the list’s completed, God steps in and simply
winds things up... bingo!”
“Oh, I get it. When we finish our job, it will be the end of the world.”
Chuck gave a nervous little laugh.
“That’s just what I said to Sam. And do you know what happened? He looked at
me in a very queer way, like I’d been stupid in class, and said, ’It’s nothing as
trivial as that.’ ”
George thought this over a moment.
“That’s what I call taking the Wide View,” he said presently. “But what d’you
suppose we should do about it? I don’t see that it makes the slightest difference
to us. After all, we already knew that they were crazy.”
“Yes — but don’t you see what may happen? When the list’s complete and the
Last Trump doesn’t blow — or whatever it is they expect — we may get the blame.
It’s our machine they’ve been using. I don’t like the situation one little bit.”
“I see,” said George slowly. “You’ve got a point there. But this sort of thing’s
happened before, you know. When I was a kid down in Louisiana we had a
crackpot preacher who once said the world was going to end next Sunday.
Hundreds of people believed him — even sold their homes. Yet when nothing
happened, they didn’t turn nasty, as you’d expect. They just decided that he’d
made a mistake in his calculations and went right on believing. I guess some of
them still do.”
“Well, this isn’t Louisiana, in case you hadn’t noticed. There are just two of us and
hundreds of these monks. I like them, and I’ll be sorry for old Sam when his
lifework backfires on him. But all the same, I wish I was somewhere else.”
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“I’ve been wishing that for weeks. But there’s nothing we can do until the
contract’s finished and the transport arrives to fly us out.
“Of course,” said Chuck thoughtfully, “we could always try a bit of sabotage.”
“Like hell we could! That would make things worse.”
“Not the way I meant. Look at it like this. The machine will finish its run four days
from now, on the present twenty-hours-a-day basis. The transport calls in a week.
O.K. — then all we need to do is to find something that needs replacing during
one of the overhaul periods — something that will hold up the works for a couple
of days. We’ll fix it, of course, but not too quickly. If we time matters properly, we
can be down at the airfield when the last name pops out of the register. They
won’t be able to catch us then.”
“I don’t like it,” said George. “It will be the first time I ever walked out on a job.
Besides, it ’would make them suspicious. No, I’ll sit tight and take what comes.”
"I still don’t like it,” he said, seven days later, as the tough little mountain ponies
carried them down the winding road. “And don’t you think I’m running away
because I’m afraid. I’m just sorry for those poor old guys up there, and I don’t
want to be around when they find what suckers they’ve been. Wonder how Sam
will take it?” “It’s funny,” replied Chuck, “but when I said good-by I got the idea he
knew we were walking out on him — and that he didn’t care because he knew
the machine was running smoothly and that the job would soon be finished. After
that — well, of course, for him there just isn’t any After That....”
George turned in his saddle and stared back up the mountain road. This was the
last place from which one could get a clear view of the lamasery. The squat,
angular buildings were silhouetted against the afterglow of the sunset: here and
there, lights gleamed like portholes in the side of an ocean liner. Electric lights, of
course, sharing the same circuit as the Mark V. How much longer would they
share it? wondered George. Would the monks smash up the computer in their
rage and disappointment? Or would they just sit down quietly and begin their
calculations all over again?”
He knew exactly what was happening up on the mountain at this very moment.
The high lama and his assistants would be sitting in their silk robes, inspecting
the sheets as the junior monks carried them away from the typewriters and pasted
them into the great volumes. No one would be saying anything. The only sound
79
would be the incessant patter, the never-ending rainstorm of the keys hitting the
paper, for the Mark V itself was utterly silent as it flashed through its thousands
of calculations a second. Three months of this, thought George, was enough to
start anyone climbing up the wall.
“There she is!” called Chuck, pointing down into the valley. “Ain’t she beautiful!”
She certainly was, thought George. The battered old DC3 lay at the end of the
runway like a tiny silver cross. In two hours she would be bearing them away to
freedom and sanity. It was a thought worth savoring like a fine liqueur. George
let it roll round his mind as the pony trudged patiently down the slope.
The swift night of the high Himalayas was now almost upon them. Fortunately,
the road was very good, as roads went in that region, and they were both carrying
torches. There was not the slightest danger, only a certain discomfort from the
bitter cold. The sky overhead was perfectly clear, and ablaze with the familiar,
friendly stars. At least there would be no risk, thought George, of the pilot being
unable to take off because of weather conditions. That had been his only
remaining worry.
He began to sing, but gave it up after a while. This vast arena of mountains,
gleaming like whitely hooded ghosts on every side, did not encourage such
ebullience. Presently George glanced at his watch.
“Should be there in an hour,” he called back over his shoulder to Chuck. Then he
added, in an afterthought: “Wonder if the computer’s finished its run. It was due
about now.”
Chuck didn’t reply, so George swung round in his saddle. He could just see
Chuck’s face, a white oval turned toward the sky.
“Look,” whispered Chuck, and George lifted his eyes to heaven. (There is always
a last time for everything.)
Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.
80
Let’s Work!
I. Answer.
1. Who are the main characters in the story?
2. What evidence is there to suggest that Dr. Wagner is sceptical of the

monks' plan?
3. Explain the effectiveness of ending the story with "Overhead without any
fuss, the starts were going out".
4. Whose beliefs were correct: the scientists or the monks?
5. This story is set in the future. How do we know that it was written in the
past?
6. All three of the scientists begin by trivializing the monks' task, worrying
primarily about the weather and their own comfort. As the story
progresses, do you see any differences among the attitudes and
behaviors of Dr. Wagner, George Hanley, and Chuck? Do they all remain
firm in their conviction that this is just a job and that the monks are
essentially out of touch with reality?
7. Why does Clarke refuse to name the Lama in charge of the monastery?
8. Why do the scientists refer to the Lama as "Sam Jaffe"?
9. How does the Lama's statement, "It's nothing as trivial as that" (429) affect
our understanding of the story's end? How does this statement and the
story's end enact a conceptual breakthrough that challenges the relation
of scientific to religious ways of knowing?
10. What does the Tibetan monastery want to buy? What modification does
the lama want to make to the Mark V Computer? What task are the monks
engaged in? How long did the monks believe it would take them to
complete this task when they began it, three centuries earlier?
11. What is the problem, according to the lama, with all the names of God
such as God, Jehovah, Allah, and so on? Why names of god?
12. How soon will the Mark V Computer be able to complete the task the
monks want it to accomplish?
13. How does Dr. Wagner feel about what the monks intend to use the Mark V
Computer for?
14. How does the engineer George Hanley feel about being at the lamasery in
Tibet? What is George’s feeling about what the monks are doing? What is
George’s recurring nightmare?
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15. According to the other engineer, Chuck, what is the purpose of the monks’
listing all the possible real names of God?
16. What did the head lama say to Chuck when he had said that the monks’
finishing their task would be the end of the world?
17. What is Chuck afraid will happen soon?
18. What does George remember from when he was a kid in Louisiana?
19. What kind of sabotage does Chuck suggest to George they should try?
What does Chuck say to George about what he thought when he had said
good-bye to the head lama?
20. What does George wonder about what the monks will do when the world
does not end after their list of the nine billion names of God is complete?
21. What do you think of this particular way in which the author has chosen
to have the universe end in his story?
22. What are three things that happened during the meeting between the
high lama and Dr. Wagner?
II. Put the events in the proper order by writing 1 – 7 in the

blanks.
___ The two engineers travelled to Tibet.
___ The high lama made an agreement with Dr. Wagner.
___ The monks completed their list of names.
___ The high lama arrived in Manhattan.
___ The monks started compiling a list of names by hand.
___ Overhead, the stars were going out.
___ The engineers started heading down the mountain to the airfield.
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III. Let’s consider the setting of the story with the following
questions.
1. What are the two settings in this story?
2. Can you describe one similarity shared by the two settings?
3. Can you describe one difference between the two settings?
4. “The view from the parapet was vertiginous, but in time one gets used to
anything. After three months, George Hanley was not impressed by the two-
thousand-foot swoop into the abyss or the remote checkerboard of fields in
the valley below.” Can you discuss this description of the lamasery’s setting?
Why do you think the lamasery is in a setting like this?
5. Which change occurred in the setting in the last line of the story?
6. Why is this change in the setting an important part of this story?
VI. Theme
The theme of a story is a message that the author wishes to convey to the
reader. We can think of the theme as the main idea of the story and the theme
may be expressed directly or indirectly.
Let’s think about the theme with the following questions.
1. Do you think Dr. Wagner values science or religion?
2. Do you think the high lama values science or religion?
3. What did Dr. Wagner think about the monks’ project?
4. How was technology helpful for the monks’ project? 5. In this story, which
group turned out to be correct about their beliefs?
6. Which do you think is more important: science or religion?
7. What do you think the author wants to say about science and religion?
V. Motif: Technology
A motif is an idea, a pattern, or a concept that is repeated throughout a story.
The author can use a motif to express different aspects of a story, such as a
feeling or a theme.
83
Let’s consider this motif with the following questions.
1. Why do humans develop new technology?
2. Why did the high lama want to use a computer for the task?
3. Why was the printer an important part of the monks’ project?
4. Why did the high lama need to hire two engineers?

5. Why did the monks have a generator at the lamasery?
6. How could the DC3 be helpful for George and Chuck?
7. What do you think the author wants to tell us about technology?
VI. Point of View

Point of view is the angle the author chooses in order to show the reader the
opinions, feelings, or thoughts of the characters in a story. An author uses a
specific point of view to narrate the story and readers can “hear” and “see”
what takes place inside a character’s mind during the story.
Let’s explore the point of view of this story with the following questions.
1. Is this story written in first person point of view (I, me) or third person point
of view (he, she)?
2. Let’s consider the following lines from the story:
* … said Dr. Wagner, with what he hoped was commendable restraint.
* Dr. Wagner was scarcely conscious of the faint sounds.
* This, thought George, was the craziest thing that had ever happened to him.
Third person omniscient point of view means that the narrator knows the
thoughts and feelings of all the characters in the story.
Third person limited point of view means that the narrator knows the thoughts
and feelings of on character in the story.
Which point of view is used in this story? How do you know this?
3. Why do you think the author chose this point of view?
4. Are readers able to learn about the internal thoughts and feelings of the
monks at the lamasery? Why or why not?
84
VII. Literary Devices: Simile Metaphors Personification
A. Similes: We can use similes to compare two objects in an

interesting way. We usually use the words like or as when we make
a simile. Choose the proper word to complete each simile from the
story: commercial- DC3- gleamed -mountains –savouring.
1. …even the sight of a TV _______________________ would seem like manna
from heaven.
2. Lights ________________________ like portholes in the side of an ocean

liner.
3. The battered old ________________________ lay at the end of the runway

like a tiny silver cross. 4. It was a thought worth ________________________
like a fine liqueur. 5. This vast arena of _________________________ was
gleaming like whitely hooded ghosts on every side.
B. We can use metaphors to compare two objects in an interesting

way. We do not use the words like or as when we make a metaphor.
Choose the proper word to complete each metaphor from the story: fields -
sound
1. … or the remote checkerboard of _______________________ in the valley

below.
2. The only _________________________ would be the incessant patter, the

never-ending rainstorm of the keys hitting the paper
C. Personification is a literary device where animals or non-living

objects are given human-like qualities or characteristics.
Choose the proper word to complete each example of personification:
computer -sky
1. Patiently, inexorably, the ______________________ had been rearranging

letters in all their possible combinations.
2. The _________________________ overhead was perfectly clear, and

ablaze with the familiar, friendly stars.
85
D. Irony
Irony is a figure of speech in which the intended meaning of the words is different
from the actual meaning of the words. Situational irony occurs when the result is
contradictory to what was expected.
Let’s consider the irony in this story with the following questions.
1. Monks in a lamasery normally live very simple lives. Do you think it is ironic
that the monks used a generator at the lamasery?
2. Do you think it is ironic that monks were using the computer while the
engineers were riding ponies down the mountain path?
3. Dr. Wagner thought, “Was there any limit to the follies of mankind?” Why is it
ironic that Dr. Wagner had this thought about the monks’ task?
4. “The Mark V had been churning out acres of sheets covered with gibberish.”
Why was the list printed by the computer described as “gibberish”?
5. At the end of the story, what was the result of printing this “gibberish”?
6. Do you think it is ironic that the list was described as “gibberish”?
7. Can you find one more example of irony in this story?
VIII. Conflict
The conflict in a story is a struggle between opposing forces. The
conflict occurs when the characters must struggle against a force
that opposes them. The conflict in a story creates tension and moves
the plot forward.
Let’s consider the conflict in the story with the following questions.
1. Which challenging task were the monks trying to complete?
2. Do you think it is okay for the monks to use a computer to complete this task
or should they try to complete this task by hand?
3. “The way he felt now, even the sight of a TV commercial would seem like
manna from heaven. At least it would be some link with home.” Which
conflict
did George have to deal with during his stay in Tibet?
86
4. Why did George and Chuck decide to leave the lamasery without telling
anyone? Which conflict were they trying to avoid?
5. One type of conflict is called man versus self, which means that a
character has to struggle with some kind of internal conflict within himself or
herself. Do you think some of the conflict in this story could be man versus
self? Why or why not?
6. There is other type of conflict that is an external one. It refers to the

conflicts between a character and external forces. This type of conflict can be
between one character and another or a group (or between groups of
characters). Do you think the conflicts in this story could be man versus
technology and man versus religion? Why or why not?
IX. Symbols
Symbols are objects in a story which are used to represent ideas.

Symbols can be used by the author to help convey the theme or the
underlying meaning to the readers.
Let’s consider the symbols in this story with the following questions.
1a. Why were the monks so dedicated to their task?

1b. What do you think their task symbolizes?
2a. Why do you think the cigars made Chuck popular with the monks?
2b. What do you think the cigars symbolize?
3a. How was the computer helpful for the monks?
b. What do you think the computer symbolizes?
4. Can you identify any other symbols in this story?
X. Indirect Characterization
Characterization is the way the author develops a character in the story. Direct
characterization is when the author states what the character is like. Indirect
characterization is when the author gives clues about a character through their
actions, speech, and so on.
Let’s explore the indirect characterization of the high lama in the story.
1a. What are some examples of the high lama’s actions?
1b. What do we learn about the high lama through his actions?
2a. How did the high lama interact with other characters?
2b. What do the high lama’s interactions tell us about him?
87
3a. What are some examples of the high lama’s conflicts in the story?
3b. What do we learn about the high lama through his conflicts?
4a. What are some things that the high lama says in the story?
4b. What do we learn about the high lama through his speech (words)?
XI. Compare & Contrast
1. What are three similarities shared by the engineers and monks?

