Keys to Unit OneLangston Hughes: Early AutumnTeaching objectives: 1.To learn the elements of fiction/short story2. Text for Reading3. Interpretation and DiscussionDifficulties: 1. To find the meaning under the surface of the words2. To write a short story after readingTime: 4 periodsTeaching procedures:1.the Introduction of the textbook as well as the teaching aims2.the elements of fiction/short storyFiction: the word fiction is a rather general term that can be define d as narrative told in prose. Therefore, fiction refers to different ty pes of writing such as folktale, myth, legend, etc., but it is most o ften associated with the novel and the short story.Short story: the short story is necessarily limited in length and scop e.Key words of short story: a single incident; a single character or a few characters; compact; creative and imaginative3. Exercises and analysis:1)Opinions of Understanding:(1) What was probably untrue of Mary?A. She missed the days of the past.B. She still loved Bill.C. She worked to keep a family of three children.D. She was satisfied with her life and job in New York.(2) Which of the following adjectives can probably best describe Bill’s attitude?A. Emotional.B. Indifferent.C. Puzzled.D. Hopeful.(3) Mary didn’t say anything when she got on the bus. Why?A. She had nothing more to say.B. She was disappointed in Bill.C. She was too emotional.D. She knew the situation was hopeless.(4) The last sentence of the story “she had forgotten …to tell him that her youngest boy was named Bill, too” shows that ________.A. Mary knew she would meet Bill again some day.B. “Bill” is a very common name.C. Mary had been thinking about Bill and still loved him.D. Mary was proud of her youngest son.(5) The title of the short story “Early Autumn” may suggest to the reader that _______.A. the bitterness of an emotional long winter was aheadB. it was still the bright time of one’s life, like early AutumnC. both Mary and Bill were now middle-aged peopleD. the love between them was not as “hot” as summer days2) Questions for Discussion(Suggested answers for reference):(1) Can you pick out words and sentences to show that Mary and Bill were now different in their attitudes toward each other?1) Mary: …she saw him for the first time in years. (line 5)Bill: At first he did not recognize her… (line 8)2) Mary: Unconsciously, she lifted her face as though wanting a kiss… (line 11)Bill: …but he held out his hand. (line 12)3) Mary: “I live in New York now,” she said. (eagerly telling him her address) (line 14)Bill: “Oh” – smiling politely, then a little frown came quickly between his eyes. (having no interested in her living place now.) (lines 15-16)4) Mary: “Married yet?” (concerning keenly about his marital status) (line 21)Bill: “Sure. Two kids.”(being satisfied with his present situation and showing pride in mentioning his family.) (line 22)5) Bill: “And your husband?” he asked her. (not noticing her subtle emotional change.) (line 27)Mary: “We have three children. I work in the bursar’s office at Columbia” (avoiding mentioning her husband in her reply). (line 28)6) Bill: “You’re looking very …” (he wanted to say old) “… well,” he said. (not being sensitive to her condition.) (line 29)Mary: She understood. (being very sensitive to her own condition.) (line 30)7) Mary: “We live on Central Park West,” she said. “Come and see us sometime.”(offering a direct invitation.) (line 33)Bill: “Sure,” he replied. “You and your husband must have dinner with my family some night. Any night. Lucille and I’d love to have you.”(giving a polite indirect rejection.) (lines 34-35)8) Mary: “There’s my bus,” she said. (line 42)Bill: He held out his hand, “Good-by.” (ready to part with Mary.) (line 43)Mary: “When …” she wanted to say… (not ready to part with Bill) (line 44)(2) Several times the author describes the scene on Washington Square: the dusk, the chilly weather, the falling leaves, the passing people. Does he only want to tell us where and when the story takes place? What other effects do such descriptions achieve?(The description of the setting gives the reader a feeling of sadness and depression. It was getting dark and getting cold with leaves falling. The bright daytime was over and the unpleasant darkness was ahead, and the warm and comfortable summer and early autumn days were being replaced by the cold and long winter. The setting echoes and reinforces Mary’s feelings of regret and yearning and implies the emotional crisis that she might have to face.)3) Explanation and Interpretation:(Explain the implied meaning of the following sentences, and point out their significance in the context of the story.)1) Impulsively, she had married a man she thought she loved.(Notice the two key words: “impulsively”and “thought.”This has direct relation to her reactions at Washington Square, New York, years later. She made an impulsive decision and the man she “thought” she loved was not the man she wanted to be a life partner with.)2) Unconsciously, she lifted her face as though wanting a kiss, but he held out his hand.(Her unconscious reaction reveals that their sweet love in the past had been kept alive in Mary’s memory for all these years, but Bill had undergone a total change, treating her as an ordinary acquaintance of the past.)3) “And your husband?” he asked her.“We have three children. I work in the bursar’s office at Columbia.”(This is the first time Bill initiated the conversation, but he had failed to notice the signs in Mary’s emotional reaction and asked a question he should have not asked. Mary avoided the question by talking about something else. Why did she avoid mentioning her husband? There is message in the avoidance.)4) The lights on the avenue blurred, twinkled, blurred.(The vision came from Mary’s eyes. Obviously, her eyes were now filled with tears.)5) The bus started. People came between them outside, people crossing the street, people theydidn’t know. Space and people.