The Turning

Posters for Short Stories 12 min

• Draw Significant symbol or image• Two quotes– One about the sky– One that relates to theme, epiphany, etc.

• Point of view? Who is telling the story?• Main character?• The turning?• Other stories characters have appeared in?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lymOVv6SeI

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyRbs3OcIMk

Homework

• Family

• For your own benefit and for class discussion:– Write down theme statement– Dominant symbol why it is significant.– 1 quote

Essays

• Read them blind• Use a slash / to separate the line breaks• Use literary terms whenever possible and be sure

to link them to poet’s purpose. Even though you understand the poem well, you need to demonstrate understanding of craft as well.

• Use formal language.• Keep this to review for spring exams• Please look over my corrections and comments and

learn from them.

Be specific in intro

• What type of diction? (formal, colloquial, slang lyrical)

• What type of imagery? Nature imagery, violent imagery, sexual imagery?

homework

• Read Long Clear View• Reunion

Setting

• Why is it important?• Setting provides a backdrop for the action.

Think about setting not just as factual information but as an essential part of a story's mood and emotional impact. Careful portrayal of setting can convey meaning through interaction with characters and plot.

• Adds symbolic meaning to story

Western Australia

“Big World”: Setting

Pg. 2: “Some days I can see me and Biggie out there as old codgers, anchored to the firggin

place, stuck forever”• Connotation: “anchored” “friggin” “stuck” all imply

negative feelings (connotations)• Emotive language (words or phrases that purposely

arouse a particular emotion in the reader): the negatively connoted words suggest that the narrator perceives Angelus as a town that can offer him nothing.

A word on “Place”

Tim Winton once said, “[t]he place comes first. If the place isn’t interesting to me then I can’t feel it. I can’t

feel what the people are on about or likely to get up to.”•This resonates with the cultural importance that Australians place on land. •It also reiterates the importance of setting (orientation) in order to develop a moving story.•Also, when studying journeys (a movement from one place to another) it is important to have an understanding of the beginning and ending place’s significance.

More Place…“The southern sky presses down and the beaches and bays turn the colour of dirty tin…And suddenly there we are, Biggie and me…with beanies on our heads and the horizon around our ears” (1-2).Tone: the feeling that the author demonstrates toward his/her subject matter.Mood: the feeling that is aroused in the responder by the description of a particular thing, place, person or event.

So, what is the tone and mood communicated? What are some key words that communicate it?

More Place…

“The southern sky presses down and the beaches and bays turn the colour of dirty tin…And suddenly there we are, Biggie and me…with beanies on our heads and the horizon around our ears” (1-2).

• Metaphor: A comparison between two things when one thing is described as another thing.

The narrator is talking about their loss of opportunities, what is the metaphor that the

author is painting?

Even more place…

“The longer we drive the more the sky and the bush open up” (4)

This sentence has two purposes1) It most likely describes the open plains…2) It is a metaphor that contrasts (juxtaposes)

the sky from pages 1 & 2. How so?

Yet even more place…

“When Perth comes into view, its dun plain shimmering with heat and distance towers ablaze with midday sun,

we get all nervous and giggly, like a pair of tipsy netballers” (4).

Simile: comparing two things using ‘like’ or ‘as’What is the purpose of this simile?

Tone/mood: What is the tone and mood of this sentence? What are the key words that suggest this?

What is this juxtaposed against?

Theme of time in Aquifer

• Time doesn’t click on and on at the stroke. It comes and goes in waves and folds like water; it flutters and sifts like dust, rises, billows, falls back on itself. When a wave breaks, the water is not moving. The swell has travelled great distances but only the energy is moving, not the water. Perhaps time moves through us and not us through it.”

“Things are never over”

• How does this relate to the story?– Epiphany.

• Life moves on, people say, but I doubt that. Moves in, more like it.’ (p 37) The weight of the past on the present is one of the central themes.

– The past shapes the present…remember this!– Important to all the other books we are reading.

Symbol of the swamp

• Write about it. Connect it to theme and his epiphany.

• How does the structure of the collection support this theme?

Agenda

• Big World• Importance of setting• Practice theme statement• The Turning: small groups answer one

question plus the all questions for each group

The Turning

• A story about abuse, faith, longing for a different life.

• “Finding our way”

View of the faithful?

• Does Winton get it right? Rae’s perspective of Sherry and Dan…is it accurate in how non-believers view some believers?

• How does he break the stereotype of Dan and Sherry?

