An introduction to litearetue

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING TAY DO UNIVERSITY Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature AN INTRODUCTION TO LITEARATUE Compiled by: Phan Thị Minh Uyên 2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Dr Tran Cong Luan, the Principle of Tay Do University and my vice dean, M.A Nguyen Thi Diem Thuy the faculty of of English Linguistics and Literature to give me the great opportunity to compose this material I especially thanks and gratitude to my committee for their continued support and encouragement: Dr Nguyen Buu Huan, Dr Thai Cong Dan, for their highly comments and advice I also wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to my teaching staff, especially M.A Dang Thi Bao Dung, M.A Huynh Thi My Duyen, who assisted me in this course preparation My completion of this project could not have been accomplished without the support of my dear students who studied the English courses III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII Their encouragement inspired me to complete this course package TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement Introduction to literature page A THEORY Unit One: Kinds of literature Unit Two: How to read a short story and a poem 14 Unit Three: How to analyze a literature work 18 Unit Four: The five basic elements of plot structure 20 Unit Five: Main theme and view point of a short story 25 Unit Six: Setting and characters 28 Unit Seven: Style, mood and tone 31 Unit Eight: Language and literature; diction; form and content 33 Unit Nine: Basic elements of poetry 35 Unit Ten: Poetry types 39 Unit Eleven: Literary devices in a poem 47 Unit Twelve: A movie review; a short story review and a book review 53 B SELECTED WORKS AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 57 Part I: PROSE Cemetery path byLeonard Q Ross 57 Point of view by A Averchenko 58 The kiss by Kate Chopin’s 60 The story of an hour by Kate Chopin 63 Tết by Ly Lan 65 The blind man by Kate Chopin 68 The necklace byGuy De Maupassant 70 Let’s go home by Dang Minh Chau 77 The day always belongs to the sun by Tran Thanh Ha 81Yesterday’s love by Nguyen Thu Phuong Only one word A daughter-in-law by Dau Viet Hung by Hoang Tran To Phuong 89 93 85 Part II : VERSE A prayer in spring by Robert Frost 98 Success is counted sweetest by Emily Dickinson 99 Before sleep by Catherine Anderson 100 Love after love by Derek Walcott 100 To you by Walt Whitman 101 Petals by Amy Lowell Daffodils by William Wordsworth 103 Lines written in early spring by William Wordsworth 104 102 Part III: FURTHER READING 104 A LEGENDARY 106 My Chau and Trong Thuy (Unknown) 106 Thach Sanh and Ly Thong (Unknown) 108 Son Tinh and Thuy Tinh (Unknown) 110 Tam and Cam (Unknown) 112 Cinderella (Unknown) 118 The ant and the grasshopper (Unknown) 120 The dog and the shadow (Unknown) 120 The miser and his gold (Unknown) 121 The fox and the stork (Unknown) 122 The wolf and the lamb (Unknown) 122 B ALLEGORY C MODERN STORIES The gift of the magi by O’Henry Teardrop leaves by Que Huong Enchanting moment by Cao Tien Le 134 A thief by Nguyen Minh Chau 139 Death wish byLawrence Block 144 The cactus by O’Henry 150 The last leaf by O’Henry 153 Charles by Shirley Jackson 158 The bet by Anton Chekov 162 The snob by Morley Callaghan 168 124 129 All summer in a day by Ray Bradbury Appendix 172 179 Common symbols in literature REFERENCES 185 INTRODUCTION When students read or write a short story or a novel They need to the ability of interpretation; they create a text which has their own world Thus, this material is for their interpretative text as well as applying to their reading strategies of the original text To develop your understanding a text, you need to have strategies for reading and interpretation Some stories in this course may be easy to read, others may be hard Some will immediately provoke a reaction; others will take more thought and discussion This course is designed to help you develop effective strategies for reading a literary work Objective: Literature is the art of writing, it requires the creative readers with effective strategies for reading and interpreting and analyzing Students leaning literature are expected to express their comprehension though literary analysis and interpretation This material aims to secondyear students with a general knowledge about basic techniques for literary comprehension related to four skill interactions What is literature? “When I read great literature, great drama, speeches, or sermons, I feel that the human mind has not achieved anything greater than the ability to share feelings and thoughts through language.” - James Earl Jones Literature is a term used to describe written or spoken material Broadly speaking, “literature” is used to describe anything from creative writing to more technical or scientific works, but the term is most commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination, including works of poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction Why we read literature? Literature represents a language or a people: culture and tradition But, literature is more important than just a historical or cultural artifact Literature introduces us to new worlds of experience