Year 10 English
Year 10 English
Carlier 09
Stories of Ourselves
Study Questions
Below are study questions to help you understand and analyse the short stories in Stories of Ourselves. Always answer in complete sentences, and use examples from the stories where relevant. I would also like to encourage you to write detailed, complete answers; don’t be too easily satisfied with what you have written.
“The Lemon Orchard” by Alex la Guma
See Wikipedia Alex la Guma.
1. Underline all the words in Afrikaans and find out what they mean. How effective is the writer’s use of local language?
2. Find examples of la Guma’s use of leitmotif(s). What is the function of these motifs in the story?
3. What can you say about the point of view in “The Lemon Orchard”? Is it fixed? Give examples to support your ideas. Point of view determines what the reader ‘sees’ in a story. How important is this in “The Lemon Orchard?”
4. Consider the title. How important in the lemon orchard in this story? Is it an effective title? Can you think of an alternative title?
“How It Happened” by Arthur Conan Doyle
1. Find out about Arthur Conan Doyle’s interest in mysticism.
2. What genre of short story is this? Explain.
3. In this short story, the narrator often refers to himself. Find examples of such references and discuss the importance of this.
4. How does Arthur Conan Doyle create the characters in his story? Look for specific techniques. Does he rely mostly on dialogue, character description, narration? What is the effect of Conan Doyle’s method of characterisation? Is it intended to make the reader laugh? Create suspense?
5. Did you think the story had a good ending? Why or why not?
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Arbour noun
|1. |a leafy, shady recess formed by tree branches, shrubs, etc. |
|2. |a latticework bower intertwined with climbing vines and flowers. |
Piazza
|1. |an open square or public place in a city or town, esp. in Italy. |
|2. |Chiefly New England and Inland South. a large porch on a house; veranda. |
|3. |Chiefly British. an arcade or covered walk or gallery, as around a public square or in front of a building. |
Arabesque–noun
|1. |Fine Arts. a sinuous, spiraling, undulating, or serpentine line or linear motif. |
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1. Copy out three different descriptions of the wallpaper, and comment on each. This story is an example of authors telling stories through imagery. How effective do you find this technique? Explain your answer.
2. “And dear John gathered me up in his arms…”(39). Find the references to the narrator’s husband. Copy out a few significant ones. What can you say about the role of John in this story? Think about what he says, his profession, his relationships with others and how he is described.
3. Who is the woman behind the wallpaper? Develop your answer.
4. Why is the story called “The Yellow Wallpaper”? Do you think it is an appropriate title? Is it misleading? Why or why not?
5. A great deal of this story takes place in the narrator’s mind. Find instances in the story that really occur. How are these relayed to the reader? What can you say about the author’s story telling technique?
6. Wikipedia states (September 2009) that
[The Yellow Wallpaper] is regarded as an important early work of American feminist literature, illustrating attitudes in the 19th century toward women's physical and mental health.
Do you agree? How can this be perceived as a piece of feminist literature? Give examples.
7. Write a short pastiche (a creative piece of writing in the style of an author) based on this story. You can either continue the story, write a new paragraph to be inserted in the story, or write a different story with the same style. Create a character’s state of mind through ‘showing’ not ‘telling’.
8. If you had to put this story to music, which piece of music would you choose? Explain your choice.
Also read “Why I wrote The Yellow Wallpaper” at
“The Signalman”by Charles Dickens
1. Copy out three descriptions of setting and comment on the techniques Dickens uses to establish setting. How effectively is setting used in the story?
2. Reread p19 “I resumed….natural world.” Write an imaginative piece in which you describe a character or animal in its own setting. Use Dickens’ paragraph as a model.
3. What is the role of the narrator? Give examples to support your ideas.
4. Find references to work. What is Dickens saying about work and working conditions? What can you say about the date of publication in relation to this?
5. Reread the last paragraph. What can you say about the tone of the ending?
“There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury
1. Discuss the writer’s personification of the fire and the house. How is personification used here? Does the writer use a similar approach for both? Why is personification important in this story?
