Summary ENG1501 Short Story Analysis ‘Supermarket Soliloquy’ by Moira Crosbie Lovell

ENG1501 Short Story Analysis ‘Supermarket Soliloquy’ by Moira Crosbie Lovell.Close reading Narration 1. Read the first four paragraphs of the story again. The fourth paragraph is one line long and reads: ‘Just like life’. This is the key to understanding what this story is about: the narrator compares a visit to the supermarket to different experiences in life. 2. Identify the kind of narrator used and justify your answer. Write a paragraph in which you explain the effect of this kind of narration. Plot and setting 1.The plot in this story is unusual. What is more important: the action that takes place or the thoughts of the narrator? Write a paragraph in which you explain your answer. 2. The title of the short story gives a very clear indication of where the story is set. Write a paragraph in which you explain how significant the setting is to the story’s overall meaning. Symbolism In the following sections, we are going to look at a few examples of the extended metaphor in the story in detail but there are other examples that we are not going to cover here. Find these on your own and make sure that you understand them. 1. Read the extract below carefully: As you move towards the cheese trough, you catch a glimpse of yourself in an unexpected mirror. You have an urge to charge it with gross misrepresentation. A distortion of yourself leers up at you as you lean over. Your face is a creased feta cheese white. 1.1 What literally happens in this section? Explain it in your own words. 1.2 The last sentence in the section is a metaphor. Explain the effect of the metaphor (i.e. what is being compared to what? What do these things have in common? What is the effect of this?). 2. Read the following paragraph which comes directly after the one quoted above: Other cheeses present a range of past complexions; chubby, baby-smooth Mozzarella; frecklefaced Pepato; bride-white Camembert; tanned Red Cheshire; jaundiced Cheddar. You cast a furtive eye on the blue-veined Gorgonzola up ahead and settle, after all, for the feta. 2.1. The words in bold are different kinds of cheeses. Look up pictures of each of these cheeses online if you do not know what they look like. 2.2 Now look up online or in a dictionary what the word ‘complexion’ means, if you have not already done so. 2.3 Think about the words used to describe each of the cheeses: ‘baby-smooth’; ‘frecklefaced’; ‘bride-white’; ‘tanned’; ‘jaundiced’. What figure of speech is being used here? Write a paragraph in which you explain the effect. (Think back to the narrator’s statement, ‘Just like life’.) 2.4 Why do you think the narrator chooses the feta cheese after all? Write a paragraph in which you explain your answer. To answer this question, you need to think carefully about the progression in the description above (from ‘baby-smooth’ to ‘jaundiced’). Consider what you think the ‘blue-veined Gorgonzola could represent. 3. Read the following paragraph carefully: A little further on there’s a refrigerator shelf stacked with great plastic breasts of milk. You hold one in each hand, feeling the weight, pressing them gently. They are as full as yours used to be. A brimming cup of C. And nippleless. As yours are now, awaiting reconstruction. For a moment, weighing the smooth packets in the scales of your palms, you think you won’t bother after all, with that final artifice. You have no need now of nipples. Either for feeding or for flirting. 3.1 Look up the words ‘literal’ and ‘figurative’ in the Toolkit on page 87 of Tutorial Letter 501. 3.2 Write down the literal meaning of this paragraph. 3.3 The figurative meaning of this paragraph is introduced through the use of personification in the first sentence. Identify the personification and comment on its effectiveness. 3.4 Sometimes authors convey meaning through implying something rather than stating it directly. What is the narrator implying when she says, ‘As yours are now, awaiting reconstruction’? 3.5 What is the ‘final artifice’ the narrator feels she will not bother with? Explain why she comes to this decision. 4. Reread pages 223 and 224 of the story. In this section, the narrator compares the men she could have married but did not to grocery items in the supermarket. 4.1 Identify the four grocery items she associates with each of the men. 4.2 Write a few sentences about each of these men, explaining what their associated grocery item reveals about their personalities. Theme What is the theme of this short story? Write a paragraph in which you explain your answer and provide evidence from the short story as substantiation. ANSWERS Think about before reading the short story 1. Look up the word ‘soliloquy’ online or in a dictionary and write down its meaning. What does this make you think the story will be about? A soliloquy is “an act of speaking one’s thoughts aloud when by oneself”. The word is usually used to refer to characters in a play who give monologues about their thoughts or the events of the play. Thus, you might either say that you think that the short story will be about someone’s thoughts or feelings, or have something to do with a play or stage production. 