CHARACTERS

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 498.

NARRATOR

SETTING

THEME

PLOT

ANALYSIS

1.What is the effect of the story starting with the complication? It:

- involves the reader immediately into the plot

- makes the story-telling more natural

- adds to the unreal, supernatural atmosphere created in the story

- makes exposition unnecessary

2. When does the tension build to a climax?

3. How would you interpret the end of the story?

How would you formulate the theme of the story?

- Reincarnation

- Family relations

- 0ther____________________.

Why do you think is the place and time of the action left vague?

1. From which point of view is the passage narrated?

· third-person omniscient

· first-person

· limited third-person omniscient

How does the choice of narrative technique effect the impact of the text? It makes it:

- more detached

- more immediate and involving

2. Does the narrator pass any judgement on the characters and events? In what way does he influence the reader's opinion?

I. Focus on the character of Laura

1) Pick out phrases said about Laura by

- herself

- Amanda

- her uncle-in- law

- the narrator

2) Judging by her actions would you characterize her as:

wilful

selfish

stubborn

vindictive

narrow-minded

headstrong

unpredictable

just

sincere

inconsiderate

other________

3) Prove by the text that the narrator has ambivalent feelings about the otter. How does he describe :

a) its appearance

b) its actions?

4) What does the choice of the word a circumstance suggest about Laura's attitude towards Egbert? Is it justified?

II. Focus on the character of Egbert

1) Does the author choose a direct or indirect way of presentation of his character?

2) Which of the suggested adjactives would you apply to Egbert?

III. In stories by Saki playful treatment of the supernatural is mingled with social satire. What is the function of dialogues in this story? How does the speech characterize the portrayed group of people?

IV. How would you define the relationship between the characters of the story:

b) loving

c) detached

d) understanding

e) formal

f) hostile

g) other?