2. What are three differences between by the engineers and monks?
XII. Setting
Time:
Place:
XIII. Character Analysis
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
XIV. Plot Structure
88
Label the plot structre diagram correctly using only the letters: Exposition
Conflict Rising Action Climax Falling Action Resolution
A. Chuck says to George that the lama and his monks believe that once all the
nine billion of names of God are found out, the human race will have
accomplished the mission for which it was created and the universe will end.
B. A lama is interested in automatic sequence computers and flies from Tibet to

New York in order to have a meeting with Dr. Wagner.
C. To speed up the process they rent a computer capable of printing all the
possible combinations, and they also hire two Americans to install and program
the machine.
D. Following their successful departure riding ponies, they pause on a mountain,

where a plane is waiting to take them back to America. Then they notice that
"Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out."
E. In the Lamasery, the monks seek to list all the names of God, as they believe
the Universe was created for this purpose. For three centuries the monks have
been calculating how to encode all the possible names of God, but if they
continue doing it by hand, it will take 15,000 years to finish doing it.
F. After three months the job is nearly completed, however the American
technicians fear that the monks will blame them when nothing happens. They try
to delay the process until their scheduled depart.
XV. Interviews
Imagine you could interview some of the characters from The Nine
Billion Names of God. Which questions would you like to ask? How
do you think the characters would answer your questions?
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A. Questions: What are three questions you would ask the high lama?
Why do you think the high lama would answer your questions?
B. Questions: What are three questions you would ask Dr. Wagner?
Why do you think Dr. Wagner would answer your questions?
C. Questions: What are three questions for George and Chuck?
Why would George and Chuck answer your questions?
Write a paragraph to answer each of the following questions
XVI. Critical Thinking
1. Would you like to work on a task like the monk’s project in this story?
My Opinion:
Reason 1
Reason 2
Reason 3
2. Which do you think is more important: science or religion?
My Opinion:
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Reason 1
Reason 2
Reason 3
XVII. Read the following questions and answer in a complete

sentence.
1. Would you recommend this story to a friend? Why or why not?
2. What is something we learned about the lamasery?
3. What is something surprising that happened in this story?
4. What was one problem and how did the characters solve this problem?
5. Do you think the events in this story could really happen?
6. Can you explain the title of the story?
7. What is something you thought about as you read this story?
8. What was your favourite part of this story?
XVIII. Writing: Write a short paragraph answering the following

questions. (From 100 to 180 words)
According to the message in this story, what is the purpose of the universe
and why does the universe exist? Do you agree with this idea?
Can you describe the lives of the monks in the lamasery in Tibet? What kind
of work did they do? Do you think technology was helpful for them?
What do you think is the author’s purpose in writing this story? What
message do you think the author wants to share with readers?
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XIX. Discuss.
XX. Make a cartoon of the story. A good cartoonist uses symbolism,

exaggeration, analogy and irony.
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2. Lather and Nothing Else

By Hernando Tellez
93
Hernando Téllez (1908-1966) was a Colombian journalist, politician,

literary critic and creative writer.
Téllez served in the Colombian Parliament. Later, in Paris, he

served as Colombia's ambassador to the United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). A
career politician with a great interest in writing, Téllez published
many articles about political topics in newspapers and magazines.
During Téllez's lifetime, Colombia suffered through several civil

wars and military dictatorships, collectively called La Violencia ("The
Violence").
94
Lather and Nothing Else
It was a hot mid-afternoon, 2:30 when he came in without a word. I was

sharpening my best razor over a piece of leather. And when I recognized
him, I started to shake. But he did not notice. To overcome nervousness, I
went on honing the razor. I tried the edge with the tip of my thumb and took
another look at it against the light.
Meanwhile he was taking off his cartridge-studded belt with the pistol
holster suspended from it. He put it on a hook in the wardrobe and hung his
cap above it. Then he turned full around toward me and, loosening his tie,
remarked, “It’s hot as the devil, I want a shave.” With that he took his seat. I
estimated he had a four days’ growth of beard, the four days he had been
gone on the last foray after our men. His face looked burnt, tanned by the
sun.
I started to work carefully on the shaving soap. I scraped some slices

from the cake, dropped them into the mug, then added a little lukewarm
water, and stirred with the brush. The lather soon began to rise. “The fellows
in the troop must have just about as much beard as I.” I went on stirring up
lather. “But we did very well, you know. We caught the leaders. Some of
them we brought back dead; others are still alive. But they’ll all be dead
soon.”
“How many did you take?” I asked.
“Fourteen. We had to go pretty far in to find them. But now they’re paying
for it. And not one will escape; not a single one.”
He leaned back in the chair when he saw the brush in my hand, full of
lather. I had not yet put the sheet on him. I was certainly flustered. Taking a
sheet from the drawer, I tied it around my customer’s neck.
He went on talking. He evidently took it for granted that I was on the side
of the existing regime.
95
“The people must have gotten a scare with what happened the other
day,” he said.
“Yes,” I replied, as I finished tying the knot against his nape, which smelt
of sweat.
“Good show, wasn’t it?”
“Very good,” I answered, turning my attention now to the brush. The man
closed his eyes wearily and awaited the cool caress of the lather. I had never
had him so close before. The day he ordered the people to file through the
schoolyard to look upon the four rebels hanging there, my path had crossed
his briefly. But the sight of those mutilated bodies kept me from paying
attention to the face of the man who had been directing it all and whom I now
had in my hands.
It was not a disagreeable face, certainly. And the beard, which aged him
a bit, was not unbecoming. His name was Torres. Captain Torres.
I started to lay on the first coat of lather. He kept his eyes closed.
“I would love to catch a nap,” he said, “but there’s a lot to be done this
evening.”
I lifted the brush and asked, with pretended indifference: “A firing party?”
“Something of the sort,” he replied, “but slower.”
“All of them?”
“No, just a few.”
I went on lathering his face. My hands began to tremble again. The man
could not be aware of this, which was lucky for me. But I wished he had not
come in. Probably many of our men had seen him enter the shop. And with
the enemy in my house I felt a certain responsibility.
96
I would have to shave his beard just like any other, carefully, neatly, just
as though he were a good customer, taking heed that not a single pore
should emit a drop of blood. Seeing to it that the blade did not slip in the
small whorls. Taking care that the skin was left clean, soft, shining, so that
when I passed the back of my hand over it not a single hair should be felt.
Yes. I was secretly a revolutionary, but at the same time I was a
conscientious barber, proud of the way I did my job. And that four-day beard
presented a challenge.
I took up the razor, opened the handle wide, releasing the blade, and
started to work, downward from one sideburn. The blade responded to
perfection. The hair was tough and hard; not very long, but thick. Little by
little the skin began to show through. The razor gave its usual sound as it
gathered up layers of soap mixed with bits of hair. I paused to wipe it clean,
and taking up the strop once more went about improving its edge, for I am a
painstaking barber.
The man, who had kept his eyes closed, now opened them, put a hand out
from under the sheet, felt of the part of his face that was emerging from the
lather, and said to me, “Come at six o’clock this evening to the school.”
“Will it be like the other day?” I asked, stiff with horror.
“It may be even better,” he replied.
“What are you planning to do?”
“I’m not sure yet. But we’ll have a good time.”
Once more he leaned back and shut his eyes. I came closer, the razor
on high.
“Are you going to punish all of them?” I timidly ventured.
“Yes, all of them.”
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The lather was drying on his face. I must hurry. Through the mirror, I
took a look at the street. It appeared about as usual; there was the grocery
shop with two or three customers. Then I glanced at the clock, two-thirty.
The razor kept descending. Now from the other sideburn downward. It
was a blue beard, a thick one. He should let it grow like some poets, or some
priests. It would suit him well. Many people would not recognize him. And
that would be a good thing for him, I thought, as I went gently over all the
throat line. At this point you really had to handle your blade skilfully, because
the hair, while scantier, tended to fall into small whorls. It was a curly beard.
The pores might open, minutely, in this area and let out a tiny drop of blood.
A good barber like myself stakes his reputation on not permitting that to
happen to any of his customers.
And this was indeed a special customer. How many of ours had he sent
to their death? How many had he mutilated? It was best not to think about it.
Torres did not know I was his enemy. Neither he nor the others knew it. It
was a secret shared by very few, just because that made it possible for me
to inform the revolutionaries about Torres’s activities in the town and what
he planned to do every time he went on one of his raids to hunt down rebels.
So it was going to be very difficult to explain how it was that I had him in my
hands and then let him go in peace, alive, clean-shaven.
His beard had now almost entirely disappeared. He looked younger,

several years younger than when he had come in. I suppose that always
happens to men who enter and leave barbershops. Under the strokes of my
razor Torres was rejuvenated; yes, because I am a good barber, the best in
this town, and I say this in all modesty.
A little more lather here under the chin, on the Adam’s apple, right near
the great vein. How hot it is! Torres must be sweating just as I am. But he is
not afraid. He is a tranquil man, who is not even giving thought
to what he will do to his prisoners this evening. I, on the other hand,
polishing his skin with this razor but avoiding the drawing of blood, careful
with every stroke—I cannot keep my thoughts in order.
98
Confound the hour he entered my shop! I am a revolutionary but not a

murderer. And it would be so easy to kill him. He deserves it. Or does he?
No! No one deserves the sacrifice others make in becoming assassins. What
is to be gained by it? Nothing. Others and still others keep coming, and the
first kill the second, and then these kill the next, and so on until everything
becomes a sea of blood. I could cut his throat, so, swish, swish! He would
not even have time to moan, and with his eyes shut he would not even see
the shine of the razor or the gleam in my eye.
But I’m shaking like a regular murderer. From his throat a stream of
blood would flow on the sheet, over the chair, down on my hands, onto the
floor. I would have to close the door. But the blood would go flowing along
the floor, warm, indelible, not to be staunched, until it reached the street like
a small scarlet river.
I’m sure that with a good strong blow, a deep cut, he would feel no pain.
He would not suffer at all.
And what would I do then with the body? Where would I hide it? I would
have to flee, leave all this behind, take shelter far away, very far away. But
they would follow until they caught up with me. “The murderer of Captain
Torres. He slit his throat while he was shaving him. What a cowardly thing to
do!”
And others would say, “The avenger of our people. A name to

remember”—my name here. “He was the town barber. No one knew he was
fighting for our cause.”
And so, which will it be? Murderer or hero? My fate hangs on the edge
of this razor blade.
I can turn my wrist slightly, put a bit more pressure on the blade, let it
sink in. The skin will yield like silk, like rubber, like the strop. There is nothing
more tender than a man’s skin, and the blood is always there, ready to burst
forth. A razor like this cannot fail. It is the best one I have.
But I don’t want to be a murderer. No, sir. You came in to be shaved.

And I do my work honourably. I don’t want to stain my hands with blood.
99
Just with lather, and nothing else. You are an executioner; I am only a barber.
Each one to his job. That’s it. Each one to his job.
The chin was now clean, polished, soft. The man got up and looked at
himself in the glass. He ran his hand over the skin and felt its freshness, its
newness.
“Thanks,” he said. He walked to the wardrobe for his belt, his pistol, and
his cap. I must have been very pale, and I felt my shirt soaked with sweat.
Torres finished adjusting his belt buckle, straightened his gun in its holster,
and smoothing his hair mechanically, put on his cap. From his trousers pocket
he took some coins to pay for the shave. And he started toward the door. On
the threshold he stopped for a moment, and turning toward me, he said, “They
told me you would kill me. I came to find out if it was true. But it’s not easy to
kill. I know what I’m talking about.” And he continued his way down the street.
I. Activities.
1. Analysis of the protagonist and the antagonist.

2. What is the historical context of Leather and Nothing Else?
3. What is the genre of this story?
4. Identify the theme and moral or message.
5. Identify the Point of view
6. Identify the Conflict
II. Answer.
7. How does the barber feel when Captain Torres enters the shop?
8. What had Captain Torres been doing for the past four days?
9. What role does the barber have in the civil war?
10. Why does the barber decide not to kill Captain Torres?
11. Do you think the barber made the right choice? Why or why not?
12. Who is the protagonist?
13. Who is the antagonist?
14. What is the mood or atmosphere of “Lather and Nothing Else” throughout
most of the story?
15. What is the mood or atmosphere of “Lather and Nothing Else” at the end
of the story?
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16. The setting can be an integral part of the story. Is the setting important in
this story? Why or why not?
17. From what point of view is the story told?
18. How would the story be affected if the story were told from the Captain’s
point of view? Why?
19. Identify the themes.
20. The twist ending finishes the story in an unexpected way. Is the twist
ending "fair"?
21. The barber repeats his job title, barber, many times throughout the story.
Why is this significant?
22. What is the purpose of Captain Torres visit?
23. Identify the external and internal conflicts in this story. How do these two
conflicts work together to reveal the barber’s dilemma? Bring in relevant
information about the revolution involved with the conflict.
24. Discuss the irony in the story. For situational irony, what is ironic about
the barber being so careful in cutting the executioner’s beard? For verbal
irony, what is ironic about the barber’s claim that he is a revolutionary and
not a murderer? For dramatic irony, the narrator and the reader know that
the barber is one of the revolutionaries, but they believe that Torres does
not know. How is this irony turned around, or ironically reversed, in the
last paragraph of the story?
25. Torres and the barber are enemies. Why then does Torres put himself into
the barber’s hands? What is the writer’s message about fighting and war?
In other words, what are the effects of fighting and warfare on people’s
integrity? What is “Just Lather, That’s All”?
26. What side is the barber on in the country’s dispute?
27. What had Torres previously ordered?
28. According to Torres, what will happen at six in the evening?
29. Why was this story extremely suspenseful?
30. How does the writer create and maintain suspense? Consider the
following: a) how the setting of the revolution intensifies the relationship
between the two men, b) the feelings of the barber revealed by way of 1st
person point of view, and c) the barber’s focus on the details of his craft
101
31. What does the barber’s razor symbolize?

32. What does the barber symbolize?
33. What does the title Lather and Nothing else mean?
34. What is an example of foreshadowin in this story?
35. Fill in the boxes with the correct title and details of each conflict.
Barber vs. Torres The struggle between the rebel forces Person vs. himself
and captain Torres
Barber vs. himself The struggle within the barber Person vs. person
if he should murder or not Captain
Torres.
28. Discuss.
102
29. How is the barber and Captain Torres alike? How are they different? Use
the Venn diagram below to compare them. Come up with at least TWO
similarities and TWO differences for each character.
Barber Captain Torres
Compose a well-developed comparison and contrast paragraph that

focuses on one specific personality trait for the barber and Captain Torres.
(minimum 50 words to 80 words maximum)
103
II. Plot Structure: Label correctly each part of the plot structure:
Exposition Conflict Rising Action Climax Falling Action Resolution
IV.Writing Task. A 200 paragraph.
Write about an imaginary situation in which you have life-or-death power over
figures currently in the news or historical figures who you despise for their morals.
How would you use this life-or-death power? What would you do? Why? What would
be the consequences of the action you choose? What are the alternative courses of
action? What would be the consequences of these actions?
V. Explain the meaning of the following quotations and how they relate
to the central ideas of the story:
A. “My fate hangs on the edge of the razor blade.”
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B. "Murderer or hero?
C. “And this was indeed a special customer”
D. “But it’s not easy to kill. I know what I’m talking about.”
V. Make a cartoon of the story. A good cartoonist uses symbolism,