2. Read the story twice and summarise what happens in it in in no more than four sentences. On a very basic level, a woman is walking through a grocery store and buying some items. She then reflects on her life, on aging and on her relationships. 3. Underline any words that you do not understand and look up what they mean online or in a dictionary. Write down the words and their meanings. Please share some of these definitions as comments below if you found any definitions of interesting words. Close reading Narration 1. Read the first four paragraphs of the story again. The fourth paragraph is one line long and reads: ‘Just like life’. This is the key to understanding what this story is about: the narrator compares a visit to the supermarket to different experiences in life. Look closely at these paragraphs and think about what the story is saying about life, and how this extended metaphor works in the story. An extended metaphor is a comparison that carries on for a long time across multiple lines of a story or poem. Thus, how is the supermarket ‘Just like life’ in multiple different ways? For a question like this, you could list some of the ways that the narrator compares her shopping experience or the supermarket to life experiences. 2. Identify the kind of narrator used and justify your answer. Write a paragraph in which you explain the effect of this kind of narration. The story has a second-person narrator. We can see this in the use of the word ‘you’ throughout the story, as though the speaker is speaking directly to one other person, in this case the central character of the story. The voice seems to suggest that the speaker is speaking to herself in the second-person voice, as very intimate and personal details are shared. However, the fact that the speaker does not use the first-person voice suggests that there is some sense of distance from herself, and she looks at her life with an outsider point of view. Plot and setting 1. The plot in this story is unusual. What is more important: the action that takes place or the thoughts of the narrator? Write a paragraph in which you explain your answer. Here you could choose either of these options. If you choose the action as more important, you should explain how all of the events of the story impact on your overall understanding of it. It would be easier to say that the thoughts of the narrator are more important, as they give us insight into the extended metaphor and they also allow us to understand the major themes of the story, namely aging, feeling out of place, and loneliness. 2. The title of the short story gives a very clear indication of where the story is set. Write a paragraph in which you explain how significant the setting is to the story’s overall meaning. The words ‘supermarket soliloquy’ explain to us that we will read a story set in a supermarket that explores the thinking of someone in this setting, thus it gives us clear ideas of what we can expect. Why do you think a supermarket is significant for the themes of this story? It is a place of forced interaction with many other people, a place that is busy and where people have to go regularly in order to survive. It is a place that has rules and regulations, and is ordered in certain ways. All of these ideas might link to the speaker’s view of life and how disillusioned she feels with her life. She seems frustrated and cynical, which might be attitudes that are appropriate to the supermarket space of consumerism, ‘fake’ interactions and the need to pay despite the ‘free’ entrance. Symbolism In the following sections, we are going to look at a few examples of the extended metaphor in the story in detail but there are other examples that we are not going to cover here. Find these on your own and make sure that you understand them. 1. Read the extract below carefully: As you move towards the cheese trough, you catch a glimpse of yourself in an unexpected mirror. You have an urge to charge it with gross misrepresentation. A distortion of yourself leers up at you as you lean over. Your face is a creased feta cheese white. 1.1 What literally happens in this section? Explain it in your own words. The speaker sees herself reflected in a mirror and does not like her reflection. 1.2 The last sentence in the section is a metaphor. Explain the effect of the metaphor (i.e. what is being compared to what? What do these things have in common? What is the effect of this?). The speaker’s face is compared to creased feta cheese. The metaphor can be seen as appropriate due to the idea that the speaker is middle-aged and thus might have wrinkles just like the creases in the cheese, and the speaker might be pale and thus see her face as “feta cheese white”. 