Character Development

Techniques authors use to develop characterCharacter+desire+action=plot-character must take action (can’t be passive)

(agent of their own change)-Character must occasionally make mistakes-Must have strengths and weaknesses-external and internal conflictsTransformation or epiphany

Direct and Indirect Characterization

• Direct characterization tells the reader about a character

• indirect characterization shows a character in action and leaves the reader to infer the rest.– Dialogue– Interior thoughts

Questions groups

1. What are the main conflicts in the story?2. How does Winton develop Raelene’s character?3. Find examples that Foreshadow the end.4. What images and symbols are significant in the

description of Rae’s walk on the beach? (149)5. What other symbols are significant in the story?6. How is setting important to the story?7. ALL: in group discuss What happens at the end? Support

it with text.8. All: in group discuss epiphany

Story: The Turning

• Foreshadowing – 146: She needed a rescuer– 147: The word sacrifice gave her goosebumps, reminding her

of gory midday movies.– Walk on the beach: …”walking with her hands outstretched,

overcome by the apprehension that she was about to stumble into something on the smooth, empty beach

– 153: (Sheery describing her turning) “It was like a hot knife…”– (this relates to the last sentence: …”Max speared into her and

tore open her insides she was full of hot and certain feeling.

Epiphany

• Greek Word epiphainein 'reveal'• Christian definition-The manifestation or

appearance of a deity )Christ)• Literary meaning: revelation or insight

Where is her Epiphany?

p. 160

• She knew she was safe from him now, not safe from tonight but gone from him altogether…She was free.

• P.155: “She thought of telling him the truth but it sounded so weak, so bloody awkward, and the bastard didn’t deserve the truth, wasn’t worth one honest piece of her.”

• 156:” She had a name for him, her secret man. ….When she got her breath back and her tongue steady, she’d spit that name in his face to see him explode.”

Born Again?

• p. 159: “Walking back she felt bruised and weary but fierce now and invulnerable. Like she climbed from some flaming wreckage an unlikely survivor. Spared.”

• Besides the religious symbolism here, there is the fire motif used by Winton from other stories, as well as the idea of surviving.

Symbol of the snow dome

• “…She liked to think of him in his little dome and her in her little aluminum box, both of them trapped.

– What does it represent?

Practice Writing

• What is the short story “The Turning” about?I’m not interested in a summary of events, but a

statement about the theme and essence of the work. The theme of compassion and forgiveness in King Lear teaches us that love is more important than power.

Hawthrone uses symbols of the forest and town to deepen the theme of conflict between natural law and civil law.

Practice intro

• Discuss the ways in which Winton has sought to make his portrayal of Raelene credible.

Finals: E118

• Open book. • If you want to write instead of type (ask me

first…depends on your handwriting) bring paper and pen.

• Skip every other line.

Silent conversations

• 6 groups of 4 or 5• Read essential question• Read your passage and annotate: write in the margins

– It can address question, but also highlight and circle important images and words that are significant

– Put a ? If something is puzzling.• Write a key insight on back• Swap with another member from group

– Read their comments and comment on them– Add your key insight to the back.

Guiding Questions

• (166)Passage A (Sand): What do we learn about the brothers’ conflict when they were children? How does imagery support the conflict?

• (177) Passage B (Family) How does this passage support the quote from “Reunion” fit here” “Family. It’s not a word, it’s a sentence.”

• (186) Passage C (Family) How does the past affect the present and how does imagery support this theme?

Travel time

• Two oldest members of home group travel to next group.

• Travelers exchange paper with home team (those who didn’t travel).

• Read new passage (don’t mark)• Return papers• Starting with one team Discuss your passage– Read guiding question– Your response and anything someone else wrote– End with key insight.

• Next team does the same

Last discussion

• How do the passages connect?

One insight from each group

• Sand

• Family

Sand

• Story of Frank and Max as a children• What has happened to their mother?– How do Max and Frank feel about her?

Sand

• 1. How does Winton present Max’s character?– 3rd pov, Frank’s perspective– Cruel actions– Symbolic imagery of moon

• Imagery of the moon:– Red moon– A little uneasy at how suddenly the moon had appeared– Strange light of the moon– blurry– Dark plane of the sea flecked with moonlight.

Family

• How does the past affect the present in this story?

• How does the epigraph relate to the story?– Blood is thicker than water.– The water was thick as sand– “Family. It’s not a word, it’s a sentence.” (from

Reunion) How is this true in the collection of stories?

Final

• Choose one question and discuss it within the context of two stories

• Print and share on google docs:cbriskin@mpls.k12.mn.us

• When done, complete survey for most…student• Finish the book for Tuesday• You have until 12:50• Get TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by VIRGINA WOOLF

for week after next!

Agenda

• Return essays, comments• Concept: Point of view• Mini- lecture• Four Groups: fill out the chart on – Long, Clear View– Reunion– Commission– Fog

• WHY IS THE CHOSEN POV CRUCIAL TO EACH STORY?

For tomorrow (10 pts)

• Fill out the chart for Boner Mcpharlin’s Moll and Defender.

• Bring in two significant quotes that relate to theme or character. Write why you chose them

• Even though the story seems to be about Boner, remember that it is really Jackie’s story and her epiphany. We are changed by the people we know.