105
3. Uncle Marcos
from the house of the spirits
by Isabel Allende
106
Allende was born in Peru to Chilean

parents. She worked as a journalist in Chile
until she was forced to flee
to Venezuela after the assassination of her
uncle in 1973, Chilean President Salvador
Allende. In 1981 she began writing a letter
to her terminally ill grandfather that evolved
into her first novel, La casa de los
espíritus (1982; The House of the Spirits). It
was followed by the novels De amor y de
sombra (1984; Of Love and Shadows), Eva
Luna (1987), and El plan infinito (1991; The
Infinite Plan) and the collection of
stories Cuentos de Eva Luna (1990; The
Stories of Eva Luna). All are examples
of magic realism, in which realistic fiction is
overlaid with elements
of fantasy and myth. Her concern in many of these works is the portrayal of
South American politics, and her first four works reflect her own experiences
and examine the role of women in Latin America. The Infinite Plan, however, is
set in the United States, and its protagonist is male.
107
Uncle Marcos
It had been two years since Clara had last seen her Uncle Marcos, but she remembered
him very well. His was the only perfectly clear image she retained from her whole childhood,
and in order to describe him she did not need to consult the daguerreotype in the drawing
room that showed him dressed as an explorer leaning on an old fashioned double-barrelled
rifle with his right foot on the neck of a Malaysian tiger, the same triumphant position in which
she had seen the Virgin standing between plaster clouds and pallid angels at the main altar,
one foot on the vanquished devil. All Clara had to do to see her uncle was close her eyes
and there he was, weather-beaten and thin, with a pirate’s moustache through which his
strange, shark like smile peered out at her. It seemed impossible that he could be inside that
long black box that was lying in the middle of the courtyard.
108
Each time Uncle Marcos had visited his sister Nívea’s home, he had stayed for several
months, to the immense joy of his nieces and nephews, particularly Clara, causing a storm
in which the sharp lines of domestic order blurred. The house became a clutter of trunks, of
animals in jars of formaldehyde, of Indian lances and sailor’s bundles. In every part of the
house people kept tripping over his equipment, and all sorts of unfamiliar animals appeared
that had travelled from remote lands only to meet their death beneath Nana’s irate broom in
the farthest corners of the house. Uncle Marcos’s manners were those of a cannibal, as
Severo put it. He spent the whole night making incomprehensible movements in the drawing
room; later they turned out to be exercises designed to perfect the mind’s control over the
body and to improve digestion. He performed alchemy experiments in the kitchen, filling the
house with fetid smoke and ruining pots and pans with solid substances that stuck to their
bottoms and were impossible to remove. While the rest of the household tried to sleep, he
dragged his suitcases up and down the halls, practiced making strange, high-pitched sounds
on savage instruments, and taught Spanish to a parrot whose native language was an
Amazonic dialect. During the day, he slept in a hammock that he had strung between two
columns in the hall, wearing only a loincloth that put Severo in a terrible mood but that Nívea
forgave because Marcos had convinced her that it was the same costume in which Jesus of
Nazareth had preached. Clara remembered perfectly, even though she had been only a tiny
child, the first time her Uncle Marcos came to the house after one of his voyages. He settled
in as if he planned to stay forever. After short time, bored with having to appear at ladies’
gatherings where the mistress of the house played the piano, with playing cards, and with
dodging all his relatives’ pressures to pull himself together and take a job as a clerk in Severo
del Valle’s law practice, he bought a barrel organ and took to the streets with the hope of
seducing his Cousin Antonieta and entertaining the public in the bargain. The machine was
just a rusty box with wheels, but he painted it with seafaring designs and gave it a fake ship’s
smokestack. It ended up looking like a coal stove. The organ played either a military march
or a waltz, and in between turns of the handle the parrot, who had managed to learn Spanish
although he had not lost his foreign accent, would draw a crowd with his piercing shrieks.
He also plucked slips of paper from a box with his beak, by way of selling fortunes to the
curious. The little pink, green, and blue papers were so clever that they always divulged the
exact secret wishes of the customers. Besides fortunes there were little balls of sawdust to
amuse the children and a special powder that was supposed to cure impotence, which
Marcos sold under his breath to passers-by afflicted with that malady. The idea of the organ
was a last desperate attempt to win the hand of Cousin Antonieta after more conventional
means of courting her had failed. Marcos thought no woman in her right mind could remain
impassive before a barrel-organ serenade. He stood beneath her window one evening and
played his military march and his waltz just as she was taking tea with a group of female
friends. Antonieta did not realize the music was meant for her until the parrot called her by
her full name, at which point she appeared in the window. Her reaction was not what her
suitor had hoped for. Her friends offered to spread the news to every salon in the city, and
the next day people thronged the downtown streets hoping to see Severo del Valle’s brother-
in-law playing the organ and selling little sawdust balls with a moth-eaten parrot, for the
sheer pleasure of proving that even in the best of families there could be good reason for
embarrassment. In the face of this stain to the family reputation, Marcos was forced to give
109
up organ-grinding and resort to less conspicuous ways of winning over his Cousin Antonieta,
but he did not renounce his goal. In any case, he did not succeed, because from one day to
the next the young lady married a diplomat who was twenty years her senior; he took her to
live in a tropical country whose name no one could recall, except that it suggested negritude,
bananas, and palm trees, where she managed to recover from the memory of that suitor
who had ruined her seventeenth year with his military march and his waltz. Marcos sank into
a deep depression that lasted two or three days, at the end of which he announced that he
would never marry and that he was embarking on a trip around the world. He sold his organ
to a blind man and left the parrot to Clara, but Nana secretly poisoned it with an overdose
of cod-liver oil, because no one could stand its lusty glance, its fleas, and its harsh, tuneless
hawking of paper fortunes, sawdust balls, and powders for impotence.
Answer
1. What is meant by the “sharp lies of domestic order blurred? What are lines of
domestic ordering at your home and classroom?
2. What happens to the order of the house when Uncle Marcos visits?
3. What does Uncle Marcos do with the barrel organ?
4. Explain why the majority of this selection id a flashback in which Clara is
remembering her Uncle Marcos.
5. How do you know that Uncle Marcos is practising a sort of meditation technique
such as yoga?
6. What does Antonietta’s reaction to Uncle Marcos reveal about her character?
That was Marcos’s longest trip. He returned with a shipment of enormous boxes that
were piled in the far courtyard, between the chicken coop and the woodshed, until the winter
was over. At the first signs of spring he had them transferred to the parade grounds, a huge
park where people would gather to watch the soldiers file by on Independence Day, with the
goose step they had learned from the Prussians. When the crates were opened, they were
found to contain loose bits of wood, metal, and painted cloth. Marcos spent two weeks
assembling the contents according to an instruction manual written in English, which he was
able to decipher thanks to his invincible imagination and a small dictionary. When the job
was finished, it turned out to be a bird of prehistoric dimensions, with the face of a furious
eagle, wings that moved, and a propeller on its back. It caused an uproar. The families of
the oligarchy forgot all about the barrel organ, and Marcos became the star attraction of the
season. People took Sunday outings to see the bird; souvenir vendors and strolling
photographers made a fortune. Nonetheless, the public’s interest quickly waned. But then
Marcos announced that as soon as the weather cleared he planned to take off in his bird
and cross the mountain range. The news spread, making this the most talked-about event
of the year. The contraption lay with its stomach on terra firma, heavy and sluggish and
looking more like a wounded duck than like one of those new-fangled airplanes they were
starting to produce in the United States. There was nothing in its appearance to suggest that
it could move, much less take flight across the snowy peaks. Journalists and the curious
flocked to see it. Marcos smiled his immutable smile before the avalanche of questions and
110
posed for photographers without offering the least technical or scientific explanation of how
he hoped to carry out his plan. People came from the provinces to see the sight. Forty years
later his great-nephew Nicolás, whom Marcos did not live to see, unearthed the desire to fly
that had always existed in the men of his lineage. Nicolás was interested in doing it for
commercial reasons, in a gigantic hot-air sausage on which would be printed an
advertisement for carbonated drinks. But when Marcos announced his plane trip, no one
believed that his contraption could be put to any practical use. The appointed day dawned
full of clouds, but so many people had turned out that Marcos did not want to disappoint
them. He showed up punctually at the appointed spot and did not once look up at the sky,
which was growing darker and darker with thick grey clouds. The astonished crowd filled all
the nearby streets, perching on rooftops and the balconies of the nearest houses and
squeezing into the park. No political gathering managed to attract so many people until half
a century later, when the first Marxist candidate attempted, through strictly democratic
channels, to become President. Clara would remember this holiday as long as she lived.
People dressed in their spring best, thereby getting a step ahead of the official opening of
the season, the men in white linen suits and the ladies in the Italian straw hats that were all
the rage that year. Groups of elementary-school children paraded with their teachers,
clutching flowers for the hero. Marcos accepted their bouquets and joked that they might as
well hold on to them and wait for him to crash, so they could take them directly to his funeral.
The bishop himself, accompanied by two incense bearers, appeared to bless the bird without
having been asked, and the police band played happy, unpretentious music that pleased
everyone. The police, on horseback and carrying lances, had trouble keeping the crowds
far enough away from the centre of the park, where Marcos waited dressed in mechanic’s
overalls, with huge racer’s goggles and an explorer’s helmet. He was also equipped with a
compass, a telescope, and several strange maps that he had traced himself based on
various theories of Leonardo da Vinci and on the polar knowledge of the Incas. Against all
logic, on the second try the bird lifted off without mishap and with a certain elegance,
accompanied by the creaking of its skeleton and the roar of its motor. It rose flapping its win
and disappeared into the clouds, to a send-off of applause, whistlings, handkerchiefs,
drumrolls, and the sprinkling of holy water. All that remained on earth were the comments
of the amazed crowd below and a multitude of experts, who attempted to provide a
reasonable explanation of the miracle. Clara continued to stare at the sky long after her
uncle had become invisible. She thought she saw him ten minutes later, but it was only a
migrating sparrow. After three days the initial euphoria that had accompanied the first
airplane flight in the country died down and no one gave the episode another thought, except
for Clara, who continued to peer at the horizon.
Answer.
1. What is the goosestep?

2. What did he build? How did the oligarchy react?
3. Did the public’s interest wane quickly? Why?
4. What did Uncle Marcos do to become the star attraction again?
111
5. Why is typical of Uncle Marcos’s character to withhold an explanation of how

he is to carry out his plan?
6. How do you know that Nicolas is interested in blimps? Are blimps still used
for advertising purposes in 2020?
7. Who was the Marxist leader that became the President of Chile in 1970? What
is the relationship of the author with this Chilean President?
8. Read from “Marcos waited dressed ……to the Incas” Visualize Uncle Marcos
description in detail. What effect does the description achieve?
9. What comment on human nature in general is the author making? Do you
agree that this is a typical public reaction to an important event? Can you see
any parallels in the news reports?
10. Where does Uncle Marcos plan to fly in his flying machine?
11. What does the statement “Clara would remember this holiday as long as she
lived” suggest about the author’s purpose in this story?
After a week with no word from the flying uncle, people began to speculate that he had
gone so high that he had disappeared into outer space, and the ignorant suggested he would
reach the moon. With a mixture of sadness and relief, Severo decided that his brother-in-
law and his machine must have fallen into some hidden crevice of the cordillera, where they
would never be found. Nívea wept disconsolately and lit candles to San Antonio, patron of
lost objects. Severo opposed the idea of having masses said, because he did not believe in
them as a way of getting into heaven, much less of returning to earth, and he maintained
that masses and religious vows, like the selling of indulgences, images, and scapulars, were
a dishonest business. Because of his attitude, Nívea and Nana had the children say the
rosary behind their father’s back for nine days. Meanwhile, groups of volunteer explorers
and mountain climbers tirelessly searched peaks and passes, combing every accessible
stretch of land until they finally returned in triumph to hand the family the mortal remains of
the deceased in a sealed black coffin. The intrepid traveller was laid to rest in a grandiose
funeral. His death made him a hero and his name was on the front page of all the papers for
several days. The same multitude that had gathered to see him off the day he flew away in
his bird paraded past his coffin. The entire family wept as befit the occasion, except for
Clara, who continued to watch the sky with the patience of an astronomer. One week after
he had been buried, Uncle Marcos, a bright smile playing behind his pirate’s moustache,
appeared in person in the doorway of Nívea and Severo del Valle’s house. Thanks to the
surreptitious prayers of the women and children, as he himself admitted, he was alive and
well and in full possession of his faculties, including his sense of humour. Despite the noble
lineage of his aerial maps, the flight had been a failure. He had lost his airplane and had to
return on foot, but he had not broken any bones and his adventurous spirit was intact. This
confirmed the family’s eternal devotion to San Antonio, but was not taken as a warning by
future generations, who also tried to fly, although by different means. Legally, however,
Marcos was a corpse. Severo del Valle was obliged to use all his legal ingenuity to bring his
brother-in-law back to life and the full rights of citizenship. When the coffin was pried open
in the presence of the appropriate authorities, it was found to contain a bag of sand. This
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discovery ruined the reputation, up till then untarnished, of the volunteer explorers and
mountain climbers, who from that day on were considered little better than a pack of bandits.
Answer.
1. How does the word ignorant in the second line of this paragraph achieve a
humorous effect?
2. Is it more ridiculous to suggest that Uncle Marcos reached the moon than to
speculate that he disappeared into outer space?
3. Why is Severo sad? Why is he relieved?
4. Why doesn’t Clara weep? Why is she watching the sky? What does it mean that
she has the patience of an “astronomer”?
5. Does Uncle Marcos believe that he owes his survival to the prayers of women and
children? Why does he said that he believes this?
6. What might have motivated the explorers and mountain climbers to claim that they
had found Uncle Marcos’s body?
Marcos’s heroic resurrection made everyone forget about his barrel-organ phase. Once
again he was a sought-after guest in all the city’s salons and, at least for a while, his name
was cleared. Marcos stayed in his sister’s house for several months. One night he left
without saying goodbye, leaving behind his trunks, his books, his weapons, his boots, and
all his belongings. Severo, and even Nívea herself, breathed a sigh of relief. His visit had
gone on too long. But Clara was so upset that she spent a week walking in her sleep and
sucking her thumb. The little girl, who was only seven at the time, had learned to read from
her uncle’s storybooks and been closer to him than any other member of the family because
of her prophesying powers. Marcos maintained that his niece’s gift could be a source of
income and a good opportunity for him to cultivate his own clairvoyance. He believed that
all human beings possessed this ability, particularly his own family, and that if it did not
function well it was simply due to a lack of training. He bought a crystal ball in the Persian
bazaar, insisting that it had magic powers and was from the East (although it was later found
to be part of a buoy from a fishing boat), set it down on a background of black velvet, and
announced that he could tell people’s fortunes, cure the evil eye, and improve the quality of
dreams, all for the modest sum of five centavos. His first customers were the maids from
around the neighbourhood. One of them had been accused of stealing, because her
employer had misplaced a valuable ring. The crystal ball revealed the exact location of the
object in question: it had rolled beneath a wardrobe. The next day there was a line outside
the front door of the house. There were coachmen, storekeepers, and milkmen; later a few
municipal employees and distinguished ladies made a discreet appearance, slinking along
the side walls of the house to keep from being recognized. The customers were received by
Nana, who ushered them into the waiting room and collected their fees. This task kept her
busy throughout the day and demanded so much of her time that the family began to
complain that all there ever was for dinner was old string beans and jellied quince. Marcos
decorated the carriage house with some frayed curtains that had once belonged in the
drawing room but that neglect and age had turned to dusty rags. There he and Clara
received the customers. The two divines wore tunics “the colour of the men of light,” as
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Marcos called the colour yellow. Nana had dyed them with saffron powder, boiling them in
pots usually reserved for rice and pasta. In addition to his tunic, Marcos wore a turban
around his head and an Egyptian amulet around his neck. He had grown a beard and let his
hair grow long and he was thinner than ever before. Marcos and Clara were utterly
convincing, especially because the child had no need to look into the crystal ball to guess
what her clients wanted to hear. She would whisper in her Uncle Marcos’s ear, and he in
turn would transmit the message to the client, along with any improvisations of his own that
he thought pertinent. Thus their fame spread, because all those who arrived sad and
bedraggled at the consulting room left filled with hope.
Answer.
1. Why is Uncle Marcos name cleared? What does this action reveal about human
nature?
2. Why do you think that the author described what she had to do when she left
Chile and fled to Venezuela In lines 3 and 4?
3. How do you know that Clara has got supernatural abilities?
4. Why do the municipal employees and distinguished ladies want to be
unrecognized?
5. Why is necessary for Uncle Marcos to look the part of a fortune teller? What
does this detail reveal about the character?
6. What words and phrases does the author use to suggest that Uncle Marcos and
Clara are frauds? What does this fact reveal about Uncle Marcos’s character?
Unrequited lovers were told how to win over indifferent hearts, and the poor left with fool
proof tips on how to place their money at the dog track. Business grew so prosperous that
the waiting room was always packed with people, and Nana began to suffer dizzy spells
from being on her feet so many hours a day. This time Severo had no need to intervene to
put a stop to his brother-in-law’s venture, for both Marcos and Clara, realizing that their
unerring guesses could alter the fate of their clients, who always followed their advice to the
letter, became frightened and decided that this was a job for swindlers. They abandoned
their carriage-house oracle and split the profits, even though the only one who had cared
about the material side of things had been Nana. Of all the del Valle children, Clara was the
one with the greatest interest in and stamina for her uncle’s stories. She could repeat each
and every one of them. She knew by heart words from several dialects of the Indians, was
acquainted with their customs, and could describe the exact way in which they pierced their
lips and earlobes with wooden shafts, their initiation rites, the names of the most poisonous
snakes, and the appropriate antidotes for each. Her uncle was so eloquent that the child
could feel in her own skin the burning sting of snakebites, see reptiles slide across the carpet
between the legs of the jacaranda room-divider, and hear the shrieks of macaws behind the
drawing-room drapes. She did not hesitate as she recalled Lope de Aguirre’s search for El
Dorado, or the unpronounceable names of the flora and fauna her extraordinary uncle had
seen; she knew about the lamas who take salt tea with yak lard and she could give detailed
descriptions of the opulent women of Tahiti, the rice fields of China, or the white prairies of
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the North, where the eternal ice kills animals and men who lose their way, turning them to
stone in seconds. Marcos had various travel journals in which he recorded his excursions
and impressions, as well as a collection of maps and books of stories and fairy tales that he
kept in the trunks he stored in the junk room at the far end of the third courtyard. From there
they were hauled out to inhabit the dreams of his descendants, until they were mistakenly
burned half a century later on an infamous pyre.
Answer.
1. What is the reason for Clara’s and Uncle Marcos’s success as fortunes
tellers? Why do some people find comfort visiting fortunes tellers?
2. Which details in this paragraph indicate that Clara, like Marcos, is a
complex character?
3. What does the statement “Clara would remember this holiday as long as
she lived” suggest about the author’s purpose in this story?
Now Marcos had returned from his last journey in a coffin. He had died of a mysterious
African plague that had turned him as yellow and wrinkled as a piece of parchment. When
he realized he was ill, he set out for home with the hope that his sister’s ministrations and
Dr. Cuevas’s knowledge would restore his health and youth, but he was unable to withstand
the sixty days on ship and died at the latitude of Guayaquil, ravaged by fever and
hallucinating about musky women and hidden treasure. The captain of the ship, an
Englishman by the name of Longfellow, was about to throw him overboard wrapped in a
flag, but Marcos, despite his savage appearance and his delirium, had made so many friends
on board and seduced so many women that the passengers prevented him from doing so,
and Longfellow was obliged to store the body side by side with the vegetables of the Chinese
cook, to preserve it from the heat and mosquitoes of the tropics until the ship’s carpenter
had time to improvise a coffin. At El Callao they obtained a more appropriate container, and
several days later the captain, furious at all the troubles this passenger had caused the
shipping company and himself personally, unloaded him without a backward glance,
surprised that not a soul was there to receive the body or cover the expenses he had
incurred. Later he learned that the post office in these latitudes was not as reliable as that
of far-off England, and that all his telegrams had vaporized en route. Fortunately or
Longfellow, a customs lawyer who was a friend of the del Valle family appeared and offered
to take charge, placing Marcos and all his paraphernalia in a freight car, which he shipped
to the capital to the only known address of the deceased: his sister’s house
Answer.
1. To what other trips in a coffin is the author referring?