2. Read the following paragraph which comes directly after the one quoted above: Other cheeses present a range of past complexions; chubby, baby-smooth Mozzarella; frecklefaced Pepato; bride-white Camembert; tanned Red Cheshire; jaundiced Cheddar. You cast a furtive eye on the blue-veined Gorgonzola up ahead and settle, after all, for the feta. 2.1. The words in bold are different kinds of cheeses. Look up pictures of each of these cheeses online if you do not know what they look like. This might be a good exercise to visually see the images that the speaker uses in the story. Try to do this for any images that you find in poems and stories that you might need a visual reminder of. You can then see the types of ‘complexions’ that the speaker refers to. 2.2 Now look up online or in a dictionary what the word ‘complexion’ means, if you have not already done so. Her complexion is the colour of her skin. 2.3 Think about the words used to describe each of the cheeses: ‘baby-smooth’; ‘frecklefaced’; ‘bride-white’; ‘tanned’; ‘jaundiced’. What figure of speech is being used here? Write a paragraph in which you explain the effect. (Think back to the narrator’s statement, ‘Just like life’.) These are further metaphors to link the colour of the cheeses to the complexion of the protagonist at different points in her life. The metaphors also show the progression of age, from childhood to middle-age. 2.4 Why do you think the narrator chooses the feta cheese after all? Write a paragraph in which you explain your answer. To answer this question, you need to think carefully about the progression in the description above (from ‘baby-smooth’ to ‘jaundiced’). Consider what you think the ‘blue-veined Gorgonzola could represent. The ‘blue-veined Gorgonzola’ could represent old age, as it is a ripe, aged cheese. The choice of the feta might show an acceptance of the speaker as middle aged, as she earlier says that the feta resembled her face with creases and that is white. 3. Read the following paragraph carefully: A little further on there’s a refrigerator shelf stacked with great plastic breasts of milk. You hold one in each hand, feeling the weight, pressing them gently. They are as full as yours used to be. A brimming cup of C. And nippleless. As yours are now, awaiting reconstruction. For a moment, weighing the smooth packets in the scales of your palms, you think you won’t bother after all, with that final artifice. You have no need now of nipples. Either for feeding or for flirting. 3.1 Look up the words ‘literal’ and ‘figurative’ in the Toolkit on page 87 of Tutorial Letter 501. 3.2 Write down the literal meaning of this paragraph. The speaker holds two bags of milk in her hands and feeling their weight. 3.3 The figurative meaning of this paragraph is introduced through the use of personification in the first sentence. Identify the personification and comment on its effectiveness. The words “breasts” of milk compare the bags to human breasts, thus giving the milk human-like qualities. It is effective as it allows the speaker to reflect on her own breasts. 3.4 Sometimes authors convey meaning through implying something rather than stating it directly. What is the narrator implying when she says, ‘As yours are now, awaiting reconstruction’? The narrator might be implying that she has had breast cancer and has had to have parts of her breasts surgically removed in order to excise the cancerous tissue. She has not had reconstructive surgery on her breasts yet, and thus she does not have nipples, just like the bags of milk. 3.5 What is the ‘final artifice’ the narrator feels she will not bother with? Explain why she comes to this decision. The narrator says that she will not reconstruct nipples on her breasts, because she does not need them for either breastfeeding or for ‘flirting’ or attracting partners. She might feel cynical about her life as a middle-aged woman, and not think that she will find a sexual partner in future. She also no longer can breastfeed and thus does not need nipples for this purpose. 4. Reread pages 223 and 224 of the story. In this section, the narrator compares the men she could have married but did not to grocery items in the supermarket. 4.1 Identify the four grocery items she associates with each of the men. The four items are tea, a Kreepy-Krawly (a pool cleaning device), Superglue and mushrooms. 4.2 Write a few sentences about each of these men, explaining what their associated grocery item reveals about their personalities. Here, you could explore the metaphors in more detail. For example, using ‘tea’ to describe her young lecturer whom she had a crush on. The tea might indicate a sense of serenity, peace, and perhaps even the image of being scholarly and sipping a cup of tea in a study or library. The title, A Cup of Tea, is also the title of a short story by Katherine Mansfield which focuses on a character of wealth and sophistication, and on insecurity of physical appearance, all themes that might link to the main character. You could explore the other images in the same way. Theme What is the theme of this short story? Write a paragraph in which you explain your answer and provide evidence from the short story as substantiation. You could see the theme as aging, primarily, and explain how all of the different images and the extended metaphor show a life that is reminisced upon. Expand on this by giving examples if you are asked a question about theme in your exams. You could also include subthemes of loneliness, love, or cynicism. “Man lands on the moon” by Sindiwe Magona Think about before reading the short story 1. Look at the title of the short story and write three sentences in which you predict what the short story will be about. 2. Read the story twice and summarise what happens in it in in no more than four sentences. 