Reference no: EM131338947

Prepare:

Prior to beginning your initial post, read the required materials and review the handouts, Plot, Theme, and Conflictand List of Literary Techniques. In addition, read Chapters 4 through 7 of Journey into Literature and choose a story from the textbook.

Reflect: All stories have a theme that forms the plot. Also, literary elements and techniques contribute to creating and highlighting the theme. Reflect on the theme and literary elements and techniques in the story you have chosen to read.

Write: Your initial post should be at least 200 words in length. The minimum word count does not include references. In this discussion you will

Describe the core conflict represented in the story.

Describe the theme of the story.

Select three literary elements/techniques in the story and describe them.

Explain how the elements/techniques illustrate the theme and conflict expressed in the story.

Incorporate readings found in Chapters 4 through 7 to help illustrate the points you make.

DISCUSSION TWO

Prepare: Prior to beginning your initial post, read Chapters 4 through 7 of Journey into Literature.

Reflect: In the stories you have read in Chapters 4 through 7, you have been introduced to several kinds of characters. Select another story from your textbook that is different than the one you analyzed in the "Literary Techniques and Their Connection to Conflict in Literature" discussion and identify and consider a character you sympathize with. Reflect on why you identify with them and how that character is constructed by the author.

Write: Your initial post should be at least 200 words in length. The minimum word count does not include references.

As you write your post, answer the following questions:

Identify the character and the literary work he or she appears in.

Why did this character interest you? What choices does the character make, and how do the choices (or the result of the choices) contribute to the theme of the story?

What kind of conflict (internal/external) did this character encounter, and how did he or she handle it?

How does the setting contribute to the character's development?

How does the setting contribute to the character's experience and give the story more meaning?

Incorporate readings found in Chapters 4 through 7 to help illustrate the points you make.

ASSIGNMENT

For this assignment, you will write an annotated bibliography on three sources. For detailed information on how to create your Annotated Bibliography, please see this Sample Annotated Bibliography.

In your Annotated Bibliography, you will

Copy and paste the writing prompt you chose to explore in Week One into a Word Document.
Restate the working thesis you created in Week One below your writing prompt.
In this same document, identify your primary source(s) and two secondary, academic sources. If you chose to discuss two poems in your Week One Assignment, each must have its own entry in the Annotated Bibliography.
Summarize each source and explain how the source supports your working thesis. These summaries should be 100 to 150 words for each entry.
For the Annotated Bibliography assignment, you will write annotations for three sources. One source should be a primary source. Next, you will choose two secondary sources that are additional to the text.

The two sources you locate must be academic sources and come from peer-reviewed journals or other scholarly publications. For information on finding sources within the Ashford Library, please view the ENG125 - Literature Research tutorial.

The Annotated Bibliography includes a citation of the source in APA format. It also includes a brief summary of the source.

Theme, Plot, and Conflict

Purpose: Use this resource to learn about how theme, plot, and conflict are different from one another but yet work together in literature.

When reading literature, the reader needs to make a distinction between three key elements:

- Theme
- Plot
- Conflict

So what are the differences between these elements?

Theme

The theme is a common idea that is incorporated and repeated throughout a literary work. A theme is often also called "the moral of the story." The author uses the characters, plot, and other literary devices to build and enhance the theme. The theme weaves through the entire story and is highlighted by symbols, setting and character actions.

Some common themes include:

Revenge: Hamlet, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, A Time to Kill

Unrequited Love: Romeo and Juliet, Forest Gump

The Journey: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

Coming-of-Age: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Pride and Downfall: Macbeth, Downfall (a movie about Hitler's last days)

Racism: "A Worn Path," Mississippi Burning
Fight Between Good and Evil: "Where are You Going, Where Have You Been," "A Good Man is Hard to Find," Superman, The Terminator

War is often a theme, though can be represented in different ways:
- War as futile: All Quiet on the Western Front, Farewell to Arms
- War as brutal: The Things They Carried, Full Metal Jacket
- War as glory: Courage Under Fire
- War as opposing evil: Braveheart, The Dirty Dozen
- War as tragedy: Schindler's List, Taking Chance
- War as survival: The Pianist, Defiance
- The Effects of War: The Brothers,

Sometimes a theme can entwine two different ideas, so that there is a main theme and a minor theme.

To Kill A Mockingbird: coming of age theme that also incorporates racism

A Farewell to Arms: unrequited love theme also linked to war as brutal

Lord of the Rings: a journey theme combined with the fight against good and evil

Do not confuse "theme" with the subject. The subject is the foundation on which the theme is built on. For instance, A Christmas Carol is based on the subject of Christmas, yet its theme is generosity and charity.

"The Things They Carried" focuses on war, which is its subject, but its theme is how the individual solider experiences war.

Working Together

Theme, plot and conflict all work together to create a story. Both internal and external forces arise out of the action/events of the plot and contribute to the theme. For instance, one of the themes of Hamlet is revenge. Hamlet's uncle kills his father, so Hamlet must seek revenge (external conflict), though he doesn't quite know how to do so (internal conflict). The plot sets events in motion, arranging them in a sequential manner.

Chapter 4 - The Short Story: Plot, Point of View, and Tone - "The Universe is made of stories, not of atoms."

-Muriel Rukeyser, American writer, from The Speed of Darkness, 1958

Chapter 5 - The Short Story: Setting and Character "A writer tries to create believable people in credible, moving situations in the most moving way he can." -William Faulkner, Nobel Prize-winning American fiction writer

Chapter 6 - The Short Story: Theme, Symbolism, Allegory, and Motif "In order to write about life, first you must live it." -Ernest Hemingway, American writer.

Chapter 7 - Exploring Literary Concepts in Short Stories "A story is not like a road to follow it's more like a house.  altered as well by being in this enclosed space." -Alice Munro, Nobel Prize winner