We learn about books and literature; we enjoy the comedies and the tragedies of poems, stories, and plays; and we may even grow and evolve through our literary journey with books.Ultimately, we may discover meaning in literature by looking at what the author says and how he/she says it We may interpret the author’s message In academic circles, this decoding of the text is often carried out through the use of literary theory, using a mythological, sociological, psychological, historical, or other approach Whatever critical paradigm we use to discuss and analyze literature, there is still an artistic quality to the works Literature is important to us because it speaks to us, it is universal, and it affects us Even when it is ugly, literature is beautiful This course Introduction to literature is designed for third year student majoring in English of Literature and Linguistics Faculty at Tay Do University It is expected that all the teachers feel free to select texts that are suitable for their teaching situation, reject other and supplement when necessary Aims of the course  to introduce students to the art of short story writing;  to foster an understanding of various subgenres of the short story, through guided reading and interpretive commentary; and  to encourage and guide students’ own experiments with the form through practical writing exercises Course content overview  This course will begin with a consideration of what makes a short story - apart from its length - a distinct genre, introducing the elements which combine to produce the short story’s unique effect  Each week will focus on a particular short story (with reference to others) by one of the genre’s key exponents, to illustrate developments and variations in the genre The story will also be used to demonstrate a technical aspect of short story writing  Students will discover how writers achieve certain effects and be encouraged to appropriate and experiment with these techniques in their own original writing  In this material, each unit contains a brief theory of the story’ structure Many discussion questions from the selected works will be focused and analyzed The information accompanying the text aims to help student to understand the text and can be used in a variety or circumstances such as individual preparation, group presentation or class discussion I hope you will take courage in your skills as a reader, realizing that the meaning of a text is not fixed in advance, but something that happens as you read, reflect, and discuss Discussing what you read can be an adventure as you explore meanings A THEORY Unit One: Kinds of literature Objectives After learning this unit, students will be able to recognize what literature is, and how to distinguish between fictional literature and non-fictional literature A Fictional literature Drama: Drama is the theatrical dialogue performed on stage, it consists of acts Tragedy, comedy and melodrama are the sub types of drama e.g William Shakespeare, an Elizabethan dramatist composed the plays Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear that are famous because of its combination of tragedy and comedy Problem play, farce, fantasy, monologue and comedy of manners are some kinds of drama Tragedy: It is a story of the major character that faces bad luck Tragedy, elements of horrors and struggle usually concludes with the death of a person The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer are the two famous Greek tragedies Comedy: The lead character overcomes the conflicts and overall look of the comedy is full of laughter and the issues are handled very lightly The elements used in the comedy are romanticism, exaggeration, surprises and a comic view of life Melodrama: Melodrama is a blend of two nouns - ‘melody’ and ‘drama’ It is a musical play most popular by 1840 Uncle Tom’s Cabin is one of the most popular plays describing cruelty of labor life It has happy ending like comedy Tragicomedy: The play that begins with serious mode but has a happy ending is tragicomedy Prose Literature: History, journalism, philosophy, fiction and fantasy writings, scientific writings, children’s literature authors and writers are included in Prose Literature Myth: Myths are the fairy tales with lots of adventure, magic and it lacks scientific proof Nursery rhymes, songs and lullabies are forms of myths that strike the interest of children Creative and nature myth are stories of the stars and moon Magic tales are wonderful tales of quests and fantasy Hero myths are ideal heroes of adventure Short story: The small commercial fiction, true or imaginary, smaller than a novel is known as short story Short stories are well grouped into easy beginning, concrete theme, some dialogs and ends with resolution They are oral and short-lived which have gossip, joke, fable, myth, parable, hearsay and legend Novel: Novel can be based on comic, crime, detective, adventurous, romantic or political story divided into many parts The major kinds of novels are: Allegory: The symbolical story revolves around two meanings What the writer says directly is totally different than the conveyed meanings at the end Political and Historical allegory are two forms of Allegory Comedy: Satire is very common form in