2. Is this account of Uncle Marcos’s death sad or humorous?
3. Who loves hearing Marcos’s stories the most?
4. Why was the house of Nivea Uncle Marcos’s only known address? Which
of Uncle Marcos’s character traits does this final scene emphasize?
5. Is El Callao a city or a harbour? Where is it?
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A. General Question Responding to The Selection
1. In this story, Marco built a flying machine. Which character traits might also
you find in famous Italian who tried to do this in the XVI century?
2. What do the narrator’s observations about Marcos suggest about the

author’s purpose?
3. Which details in this passage indicate that Marcos has changed since the
beginning of the story?
4. What elements of “Uncle Marcos” confirm that it belongs to the literary

movement known as Magical Realism?
5. What is each character's attitude toward Uncle Marcos? Compare and

contrast Clara’s reaction to her uncle’s disappearance with those of the
others: What does Clara’s reaction show about her personality and
relationship to Uncle Marcos? Explain.
6. What life lessons can people learn from the character of Uncle Marcos?
Share your responses with a group and discuss similarities and differences
among them. How has the discussion affected your response?
7. Severo says, “Uncle Marcos’ manners are those of a cannibal.” What

evidence from this story refutes Severo’s claim?
8. List five of Uncles Marcos’s character traits. What details in the story
support your answer?
9. As a child, why might Clara have tended to focus on her uncle’s extravagant
aspects?
10. How is Uncle Marcos’s reality different from that of the narrator and other
characters? Which reality do you think is it? Defend your answers.
11. Do colourful characters such as Uncle Marcos make an important

contribution to the family and to society? Explain.
12. Close your eyes and envision Uncle Marcos. What instructions would you
give to an artist who was drawing a portrait of him? What actor would you
cast to play him? Compare your vision with those of your classmates.
13. Write about a friend’s or family member’s character traits that are
extravagant or particular unforgettable characteristics. Minimum 80 words
maximum 150 words.)
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II. The story has got four themes. Circle the correct ones.
Sad Crazy
Glad Rational
Indifference Weird
Love Normal
III. Literary Devices. Match.
Foreshadow Metaphor Imagery
IV. Which invention has had the biggest impact on humanity? Write a paragraph.
(Minimum 100 words-maximum 200)
V. Discuss.
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VI. Make a cartoon of the story. A good cartoonist uses symbolism, exaggeration,
analogy and irony.
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4. Caged Bird
by Maya Angelou
119
Maya Angelou was a Black American poet and Civil

rights activist born in the late 1920s. She was
respected as a spokesperson for black people in
general and women in particular, and her works have
been considered as a defence of America’s black
culture. Besides, she was an author, historian,
songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen
producer, director, performer, and singer
Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St.
Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. She grew up in St.
Louis and Stamps, Arkansas.
In 1959, at the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Angelou became the northern
coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. From 1961 to
1962 she was associate editor of The Arab Observer in Cairo, Egypt, the only
English-language news weekly in the Middle East, and from 1964 to 1966 she
was feature editor of the African Review in Accra, Ghana. She returned to the
United States in 1974 and was appointed by Gerald Ford to the Bicentennial
Commission and later by Jimmy Carter to the Commission for International
Woman of the Year.
She accepted a lifetime appointment in 1982 as Reynolds Professor of American

Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 1993,
Angelou wrote and delivered a poem, "On The Pulse of the Morning," at the
inauguration for President Bill Clinton at his request. In 2000, she received the
National Medal of Arts, and in 2010 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom by President Barack Obama.
The first black woman director in Hollywood, Angelou wrote, produced, directed,
and starred in productions for stage, film, and television. In 1971, she wrote the
original screenplay and musical score for the film Georgia, Georgia, and was both
author and executive producer of a five-part television miniseries "Three Way
Choice."
She also wrote and produced several prize-winning documentaries, including

"Afro-Americans in the Arts," a PBS special for which she received the Golden
Eagle Award. Angelou was twice nominated for a Tony award for acting: once for
her Broadway debut in Look Away (1973), and again for her performance
in Roots (1977).
Angelou died on May 28, 2014, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she had
served as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University
since 1982. She was eighty-six.
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Caged Bird
The free bird leaps

on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks

down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings

with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and is tune is heard
on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom
The free bird thinks of another breeze

an the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing
The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
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1. What do you think the poem is attempting to do? Educate the reader,
create nostalgia, or fear, evoke a mood? Is the poet effective?
2. Who is the speaker? What kind of person is the speaker?
3. Can you identify the author’s purpose? You may also describe this as
the theme of the poem. What is the theme of the poem?
4. Discuss the imagery of the poem. What kinds of imagery are used?
5. Point out examples of metaphor, simile, alliteration personification,

foreshadowing and repetition.
6. What does the caged bird symbolize?
7. What does the bird’s song symbolize?
8. Why do the fat worms and the dawn bright lawn symbolize a kind of
privilege?
9. If the bird is singing of things unknown and feared, why does he still
long for them?
10. Why is his tune heard “on the distant hill” (line 20)?
11. In what sense might the bird “name the sky his own” (line 26), and
how would you characterize the act of doing so? What political and
historical meanings do you think the references and metaphors in this
stanza might have?
12. What is the central juxtaposition in the poem? Can you understand
how injustice can be expressed through contrast?
13. Circle the correct one:
A. The poet has used stanzas with a different number of lines with
regular rhyme scheme.
B. The poet has used stanzas with a different number of lines with no
C. The poet has used stanzas with the same number of lines with no
14. Mood: sympathy and hope. Justify it.
15. Genre: Poetry; free verse; allegory. Justify.
16.What are the settings of the poem?
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17. Identify the types of conflicts. Internal, external, man vs society, man
vs man, man vs self.
18. Underline the correct tone. Justify.
A. Joyful and fragile.

B. Sorrowful and persevering.
C. Moaning and strong.
19. What is the “grave of dreams” (line 27), and what rhetorical device is
this an example of? What things are contrasted with singing in this
stanza, and what difference(s) is the speaker suggesting?
20. Discuss the speaker’s use of imagery. How are elements such as
theme and tone developed through this imagery? Cite specific images in
the poem.
21. The title of Angelou’s first autobiography is I Know Why the Caged
Bird Sings. What does her choice of that title suggest about her personal
relationship to this poem?
22. What surprises you most in the poem? What do you find most moving?
23. Make a cartoon of the poem.
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24. Analyzing each stanza. Match.
The caged bird quavers while singing of the things unknown. He realizes
his condition but still longs for freedom. the poet revels that the bird's cry
Stanza One for freedom is heard at a faraway place.
This stanza depicts the bird in its cage, the cage that has now become
the grave of the bird's dream. At this point, the caged bird is so despondent
Stanza Two in his life of captivity that his screams are like that of someone having a
nightmare. He has so many dreams that have died because he was never
given the freedom to achieve all. Once again, the caged bird sings of
Stanza Three freedom.
It refers to the flight of a free bird, who springs free from the ground to fly
in the direction of the air current. It looks as if the bird had immersed his
wings in the orange rays of the sun covering the sky. the free bird flies as
Stanza Four if the sky belonged to him.
This stanza emphasis the distressing condition of the caged bird singing
with a dreadful warbling once more.
Stanza Five The stanza goes back to the unrestricted movement of the free bird. The
free bird thinks of another breeze. It appears as if the bird had named the
sky his own, since there are no other birds to contest with him.
Stanza Six It expounds the conditions of the caged bird who is constantly watching
down his cage. He can almost never see through the bars. His vision is
limited. He is enslaved; his wings are clipped and his feet are tied. Under
such circumstances, only option he has is to open his throat to sing.
25. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?
26. Discuss.
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5. The Black Cat

By Edgard Allan Poe
125
Author Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, in Boston. After being
orphaned at age two, he was taken into the home of a childless couple–John
Allan, a successful businessman in Richmond, Va., and his wife. Allan was
believed to be Poe’s godfather. At age six, Poe went to England with the Allans
and was enrolled in schools there. After he returned with the Allans to the U.S. in
1820, he studied at private schools, then attended the University of Virginia and
the U.S. Military Academy, but did not complete studies at either school. After
beginning his literary career as a poet and prose writer, he married his young
cousin, Virginia Clemm. He worked for several magazines and joined the staff of
the New York Mirror newspaper in 1844. All the while, he was battling a drinking
problem. After the Mirror published his poem “The Raven" in January 1845, Poe
achieved national and international fame. Besides pioneering the development of
the short story, Poe invented the format for the detective story as we know it
today. He also was an outstanding literary critic. Despite the acclaim he received,
he was never really happy because of his drinking and because of the deaths of
several people close to him, including his wife in 1847. He frequently had trouble
paying his debts. It is believed that heavy drinking was a contributing cause of his
death in Baltimore on October 7, 1849.
Reflection of Poe's Life? Poe himself owned a cat at the time that he wrote this
short story. He was also a heavy drinker during this period.
126
The Black Cat

You are not going to believe this story. But it is a true story, as true as I sit here
writing it — as true as I will die in the morning. Yes, this story ends with my end,
with my death tomorrow.
I have always been a kind and loving person — everyone will tell you this. They
will also tell you that I have always loved animals more than anything. When I
was a little boy, my family always had many different animals round the house.
As I grew up, I spent most of my time with them, giving them their food and
cleaning them.
I married when I was very young, and I was happy to find that my wife loved all
of our animal friends as much as I did. She bought us the most beautiful animals.
We had all sorts of birds, gold fish, a fine dog and a cat.
The cat was a very large and beautiful animal. He was black, black all over, and
very intelligent. He was so intelligent that my wife often laughed about what some
people believe; some people believe that all black cats are evil, enemies in a cat's
body.
Pluto — this was the cat's name — was my favourite. It was always I who gave
him his food, and he followed me everywhere. I often had to stop him from
following me through the streets! For years, he and I lived happily together, the
best of friends.
But during those years I was slowly changing. It was that evil enemy of Man called
Drink who was changing me. I was not the kind, loving person people knew
before. I grew more and more selfish. I was often suddenly angry about
unimportant things. I began to use bad language, most of all with my wife. I even
hit her sometimes. And by that time, of course, I was often doing horrible things
to our animals. I hit all of them — but never Pluto. But, my illness was getting
worse — oh yes, drink is an illness! Soon I began to hurt my dear Pluto too.
I remember that night very well. I came home late, full of drink again. I could not
understand why Pluto was not pleased to see me. The cat was staying away from
me. My Pluto did not want to come near me! I caught him and picked him up,
holding him strongly. He was afraid of me and bit my hand. Suddenly, I was not
myself any more. Someone else was in my body: someone evil, and mad with
drink! I took my knife from my pocket, held the poor animal by his neck and cut
out one of his eyes.
The next morning, my mind was full of pain and horror when I woke up. I was
deeply sorry. I could not understand how I could do such an evil thing. But drink
soon helped me to forget.
127
Slowly the cat got better. Soon he felt no more pain. There was now only an ugly
dry hole where the eye once was. He began to go round the house as usual
again. He never came near me now, of course, and he ran away when I went too
close.
I knew he didn't love me any more. At first I was sad. Then, slowly, I started to
feel angry, and I did another terrible thing . . .
I had to do it — I could not stop myself. I did it with a terrible sadness in my heart
— because I knew it was evil. And that was why I did it — yes! I did it because I
knew it was evil. What did I do? I caught the cat and hung him by his neck from
a tree until he was dead.
That night I woke up suddenly — my bed was on fire. I heard people outside
shouting, 'Fire! Fire!' Our house was burning! I, my wife and our servant were
lucky to escape. We stood and watched as the house burned down to the ground.
There was nothing left of the building the next morning. All the walls fell down
during the night, except one — a wall in the middle of the house. I realized why
this wall did not burn: because there was new plaster on it. The plaster was still
quite wet.
I was surprised to see a crowd of people next to the wall. They were talking, and
seemed to be quite excited. I went closer and looked over their shoulders. I saw
a black shape in the new white plaster. It was the shape of large cat, hanging by
its neck.
I looked at the shape with complete horror. Several minutes passed before I could
think clearly again. I knew I had to try to think clearly. I had to know why it was
there.
I remembered hanging the cat in the garden of the house next door. During the
fire the garden was full of people. Probably, someone cut the dead cat from the
tree and threw it through the window — to try and wake me. The falling walls
pressed the animal's body into the fresh plaster. The cat burned completely,
leaving the black shape in the new plaster. Yes, I was sure that was what
happened.
But I could not forget that black shape for months. I even saw it in my dreams. I
began to feel sad about losing the animal. So I began to look for another one. I
looked mostly in the poor parts of our town where I went drinking. I searched for
another black cat, of the same size and type as Pluto.
One night, as I sat in a dark and dirty drinking-house, I noticed a black object on
top of a cupboard, near some bottles of wine. I was surprised when I saw it. 'I
looked at those bottles a few minutes ago,' I thought, 'and I am sure that object
was not there before …’
128
I got up, and went to see what it was. I put my hand up, touched it, and found that
it was a black cat — a very large one, as large as Pluto. He looked like Pluto too
— in every way but one:
Pluto did not have a white hair anywhere on his body; this cat had a large white
shape on his front.
He got up when I touched him, and pressed the side of his head against my hand
several times. He liked me. This was the animal I was looking for! He continued
to be very friendly and later, when I left, he followed me into the street. He came
all the way home with me — we now had another house — and came all the way
home with me — we now had another house — and came 5 inside. He
immediately jumped up on to the most comfortable chair and went to sleep. He
stayed with us, of course. He loved both of us and very soon he became my wife's
favourite animal.
But, as the weeks passed, I began to dislike the animal more and more. I do not
know why, but I hated the way he loved me. Soon, I began to hate him — but I
was never unkind to him. Yes, I was very careful about that. I kept away from him
because I remembered what I did to my poor Pluto. I also hated the animal
because he only had one eye. I noticed this the morning after he came home with
me. Of course, this only made my dear wife love him more!
But the more I hated the cat, the more he seemed to love me. He followed me
everywhere, getting under my feet all the time. When I sat down, he always sat
under my chair. Often he tried to jump up on my knees. I wanted to murder him
when he did this, but I did not. I stopped myself because I remembered Pluto, but
also because I was afraid of the animal.
How can I explain this fear? It was not really a fear of something evil . . . but then
how else can I possibly describe it? Slowly, this strange fear grew into horror.
Yes, horror. If I tell you why, you will not believe me. You will think I am mad.
Several times, my wife took the cat and showed me the white shape on his chest.
She said the shape was slowly changing. For a long time, I did not believe her,
but slowly, after many weeks, I began to see that she was right. The shape was
changing. Its sides were becoming straighter and straighter. It was beginning to
look more and more like an object . . . After a few more weeks, I saw what the
shape was. It was impossible not to see! There, on his front, was the shape of an
object I am almost too afraid to name . . . It was that terrible machine of pain and
death — yes, the GALLOWS!
I no longer knew the meaning of happiness, or rest. During the day, the animal
never left me. At night he woke me up nearly every hour. I remember waking from
terrible dreams and feeling him sitting next to my face, his heavy body pressing
down on my heart!
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I was now a very different man. There was not the smallest piece of good left in
me. I now had only evil thoughts — the darkest and the most evil thoughts. I hated
everyone and everything, my dear wife too.
One day she came down into the cellar with me to cut some wood , we were now
too poor to have a servant. Of course, the cat followed me down the stairs and
nearly made me fall. This made me so angry, that I took the axe and tried to cut
the animal in two. But as I brought the axe down, my wife stopped my arm with
her hand. This made me even more angry, and I pulled her hand away from my
wrist, lifted the tool again, brought it down hard and buried it in the top of her
head.
I had to hide the body. I knew I could not take it out of the house. The neighbours
noticed everything. I thought of cutting it into pieces and burning it. I thought of
burying it in the floor of the cellar. I thought of throwing it into the river at the end
of the garden. I thought of putting it into a wooden box and taking it out of the
house that way. In the end, I decided to hide the body in one of the walls of the
cellar.
It was quite an old building, near the river, so the walls of the cellar were quite
wet and the plaster was soft. There was new plaster on one of the walls, and I
knew that underneath it the wall was not very strong. I also knew that this wall
was very thick. I could hide the body in the middle of it.
It was not difficult. I took off some plaster, took out a few stones and made a hole
in the earth that filled the middle of the wall. I put my wife there, put back the
stones, made some new plaster and put it on the wall. Then I cleaned the floor,
and looked carefully round. Everything looked just as it did before. Nobody would
ever know.
Next, I went upstairs to kill the cat. The animal was bringing me bad luck. I had
to kill it. I searched everywhere, but I could not find him. I was sure it was because
of my wife's murder; he was too clever to come near me now.
I waited all evening, but I did not see the evil animal. He did not come back during
the night either. And so, for the first time in a long time, I slept well. When I woke
up the next morning, I was surprised to see that the cat still was not there. Two,
three days passed, and there was still no cat. I cannot tell you how happy I began
to feel. I felt so much better without the cat. Yes, it was he who brought me all my
unhappiness. And now, without him, I began to feel like a free man again. It was
wonderful — no more cat! Never again!
Several people came and asked about my wife, but I answered their questions
easily. Then, on the fourth day, the police came. I was not worried when they
searched the house. They asked me to come with them as they searched. They
looked everywhere, several times. Then they went down into the cellar. I went
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down with them, of course. I was not a bit afraid. I walked calmly up and down,
watching them search.
They found nothing, of course, and soon they were ready to go. I was so happy
that I could not stop talking as they went up the stairs. I did not really know what
I was saying.
`Good clay to you all, dear sirs.' I said. 'Yes, this is a well-built old house, isn't it?
Yes, a very well-built old house. These walls — are you going, gentlemen? —
these walls are strong, aren't they?' I knocked hard on the part of the wall where
my wife was.
A voice came from inside the wall, in answer to my knock. It was a cry, like a
child's. Quickly, it grew into a long scream of pain and horror. I saw the policemen
standing on the stairs with their mouths open. Suddenly, they all ran down in a
great hurry and began breaking down the wall. It fell quickly, and there was my
wife, standing inside. There she was, with dried blood all over her head, looking
at them. And there was the cat, standing on her head, his red mouth wide open
in a scream, and his one gold eye shining like fire. The clever animal! My wife
was dead because of him, and now his evil voice was sending me to the gallows.
I. Answer
1. What caused the narrator to gouge the cat's eye out?
A. The cat bit his hand.