3. ‘Indigenous knowledge systems’ is a term used to describe traditional beliefs. These beliefs vary from culture to culture and are usually passed down from generation to generation in the form of oral story telling. Can you think of any stories told to you by your grandparents or elders in your community that warn you of magical creatures or events? Write a paragraph in which you explain a traditional belief with which you are familiar. 4. Underline any words that you do not understand and look up what they mean in a dictionary. Write down the words and their meanings. Close reading Setting Is this short story set in one location? Write a paragraph in which you motivate your answer. Remember that setting refers not only to the physical space but also the historical context in which a story takes place. Characterisation 1. How many characters are in the story? 2. Choose any one of the characters and complete the following table. Remember that the story may not necessarily give you all the information you need. Prompt Response Evidence (How do you Know this?) Is this character the one telling the story? How important a role do they play in the narrative? Are they male or are they female? Are they old or are they young? What kinds of clothes do they wear? Are they educated or uneducated? How do they speak? What can you deduce about their economic status? What are the distinguishing features of their personality? How do they relate to the other characters in the story? Are they experiencing some kind of inner turmoil or conflict? Do they stay the same over Plot 1. This story makes use of what is known as a ‘frame narrator’ where you find a story within a story. Write a paragraph in which you identify the main story and the secondary story. 2. Does this short story have a clear conflict, climax and resolution? Write down three sentences in which you justify your answer. 3. What conflict and tension do the characters experience? 4. Is this plot chronological? Justify your answer. Narration 1. The main story and the secondary story employ different types of narration. Identify the narrative perspective of each. 2. Why do you think the author chose to use more than one narrative perspective? Write a paragraph in which you explain your answer. Theme 1. The story details three generations of women, each with her own set of beliefs. Explain the belief system associated with the granddaughter, the mother and the grandmother. 2. Read the final two paragraphs of the story again and explain in a paragraph why they are ironic. 3. Based on your answer above, what do you think is the theme of this short story? Write a paragraph in which you explain how the author conveys this theme. ANSWERS 1. Look at the title of the short story and write three sentences in which you predict what the short story will be about. In the case of this story, you could say that the title is misleading. You might expect the story to be about the events of someone landing on the moon, yet this is only mentioned in passing at the end of the story. You might predict that the story is about science, innovation, adventure, space travel or similar topics. 2. Read the story twice and summarise what happens in it in in no more than four sentences. An old woman, Makhulu, tells the story of when she was a child and encountered a place under water where spirits of those who had died can be found, or where supernatural events can take place. The young girl, Makhulu as a child, encounters her cousin who is not yet a zombie, which means that she has not been transformed by the spirits of the afterlife. Makhulu has a chance to save her, but no one will believe Makhulu about what happened. 3. ‘Indigenous knowledge systems’ is a term used to describe traditional beliefs. These beliefs vary from culture to culture and are usually passed down from generation to generation in the form of oral story telling. Can you think of any stories told to you by your grandparents or elders in your community that warn you of magical creatures or events? Write a paragraph in which you explain a traditional belief with which you are familiar. Here, you can reflect on your own traditional beliefs or those of your culture of origin. We all have them, and some have come to be known as “knowledge” while others have been denigrated or seen as inferior forms of beliefs or ways of understanding the world. This question allows you to be critical of what we know and of how we can compare knowledge. For example, Makhulu in the story challenges the knowledge of the moon landing, claiming that this is simply also something that people believe, and why should they then not believe her experiences? What separates a “belief” and a “fact” or a piece of “knowledge”? Try to think about this distinction, as it is an important theme of the story. What can be known and what can not be known for sure? 4. Underline any words that you do not understand and look up what they mean in a dictionary. Write down the words and their meanings. See comments in your previous lesson about the utility of this step. Close reading Setting Is this short story set in one location? Write a paragraph in which you motivate your answer. Remember that setting refers not