comedy novels and tries to focus on the facts of the society and their desires Epistolary: The collection of letters or mails is the epistolary novels Feminist: These types of novels are written by women writers around the world to describe the place of women in a male dominated society Gothic: Gothic fiction is the combination of both horror and romance Melodrama and parody were grouped in the Gothic literature in its early stages Ironic: Ironical novels are known for excessive use of narrative technique It is satire on the contemporary society about cultural, social and political issues Realism: The realistic novels are based on the truths of ordinary society and their problems It focuses on the plot, structure and the characters of the novel Romance: Love and relationship topics are handled optimistically in the romantic novels It originated in western countries; basically the story revolves around love affairs of main characters 10 “I mean,” he went on irritably, “you don’t like the kind of people you bump into here, for example.” “Not especially Who does? What are you talking about?” “Anybody could see you don’t,” he said recklessly, full of a savage eagerness to hurt her “I say you don’t like simple, honest people, the kind of people you meet all over the city.” He blurted the words out as if he wanted to shake her, but My notes about what I am reading he was longing to say, “You wouldn’t like my family Why couldn’t I take you home to have dinner with them? You’d turn up your nose at them, because they’ve no pretensions As soon as my father saw you, he knew you wouldn’t want to meet him I could tell by the way he turned.” His father was on his way home now, he knew, and that evening at dinner they would meet His mother and sister would talk rapidly, but his father would say nothing to him, or to anyone There would only be Harcourt’s memory of the level look in the blue eyes, and the knowledge of his father’s pain as he walked away Grace watched John’s gloomy face as they walked through the store, and she knew he was nursing some private rage, and so her own resentment and exasperation kept growing, and she said crisply, “You’re entitled to your moods on a hot afternoon, I suppose, but if I feel I don’t like it here, then I don’t like it You wanted to go yourself Who likes to spend very much time in a department store on a hot afternoon? I begin to hate every stupid person that bangs into me, everybody near me What does that make me?” “It makes you a snob.” “So I’m a snob now?” she asked angrily “Certainly you’re a snob,” he said They were at the door and going out to the street As they walked in the sunlight, in the crowd moving slowly down the street, he was groping for words to describe the secret thoughts he had always had about her “I’ve always known how you’d feel about people I like who didn’t fit into your private world,” he said “You’re a very stupid person,” she said Her face was flushed now, and it was hard for her to express her indignation, so she stared straight ahead as she walked along.They had never talked in this way, and now they were both quickly eager to hurt each other With a flow of words, she started to argue with him, then she checked herself and said calmly, “Listen, John, I imagine you’re tired of my company There’s no sense in having tea together I think I’d better leave you right here.” “That’s fine,” he said “Good afternoon.” “Good-by.” “Good-by.” 171 She started to go, she had gone two paces, but he reached out desperately and held her arm, and he was frightened, and pleading, “Please don’t go, Grace.” All the anger and irritation had left him; there was just a desperate anxiety in his voice as he pleaded, “Please forgive me I’ve no right to talk to you like that I don’t know why I’m so rude or what’s the matter I’m ridiculous I’m very, very ridiculous Please, you must forgive me Don’t leave me.” He had never talked to her so brokenly, and his sincerity, the depth of his feeling, began to stir her While she listened, feeling all the yearning in him, they seemed to have been brought closer together, by opposing each other, than ever before, and she began to feel almost shy “I don’t know what’s the matter I suppose we’re both irritable It must be the weather,” she said “But I’m not angry, John.” He nodded his head miserably He longed to tell her that he was sure she would have been charming to his father, but he had never felt so wretched in his life He held her arm tight, as if he must hold it or what he wanted most in the world would slip away from him, yet he kept thinking, as he would ever think, of his father walking away quietly with his head never turning Discussion questions: 1) What is the setting of the story? 2) What are the protagonist and the antagonist of the story? 3) What is the climax of the story? 4) Is the main conflict in the story resolved? 