B. The cat did nothing.
C. The cat meowed.
D. The cat was inside.
2. What happened to the narrator the night he killed the cat?
A. his house caught on fire

B. his wife left him
C. he bought a new cat
D. all of these
3. When returning to the ruins the next day, the narrator was shocked to
find a wall still standing behind his bed. Did he find the figure of the cat on
the wall?
A. Yes
B. No
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4. What did the narrator find at the bar one night?
A. A cat
B. His wife
C. Money
D. Alcohol
5. What was the name of the narrator's first cat?
A. Pluto
B. Don
C. Goofy
D. Edgar
6. Did the narrator kill his wife and then burn her body to get rid of it?
A. Yes
B. No
7. Why did the narrator kill his wife?
A. He was sick of her

B. She tried to kill the narrator
C. She was no good
D. She stopped him from killing the cat
8. What did the narrator see on the cat's chest
A. Nothing
B. The old cat, Pluto
C. Gallows
D. His own reflection
9. How many days did the cat go missing for?
A. One day
B. Half a day
C. Fifty days
D. Four days
10. Who gave away the hiding place of the narrator's dead wife?
A. no one, he got away with the crime

B. the wife
C. the cat
D. the narrator
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II. Critical Thinking Questions

1. The narrator says he is to die on the morrow. At that point, did you
think he was ill?
2. Did you wonder why the wife stayed with the man after he became a
mean alcoholic?
3. The narrator cried as he killed the cat. Why do you think he did?
4. Why do you think the fire happened the same night as the cat's
death? Is it ever really explained in the story?
5. The original cat was all black, but the new cat had a white splotch.
What is Poe trying to signify?
6. Why did the narrator resent the new cat so much?
7. How did you react when you found the couple lived in poverty? Did
you think they were well-to-do up until that point?
8. How shocked were you when he killed his wife instead of the cat?
9. He never mentioned cleaning up the blood. Would this have been

hard to conceal?
10. Where did the man tap the wall with his cane? Was that just a
coincidence, or was it from a subconscious feeling of guilt, remorse,
and shame?
11. Do you find it ironic that at the end the man still called the cat 'a
monster?' Do you know what the psychological term 'projection'
means?
12. Were you glad at the end when the cat gave the narrator away to the
police? Is it okay to feel that way about a person who does bad
things?
13. What is the narrator’s attitude towards having a pet? What type of
pets did the narrator and his wife have in their home?
14. How does the narrator describe himself?
15. How does the narrator behave?
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16. On what does the narrator blame his behaviour?
17. Discuss the disconnect between the way the narrator views himself
and his actual behaviour? Does this make him a reliable narrator?
Why or why not? Explain your thoughts thoroughly.
18. What connections can you make with the story and Poe’s own
personal life?
19. What is the setting? Where is the narrator as he writes this story?
20. What crime did the narrator commit?
21. Is he remorseful for his crime? Why or why not? What makes you
think this?
22. Why is this story considered a flashback?
23. Explain why the narrator was caught by the police.
24. Compare the two cats in the story:
Pluto 1 Pluto 2
III. Justify
A. Theme: superstition, alcoholism, violence, transformation

B. Message: guilt, justice
C. Genre: horror and gothic story
IV. Point of view
V. Character Analysis
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VI. Symbols
Black Cat
2nd Cat
Axe
Gallows
VII. Discussing the story
1. How do you account for the narrator’s behaviour when the police
arrive? Why do you think he calls attention to the wall where his wife’s
body is concealed?
2. Why do black cats appear so often in mystery and horror stories? There
have been books and articles written throughout history about cats. You
may want to research the history of cats and tell how they have been
regarded at various times and in various places around the world.
3. Can you find a message in the story relating to violence against

women? How is the situation of the wife in the story, about 1850, similar
to problems faced by some women today? How is her situation different?
4. Poe used Gothic conventions in many of his stories. Gothic

conventions include morbid concerns such as murder, horror, mystery,
decay, evil, magic, and the supernatural. Gothic settings typically include
fens, bogs, ruins, cemeteries, etc. Gothic characters include evil princes,
‘ruined’ men, and deranged or deformed creatures. How many of the
Gothic conventions can you find in ‘The Black Cat’?
5. Poe uses a first-person point of view in the story. You see things
through the eyes and mind of the narrator who tells his own story. How is
it possible to get a true picture of the character if he is telling about
himself?
6. Poe’s use of language is not the style that writers use today – even for
horror stories. Nevertheless, people who like a good scary story still love
to listen to stories told in Poe’s style. How does this language make a
good horror story?
VIII. Find examples

Allusion
Foreshadowing
Irony
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IX. Justify the conflict.

Man vs. Man - Internal
Mam vs. Self - External
X. Writing
1. Write a short paragraph that describes something or someone familiar – your

home, a room, a pet, a friend. Give the description a pleasant, cheerful tone.
2. Write a short paragraph describing the same thing but this time give the
description a tone that makes it unpleasant or frightening.
XI. Make a cartoon of the story. A good cartoonist uses symbolism,

XII. Discuss.
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XIII. Plot structure. Match,
Exposition
Conflict
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution
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Black Cat film 1934
It is a 1934 American pre-Code horror film

directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starring
Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi.
The film helped to create and popularize the
psychological horror subgenre, emphasizing
on atmosphere, eerie sounds, the darker
side of the human psyche, and emotions like
fear and guilt to deliver its scares
The Black Cat film 1981
It is an Italian production.
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Screenplay by
Biagio Proietti
Lucio Fulci
Story by Biagio Proietti
Based on "The Black Cat"
by Edgar Allan Poe
Starring
Patrick Magee
Mimsy Farmer
David Warbeck
Al Cliver
Dagmar Lassander
Geoffrey Copleston
Watch one of the films or both.

Does this film follow the original story?or Do these films follow the original
story? Write a paragraph about the similarities and differences between the
film and Poe’s story. Basing your answer on plot and characters.
Investigate how many Black Cat films exist and write down the years they
were released,
138
6. Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed

By Ray Bradbury
139
Ray Bradbury
An Early Start
Ray Bradbury credits his mother for encouraging his
imagination. She loved films and started taking her son to
see them when he was only 3. By age 8, Bradbury had
developed a love for both science fiction and the planet
Mars. Bradbury wrote his first Martian stories when he
was 12. Just before his 21st birthday, Bradbury sold his
first story. That began a career filled with bestsellers,
awards, and a lasting love of writing.
Man with a Mission
Bradbury believes that one purpose of science fiction is

to warn about negative things that might happen in the future if care is not taken
in the present. Some of his writing reflects his worries about where our society is
headed.
Although he is often described as a science fiction writer, Bradbury does not box
himself into any particular categorization:
"First of all, I don't write science fiction. I've only done one science fiction book
and that's Fahrenheit 451, based on reality. Science fiction is a depiction of the
real. Fantasy is a depiction of the unreal. So Martian Chronicles is not science
fiction, it's fantasy. It couldn't happen, you see? That's the reason it's going to be
around a long time -- because it's a Greek myth, and myths have staying power."
Ray Bradbury was born in Waukegan, Illinois to a Swedish mother. His family
moved several times, eventually settling in Los Angeles in 1934. In his family
were many publishers of books and not surprisingly, Bradbury was a reader and
writer throughout his youth. He graduated high school in Los Angeles but chose
not to attend college. To make a living, he sold newspapers. He educated himself
at the library and, having been influenced by science fiction heroes like Flash
Gordon and Buck Rogers, Bradbury soon began to successfully publish science
fiction stories. He sold his first stories to pulp magazines in the early 1940s. His
first book, the collection Dark Carnival, was published in 1947.
He has also worked on screenplays, including Moby Dick (1956) and King of
Kings (1961). Bradbury wrote the voice-over narration for King of Kings, notably
Christ's final monologue, but did not receive screen credit.
Several of his stories were adapted by EC Comics in the 1950s, and later, a
number of his novels were made into films. The Martian Chronicles was made
into a miniseries starring Rock Hudson in 1979. Adaptations of his short stories
were used as the basis for a television series, the Ray Bradbury Theater, along
with his own screenplays, in the mid-1980s. A film adaptation of A Sound of
Thunder is due to be released in 2005.
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In between his fiction work Bradbury has written many short essays on serious
subjects concerning the Arts and Culture, attracting the attention of serious critics
in this field.
Bradbury was also a consultant for the American Pavilion at the 1964 New York
World's Fair, and he designed the exhibit housed in EPCOT's Spaceship
Earth geosphere at Disney World.
Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed

This story shows the effects of their strange new surroundings on a family of
travellers to Mars. It is also a suspense story. Ray Bradbury's description of Mars
and the reactions to it of the Bittering family give warning that something could
go wrong. The atmosphere is one of apprehension and foreboding. Slowly but
surely, the circumstances tighten around Harry Bittering. Perhaps, too, the story
is a parable, illustrating the ways that people respond to the environments in
which they find themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf4_LylrZjw
Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed
Note: at the end of each chapter there is a short summary of it.
The rocket metal cooled in the meadow winds. Its lid gave a bulging pop. From
its clock interior stepped a man, a woman, and three children. The other
passengers whispered away across the Martian meadow, leaving the man alone
among his family.
The man felt his hair flutter and the tissues of his body draw tight as if he were
standing at the centre of a vacuum. His wife, before him, seemed almost to whirl
away in smoke. The children, small seeds, might at any instant be sown to all the
Martian climes.
The children looked up at him, as people look to the sun to tell what time of their
life it is. His face was cold.
“What’s wrong?” asked his wife.
“Let’s get back on the rocket.” A
“Go back to Earth?”
“Yes! Listen! “The wind blew as if to flake away their identities. At any moment
the
Martian air might draw his soul from him, as marrow comes from a white bone.
He felt submerged in a chemical that could dissolve his intellect and burn away
his past.
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They looked at Martian hills that time had worn with a crushing pressure of years.
They saw the old cities, lost in their meadows, lying like children’s delicate bones
among the blowing lakes of grass.
“Chin up, Harry,” said his wife. “It’s too late. We’ve come over sixty million miles.”
The children with their yellow hair hollered at the deep dome of Martian sky. There
was no answer but the racing hiss of wind through the stiff grass. B
He picked up the luggage in his cold hands. “Here we go,” he said—a man
standing on the edge of a sea, ready to wade in and be drowned.
They walked into town.
A. MOOD: How would you describe the man’s first impression of

Mars? Think about how his feelings affect the mood of the story.
B. On the basis of Bradbury’s description of the setting, decide

whether you have a positive or negative feeling about Mars. What
words contribute to your feeling?
What can you infer about how the man in the painting might be
feeling?
Their name was Bittering. Harry and his wife Cora; Dan, Laura, and David.
They built a small white cottage and ate good breakfasts there, but the fear was
142
never gone. It lay with Mr. Bittering and Mrs. Bittering, a third unbidden partner at
every midnight talk, at every dawn awakening. “I feel like a salt crystal,” he said,
“in a mountain stream, being washed away. We don’t belong here. We’re Earth
people. This is Mars. It was meant for Martians. For heaven’s sake, Cora, let’s
buy tickets for home!”
But she only shook her head. “One day the atom bomb will fix Earth. Then we’ll
be safe here.”
“Safe and insane!”
Tick-tock, seven o’clock sang the voice-clock; time to get up. And they did.
Something made him check everything each morning—warm hearth, potted
blood-geraniums—precisely as if he expected something to be amiss. The
morning paper was toast-warm from the 6 a.m. Earth rocket.
He broke its seal and tilted it at his breakfast place. He forced himself to be
convivial. C
“Colonial days all over again,” he declared. “Why, in ten years there’ll be a million
Earthmen on Mars. Big cities, everything! They said we’d fail. Said the Martians
would resent our invasion. But did we find any Martians? Not a living soul! Oh,
we found their empty cities, but no one in them. Right?”
A river of wind submerged the house. When the windows ceased rattling Mr.
Bittering swallowed and looked at the children. “I don’t know,” said David. “Maybe
there’re Martians around we don’t see. Sometimes nights I think I hear ‘em. I hear
the wind. The sand hits my window. I get scared. And I see those towns way up
in the mountains where the Martians lived a long time ago. And I think I see things
moving around those towns, Papa. And I wonder if those Martians mind us living
here. I wonder if they won’t do something to us for coming here.”
“Nonsense!” Mr. Bittering looked out the windows. “We’re clean, decent people.”
He looked at his children. “All dead cities have some kind of ghosts in them.
Memories, I mean.” He stared at the hills. “You see a staircase and you wonder
what Martians looked like climbing it. You see Martian paintings and you wonder
what the painter was like. You make a little ghost in your mind, a memory. It’s
quite natural. Imagination.
” He stopped. “You haven’t been prowling up in those ruins, have you?”