only to the physical space but also the historical context in which a story takes place. Here you can speak about at least 2 settings, namely a time when Makhulu was a child and the current moment when she is telling the story to a group of children. You can also refer to the underwater space where she encounters the spirit of her cousin as another “setting” in the text, and the mountain where she walks with her friends. These physical spaces refer to different settings where events take place. Also, try to reflect on how setting affects the story. When we are told about Makhulu’s memory as a child, we might find her to be an unreliable narrator due to this setting. Might she have been hallucinating due to fear or loneliness? Might she have fallen asleep and be dreaming? Might her memories have been transformed due to years of reflection, and might she have seen the world from a more naïve viewpoint due to being a child? Setting might affect the way we see the story. Characterisation 1. How many characters are in the story? The three most prominent characters would be Makhulu, the narrator of the story (assumedly a child who had heard the story of Makhulu’s supernatural experience), and Makhulu’s cousin Yolisa. There are many more minor characters, like Makhulu’s mother and the other girls who go with Makhulu up the mountan. 2. Choose any one of the characters and complete the following table. Remember that the story may not necessarily give you all the information you need. It might be interesting to fill this table in about the narrator of the story, and to think about whether Makhulu or the narrator we have access to are more reliable or less reliable narrators. Speak about what affects our perception of these narrators; this could include the knowledge systems that they subscribe to. Prompt Response Evidence (How do you Know this?) Is this character the one telling the story? How important a role do they play in the narrative? Are they male or are they female? Are they old or are they young? What kinds of clothes do they wear? Are they educated or uneducated? How do they speak? What can you deduce about their economic status? What are the distinguishing features of their personality? How do they relate to the other characters in the story? Are they experiencing some kind of inner turmoil or conflict? Do they stay the same over the course of the story or do they undergo change? Plot 1. This story makes use of what is known as a ‘frame narrator’ where you find a story within a story. Write a paragraph in which you identify the main story and the secondary story. When you get a question like this, you can use the important terminology in your answer. Show how the main story frames the secondary story, and how it gives you a window into a secondary story. The narrator is the one telling the main story, and the character of Makhulu is telling a secondary story that is framed within the main story. This shows us that the story is framed through the narrator and through her retelling of Makhulu’s story. We thus are given access to the thinking of Makhulu and how she is critical of the story she is retelling. What is the effect of this? Perhaps we are already skeptical of Makhulu’s story because the narrator is retelling it for us. Perhaps we are more aligned with the narrator’s knowledge systems rather than those of Makhulu. Always think of the effect of this, and provide evidence from the text as far as possible. Pay attention to lines from the story that show us different points of view. 2. Does this short story have a clear conflict, climax and resolution? Write down three sentences in which you justify your answer. This answer might be complicated by the type of story we have here. The secondary story, framed within the first, might have clearer conflict, which is never actually resolved as Makhulu is not able to go back to the river to rescue her cousin from becoming a zombie. The first story is much more reflective, and we don’t really see conflict within the narrator, as she seems to have already decided that Makhulu’s story is not believable in some ways (can you find evidence for this?) and demonstrates that she believes in the moon landing since she has evidence for this. 3. What conflict and tension do the characters experience? Expand on this from the previous question. We might see that Makhulu feels conflict that no one will believe her story, or that her traditional/ indigenous knowledge is incompatible with western knowledges. Can you demonstrate these from the text? 4. Is this plot chronological? Justify your answer. The plot is not fully chronological as it relies on a framed story within the past. Thus, the story jumps from one time period to another and then back again. What do you think the effect of this is on the story overall? Narration 1. The main story and the secondary story employ different types of narration. Identify the narrative perspective of each. One story is third person (the main story) with small elements of first person narration at the end, and the secondary story is told entirely in the first person by Makhulu. 