(A lot of people had walked into their lives, Mary and Bill’s family members and their respective circle of friends and colleagues. It was no longer their world of two young lovers when they were in Ohio.)4) Suggested Homework:Suppose you were Bill Walker and you had a habit of writing down what happened to you in your diary. After the chance meeting with Mary at Washington Square, you went home and wrote a brief paragraph about the meeting. The paragraph may begin like this:Oct. 11, 2009I had never expected to see Mary, but I met her at Washington Square. She looked rather old to me – I didn’t even recognize her immediately…For reference only:Oct. 11, 2009(I had never expected to see Mary, but I met her at Washington Square. She looked rather old to me – I didn’t even recognize her immediately. It was quite a surprise that she could pick me out among the hustling and bustling crowd in the street. After all, it has been quite a few years since we parted -- Eight, nine, or ten years? Time flies and we both changed a lot, no longer the heady, impulsive kind of youngsters that we once were. For some reason, she seemed rather emotional about this chance meeting, and was keen in knowing about what had happened to me in these years and in telling and inviting me to her place. Somehow, she avoided mentioning her husband, the man she quickly married after we ran into a little problem in our relationship. Ten years is a long time, enough to reshape a person’s life. I wish her and her family all the happiness, sincerely.)Keys to Unit Two(1) I. B. Singer: The Washwoman(2) Frank Sargeson: A Piece of Yellow Soap1) Questions for Discussion:(Suggested answers for reference)(1) Does the piece of washing soap have the “power” as the narrator tells us? What is the “power”that forces him to take off?(The piece of yellow washing soap is, of course, an ordinary one. The narrator is a “naïve narrator”who believed that it had some sort of mysterious “power,”while the readers are expected to know better. This power comes from the narrator’s deep sympathy for the tragic fate of the washing woman. Seeing the situation, he simply could not continue to demand the payment which he knew the woman was unable to produce.)(2) In this Unit, we have two stories about two washwomen. There are a lot of similar descriptionsand common characteristics in the two stories. Find and list them.(They were both reduce to desperation, depending solely on washing for living. Both were hard-working and uncomplaining, quietly but almost heroically bore their burden and struggled for a hard existence. The author describes their common feature –the white and shrunken fingers – as symbol of suffering in the lives of the working people. They both were both dead by the end of the stories.)(3) The two first-person narrators tell two stories of two washwomen who shared similar tragicfate. Discuss the differences in the narrators that result in the differences in the way the two short stories are told.(Singer’s narrator knows more and tells more about the washing woman, often making direct comments and revealing his own feelings about the life of the woman whose story he is telling. He frequently emphasizes that what he is telling is real, and hints that the story has significance. The narrator’s voice is very close to the author’s. Please see more in “Reading Tips” on page 11. On the other hand, Sargeson’s narrator is a naïve one, that is, the narrator’s understanding is purposely made shallow, and the reader need find by himself the real meaning in the situation. So the narrator stands at some distance from the author. Please see more in “Reading Tips”on page 15. Therefore, in Text I, we, as readers, are basically “given” or “received” the story, while in Text II, we need to participate imaginatively in the story to “dig out” the true meaning the naïve narrator has left unexplained.)2) Explanation and Interpretation:(Explain the implied meaning of the following sentences, and point out their significancein the context of the story.)From “The Washwoman”:(1) She had been so sick that someone called a doctor, and the doctor had sent for a priest.(According to the custom, a priest should be present while one is dying. The implied message is the doctor thought that he could do nothing to save her, and the best thing to do was to prepare for her death.)(2) “With the help of God you will live to be a hundred and twenty,” said my mother, as ablessing.“God forbid!...”(“My Mother” extended a good wish for long life to her, but the washing woman thought that a long life was a terrible thing, because it only meant suffering longer.)(3) Her soul passed into those spheres where all holy souls meet, regardless of the roles theyplayed on this earth, in whatever tongue, of whatever religion.(A good person, like the old washwoman, would go to heaven because she had a noble soul.She would rise above all the earthly considerations of class, race, nation and religion. )From “A Piece of Yellow Soap”:(4) My eyes would get fixed on her fingers and the soap, and after a few minutes I would lose allpower to look the woman in the face. I would mumble something to myself and take myself off .(The narrator could not bear to look at this washing-tub slave for too long. He would have to find some excuse and leave. He could not push her over the cliff while she was standing on the verge of total desperation.)(5) She had a way too of feeling inside her handbag as she passed me, and I always had the queerfeeling that she carried there a piece of soap. It was her talisman powerful to work wonders…(Possibly in the bag there were a few pennies that the woman had earned from her washing, and she was going to buy food or some necessities. Seeing the narrator, to whom she knew she owed money, she unconsciously or protectively put her hand in the bag. The narrator, being “naïve,” misunderstood her reaction while they met in the street.)Suggested Homework:Translate the following paragraphs from “The Washwoman” into Chinese:The bag was big, bigger than usual. When the woman placed it on her shoulders, it covered her completely. At first she stayed, as though she were about to fall under the load. But an inner stubbornness seemed to call out; no, you may not fall. A donkey may permit himself to fall under his burden, but not a human being, the best of creation.She disappeared, and mother sighed and prayed for her.More than two months passed. The frost had gone, and then a new frost had come, a new wave of cold. One evening, while mother was sitting near the oil lamp mending a shirt, the door opened and a small puff of steam, followed by a gigantic bag, entered the room. I ran toward the old woman and helped her unload her bag. She was even thinner now, more bent. Her head shook from side to side as though she were saying no. She could not utter a clear word, but mumbled something with her sunken mouth and pale lips.For reference only:衣服包很大，比平时更大。