“No, Papa.” David looked at his shoes.
“See that you stay away from them. Pass the jam.”
“Just the same,” said little David, “I bet something happens.”
C. What are three examples of how Bradbury brings

present-day life into this futuristic setting?
143
Something happened that afternoon. Laura stumbled through the settlement,

crying. She dashed blindly onto the porch. “Mother, Father—the war, Earth!” she
sobbed. “A radio flash just came. Atom bombs1 hit New York! All the space
rockets blown up. No more rockets to Mars, ever!”
“Oh, Harry!” The mother held onto her husband and daughter.
“Are you sure, Laura?” asked the father quietly.
Laura wept. “We’re stranded on Mars, forever and ever!”
For a long time, there was only the sound of the wind in the late afternoon.
Alone, thought Bittering. Only a thousand of us here. No way back. No way. No
way. Sweat poured from his face and his hands and his body; he was drenched
in the hotness of his fear. He wanted to strike Laura, cry, “No, you’re lying! The
rockets will come back!” Instead, he stroked Laura’s head against him and said,
“The rockets will get through someday.”
“Father, what will we do?”
“Go about our business, of course. Raise crops and children. Wait.
Keep things going until the war ends and the rockets come again.”
The two boys stepped out onto the porch.
“Children,” he said, sitting there, looking beyond them, “I’ve something to tell you.”
“We know,” they said.
In the following days, Bittering wandered often through the garden to stand
alone in his fear. As long as the rockets had spun a silver web across space, he
had been able to accept Mars. For he had always told himself: Tomorrow, if I
want, I can buy a ticket and go back to Earth.
But now: The web gone, the rockets lying in jigsaw heaps of molten girder an
unsnaked wire. Earth people left to the strangeness of Mars, the cinnamon dusts
and wine airs, to be baked like gingerbread shapes in Martian summers, put into
harvested storage by Martian winters. What would happen to him, the others?
This was the moment Mars had waited for. Now it would eat them.
He got down on his knees in the flower bed, a spade in his nervous
hands. Work, he thought, work and forget. He glanced up from the garden to the
Martian mountains. He thought of the proud old Martian names that had once
been on those peaks.
Earthmen, dropping from the sky, had gazed upon hills, rivers, Martian seats left
nameless in spite of names. Once Martians had built cities, named cities; climbed
mountains, named mountains; sailed seas, named seas. Mountains melted, seas
drained, cities tumbled. In spite of this, the Earthmen had felt a silent guilt at
putting new names to these ancient hills and valleys. D
D. On the basis of the past accomplishments,

consider the similarities between Martian and
human civilizations.
What comment about present-day human
civilization might Bradbury be making through
this comparison?
144
Nevertheless, man lives by symbol and label. The names were given. Mr.
Bittering felt very alone in his garden under the Martian sun, anachronism bent
here, planting Earth flowers in a wild soil.
Think. Keep thinking. Different things. Keep your mind free of Earth, the atom
war, the lost rockets.
He perspired. He glanced about. No one watching. He removed his tie. Pretty
bold, he thought. First your coat off, now your tie. He hung it neatly on a peach
tree he had imported as a sapling from Massachusetts.
He returned to his philosophy of names and mountains. The Earthmen had
changed names. Now there were Hormel Valleys, Roosevelt Seas, Ford Hills,
Vanderbilt Plateaus, Rockefeller Rivers, on Mars. It wasn’t right.
The American settlers had shown wisdom, using old Indian prairie names:
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Idaho, Ohio, Utah, Milwaukee, Waukegan, Osseo. The
old names, the old meanings.
Staring at the mountains wildly, he thought: Are you up there? All the dead ones,
you Martians? Well, here we are, alone, cut off! Come down, move us out! We’re
helpless!
The wind blew a shower of peach blossoms.
He put out his sun-browned hand and gave a small cry. He touched the blossoms
and picked them up. He turned them, he touched them again and again. Then he
shouted for his wife. “Cora!”
She appeared at a window. He ran to her.
Compare these flowers to the ones on Mars in the story. How are they
similar?
“Cora, these blossoms!”

She handled them.
“Do you see? They’re different. They’ve changed! They’re not peach blossoms
anymore!”
“Look all right to me,” she said.
“They’re not. They’re wrong! I can’t tell how. An extra petal, a leaf, something, the
colour, the smell!”
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The children ran out in time to see their father hurrying about the garden, pulling
up radishes, onions, and carrots from their beds.
“Cora, come look!”
They handled the onions, the radishes, the carrots among them.
“Do they look like carrots?”
“Yes . . . no.” She hesitated. “I don’t know.”
“They’re changed.”
“Perhaps.”
“You know they have! Onions but not onions, carrots but not carrots.
Taste: the same but different. Smell: not like it used to be.” He felt his heart
pounding, and he was afraid. He dug his fingers into the earth. “Cora,
what’s happening? What is it? We’ve got to get away from this.” He ran
across the garden. Each tree felt his touch. “The roses. The roses. They’re
turning green!” E
And they stood looking at the green roses.
And two days later Dan came running. “Come see the cow. I was milking her and
I saw it. Come on!”
They stood in the shed and looked at their one cow. It was growing a third horn.
And the lawn in front of their house very quietly and slowly was colouring itself
like spring violets. Seed from Earth but growing up a soft purple.
“We must get away,” said Bittering. “We’ll eat this stuff and then we’ll change—
who knows to what? I can’t let it happen. There’s only one thing to do. Burn this
food!” F
“It’s not poisoned.”
“But it is. Subtly, very subtly. A little bit. A very little bit. We mustn’t touch it.”
He looked with dismay at their house. “Even the house. The wind’s done
something to it. The air’s burned it. The fog at night. The boards,
all warped out of shape. It’s not an Earthman’s house any more.”
“Oh, your imagination!”
He put on his coat and tie. “I’m going into town. We’ve got to do something now.
I’ll be back.”
“Wait, Harry!” his wife cried. But he was gone.
E. Think of what you know about plants. Do you think it’s

possible for plants to change like they do in this story, or is it
purely imaginary?
F. When he sees that the plants and animals are

changing, Mr. Bittering becomes afraid that he and
his family will change too. What impact does this
plot turn have on the mood of the story?
146
In town, on the shadowy step of the grocery store, the men sat with their hands
on their knees, conversing with great leisure and ease. Mr. Bittering wanted to
fire a pistol in the air.
What are you doing, you fools! he thought. Sitting here! You’ve heard the news—
we’re stranded on this planet. Well, move! Aren’t you frightened? Aren’t you
afraid?
What are you going to do?
“Hello, Harry,” said everyone.
“Look,” he said to them. “You did hear the news, the other day, didn’t you?”
They nodded and laughed. “Sure. Sure, Harry.” “What are you going to do about
it?” “Do, Harry, do? What can we do?”
“Build a rocket, that’s what!”
“A rocket, Harry? To go back to all that trouble? Oh, Harry!”
“But you must want to go back. Have you noticed the peach blossoms, the onions,
the grass?”
“Why, yes, Harry, seems we did,” said one of the men.
“Doesn’t it scare you?”
“Can’t recall that it did much, Harry.” G
“Idiots!”
“Now, Harry.”
Bittering wanted to cry. “You’ve got to work with me. If we stay here, we’ll all
change. The air. Don’t you smell it? Something in the air. A Martian virus, maybe;
some seed, or a pollen. Listen to me!”
They stared at him.
“Sam,” he said to one of them.
“Yes, Harry?”
“Will you help me build a rocket?”
“Harry, I got a whole load of metal and some blueprints. You want to work in my
metal shop on a rocket, you’re welcome. I’ll sell you that metal for five hundred
dollars. You should be able to construct a right pretty rocket, if you work alone, in
about thirty years.
” Everyone laughed. “Don’t laugh.”
Sam looked at him with quiet good humour.
“Sam,” Bittering said. “Your eyes—”
“What about them, Harry?”
“Didn’t they used to be grey?”
“Well now, I don’t remember.”
“They were, weren’t they?”
“Why do you ask, Harry?”
“Because now they’re kind of yellow-coloured.”
“Is that so, Harry?” Sam said, casually.
“And you’re taller and thinner—”
“You might be right, Harry.”
“Sam, you shouldn’t have yellow eyes.” H
“Harry, what colour eyes have you got?” Sam said.
“My eyes? They’re blue, of course.”
“Here you are, Harry.” Sam handed him a pocket mirror. “Take a look at
yourself.” Mr. Bittering hesitated, and then raised the mirror to his face. There
were little, very dim flecks of new gold captured in the blue of his eyes.
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“Now look what you’ve done,” said Sam a moment later. “You’ve broken my
mirror.” I
G. How do the characters’ reactions to the situation make you

feel?
H. Are the changes in Sam’s appearance realistic according to the

laws of science, or is Bradbury using his imagination here?
I. Why did Sam’s mirror break?
Harry Bittering moved into the metal shop and began to build the rocket.
Men stood in the open door and talked and joked without raising their voices.
Once in a while they gave him a hand on lifting something. But mostly they just
idled and watched him with their yellowing eyes.
“It’s suppertime, Harry,” they said.
His wife appeared with his supper in a wicker basket.
“I won’t touch it,” he said. “I’ll eat only food from our Deepfreeze.
Food that came from Earth. Nothing from our garden.”
His wife stood watching him. “You can’t build a rocket.”
“I worked in a shop once, when I was twenty. I know metal. Once I get it started,
the others will help,” he said, not looking at her, laying out the blueprints.
“Harry, Harry,” she said, helplessly.
“We’ve got to get away, Cora. We’ve got to!”
The nights were full of wind that blew down the empty moonlit sea meadows
past the little white chess cities lying for their twelve thousandth year in the
shallows. In the Earthmen’s settlement, the Bittering house shook with a feeling
of change.
Lying abed, Mr. Bittering felt his bones shifted, shaped, melted like gold.
His wife, lying beside him, was dark from many sunny afternoons. Dark she
was, and golden-eyed, burnt almost black by the sun, sleeping, and the children
metallic in their beds, and the wind roaring forlorn and changing through the old
peach trees, the violet grass, shaking out green rose petals. Jk
The fear would not be stopped. It had his throat and heart. It dripped in a
wetness of the arm and the temple and the trembling palm.
A green star rose in the east.
A strange word emerged from Mr. Bittering’s lips.
“Iorrt. Iorrt.” He repeated it.
It was a Martian word. He knew no Martian.
In the middle of the night he arose and dialed a call through to Simpson, the
archaeologist.
“Simpson, what does the word Iorrt mean?”
“Why that’s the old Martian word for our planet Earth. Why?”
“No special reason.”
The telephone slipped from his hand.
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“Hello, hello, hello, hello,” it kept saying while he sat gazing out at the green
star. “Bittering? Harry, are you there?”
The days were full of metal sound. He laid the frame of the rocket with the
reluctant help of three indifferent men. He grew very tired in an hour or so and
had to sit down.
“The altitude,” laughed a man.
“Are you eating, Harry?” asked another.
“I’m eating,” he said, angrily.
“From your Deepfreeze?”
“Yes!”
“You’re getting thinner, Harry.”
“I’m not!”
“And taller.”
“Liar!”
J. Notice the language Bradbury uses to describe the

setting and characters. Writers
use language that will help the reader sense the feeling of a
scene.
In addition, notice the sentence structure, such as “Dark
she was . . . “
What mood do these elements create?
His wife took him aside a few days later. “Harry, I’ve used up all the food in
the Deepfreeze. There’s nothing left. I’ll have to make sandwiches using food
grown on Mars.”
He sat down heavily.
“You must eat,” she said. “You’re weak.”
“Yes,” he said.
He took a sandwich, opened it, looked at it, and began to nibble at it.
“And take the rest of the day off,” she said. “It’s hot. The children want to swim in
the canals and hike. Please come along.”
“I can’t waste time. This is a crisis!”
“Just for an hour,” she urged.
“A swim’ll do you good.” He rose, sweating. “All right, all right. Leave me alone.
I’ll come.”
“Good for you, Harry.”
The sun was hot, the day quiet. There was only an immense staring burn upon
the land. They moved along the canal, the father, the mother, the racing children
in their swimsuits. They stopped and ate meat sandwiches. He saw their skin
baking brown. And he saw the yellow eyes of his wife and his children, their eyes
that were never yellow before.
A few tremblings shook him, but were carried off in waves of pleasant heat as he
lay in the sun. He was too tired to be afraid. K
“Cora, how long have your eyes been yellow?”
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She was bewildered. “Always, I guess.”

“They didn’t change from brown in the last three months?”
She bit her lips. “No. Why do you ask?”
“Never mind.”
They sat there.
“The children’s eyes,” he said. “They’re yellow, too.”
“Sometimes growing children’s eyes change color.”
“Maybe we’re children, too. At least to Mars. That’s a thought.”
He laughed. “Think I’ll swim.”
They leaped into the canal water, and he let himself sink down and
down to the bottom like a golden statue and lie there in green silence.
All was water-quiet and deep, all was peace. He felt the steady, slow
current drift him easily.
If I lie here long enough, he thought, the water will work and eat away my flesh
until the bones show like coral. Just my skeleton left. And then
the water can build on that skeleton—green things, deep water things,
red things, yellow things. Change. Change. Slow, deep, silent change.
And isn’t that what it is up there?
He saw the sky submerged above him, the sun made Martian by atmosphere
and time and space.
Up there, a big river, he thought, a Martian river; all of us lying deep in it, in our
pebble houses, in our sunken boulder houses, like crayfish hidden, and the
water washing away our old bodies and lengthening the bones and—
He let himself drift up through the soft light.
Dan sat on the edge of the canal, regarding his father seriously.
“Utha,” he said.
“What?” asked his father.
The boy smiled. “You know. Utha’s the Martian word for ‘father.’”
“Where did you learn it?”
“I don’t know. Around. Utha!”
“What do you want?”
The boy hesitated. “I—I want to change my name.”
“Change it?”
“Yes.”
His mother swam over. “What’s wrong with Dan for a name?”
Dan fidgeted. “The other day you called Dan, Dan, Dan. I didn’t
even hear. I said to myself, That’s not my name. I’ve a new name I want
to use.”
Mr. Bittering held to the side of the canal, his body cold and his heart
pounding slowly. “What is this new name?”
“Linnl. Isn’t that a good name? Can I use it? Can’t I, please?” L
Mr. Bittering put his hand to his head. He thought of the silly rocket,
himself working alone, himself alone even among his family, so alone.
He heard his wife say, “Why not?”
He heard himself say, “Yes, you can use it.”
“Yaaa!” screamed the boy. “I’m Linnl, Linnl!”
Racing down the meadowlands, he danced and shouted.
Mr. Bittering looked at his wife. “Why did we do that?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “It just seemed like a good idea.”
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They walked into the hills. They strolled on old mosaic paths, beside still pumping
fountains. The paths were covered with a thin film of cool water all summer long.
You kept your bare feet cool all the day, splashing as in a creek, wading.
They came to a small deserted Martian villa with a good view of the valley. It was
on top of a hill. Blue marble halls, large murals, a swimming pool. It was refreshing
in this hot summertime. The Martians hadn’t believed in large cities.
“How nice,” said Mrs. Bittering, “if we could move up here to this villa for the
summer.”
“Come on,” he said. “We’re going back to town. There’s work to be done on the
rocket.”
K. Note how different Harry’s attitude is now than it was

before. What effect does this change have on you as a reader?
L. Why does Dan want to change his name?
But as he worked that night, the thought of the cool blue marble
villa entered his mind. As the hours passed, the rocket seemed
less important. M
In the flow of days and weeks, the rocket receded and dwindled.
The old fever was gone. It frightened him to think he had let it slip
this way. But somehow the heat, the air, the working conditions—
He heard the men murmuring on the porch of his metal shop.
“Everyone’s going. You heard?”
“All going. That’s right.”
Bittering came out. “Going where?” He saw a couple of trucks,
loaded with children and furniture, drive down the dusty street.
“Up to the villas,” said the man.
“Yeah, Harry. I’m going. So is Sam. Aren’t you Sam?”
“That’s right, Harry. What about you?”
“I’ve got work to do here.”
“Work! You can finish that rocket in the autumn, when it’s cooler.”
He took a breath. “I got the frame all set up.”
“In the autumn is better.” Their voices were lazy in the heat.
“Got to work,” he said.
“Autumn,” they reasoned. And they sounded so sensible, so right.
“Autumn would be best,” he thought. “Plenty of time, then.”
No! cried part of himself, deep down, put away, locked tight,
suffocating. No! No!
“In the autumn,” he said.
“Come on, Harry,” they all said.
“Yes,” he said, feeling his flesh melt in the hot liquid air. “Yes, in the autumn. I’ll
begin work again then.”
M. Why is the rocket becoming less important to

Harry?
151
What is the mood of this painting? Explain what elements help create
this mood.
“I got a villa near the Tirra Canal,” said someone.