5) Is John snob or is Grace a snob? Task: Give your own point of view about JohnHarcourt, is he boastful? (write about 150 words) ALL SUMMER IN A DAY by Ray Bradbury No one in the class could remember a time when there wasn’t rain “Ready?” “Ready.” “Now?” 172 “Soon.” “Do the scientists really know? Will it happen today, will it?” “Look, look; see for yourself!” The children pressed to each other like so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, peering out for a look at the hidden sun It rained It had been raining for seven years; thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain, with the drum and gush of water, with the sweet crystal fall of showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal waves come over the islands A thousand forests had been crushed under the rain and grown up a thousand times to be crushed again And this was the way life was forever on the planet Venus, and this was the schoolroom of the children of the rocket men and women who had come to a raining world to set up civilization and live out their lives “It’s stopping, it’s stopping!” “Yes, yes!” Margot stood apart from these children who could never remember a time when there wasn’t rain and rain and rain They were all nine years old, and if there had been a day, seven years ago, when the sun came out for an hour and showed its face to the stunned world, they could not recall Sometimes, at night, she heard them stir, in remembrance, and she knew they were dreaming and remembering and old or a yellow crayon or a coin large enough to buy the world with She knew they thought they remembered a warmness, like a blushing in the face, in the body, in the arms and legs and trembling hands But then they always awoke to the tatting drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof, the walk, the gardens, the forests, and their dreams were gone All day yesterday they had read in class about the sun About how like a lemon it was, and how hot And they had written small stories or essays or poems about it: I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour That was Margot’s poem, read in a quiet voice in the still classroom while the rain was falling outside “Aw, you didn’t write that!” protested one of the boys “I did,” said Margot “I did.” “William!” said the teacher But that was yesterday Now the rain was slackening, and the children were crushed in the great thick windows 173 “Where’s teacher?” “She’ll be back.” “She’d better hurry, we’ll miss it!” They turned on themselves, like a feverish wheel, all tumbling spokes Margot stood alone She was a very frail girl who looked as if she had been lost in the rain for years and the rain had washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitened away, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost Now she stood, separate, staring at the rain and the loud wet world beyond the huge glass “What’re you looking at?” said William Margot said nothing “:Speak when you’re spoken to.” He gave her a shove But she did not move; rather she let herself by moved only by him and nothing else They edged away from her, they would not look at her She felt them go away And this was because she would play no games with them in the echoing tunnels of the underground city If they tagged her and ran, she stood blinking after them and did not follow When the class sang songs about happiness and life and games her lips barely moved Only when they sang about the sun and the summer did her lips move as she watched the drenched windows And then, of course, the biggest crime of all was that she had come here only five years ago from Earth, and she remembered the sun and the way the sun was and the sky was when she was four in Ohio And they, they had been on Venus all their lives, and they had been only two years old when last the sun came out and had long since forgotten the color and heat of it and the way it really was But Margot remembered “It’s like a penny,” she said once, eyes closed “No it’s not!” the children cried “It’s like a fire,” she said, “in the stove.” “You’re lying, you don’t remember!” cried the children But she remembered and stood quietly apart from all of them and watched the patterning windows And once, a month ago, she had refused to shower in the school shower rooms, had clutched her hands to her ears and over her head, screaming the water mustn’t touch her head So after that, dimly, dimly, she sensed it, she was different and they knew her difference and kept away 174 There was talk that her father and mother were taking her back to earth next year; it seemed vital to her that they so, though it would mean the loss of thousands of dollars to her family And so, the children hated her for all these reasons of big and little consequence They hated her pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness, and her possible future “Get away!” The boy gave her another push “What’re you waiting for?” Then, for the first time, she turned and looked at him And what she was waiting for was in her eyes “Well, don’t wait around here!” cried the boy savagely “You won’t see nothing!” Her lips moved “Nothing!” he cried “It was all a joke, wasn’t it?” He turned to the other children “Nothing’s happening today Is it?” They all blinked at him and then, understanding, laughed and shook their heads “Nothing, nothing!” “Oh, but,” Margot whispered, her eyes helpless “But this is the day, the scientists predict, they say, they know, the sun .” “All a joke!” said the boy, and seized her roughly “Hey, everyone, let’s put her in a closet before teacher comes!” “No,” said Margot, falling back They surged about her, caught her up and bore