Week 1 Discussion

Question 1

Initial Post: "The Story of an Hour," by Kate Chopin, is set in very limited confines. The events occur primarily in a room, on a staircase, and at a front door. How does this limitation help to express the themes of the story? 

Question 2

Initial Post: In James Joyce’s story “Eveline” the main character ultimately decides not to leave, but before she makes that decision, we’re told, “All the seas of the world tumbled about her heart. He was drawing her into them: he would drown her.” She wasn’t going to be literally drowned by Frank, but what is the significance of this water imagery? How does it help to suggest Eveline’s reasons for not leaving?

Parameters

You must make a substantive and thoughtful initial post of 250 words or more to one of the questions, incorporating MLA citation and a Works Cited.

Readings

Meyer, Michael and D. Quentin Miller. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, and Writing, 12th ed., Macmillan Learning, 2020.

Introduction: Reading Imaginative Literature

- The Nature of Literature

- The Value of Literature

- The Changing Literary Canon

Chapter 1: Reading Fiction

- Reading Fiction Responsively

Chapter 8: Style, Tone, and Irony

- Style

- Tone

- Irony

Chapter 42: Critical Strategies for Reading 

(all sections)

Chapter 43: Writing About Fiction 

(all sections)

Selected literary works

- "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin

- “Eveline” by James Joyce