“You mean the Roosevelt Canal, don’t you?”
“Tirra. The old Martian name.”
“But on the map—”
“Forget the map. It’s Tirra now. Now I found a place in the Pillan
Mountains—”
“You mean the Rockefeller Range,” said Bittering.
“I mean the Pillan Mountains,” said Sam.
“Yes,” said Bittering, buried in the hot, swarming air. “The Pillan
Mountains.”
Everyone worked at loading the truck in the hot, still afternoon
of the next day.
Laura, Dan, and David carried packages. Or, as they preferred
to be known, Ttil, Linnl, and Werr carried packages. No
The furniture was abandoned in the little white cottage.
“It looked just fine in Boston,” said the mother. “And here in the cottage. But up
at the villa? No. We’ll get it when we come
back in the autumn.”
Bittering himself was quiet.
“I’ve some ideas on furniture for the villa,” he said after a time.
“Big, lazy furniture.”
“What about your encyclopedia? You’re taking it along, surely?”
Mr. Bittering glanced away. “I’ll come and get it next week.”
They turned to their daughter. “What about your New York dresses?”
The bewildered girl stared. “Why, I don’t want them any more.”
They shut off the gas, the water, they locked the doors and walked
away. Father peered into the truck.
“Gosh, we’re not taking much,” he said. “Considering all we brought
to Mars, this is only a handful!” O
He started the truck.
Looking at the small white cottage for a long moment, he was filled with a desire
to rush to it, touch it, say good-bye to it, for he felt as if he were going away on a
long journey, leaving something to which he could never quite return, never
understand again.
Just then Sam and his family drove by in another truck.
“Hi, Bittering! Here we go!”
The truck swung down the ancient highway out of town. There were sixty others
traveling in the same direction. The town filled with a silent, heavy dust from
their passage. The canal waters lay blue in the sun, and a quiet wind moved in
the strange trees.
“Good-bye, town!” said Mr. Bittering.
“Good-bye, good-bye,” said the family, waving to it.
They did not look back again.
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N. Why is it significant that the people are changing the

names of the landmarks and themselves?
O. What effect does this dialogue have on the overall
mood of the story?
Summer burned the canals dry. Summer moved like flame upon the
meadows. In the empty Earth settlement, the painted houses flaked and peeled.
Rubber tires upon which children had swung in back yards hung suspended like
stopped clock pendulums in the blazing air.
At the metal shop, the rocket frame began to rust.
In the quiet autumn Mr. Bittering stood, very dark now, very golden eyed, upon
the slope above his villa, looking at the valley.
“It’s time to go back,” said Cora.
“Yes, but we’re not going,” he said quietly. “There’s nothing there any more.”
“Your books,” she said. “Your fine clothes.”
“Your llles and your fine ior uele rre,” she said.
“The town’s empty. No one’s going back,” he said. “There’s no reason to, none
at all.”
The daughter wove tapestries and the sons played songs on ancient flutes and
pipes, their laughter echoing in the marble villa.
Mr. Bittering gazed at the Earth settlement far away in the low valley.
“Such odd, such ridiculous houses the Earth people built.”
“They didn’t know any better,” his wife mused. “Such ugly people.
I’m glad they’ve gone.”
They both looked at each other, startled by all they had just finished saying. They
laughed.
“Where did they go?” he wondered. He glanced at his wife. She was golden and
slender as his daughter. She looked at him, and he seemed almost as young as
their eldest son. P
P. Find details that tell you how the Bitterings have changed
since they first arrived on Mars. Are they still human?
“I don’t know,” she said.

“We’ll go back to town maybe next year, or the year after, or the year after that,”
he said, calmly. “Now—I’m warm. How about taking a swim?”
They turned their backs to the valley. Arm in arm they walked silently down a path
of clear-running spring water.
“Perhaps. I suppose this is one of those mysteries we’ll never solve.
One of those mysteries you read about.” r
The captain looked at the room, the dusty windows, the blue mountains
rising beyond, the canals moving in the light, and he heard the soft wind
in the air. He shivered. Then, recovering, he tapped a large fresh map he
had thumbtacked to the top of an empty table.
“Lots to be done, Lieutenant.” His voice droned on and quietly on as
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the sun sank behind the blue hills. “New settlements. Mining sites, minerals
to be looked for. Bacteriological specimens taken. The work, all the work.
Five years later a rocket fell out of the sky. It lay steaming in the
valley. Men leaped out of it, shouting.
“We won the war on Earth! We’re here to rescue you! Hey!”
But the American-built town of cottages, peach trees, and theatres was
silent. They found a flimsy rocket frame rusting in an empty shop.
The rocket men searched the hills. The captain established headquarters in an
abandoned bar. His lieutenant came back to report.
“The town’s empty, but we found native life in the hills, sir. Dark people. Yellow
eyes. Martians. Very friendly. We talked a bit, not much.
They learn English fast. I’m sure our relations will be most friendly with them, sir.”
“Dark, eh?” mused the captain. “How many?”
“Six, eight hundred, I’d say, living in those marble ruins in the hills, sir. Tall,
healthy. Beautiful women.”
“Did they tell you what became of the men and women who built
this Earth settlement, Lieutenant?”
“They hadn’t the foggiest notion of what happened to this town
or its people.”
“Strange. You think those Martians killed them?”
“They look surprisingly peaceful. Chances are a plague did this
town in, sir.”
“Perhaps. I suppose this is one of those mysteries we’ll never solve. One of those
mysteries you read about.” Q
The captain looked at the room, the dusty windows, the blue mountains
rising beyond, the canals moving in the light, and he heard the soft wind
in the air. He shivered. Then, recovering, he tapped a large fresh map he
had thumbtacked to the top of an empty table.
“Lots to be done, Lieutenant.” His voice droned on and quietly on as the sun sank
behind the blue hills. “New settlements. Mining sites, minerals to be looked for.
Bacteriological specimens taken. The work, all the work.
And the old records were lost. We’ll have a job of remapping to do, renaming the
mountains and rivers and such. Calls for a little imagination.
“What do you think of naming those mountains the Lincoln Mountains,
this canal the Washington Canal, those hills—we can name those hills
for you, Lieutenant. Diplomacy. And you, for a favour, might name a town
for me. Polishing the apple
And why not make this the Einstein Valley,
and farther over . . . are you listening, Lieutenant?”
The lieutenant snapped his gaze from the blue colour and the quiet mist
of the hills far beyond the town.
“What? Oh, yes, sir!”
Q. What do you think will happen to the captain and the lieutenant?
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Does the place at the top of the hill look inviting to you? Why or why
not?
I. Activities
1.
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Your hobbies, interests, and habits often depend on the climate you are used to
and the people and places you encounter every day. If you were to move away
from everything you know, how much of who you are would change, and how
much would stay the same?
Discuss your thoughts about this question in small groups. Record the group’s
responses on the chart below.
Can Where You Are Change Who You Are?
Name Yes or No Why or Why Not?
2. Has a story ever made you feel hopeful, nervous, or completely

terrified? The feeling you get from a story is called the mood. Writers create a
mood by
• carefully choosing words to describe the plot, setting, and characters.
• showing what characters think and how they talk Identifying mood can help
you understand a story. As you read “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed,”
think about how it makes you feel, and what words affect you.
3. Although science fiction writers portray future times and places, their
themes often comment on the problems of today's world.
As you read Ray Bradbury’s story, use a chart to note characteristics of

science fiction.
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Characteristics of Science Fiction Examples in the Story
scientific information
familiar elements of life today
imaginary worlds and situations
4. Bradbury’s word choice affects the mood of his story. Match each
numbered word or phrase with a vocabulary word.
convivial dwindle flimsy forlorn muse pendulum recede subtly
1. friendly 5. become distant

2. indirectly 6. daydream
3. hanging weight 7. lonely
4. decrease 8. breakable
I. Historical Context of Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed
Why do you think the historical context is reflected in the conflict that takes
place behind the scenes on Earth in the story?
II. Genre
III. Setting
IV. Analysis of Characters
V. Point of view
VI. Symbols:
Golden eyes
Wind and Mist
Rocket
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Mars vegetables
Water (the canal)
VII. Theme
VIII. Explain the conflict. Are they internal or external?
Person vs person
Person vs self
Person vs society
X. Literary devices
Give examples of imagery.

Give examples of similes used in the story.
Give examples of metaphors used in the story.
Give examples of personification.
XI. Answer.
1. Why does Mrs. Bittering want to stay on Mars?

2. What prevents the Bittering family from returning to Earth?
XII. Choose the best answer.
1. What seems to happen to memory on Mars?
a. Memories seem to fade with time.
b. It is easier to remember things in the Martian air.
c. Memories disappear in an instant and are gone forever.
d. Memory does not seem to be any different on Mars than on Earth.
2. Which two pieces of evidence best support your answer to the previous
question?
a. In the empty Earth settlement, the painted houses flaked and peeled.
b. They came to a small deserted Martian villa with a good view of the valley.
It was on top of a hill.
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c. “Cora, how long have your eyes been yellow?” She was bewildered.
“Always, I guess.”
d. Mr. Bittering gazed at the Earth settlement far away in the low valley.
“Such odd, such ridiculous houses the Earth people built.”
3. Which statement best describes how Mr. Bittering handled the transition
from Earthman to Martian?
a. He refuses to change and remains the same throughout the story.
b. At first, he is willing to change. Later, he realizes the dangers and

becomes scared.
c. He begins to change immediately and never puts up any resistance.
d. At first, he is resistant and scared of change. Later, he slowly gives in to

the changes.
4. Which two pieces of evidence best support your answer to the previous
question?
a. He heard his wife say, “Why not?” He heard himself say, “Yes, you can
use it.” “Yaaa!” screamed the boy. “I’m Linnl, Linnl!”
b. “If we stay here, we’ll all change. The air. Don’t you smell it? Something in
the air. A Martian virus, maybe; some seed, or a pollen. Listen to me!”
c. He returned to his philosophy of names and mountains. The Earthmen had

changed names.
d. In the Earthmen’s settlement, the Bittering house shook with a feeling of

change.
5. How did Harry feel when he was swimming in the canal?
a. panicked
b. angry
c. relaxed
d. sleepy
6. Which piece of evidence best supports your answer to the previous

question?
a. All was water-quiet and deep, all was peace. He felt the steady, slow
current drift him easily.
159
b. The paths were covered with a thin film of cool water all summer long.
You kept your bare feet cool all the day, splashing as in a creek, wading.
c. They came to a small deserted Martian villa with a good view of the valley.
It was on top of a hill.
d. Up there, a big river, he thought, a Martian river; all of us lying deep in it,
in our pebblehouses, in our sunken boulder houses, like crayfish hidden,
and the water washing awayour old bodies and lengthening the bones and…
7. Why didn’t the Bitterings bring much with them when they moved to the
villas?
a. They only planned to stay for a couple of weeks.
b. Most of their things were no longer important to them.
c. They didn’t have a way to transport their things.
d. They planned to come and get them the following day.
8. Which piece of evidence best supports your answer to the previous

question?
a. “Considering all we brought to Mars, this is only a handful!”
b. “They didn’t know any better,” his wife mused.
c. “Why, I don’t want them any more.”
d. “What about your encyclopedia? You’re taking it along surely?”
9. Which statement below is false about the story’s point of view?
a. The narrator focuses on the thoughts and feelings of one character.
b. The story is written with third person pronouns.
c. The narrator is all-knowing, or omniscient.
d. The narrator is not a character in the story.
10. Which statement below is a valid theme of the story”?
a. Extra-terrestrials are dangerous and should be avoided.
b. It is human nature to adapt and change in response to our environment.
c. Humans should never attempt to colonize other planets.
d. In the future, you can live on any planet that you choose.
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11. What is the first sign that Mr. Bittering is beginning to accept changes?
a. Mr. Bittering allows his son to change his name.
b. Mr. Bittering begins to use the old names for landmarks.
c. Mr. Bittering insists on building the rocket, despite the indifference of

others.
d. Mr. Bittering imagines big, lazy furniture in the villa.
12. Which of the following events is most important to the development of

the plot?
a. Mr. Bittering wanders through the garden.
b. Harry readied the blueprints for the rocket.
c. A radio flash carries news of the atom bomb and rocket destruction in
New York.
d. The Bitterings leave their furniture behind when they move to the villa.
13. Which statement below best describes the shift in mood that occurs in
the story?
a. The Martians are angry when the humans first arrive, but as the story
progresses, the two groups become friendly.
b. At first, the mood is tense as Harry struggles to accept his new reality.
Gradually, the mood relaxes as Harry gives in to the changes that are
inevitable.
c. At the beginning of the story, the family is excited about their new lives on
Mars. But the longer they are on Mars, the more they worry that something is
horribly wrong.
d. The story begins with a mood of uncertainty. Gradually, the mood

becomes more certain as the characters settle in to their roles.
14. In “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed,” how does the author appeal to
the reader’s senses in
order to effectively establish the mood?
a. with clever dialogue
b. by appealing to the reader’s sense of horror
c. by using vivid language, including imagery
161
d. by using irony and complicated symbolism
15. From what point of view is ”Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” told?
16. What limitations does an author have when writing a story in this point
of view? Explain how you know.
17. Why do the Bittering settle on Mars?
18. Why do the rockets from Earth stop coming to Mars?
19. Identify the mood of the story. Why is this mood created?
20. Determine the theme of the story. Why does the author portray this
theme in the story?
21. Why does Mr. Bittering’s tie hanging on the peach tree symbolize his
transformation?
22. Why are the villas better suited for Martian life?
23. Compare how the Bitterings interact in the Earth settlement with how
they interact in the Martian ruins. How do their interactions contribute to the
mood?
24. Why does the author utilize imagery to affect the story’s mood?
25. At the beginning of the story, how do Harry’s feelings about living on
Mars compare to the way Cora feels about Mars? Explain your answer,
citing at least two specific examples from the story.
26. Although the narrator does not have insight into the thoughts and
feelings of Cora, thereader still has a sense of how she is feeling. What
forms of indirect characterization does the author use to characterize Cora?
Include examples from the text in your answer.
27. Creative Writing
A. In 1587, a group of around 115 British settlers arrived on Roanoke Island,

building a settlement off of the coast of present-day North Carolina. Later that
year, the governor, John White, left the colony – including his wife, daughter,
and infant granddaughter - to return to England to gather desperately needed
supplies. However, White’s return to the Roanoke colony in the Americas was
delayed due to England’s involvement in a war. When White finally arrived in
1590, he found no trace of the colonyor its inhabitants. The only clue left
behind was a single word, “Croatoan,” carved into a wooden post.
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Croatoan was the name of a local tribe of Native Americans. To this day, the
fate of the Lost Colony of Roanoke remains one of the biggest mysteries in
American history.
Compare the true story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke to the fictional “Dark
They Were, and Golden-Eyed.” Identify at least two similarities between the
two stories. Then, answer this question: Based on the conclusion of his story,
“Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed,” what do you think Ray Bradbury would
say happened to the settlers of the Lost Colony of Roanoke?
B. Choose one and write a 150 words paragraph.
• Imagine that the day after his arrival, the lieutenant goes swimming in
one of the canals on Mars. Describe the scene. Your account should
create a portrait of the lieutenant, the scenery, his feelings about his
surroundings, and build up a vivid atmosphere through the use of
physical detail and imagery. You could suggest how the new
environment is already beginning to subtly change him before and after
he enters the water.
• Imagine that you are lying in a peaceful field in the countryside; the day
is hot. A storm breaks. Describe the scene. Attempt to capture the
change in the surroundings and atmosphere and the effects of the
atmosphere upon your body.
• Imagine that you have been stranded in a desert. You are trying to reach
a town. Describe the scene as you try to struggle across the desert.
28. Consider the theme of adaptation in “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed.”
How do you think Bradbury felt about humans living on other planets?
Explain.
29. Can life as we know it exist on other planets? In other words, could
humans from Earth successfully colonize another planet?
163
30. Make a cartoon of the story. A good cartoonist uses symbolism,