2. Why do you think the author chose to use more than one narrative perspective? Write a paragraph in which you explain your answer. You should now consider the theme of objectivity, believability and knowledge systems, as these relate to this question. By getting a first-person narrative, we might expect this to be less objective and more subjective. It relies on a personal experience, that only one person went through, so we might not believe it as much. It is also fantastical and has supernatural elements, so it might be even less believable for us. Third person narration is more objective as it does not come across as personal and does not rely on feelings as much in the telling. How does this change our perspective? Third person narratives might seem more believable, and it fits in with the fact that the narrator says they saw the moon landing with their own eyes, having visual evidence for their story, unlike Makhulu’s story that does not have any evidence besides her own words. Theme 1. The story details three generations of women, each with her own set of beliefs. Explain the belief system associated with the granddaughter, the mother and the grandmother. Makhulu explains that her mother and Nongqawuse were acquaintances. If you read a bit about Nongqawuse, you’ll see that she was a Xhosa prophet. This shows us the conflict of indigenous and western belief systems. The differing beliefs of the characters, with the mother believing in the moon landing and not believing Makhulu’s story, shows conflicts of beliefs here. It is also apparent that the narrator/ granddaughter does not believe in these stories either, and believes in the moon landing. We can thus see that conflict of beliefs and believability might be an important theme in the story. 2. Read the final two paragraphs of the story again and explain in a paragraph why they are ironic. Remember that irony refers to a few different things. In the use of language, it might be language that seems to mean the opposite of its intended or original meaning. For example, if you tell someone after a terrible day: “This day couldn’t get any better!”, you are being ironic because you mean the opposite of what you are saying. Irony in literature refers to something that the reader or audience knows that characters do not know – this is called dramatic irony. So, we know that the narrator does not believe Makhulu’s story and believes in the moon landing, but Makhulu does not know this, so she is lacking some information that we have which is an example of irony. We can thus see the irony in the text. 3. Based on your answer above, what do you think is the theme of this short story? Write a paragraph in which you explain how the author conveys this theme. Here, you could speak about the irony of sharing traditional stories with younger people who might not believe in these stories. The theme of cultural change might be important here. Try and think of more themes that might link to the previous answer. "A Matter of Taste" by Alex la Guma Think about before reading the short story 1. Look at the title of the short story and write three sentences in which you predict what the short story will be about. 2. The title of the story is a common figurative expression in English. Look up this expression on the internet and write down its meaning. 3. Read the story twice and summarise what happens in it in in no more than four sentences. 4. Underline any words that you do not understand and look up what they mean in a dictionary. Write down the words and their meanings. Close reading Setting 1. Where is the short story set? Identify words and phrases from the story that indicate this and write them down to support your answer. 2. What does the setting tell us about the lifestyles of the characters? Write a paragraph in which you explain your answer. Characterisation 1. How many characters are in the story? 2. Choose any one of the characters and complete the following table. Remember that the story may not necessarily give you all the information you need. Prompt Response Evidence (How do you Know this?) Is this character the one telling the story? How important a role do they play in the narrative? Are they male or are they female? Are they old or are they young? What kinds of clothes do they wear? Are they educated or uneducated? How do they speak? What can you deduce about their economic status? What are the distinguishing features of their personality? How do they relate to the other characters in the story? Are they experiencing some kind of inner turmoil or conflict? Do they stay the same over Plot 1. Does this short story have a clear conflict, climax and resolution? Write down three sentences in which you justify your answer. 2. What are the two main sources of conflict all of the characters experience (HINT: think about internal and external conflicts)? How are these two forms of conflict related? 3. Is this plot chronological? Justify your answer. Narration 1. Write a paragraph in which you explain how to identify different types of narrators. 2. Identify the kind of narrator used in this story and explain your answer. Theme 1. What is the dominant recurring imagery in this story? Look at what the characters talk about most often for a clue. 2. How does what they talk about differ from the reality of their situation? 