Comments on essays

• Family. It’s not a word, it’s a sentence– Double meaning. Sentence as in jail sentence.– Not being able to escape– Confined in a similar way.– Stuck with it.

• Put quotation marks around short stories and underline or italicize names of novels.

• The Turning

• “Commission”

• When you introduce characters or a list use colon:

• These two stories each have a main character: Vic Land and an unnamed narrator.

• • Remember to write in present tense:• He runs along the sand dune. He

realizes.

• Don’t use the same word in the same sentence. Find variety.

Don’t use direct address: Use third person pov:

• Not: “Childhood is a time when you find yourself.”

• Use 3rd person pov instead:• Childhood is a time when we find ourselves.•

• AWKWARD: Frank giving up his sports career shows the consequence of being unable to let go of the past.

• Frank quit playing football because the past continues to interfere with his ability to focus on the game.

•

Don’t state something in negative terms. Rephrase it into a positive statement:

• Not: It took him not drinking to realize the true importance of family.

• It took him years of sobriety to realize…..•

Condensing sentences:

• With Max as the older brother he becomes know as the antagonizes, the one to strike fear in his brother and manipulate Frank to do whatever Max wants.

• • Max, the older brother, antagonizes Frank by

frightening and manipulating him to do whatever he wants.

•

• • In fiction we have a narrator not a speaker

• A girl WHO WHO WHO WHO WHO not THAT THAT THAT THAT

Tense

• 1st person present: Im running down the street. (The narrative unfolds in present time as reader is reading)

• 1st person past: I ran down the street and stumbled. (action of narrative happened in past)

• Same for third person

Narrative techniques

• Point of view• Dialogue• Shifts in time– Flashback– Flash forward (Big World)– foreshadowing

• symbolism

Point of View

• Who is telling the story? Whose story is it?– This determines epiphany• Gatsby. 1st person, his epiphany.

• Through whom is the narrator filtering the story?

• . It is the controlling framework. It establishes tone and mood and voice.

Third person: Most common for short stories (space, one reality, one climax, one turning point.)

• Anonymous narrator• eyewitness; confidant,• - One person’s perspective only. • - Can’t enter another person’s internal reality• - You can only observe their external reality.• - 3rd person is the protagonist. It is his or her

conflict and epiphany

• 1st person pov• 1. All observations must be consistent with

what character knows, see, and believes to be true about the world.

• 2. Everything is filtered through the consciousness of the I.

• 3. Tighter focus can limit what is told.• 4. Epiphany belongs to the person telling the

story.

2nd pov

• put the reader in the protagonist’s shoes. • Intimacy between reader and narrator and

protagonist, and reader and protagonist

In groups

• Fill out chart on assigned story.• Why is the chosen pov effective for the story?• 7 minutes to prepare• Then we all discuss

A Long Clear View

• Second person point of view• It often has a jarring effect in fiction and is the

least popular viewpoint. It pulls us out of the story and makes us wonder who just spoke to us.

• Second person point of view is certainly the most rare and most difficult to use viewpoint, but there are instances when it is effective.

LONG, CLEAR VIEW

• We feel his anxiety.• We feel responsible

Reunion

• 1st person Gail– We get her view of both Carol and Vic.– The relationship with her mother-in-law improves– She is telling the story without the help of an outside narrator.

This makes her crucial not only to the story, but also to the relationships.

– Tone is light, cheerful. We learn she has moved on from her past.

• P.213 “He has to defend everybody.” (Carol)• “Family. It’s not a word, it’s a sentence.

Fog

• 3rd person.• He is too confused to tell the story himself. • Theme of losing one’s way is echoed earlier in

“Commission”• Setting supports desolate Tone,

Commission

• The theme of earning trust, being trust worthy– P.225

• He got lost…– 230 -231– “What he said gave some shape to the misgivings

in my youth, the sense that things were not alrigh around me.

Vic’s epiphany: learns the truth about his father and his feelings for him.

• He pities his father, but he can’t forgive him.• 1st person, confessional? Personal. Who best

to judge a parent than a son?• Sees with his own eyes.• Boner is mentioned here as well, a side note,

but central to Bob’s past and feeling like an outsider.

Participle: verbal (looks like a verb but does not act as a verb)

• A participle acts as an adjective to modify a noun or pronoun. (A singing bird flew away)

• participle phrase is a participle with attached words. Because it is a verb form, a participle may take an object: (Hearing the shouts, I swung around.) the noun shouts is the object of the participle hearing]

• A participle can also have modifiers such as adverbs or prepositional phrases:

• The snow drifting deeply over the fields covered the deer's tracks. [the adverb deeply and the phrase over the fields modify the participle drifting]

• we can use a participle in a past form to show action that occurred before another action:

• Having forgotten my wallet, I borrowed some money from my friends.[the forgetting happened before the borrowing]