WTJ #16: Analyzing Plot

1. Follow the directions for maximum credit on WTJ #16. WTJ #16: Plot and "One of these Days" Read, reread, reread and annotate "One of These Days" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez for Tuesday. No late work!! 1. Study the powerpoint about PLOT. 2. Follow the directions for writing within the power point. WTJ #16. 3.  Map out the plot of this story on WTJ #16. Analyzing Plot lesson on power point 4. Next, write an intelligent theme statement about this story. Be prepared to share in your work in class Tuesday. No late work. WTJ #16: Analyzing Plot

2. Objectives: • Students will study elements of plot in a short story, analyzing the effect of the elements and connecting plot to theme.

3. Writing and Thinking Journals • On your WTJ PWB2 document, create an entry called WTJ #16 PLOT: “One of These Days” • Follow the instructions carefully for the next steps and completion of WTJ #16.

4. Getting to theme • 1. Write the names of some movies that YOU know well. 3-5 • 2. Choose one. Name it. Write a sentence that tells what the movie is about WITHOUT WRITING ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT THE PLOT – not the characters, not the setting, not the conflict, not the climax, not the ending – nothing!!!

5. That’s theme • Topic + what the author’s message is about that topic = theme statement • Check your statement.

6. The sequence of actions and events in a literary work. Plot: The simple definition For our literary analysis purposes, there’s much more to plot than that………

7. Plot is also this: • Arrangement and interrelation of events, chosen and designed to engage the reader’s attention and interest (or even to arouse suspense or anxiety) while also providing a framework for the exposition of the author’s message, or theme, and for other elements such as characterization, symbol, and conflict.

8. Example: • To say that “the king died and the queen died” is to relate a story. Adding three simple words, “The king died and then the queen died of grief” transforms the story into a plot by including and emphasizing causality.

9. Plots usually progress through formal stages: • Exposition Important background information that introduces the characters, setting, and plot. • Complication: the onset and development of the major conflict of opposing forces, involving major participants (usually a protagonist and antagonist)- an inciting incident • Role of Conflict: A central, often defining, role in plot; sets the plot in motion

10. Plot stages continued • Rising Action The point during which the conflict becomes more intense and suspense builds. • Crisis/Climax The turning point in the plot during which the outcome of the conflict becomes clear, usually resulting in a change in the characters or a solution to the conflict.

11. Plot stages continued • Falling Action Shows the effect of the climax when the suspense is over but the decisions or actions that caused the climax are not fully worked out. • Resolution/Dénouement (day-noo-mah) Often blends with the falling action, revealing the final outcome of events and tying up the loose ends.

12. Other plot devices, besides the formal pattern • Flashbacks • Memories • Geography • Other

13. “One of These Days” • Gabriel Garcia Marquez (b. 1928, Columbia – still alive though a Twitter rumor had him dead last year) • Nobel Prize for Literature 1982 • Journalist, novelist, short story writer, screenplay writer • One Hundred Years of Solitude; Love in the Time of Cholera

14. One of These Days” Step 1: Annotating • The link for the story is on my website. When you open it, copy and paste the text into a Google doc. Now, you can annotate it using whatever tools you wish (commenting, highlighting, etc.). • Save it in your AP Lit folder and name it “One of These Days.” Do steps 1-3 on this Google doc. • See the next slides for generic comments on annotating.

15. Annotating • Annotating is the act of taking notes within the text (marginal or post it notes) as you read. It involves marking the text with substantive commentary regarding the author’s content and/or style. • When completing an annotation, it is helpful if there is a clear purpose to the annotations reflective of the goals of the reading. (Nevertheless, at times, you will be asked to annotate just to see what you see, notice what you notice, observe what you observe.............) • Annotation should not be limited to identifying an element; annotation should explain the significance of the technique or element and its contribution to the reading's focus and/or meaning.

16. For "One of These Days," annotate for the elements of plot with an effort to consider the significance/effect of the author's use of those elements. Also, consider how the plot contributes to meaning. • Read, reread and mark up the text. • Make it "beautifully ugly" by circling, underlining, highlighting and commenting on what you notice. • Jot a few explanatory words for everything you mark.

17. Step 2: Map the Plot • Chart out the plot of this story. • Name and discuss in writing the Exposition, Rising Action, Crisis/Climax, Falling Action, Resolution.

18. Step 3: Theme statement • No matter what element you are discussing, most prompts will ask you to connect the element(s) to meaning. • Think about the themes in this story. • What is this story about? DO NOT SAY ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT THE PLOT in answering this question. This should become a theme statement. • Topic + what the author’s message is about that topic = theme statement

19. Tuesday • Be prepared: • Discussionwith consideration of the author’s choices related to plot and their effects. • Annotation check. • Plot mapping. • Theme statement.