3. Identify two possible themes for the short story. Write one paragraph per theme in which you explain how the author conveys the theme in the story. Remember to quote from the story to substantiate your argument. Comment on the significance of the title in your answer. ANSWERS 1. Look at the title of the short story and write three sentences in which you predict what the short story will be about. For this answer, remember that it is a pre-reading exercise, so you shoudn’t include your knowledge of the text in this analysis. Try and think about what you imagine when you hear the word “taste”. It could be the idea of tasting food, or having a different taste than someone else (preferring different things than they do). The title might also sound very formal and might sound like refined English, and we also know that good “taste” is usually something that is associated with wealthier people or people from higher social classes. So, we might imagine that we will be dealing with a story that has to do with class, preferences and perhaps even fine dining. This title might thus be ironic since in fact the story deals with three men who live in poverty and don’t have much choice about the types of food that they can consume. 2. The title of the story is a common figurative expression in English. Look up this expression on the internet and write down its meaning. This answer requires you to do some research. How is this expression often used? Mostly, it has to do with preferences and choices. 3. Read the story twice and summarise what happens in it in in no more than four sentences. Summaries are very important in understanding short stories. You should try to write a summary of every short story that you read, either in bullet points or just in a few short sentences. You could summarise this story by saying that two men are having coffee in tin cans and are later joined by another man, Whitey, joins them. They discuss food as they consume coffee and eating turkey and green peas. The two men instruct Whitey on how to get onto a freight train and use it to get to Cape Town, and at the end of the story they watch Whitey leave. 4. Underline any words that you do not understand and look up what they mean in a dictionary. Write down the words and their meanings. Do this for every word that you don’t understand in the story. Before you enter your exam, you should understand each of the stories very well. Close reading Setting 1. Where is the short story set? Identify words and phrases from the story that indicate this and write them down to support your answer. The story is mostly set in a clearing next to a railway siding (a small track next to the main tracks), where a dilapidated office stands. The setting seems to be somewhere near Cape Town in South Africa; there is Port Jackson bush which often grows in the Cape Flats area outside of Cape Town city. 2. What does the setting tell us about the lifestyles of the characters? Write a paragraph in which you explain your answer. The setting might show us that the characters are impoverished and do not have access to proper housing or nutritious food. The characters might even be homeless, as we see them spending the night in the clearing. Characterisation 1. How many characters are in the story? 3 Characters – the narrator, Chinaboy and Whitey. 2. Choose any one of the characters and complete the following table. Remember that the story may not necessarily give you all the information you need. This type of table might be useful to draw for any or all of the characters in your short stories. The table can give you insight into any character conflicts, any major themes that might relate to these characters (such as poverty, ingenuity, optimism, kindness/ charity, etc.). The table might also show you character growth or change. While this story is too short for much character growth to take place, we do learn a lot about these characters in this short story, such as learning about their pasts and their outlooks on life. Try to complete the table and post your answers for any character. Plot 1. Does this short story have a clear conflict, climax and resolution? Write down three sentences in which you justify your answer. The conflict might be the introduction of Whitey. The two characters, the narrator and Chinaboy, seem to have an easy life of acceptance of their circumstances, but when Whitey arrives, they begin to imagine what else might be out there. It might be significant that Whitey is a white character who is similarly impoverished, especially since this story is written in 1962, as it might indicate that the character is “meant” to be of a different social class than the two other characters who are assumed to be people of colour, and the apartheid system benefited white people. Thus, the fact that they seem to “brag” about their taste in fine food might also be a sign of feeling inferior. When Whitey leaves at the end it might be a type of resolution, and also might be a statement about ease of movement in the story. Whitey, due to his race, might have opportunities for a better life in the city or overseas, but these two characters do not. Can you identify a resolution in the story? 