Powder, short story by Tobias Wolf

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Powder, short story 

by Tobias Wolf

Have you read the story?

1. Yes
2. No
3. Only part of it

Do you feel you understand the story?

😒🙁😐🙂😃

Did you like this story, if you compare it to the other two you have read?

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Finding meaning

Here we learn about "close reading"—a way of approaching literature that opens up deeper levels of understanding and meaning. This course explores setting, plot, characters, symbolism, and more.

Evaluating literature enables us to . . .

• increase our enjoyment of reading

• open up a work's deeper meanings

Elements of storytelling

In today’s lesson we examine the "elements of storytelling“

plot, character, setting (and more) to see how they fit together as a unified whole.

plot

What is a plot?

setting

What is a plot?

irony

What is a plot?

symbol

What is a plot?

Close Reading . . .

is an analytical technique that requires us to pay close attention to words, ideas, and structure in order to see how they work together to form a unified story

Title

Title: Powder
What kind of snow do you think of when the word “powder” is used to describe it?

Powder

• positive image, beautiful snow: highlights the importance of fresh white snow in the story. 
• It reinforces the last line, "If you haven't driven fresh powder, you haven't driven.”

• covers the landscape—you can't see ahead, you can't see what's coming, you can't see the future.

• creates a fresh new world—a world with new possibilities and a new way of seeing life.

Setting

The setting is the place and time where the story takes place. An author has to make a choice about where and when the story is set and as a reader, you might find hints in this about what the story is all about.

setting of powder

Setting

Mount Baker provides a perfect setting for the story: it enables the father to expose his son to risk and uncertainty, teaching him valuable life lessons. The setting supports the story's central ideas.

Setting

• Weather—"bitter blinding snow" in the beginning; "fresh powder" at the end.

• Location—mountains, fast ski runs, and steep roads with hairpin turns.

• Season—Christmas: time for family.

Not just place, also time and weather

Plot

The story's plot has a classic pyramid structure.

Plot

• Exposition—the boy gives us background information about his family.

• Rising action—tension rises as Doc takes risks to get his son home on time.

• Climax—the highpoint of tension comes as the boy removes the roadblock.

• Falling action—the boy begins to relax and appreciate his father and the ride

• Conclusion—we learn the parents eventually divorce.

How many characters do we get to know in Powder?

1. 0
2. 1
3. 2
4. 3

Character

Characterization is brilliantly handled in this very short story. We come to know three characters rather well —including the mother, who isn't even present.

Character

• Father—spontaneous (loves jazz), risk-taker, disregards rules (gets rid of road barrier).

• Son—fears risk, orderly (clothes on numbered hangers), plans ahead (asks for homework in advance).

• Mother—angry (perhaps justified), orderly, perfectionist (dinner candles waiting to be lit).

Point of view

Whoever tells the story determines its point of view.

 A narrator shapes a story by controlling how much information readers are given and when.

Who tells the story Powder?

1. the father
2. the son
3. the narrator, probable Tobias Wolf
4. the mother

Point of view

• The son narrates the events of the story; we see what he wants us to see, through his perspective.

• He provides insight into his parents' differing personalities and their clash of values.

• He is frank about his own fears and anxieties; later, he tells us about his epiphany—a new-found respect for his father and new perspective on life.

Symbols

Symbols convey and enlarge meaning, telling us indirectly what the author doesn't have to.

symbols in Powder

Symbols

Thelonius Monk (jazz musician)—unbound by convention; innovative, spontaneous, just like Doc.

Symbols

Austin Healey—a car people don’t buy for practical reasons, but for emotional ones.

Powder

 Powder creates a fresh, unknown world, open to new possibilities.

 

• covers roadways and signs
• there are no guideposts in life

Symbols

• Christmas — a time of birth, for new beginnings, a time for family

• Roadblock—removing the roadblock "unblocks" the way forward into a new life for the son.

Irony

Irony: the opposite of what is expected

Every book contains some form of irony, books would be incredibly boring without it

Irony

Irony

Doc is the opposite of a traditional father:

• undependable (never on time)

• childlike in his love of thrill (wants one last ski)

• dismissive of rules (gets rid of roadblock)

The son seems to be the mature one in the relationship. His exasperation with Doc resembles a father's attitude toward a teenage son.

Theme

The story elements (plot, setting, character, et al) come together to support the story's central ideas.

Theme

What is this story all about?

Think about what happens, where it happens, when it happens.

Think about who tells the story and what information we get

Think about where the climax in the story is and what causes the tension to rise and to fall

Think about the symbols that are used

Think about the characters and how they change

Think about the irony in this story

theme

Theme

Carpe diem theme—spontaneity and a degree of risk are essential for a vibrant life. To act only when one knows the exact outcome leads to a crabbed existence.

Coming-of-age theme—crossing from youth into adulthood means leaving behind childish ideas and entering a world of new understanding.

Do you feel you understand the story Powder better now?

😒🙁😐🙂😃