2. What is the function of the poem in the story? Also comment on the title.
“Meteor” by John Wyndham
1. Reread the speech transcribed in Onn’s journal entry on page 172. What is the purpose of this speech? Does it work? Are there any flaws with this method of informing the reader?
2. Discovery is crucial to this story. In your textbooks, mark each place where you make a new discovery essential to your understanding of the story (example: page 173 “blue pearl” is earth). How successfully does the author build up suspense?
3. Discuss the effects of the changing point of view. Firstly, describe using the correct terminology how the writer uses point of view in this story. Then try to come up with several ideas about the effect of the point of view and support each idea with relevant examples.
4. Is there any irony in the story? Explain?
Comparative Question: science fiction and social commentary
1. Review the two science fiction stories you have read. Keeping in mind that science fiction can sometimes be a form of social commentary, how do Wyndham and Bradbury use their stories about futuristic technology to comment on human behaviour? How important is it to be aware of the dates these stories were published, and why?
Brainstorm, find quotes to support your ideas and write up an outline. Then answer the question. This answer should be at least 300 words. You must use paragraphing.
“Secrets” by Bernard MacLaverty
1. Find and copy out three examples of imagery and comment on each.
2. Using details from the text, discuss the different methods the author uses to characterise Mary and the boy. Organise your answers in a chart. For example:
|Mary |Boy (Protagonist) |
|Example |Comments/notes |Example |Comments/notes |
|P293 letter-she was a school |-background information-how does|p294 “He folded the paper |-has an eye for detail |
|teacher |this influence my understanding |carefully into its original |-meticulously covers his tracks |
| |of Mary? |creases…” |- |
| |-perhaps she is strict because | | |
| |of her professional background | | |
| | |p 293 “He pretended…” |- |
“The Taste of Watermelon” by Borden Deal
1. Write a brief description of the character’s motivation for each of the following quotes:
‘Well, yes’ I said. ‘As a matter of fact, I was.’ (313)
Then I set methodically to work, destroying the rest of the melon. (315)
Then I saw; he was destroying every melon in the patch. (316)
‘Because I’ve got to,’ I said. (317)
You may want to cite previous parts of the text in your answers.
2. Trace the character development of Mr. Wills. Find five quotes that show the change in Mr. Wills; copy these into your workbook or notes. Then write a paragraph underneath these quotes explaining how and why Mr. Wills changes.
Make sure you treat Mr. Wills as a character, a fictional construct invented by the author; don’t write about him as if he were a real person.
3. Discuss the role of setting in this story.
4. Write a brief review of this story. Do you think it is a good story? Why or why not? Try to be specific. You should aim to write about one paragraph.
“On Her Knees” by Tim Winton
1. This story was published in 2004, later than the other stories you have read. In what ways does it feel like a modern story? In what ways does it not?
2. Study the writer’s use of characterization. Make a chart and fully address the points below:
-How the son sees his mother
-How the mother and son characters come to life through their dialogue
-How the son is characterized through his observations of the house
-How the character of the employer is created
3. How does the son’s perception of his mother change?
“The Third and Final Continent” by Jhumpa Lahiri
1. Analyse the writer’s use of narrative voice. Referring to the text in detail, explore how the main character is created through the use of first person point of view storytelling. Break your answer down into 3-5 different subcategories and find examples for each. For example, the protagonist has an eye for detail, as can be seen in his descriptions of the old woman. Breaking down ideas into subcategories is preparation for your essay and your exam. It is important you come up with the ideas and subdivisions yourself.
2. (Optional) Write a pastiche of the story, with particular focus on the narrative voice.
Paragraph Checklist:
1. Topic sentence that supports the essay’s thesis statement
2. quoted evidence from the text, correctly formatted
3. 3-5 different ideas about the quote just given
4. transitional devices (transition from topic to quote, transitions between arguments, and transitions at the beginning or end of paragraphs)
5. concluding statement or transition into next paragraph
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