2. What are the two main sources of conflict all of the characters experience (HINT: think about internal and external conflicts)? How are these two forms of conflict related? Try to think about each of the characters and their unique conflict. You could for example say that Whitey feels conflict about not having direction or not having enough to eat, and this is resolved when the other two characters help him to get aboard the freight train. What kind of conflict do the other characters experience? 3. Is this plot chronological? Justify your answer. You could argue that the plot is chronological as the events take place in sequence, with making the fire for coffee, Whitey arriving and then eventually leaving the group on the train. However, the inclusion of stories and anecdotes from the past might mean that there are non-chronological events within the story, so you could explain this and explain how this makes the story one that looks back to the past or even dreams of a future of opportunity. Narration 1. Write a paragraph in which you explain how to identify different types of narrators. Here you should explain first person, second person and third person narrators, and perhaps even reliable and unreliable narrators. What types of words show us each type of narrator? First person could be: “I”, second person “you”, and third person “They, the character”. 2. Identify the kind of narrator used in this story and explain your answer. This story has a first person narrator as we hear the story from their point of view. Give some evidence here with page numbers to justify. Show some quotes with the I statement, and some idea that we are shown the events from one character’s perspective. Theme 1. What is the dominant recurring imagery in this story? Look at what the characters talk about most often for a clue. Food might be seen as a dominant recurring image. 2. How does what they talk about differ from the reality of their situation? They speak of delicious and plentiful food, but they are consuming very basic supplies from tin cans. What does this tell us about them? They might be imagining a better future for themselves. They might be unhappy with their circumstances in life and are only able to enjoy delicious food in their fantasies. 3. Identify two possible themes for the short story. Write one paragraph per theme in which you explain how the author conveys the theme in the story. Remember to quote from the story to substantiate your argument. Comment on the significance of the title in your answer. You could focus on any of the themes discussed above, and any that might have been highlighted in your table on the characters. Some of these themes might be: Race Imagination Poverty Charity/ kindness Solidarity/ shared humanity Taste Social class Opportunities You could write a paragraph where you show how this theme is present at different points in the text. Practise this in the other question topic for this week, and try to write complete, good paragraphs that demonstrate your ability to use academic writing conventions. 'Rock' by Lindiwe Nkutha Think about before reading the short story 1. Look at the title of the short story and write three sentences in which you predict what the short story will be about. 2. Read the story twice and summarise what happens in it in in no more than four sentences. 3. Underline any words that you do not understand and look up what they mean in a dictionary. Write down the words and their meanings. Close reading Setting Where is the short story set? Identify words and phrases from the story and write them down to support your answer. Characterisation 1. This short story contains a great number of characters. How many characters can you count? What do you think is the effect of including so many characters? (Consider the setting of the story in your answer here.) 2. One of the main characters in this story is called ‘Rock’. Complete the table below based on this character: Prompt Response Evidence (How do you Know this?) Is this character the one telling the story? How important a role do they play in the narrative? Are they male or are they female? Are they old or are they young? What kinds of clothes do they wear? Are they educated or uneducated? How do they speak? What can you deduce about their economic status? What are the distinguishing features of their personality? How do they relate to the other characters in the story? Are they experiencing some kind of inner turmoil or conflict? Do they stay the same over Plot 1. This story contains a main plot (the most important things that happen) and then various subplots (stories the narrator tells about herself, her family and her community). Identify the conflict, the crisis and the resolution in the main plot. 2. Choose one of the subplots and explain how it relates to the main plot. Narration Identify the kind of narrator used and write a paragraph in which you consider whether or not the narrator in this story is reliable. Theme 1. This short story contains many possible themes. Write down at least four. 2. Which of these themes do you think is most important? Write a paragraph in which you explain why you think so. Your paragraph should also address how the author develops the theme across the short story. Remember to substantiate your answer with evidence from the text.