Our focus for this Alice Munro short story is characterization. Characterization has to do with not only the physical attributes of a character but also the psychological make up. Fully realized or "three-dimensional" characters have thoughts, opinions and individual motivations just like real people do.
Writers don't necessarily develop each and every character. Sometimes they use "flat" or "one-dimensional" characters. As readers, we only get to see one aspect of these are characters.
Some characterization terms:
protagonist- this is the main character in a story (not necessarily 'the good guy'--some protagonists aren't very nice)
antagonist- this character works against the main character
static character- a character who does not change as a result of his or her experiences
dynamic character- a character who does change as a result of his or her experiences
Responding to "The Shining Houses"
1) Write a brief (one paragraph) character sketch of Mary. Be sure to include information about her age, gender, marital status, profession, ethnicity and also describe what she's like as a person.
2) Why do you think that Munro chose to tell the story using Mary as a reflector character?
3) Write the speech imagined in question number 6 on page 26 of the reading.
Usually the term 'native American' is reserved for the people who are descended from the people who lived in North America before contact with Europe.
ReplyDeleteAKA Aboriginal or First Nations