164
31. Discuss.
30. Plot Structure. Match correctly.
A. Martian climate
changes the Bitterings
into Martians with dark Exposition
skin and golden eyes.
B. Laura tells her dad
that the atom bomb hit Conflict
New York and all the
rockets blew up
C. Harry , his wife and Rising Action
children move into the
villas.
D. Bittering family lands Climax
on Mars.
E. Rocket men comes
to Mars from Earth and Falling Action
they give new names to
the mountains.
F. Weird food grows, Resolution
cow grows another horn
and tulips turn green
and Harry want to return
to earth and he starts
building the rocket.
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7. “Hope” is tHe tHing witH featHers”

BY EMILY DICKINSON
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Emily Dickinson
Date: 1830 – 1886
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson wrote poetry in the

1850 and 1860s and she is considered to be one
of the best American poets.
Emily uses her imagination and experiments with

her poetry. She is important because she writes
about new subjects: science, religion, home life,
loss and death.
The voice in her poetry is that of a disobedient and rebellious child.
She began writing in a time of educational freedom for young girls. Before these
girls could not go to school.
Her work was not published in her lifetime but 4 years after her death. Her work
is widely read and it is studied in schools and at universities.
Five Facts about Emily Dickinson:
• Her father was a United States Senator.
• Only ten of her poems were published during her lifetime.
• The Dickinson family were devout Calvinists.
• Botany was a passion in her early years.
• She was incredibly reclusive.
167
“Hope” is the thing with feathers
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.
Activities
Match the columns:
Column I Column II
1. a crumb A. bird
2. hope B. difficulties and problems
3. keep warm C. a very small bit
4. gale D. toughest times in life
5. chillest land E. provide comfort
168
Answer
1. What does the poet describe as the thing with feathers?
A. life
B. hope
C. song
D. soul
2. The poet uses the words "gale" and "storm" as metaphors. What might
these words represent?
A. Times of bad weather

B. Hard or painful times
C. Pleasant Times
D. Times of success and growth
3. Hope is important and helpful in times of pain, sorrow, or difficulty.
Which lines from the poem best supports this statement?
A. Lines 1-2
B. Lines 3-4
C. Lines 5-8
D. Lines 11-12
4. The poet says that hope "sings the tune without the words." Why might
the poet have written that the tune has no words?
A. To emphasize that hope does not need to be put into words to be felt
B. To point out that it is very difficult for people to express whether they feel
hopeful or not
C. To suggest that people are usually unable to understand the feeling of

hope
D. To indicate that people who are always hopeful are also often forgetful
5. What is the theme of this poem?
A. People need to work hard in order to maintain hope at all times.
B. Hope is able to keep people warm even in the coldest, stormiest lands.
C. Hope can survive through even the toughest times.
D. Without hope, people would be much more sensible and realistic.
169
6. How do we know that Dickinson is referring to a bird at the beginning of

the poem?
7. What is the word "abash" most near?
A. To confuse
B. To support
C. To praise
D. To silence
8. Why do you think Dickson compares hope to a bird?
9. Why do you think Dickson uses the words “the thing with feathers”
instead of “a bird”?
10. Literary Devices. Fill in the blank with the correct device.
A. Alliteration
B. Consonance
C. Assonance
D. Metaphor
E. Hyperbole
F. Personification
G. Imagery
H. Symbol
I. Hoping is considered a preacher that keeps on preaching and never

stops. _______________
II. The repetition of the vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of
/i/ in “I’ve heard it in the chilliest land.” _______________
III. “Chilliest Sea” and “storm” represent struggles during trying times when
hope is still there. _______________
IV. The repetition of the same consonant sounds occurring close together in
a row to create musical effects such as /h/ sound in “we have heard it in
the chilliest land,” _______________
V. Dickenson has compared hope with “feathers”/ “bird.” _______________
170
VI. The repetition of consonant sounds such as the sound of /th/ in “the tune
without the words” and the sound of /t/ in “that could abet the little bird.”
_______________
VII. The poet has used images for the sense of sight such as, “bird”,
“feathers”, “storm”, “land” and “sea.” _______________
11. How many stanzas have the poem got? How many lines have each
stanza got?
12. Read the analysis of the stanzas. Then label them correctly 1-2-3
A. The poetess elucidates the expansive power hope wields over us. It gets
merrier and sweeter as the storm gets mightier and relentless. The poetess
deems that no storm can sway hope and its adamant attitude. According to the
poetess, it would take a deadly storm of astronomical proportions to flatten the
bird of hope that has kept the ship sailing for most men. ___________
B. Emily Dickinson stresses that hope retains its clarity and tensile strength in
harshest of conditions, yet it never demands in return for its valiant services.
Hope is inherently powerful and certainly needs no polishing, as it steers the
ship from one storm to another with efficacy. ___________
C. The narrator feels that hope can be deemed as a bird with feathers, singing in
its own tune merrily. It may not speak any specific language, yet it’s certainly
present within human souls. The poetess voices that hope is an eternal spring,
as it’s a vital constituent of human beings, enabling us to conquer unchartered
territories. ___________
13. Where does ‘hope’ reside?
14. Identify the rhyme scheme of each stanza.
15. Discuss.
171
16. Make a cartoon of the poem.
172
8. Pecos Bill's Wild Ride

By Edward Sinnott "Tex" O'Reilly
173
Edward Sinnott "Tex" O'Reilly was an American

Soldier of Fortune, who wiled his way into the US
Army when just fifteen years of age and saw
combat in the Spanish American War, the
Philippine insurrection and the Boxer rebellion. He
later travelled the world and claimed to have fought
with Pancho Villa, to have served as a soldier in
the Spanish Foreign Legion during the Rif War and
as an international policeman in Shanghai.
He catalogued some of his adventures in

an autobiography, Roving and Fighting:
Adventures Under Four Flags, and is also
credited as the creator of the folk character
Pecos Bill. At one point he travelled to
Hollywood and wrote screenplays for a few
early cowboy films and even had small
parts in four of them. He was interviewed
by newsman Lowell Thomas late in life and
is credited as a co-author, with Thomas, of
Born to Raise Hell; The Unbelievable but
True Life Story of an Infamous Soldier of Fortune.
He died in New York state, very possibly at

the now Sunmount Veterans Hospital near
Sarnac Lake. His grave location is as yet
unknown, but may be in the Sarnac Lake
area as well.
Note: Although Pecos Bill stories were read

primarily by no frontier Americans, they were
adopted by cowboys of Australia and the
Argentine.
174
Pecos Bill's Wild Ride

Pecos Bill was a cowboy. You might even say that Pecos Bill was the cowboy.
No one threw a lasso faster or rode a bronco longer than Bill. He could rope a
steer before the lariat was off his saddle horn. Once, he got on a wild horse at
dawn and was still riding the tame beast a week later. Bill himself would be glad
to tell you that he was the original cowboy and that all the others were just copies.
There was only one time Pecos Bill got thrown. Of course, no cowhand likes to
confess to being tossed off his mount. Still, even Bill would likely admit to this
particular tumble.
It happened on the day Pecos Bill invented the rodeo. Yep, it was that time he
was up Kansas way and decided to ride a tornado.
Bill was riding the trail with a group of cowherds. They were telling stories about
their wild rides. To Bill, their accounts had the taste of whoppers about them. He
wasn't about to accuse anyone of telling lies, though, so he kept this feeling to
himself.
Then, the weather changed. The wind picked up, and the sky took on an unusual
shade of yellow. Bill turned and saw a big, black twister bearing down on the herd.
It was the biggest goldurned tornado you ever saw. It was turning the sky black
and green, and roaring so loud it woke up the farmers away over in China. There
was an odd sound like a cross between a freight train and a bear's growl. The
noise got louder as the storm approached. "There's a tornado coming our way,"
he said. "You boys round up the herd. I'm going to take a little ride of my own."
With that, Bill headed back down the trail toward the roaring storm. While he rode,
he took his lasso off the saddle horn and set it spinning above his head.
As the lasso spun, Bill kept adding more rope. When the loop was as big as a
Texas watermelon, he flicked his wrist. The lasso sailed up above the storm. He
snapped his wrist again. The noose dropped down right over the neck of the
twister.
With a shout, Bill jumped off his horse and onto the tornado's back. Right away,
that whirlwind started rearing and bucking. It left the trail and took off across the
plains at a gallop. In its mad dash, it pulled up trees, mowed down prairie grasses,
and cut a ditch across the dry ground. Later, water started flowing down that ditch,
and people took to calling it the Pecos River in honor of Bill's ride.
Bill kept his seat. He pressed his knees into the sides of his stormy steed,
gripped the rope in one hand, and held on to his hat with the other. The tornado
whipped and whirled and sidewinded and generally cussed its bad luck all the
way down to Texas, crossed New Mexico, and entered Arizona. The whole
time, the storm bucked and roared. Tied the rivers into knots, flattened all the
175
forests so bad they had to rename one place the Staked Plains. Bill tried
whispering to it to calm it down, but that storm would not be tamed.
Finally, Bill sensed the storm was losing power and relaxed some. That's when
the tornado acted. It spun so hard that its tail cut a deep canyon in the rocks.
Today, folks call that the Grand Canyon. Finally, with its last bit of strength, the
storm threw Pecos Bill. He flew over the Mojave and landed in California with a
mighty wallop. He hit the ground so hard there was a crater in it. "If anyone else
took a fall like that," he said to himself, "they might have died." Folks call his
landing place the spot Death Valley. And that's how Pecos Bill created the rodeo.
Activities
A. Setting
B. Who is the narrator of the story? Circle the letter of the best answer.
1. Pecos Bill
2. the tornado
3. an outsider
C. How does the reader know what the narrator thinks about Pecos Bill?
Circle the letter of the best answer.
1. by what the narrator says about him

2. by what other characters say about him
3. by what Pecos Bill says about himself
D. Pecos Bill's "wild ride" was on what?
1. a wild horse
2. a wild cow
3. a big twister
4. a wild bull
E. When Pecos says to the other cowboys: "You boys round up the herd.
If you all don't mind, I'm going to take a little ride of my own. Don't wait
up." What can you infer from the story that Pecos is about to do?
1. He's going to round up the cattle by himself

2. He's going to go visit his mother
3. He's going to run away from the ominous storm that is comin
4. He's going to go test his rodeo skills and ride a twister
176
F. What three things did Pecos Bill and the tornado make? There are two
extra things, so choose them carefully. Number them in the correct order.
177
G. According to Pecos Bill, why do people nowadays call the area where
he landed in "Death Valley"?
1. Because it's a desert

2. Because he lost control of the tornado here
3. Because this is where he met up with his fellow cowboys
4. Because if anyone else took a fall like the one he just did, they might
have died
H. What point of view does the author use in the text?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. How do you know this text is a tall tale?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
J. What does this story say about Kansas?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
K. What does it say about cowboys?
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L. What did the torndo do al the way down to Texas?
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M. Find examples from the text of something that probably could not
happen.
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178
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N. Genre
O. Circle the correct answer.
1. What problem did Pecos Bill face?
a. Pecos Bill could ride a Bronco.

b. Cowboys wanted to have rodeos.
c. A massive destructive tornado came to Kansas.
d. Pecos Bill felt of the tornado.
2. What was the solution to Pecos Bill’s problem?
a. Cowboys were able to have rodeos.

b. Death Valley was created.
c. The Great Canyon was created.
d. Pecos Bill rode the tornado until nothing is left of the tornado.
P. Character Analysis
1. Type of character
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
179
2. Physical traits
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
3. Personality traits
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Q. What did Pecos Bill invent? Tick the correct picture.
R. Discuss: Look at the collage of the Wild West.
How do you think the life was in the western?
180
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
S. Now find the meaning of wild wst in the dictionary. Were you right or
wrong about your definition of the wild west?
181
T. Match
1. Death Valley 2. Riding the tornado 3. Pecos in Kansas

4. Staked Plains 5. The greatest cowboy 6. The tornado’s coming
7. Pecos River 8. Broncos cannot throw Pecos Bill 9. Great Canyon
182
U. Make a cartoon of the story.
183

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8th Grade Beginning in Literature Name: Date:

8th Grade: _______

Developing a solid understanding of the elements of a story is essential for you

Readers and viewers, who understand story elements increase their

Geographic location: A story might be set in a real-life, mappable place like a

Physical location: A character’s immediate surroundings, like a room or a

Physical environment: A story can be set in the natural world where

The Importance of Setting

2.Character: Depending on the nature of the story, characters are most

Character Development & Character Types

Character development refers to how developed and complex a character

Protagonist vs. Antagonist

Nearly every story has at least one protagonist. A protagonist is a main

The opposite of the protagonist is the antagonist. An antagonist is a

An antagonist is a character, group of characters, institution or concept

Harry Potter Series

Harry Potter Voldemort

Katniss Everdeen The Society

Dynamic vs. Static Characters

The concept of dynamic and static characters is closely tied to character

The Beast Harry Potter

Round vs. Flat Characters

Like real people, round characters have a fully developed personality

A round character is not necessarily dynamic A dynamic character is one whose

Belle Albus Dumbledore

Confidant: This type of character is the best friend or sidekick of the

A particularly famous confidant is Hermione in Harry Potter.

Simba confides in Rafiki in The Lion King.

Primary or Main & Secondary or Minor Characters

Secondary or Minor Character remains flat or static and appears to serve a

Depth and Dimension

Three-dimensional characters seem real because authors give them

A two-dimensional character is said to lack depth because this type of

A one-dimensional character lacks depth. This type of character can often be

A character analysis is the process of evaluating the specific traits of a

Characterization is an essential component in writing good literature.

Characterization is the representation of the traits, motives, and psychology of a

In indirect characterization, rather than explicitly describe a character's qualities,

• The character's thoughts.

Indirect characterization is sometimes called "implicit characterization."

#2: The Problem or Conflict

#3: Rising Action

#2: Climax or Turning Point

The main character starts to solve the problem.

#4: Falling Action

#5: Resolution or Solution

Beginning Middle End

Exposition Rising Action Falling Action

Conflict Climax Resolution

4. Conflict or Problem: Every story requires a conflict. This conflict can

No conflict, no story. Establishing a series of cause-and-effect events,

A conflict is struggle between opposing forces.

The plot is created around the conflict:

• The problem is introduced between the end of the

• It is confronted during climax…

• It starts to work itself out during falling action…

• It is resolved during resolution…

Two characters fighting against each other or a group of people.

A ninja warrior fights a rival clan to avenge his master's death