her, protesting, and then pleading, and then crying, back into a tunnel, a room, a closet, where they slammed and locked the door They stood looking at the door and saw it tremble from her beating and throwing herself against it They heard her muffled cries Then, smiling, they turned and went out and back down the tunnel, just as the teacher arrived “Ready, children?” she glanced at her watch “Yes!” said everyone “Are we all here?” “Yes!” The rain slackened still more They crowded to the huge door The rain stopped It was as if, in the midst of a film, concerning an avalanche, a tornado, a hurricane, a volcanic eruption, something had, first, gone wrong with the sound apparatus, thus muffling and finally cutting off all noise, all of the blasts and repercussions and thunders, and then, second, ripped the film from the projector and inserted in its place a peaceful tropical slide which did not move or tremor The world ground to a standstill The silence was so 175 immense and unbelievable that you felt your ears had been stuffed or you had lost your hearing altogether The children put their hands to their ears They stood apart The door slid back and the smell of the silent, waiting world came in to them The sun came out It was the color of flaming bronze and it was very large And the sky around it was a blazing blue tile color And the jungle burned with sunlight as the children, released from their spell, rushed out, yelling, into the springtime “Now don’t go too far,” called the teacher after them “You’ve only two hours, you know You wouldn’t want to get caught out!” But they were running and turning their faces up to the sky and feeling the sun on their cheeks like a warm iron; they were taking off their jackets and letting the sun burn their arms “Oh, it’s better than the sun lamps, isn’t it?” “Much, much better!” They stopped running and stood in the great jungle that covered Venus, that grew and never stopped growing, tumultuously, even as you watched it It was a nest of octopi, clustering up great arms of flesh-like weed, wavering, flowering this brief spring It was the color of rubber and ash, this jungle, from the many years without sun It was the color of stones and white cheeses and ink, and it was the color of the moon The children lay out, laughing, on the jungle mattress, and heard it sigh and squeak under them, resilient and alive They ran among the trees, they slipped and fell, they pushed each other, they played hide-and-seek and tag, but most of all they squinted at the sun until the tears ran down their faces, they put their hands up to that yellowness and that amazing blueness and they breathed of the fresh, fresh air and listened and listened to the silence which suspended them in a blessed sea of no sound and no motion They looked at everything and savored everything Then, wildly, like animals escaped from their caves, they ran and ran in shouting circles They ran for an hour and did not stop running And then— In the midst of their running one of the girls wailed Everyone stopped The girl, standing in the open, held out her hand “Oh, look, look,” she said, trembling They came slowly to look at her opened palm In the center of it, cupped and huge, was a single raindrop 176 She began to cry, looking at it They glanced quietly at the sky “Oh Oh.” A few cold drops fell on their noses and their cheeks and their mouths The sun faded behind a stir of mist A wind blew cool around them They turned and started to walk back toward the underground house, their hands at their sides, their smiles vanishing away A boom of thunder startled them and like leaves before a new hurricane, they tumbled upon each other and ran Lightening struck ten miles away, five miles away, a mile, a half mile The sky darkened into midnight in a flash They stood in the doorway of the underground for a moment until it was raining hard Then they closed the door and heard the gigantic sound of the rain falling in tons and avalanches, everywhere and forever “Will it be seven more years?” “Yes Seven.” Then one of them gave a little cry “Margot!” “What?” “She’s still in the closet where we locked her.” “Margot.” They stood as if someone had driven them, like so many stakes, into the floor They looked at each other and then looked away They glanced out at the world that was raining now and raining and raining steadily They could not meet each other’s glances Their faces were solemn and pale They looked at their hands and feet, their faces down “Margot One of the girls said, “Well ?” No one moved “Go on,” whispered the girl They walked slowly down the hall in the sound of the cold rain They turned through the doorway to the room in the sound of the storm and thunder, lightening on their faces, blue and terrible They walked over to the closest door slowly and stood by it Behind the closed door was only silence They unlocked the door, even more slowly, and let Margot out 177 Discussion questions: 1) What is the setting of the story? 2) What are the protagonist and the antagonist of the story? 3) What is the climax of the story? 4) Is the main conflict in the story resolved? 