Wednesday, March 7, 2007

"The Doll's House": Questions or Comments?

If you have any questions or comments, please put them in the comments section of this post.

Posted by Brad at 3/07/2007 02:07:00 PM

12 comments:

inaya said...

Please can you tell me about the plot and the setting.

March 7, 2007 at 7:53 PM
Brad said...

Plot is, basically, "what happens" in a story. More formally, it is a series of related events that tend to build interest in a story.

The climax is the high point of that interest; it is also where the story's conflicts become clearest and may (or may not) be resolved. Few stories exist without some kind of tension between forces (conflict). It may be as simple as one person wanting something and another preventing that person from obtaining it (the Kelvey's want to see the doll's house; Aunt Beryl (and through her the children) forbid it.


Setting is the physical place, of course, where a story happens. For "The Doll's House" the schoolyard is an important place as is the yard at home. Setting also includes smaller items such as the jam sandwiches the Kelvey's eat and the doll's house, of course.

Setting also includes atmosphere, the feeling created by the physical elements. The doll's house is actually quite ugly (read the initial description to see what I mean).

Setting also includes the social world (culture) of the story. What are the rules of that setting? What is allowed and not allowed? It's easy to see how the adults influence the children in the story "The Doll's House" for example.

Sometimes, historical time is important as is the passage of time in a story. Stories can take place over a few days or longe periods and may be influenced by big events (such as worldwide depressions or droughts) that affect the characters.

March 7, 2007 at 8:07 PM
yang said...

Hi, Brad, just want to double check with you if there is any homework from the class on Mar 7/07.

March 7, 2007 at 11:38 PM
Brad said...

Yang,

No, other than reading and fully understanding the story. The test on Friday requires you to write three paragraphs from a choice of five topics. That will be the class. No homework this weekend!

March 8, 2007 at 7:54 AM
zahra said...

Hi Brad,I have a question.What is different between the protagonist and round character? Please answer my question.

March 9, 2007 at 3:18 PM
Brad said...

Zarmina,

Almost always a protagonist is also a round character (with multiple traits; more like a real person). However, in a longer story, other characters may also be round. And in a novel or longer work like a play it is almost certain that you will find multiple round characters.

March 10, 2007 at 8:44 AM
zahra said...

Hi Brad, thanks for answering my question. Could you please give me the example in the story, “The Doll’s House.” Also I want to know what the antecedent action is in this story.

March 11, 2007 at 12:53 PM
Brad said...

Zarmina,

Of the characters, Kezia and her older sister Isabel along with Lil and Else Kelvey seem to me to be round (having multiple traits). Aunt Beryl is flat, with limited information as are the other children in the story. This is actually quite rare in stories to have so many characters that we could write a full portrait of for a paragraph.

I have no information on "antecedent action" but would guess that it means that it is an action that precedes another one. Thus, in the story we might say that Kezia's discussion with her mother about allowing Lil and Else to see the doll's house does precede her making a decision to do it on her own.

March 11, 2007 at 2:06 PM
zahra said...

Hi Brad, I want to make sure if in the story, “The Ant and the Grasshopper”, in the objective point of view that none of the sentences are italics. Is that right?

March 29, 2007 at 9:54 PM
Brad said...

Yes Zarmina, it is true. The narrator "disappears" when an author uses the objective point of view.

It is strange, of course, because the story that results in this point of view is not "objective" exactly! The opinions of the author may still be discussed based on what details are included in the story.

March 30, 2007 at 10:38 AM
zahra said...

Hi Brad, I hope you’re having a good weekend. Please tell me about the theme of the story,” A Respectable Woman”. If you have time.

April 1, 2007 at 2:24 PM
Brad said...

Zarmina,

Until we've finished this exercise, I won't comment. Thanks!

April 1, 2007 at 2:51 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)