5) Is Margot strange? Why? Task: Give your own point of view about this story, is the sun indispensible in our life? (write about 150 words) 178 APPENDIX COMMON SYMBOLS IN LITERATURE I COLOURS - Red: immoral; the colour of the life principle, blood, passion, emotion, danger, immoral characteror daring;often associated with fire - Black: seen as a cold and negative aspect suggesting passivity, death, ignorance, or evil;black hens are used in witchcraft as are black cats - White: innocence, life, light, purity, or enlightenment - Green: inexperience, hope; new life, immaturity; a combination of blue and yellow, it mediates between heat and cold and high and low; it is a comforting, refreshing humancolour; it is the colour of plant life - Yellow: rotting, heat, decay, violence, decrepitude, old age, and the approach of death Blue: cool, calm, peaceful; an insubstantial colour in the real world except as calm, peacefulness, translucency,the void of heavens - Pink: innocence, femininity - Purple: royalty, bruising or pain - Brown: a colour somewhere between russet and black; it is the colour of earth and ploughedland and soil, it represents humility and poverty - Orange: symbolizes the point of balance between the spirit and the libido; it may be theemblem of divine love or extreme lust - Violet: composed of red and blue, it is the colour of temperance, clarity of mind II NATURE A Seasons - Spring: birth, new beginning - Summer: maturity, knowledge - Autumn: decline, nearing death, growing old - Winter: death, sleep, hibernation, or stagnation - Christmas season: birth, change for the better - Easter season: rebirth, enlightenment - Light: truth, safety, warmth, knowledge - Darkness: evil, ignorance, danger 179 B Trees - Apple: temptation, loss of innocence - Chestnut: foresight - Oak: strength, wisdom - Pear: blossoming, fleeting nature of life - Poplar: linked to the underworld, to pain, sacrifice, and grief, a funeral tree, symbolizes the regressive powers of nature - Sycamore: a sign of vanity and to climb it is to thrust in vain things - Pine: symbol of immortality because of its evergreen foliage C Weeds: evil (hemlock, pigweed, etc), wildness/outcasts of society D Flowers: beauty, youth, strength, gentleness - Anemone: transience - Chrysanthemums: solar symbol; represents perfection, an autumn flower, - Rose: budding youth, romance, potential, fragility Roses stand for romance - Chrysanthemums represent perfection - Sunflower: Sturdiness Sunflower: timeless, victory, hope - Violet: shyness, something petite Violets represent shyness - Lily: evokes unlawful passion, temptation, the election of one’s choice Lilies stand for beauty and temptation - Water: washes away guilt, origin of life, regeneration, vehicle of cleansing - River: fluidity of life, stream of life and death - Moon: changing and returning shape, feminine symbol - Sun: source of light, heat and life; a masculine symbol - Cavern: the maternal womb - Mountain: places where heaven and earth meet; stability, safety, often symbolic of human pride - Rubies: represents good fortune; it was believed that they banished sorrow and warded off evil spirits - Sapphires: contemplation, purity - Silver: relates to the moon, to water and the female principle; it may also symbolize theobject of all desires and the harm they cause - Gold: the perfect metal; a reflection of heavenly light; it suggest the sun-fertility, wealth,dominion; it is a male principle 180 - Pearl: associated with water, they may be regarded as symbols of knowledge and wealth III DIRECTIONS - East: land of birth or rebirth; of the Sun and Venus; it is associated with renewal, youth, feasting, song and love - North: is the side which lies on the sun’s right hand and lies on either side of life; it symbolizes night sky and night wind and is the home of the Moon and the MilkyWay North represents coldness, alienation, and hostility; it is the abode of death - South: is the side which lies on the Sun’s left hand and is the hand of fire; represents warmth and comfort - West: is the land of evening, old age, and the descending passage of the sun IV WEATHER, SEASON, TIME - Snow: blanket which obscures, covers or even smothers - Fog/Mist: prevents clear vision or thinking; represents isolation; mist is often the symbol of the indeterminate phase in development when shapes have yet to bedefined; they are preludes to important revelations or prologues to manifestations - Rain: sadness or despair or new life; a symbol of celestial influences the Earth receives - Wind and Storms: violent human emotions - Lightning: indicates the spark of life and the powers of fertilization; it can be either life-giving or death dealing, so it is a sign of power and strength - Morning: the time of God’s blessings; the beginning of when all is still uncorrupted; a symbol of purity and promise - Rainbows: also intermediaries and pathways between Heaven and Earth; mostly are generally heralds of good and are linked with cycles of rebirth, they may also serve as prologues to disturbance - Thunder: the voice of God or gods V ANIMALS - Dove: peace, purity, simplicity - Fox: slyness, cleverness - Raven: death, destruction; they often play prophetic roles or function as a conductor of the soul 181 - Lion: a solar symbol, power, pride - Peacock: pride, vanity - Serpent/Snake: temptation, evil - Mouse: shyness, meekness - Hawk: sharp, keen eyesight - Owl: wisdom, rational knowledge; messenger of death - Salmon: instinct; sacred wisdom - Cats: are often viewed as serpents of the underworld; they also symbolize cunning, forethought, and ingenuity - Lamb: serves as a manifestation of the power of Spring and renewal, sacrificial element, the children of God - Cuckoo: jealousy and parasitism, it lays eggs in the nests of other birds; laziness VI WALLS: barriers between people, both physical and mental; a barrier that shuts out the world VII HUMAN BODY PARTS - Blood: symbolizes all the integral qualities of fire and the heat and vitality inherent in thesun; it also corresponds to vital and bodily heat - Bones: they represent both the framework of the human body, bust since they contain marrow, they symbolize strength and virtue - Hands: strength or weakness - Eyes: windows to the soul or barometer of emotions - Mouth: indicator of character traits - Neck: long slender neck is associated with sexuality - Knee: main source of bodily strength according to ancient traditions - Right and Left: to look to one’s right hand is to look to the protector; this is the place ofthe elect at the Last Judgment, the damned will go to the left VIII CLOTHING - Cape: or any circular garment or vestment with a hole in the middle suggests a celestial and ascendant symbolism When monks or nuns withdraw from the world, they cover themselves in a cape or cloak, which symbolizes a withdrawal into oneself or into God 182 - Cloak: is a symbol of human trickery, and the different personalities humans can assume - Mask: externalize demonic tendencies IX OBJECTS - Chain: symbolizes the bond which connect Heaven and earth or ties together two extremes or beings - Key: a key has the power and authority of letting in and shutting out; to hold a key means to have been initiated It not only shows the power to enter a place, town, orhouse, but to accede to a spiritual state or abode or to a level of initiation - Ladder: ladders are symbols of ascension and realization of potential; they are also symbols of intercommunication and the comings and goings between Heaven andEarth - Mirror: often a solar symbol; an unbroken mirror can be a sign of a happy marriage: a broken mirror would indicate a separation or destruction of the union - Tower of Babel: confusion, human pride, resulted in multiple languages X JOURNEY: may be a quest for truth, peace or immortality; a journey often serves as a metaphor for life XI SETTING - The forest: usually a place of evil or mystery - An isolated setting: alienation, loneliness - A garden: paradise of a haven - Window of a room: freedom or lack thereof - A park: a place for retreat and renewal - The town: place where rules are on their best behavior - Bed: consummation of marriage - Parlour: vanity XII SYMBOLS An object is meant to be representative of something or an idea greater than the object itself is symbolism.Objects are often used to symbolize something else: - A chain can symbolize the coming together of two things - A ladder can represent the relationship between heaven and earth or ascension 183 - A mirror can denote the sun but when it is broken, it can represent an unhappy union or a separation - dove: peace - ice: death - spring: youth, birth, life - water: birth, rebirth - winter: death, dying, old age - eagle: freedom, liberty, strength - skull: death - rose: love, beauty - crown: wealth, royalty - wedding ring: love, commitment - cross bones: death, danger - sunrise: new start, beginning - full moon: danger, weirdness - autumn: middle age, maturity - Cross - representative of Christ or Christianity - Bald Eagle - America or Patriotism - Owl - wisdom or knowledge - Yellow - implies cowardice or rot 184 REFERENCES Hùng, Trần Anh (Director) (1993).The green Papaya[Motion picture] Les Productions Lazennec http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/a/american-poets-of-the-20th-century/how-toanalyze-poetry http://www.enotes.com/topics/how-analyze-poem http://www.online-literature.com/ http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/tlc/tipsheets/reading-and-analyzing/analysing-shortstories.pdf http://vietnamwebsite.com/story/Vietnam Stories Collection Minh, Nguyễn Võ Nghiêm (Director) (2003) Buffalo boy [Motion picture] Hãng phim Giải Phóng Việt Nam, 3B Productions Pháp Novak Prod Bỉ Tánh, Nguyễn Trung, (n.d.) Dẫn luận văn học, in lần thứ Sài Gòn: Nhà xuất TP Hồ Chí Minh Toán, Bùi Minh, (2008).Giáo trình dẫn luận ngôn ngữ học, Nhà xuất Đại học Sư phạm, Hà Nội T.T, Nguyễn & Việt D Trần (2005).Dẫn luận văn chương., Nhà xuất TP Hồ Chí Minh Uyên, Phan Thị Minh (2015).Giáo trình dẫn luận văn chương Anh, Lưu hành nội 185 ... trying to answer as you read the story? After you read - Read first to understand then to analyze When you finish the story, check to be sure you understand what happened Ask: WHO did WHAT to WHOM?... the story’ structure Many discussion questions from the selected works will be focused and analyzed The information accompanying the text aims to help student to understand the text and can be... students will be able to how to read a short story and how to read a poem A HOW TO READ A SHORT STORY Before you read - Look at the story’s title What might this story be about? - Use and develop your