H5 - week 43 - 2020 - Short stories general & Lamb to the Slaughter_Genesis_WITH KEY

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 5

 Objectives

Short Stories

Understanding :

• recap of what short stories are & their characteristics (plot/setting/characters/theme)
• Reading and understanding Lamb to the Slaughter- recap & finish
  
• Start Genesis and Catastrophe & answering questions (HW)

Remaining time:

Grammar - nouns/plurals/ (indefinite article) (work individually)

Read - Short story "Genesis and Catastrophe" - answer all questions

What is the exactly the difference between a short short story and a longer short story?

The 4 elements of a short story are
Plot / Setting / Characters / Theme.
Explain them.

The 6 elements of a plot are:
1) exposition 2)inciting incident 3) rising action
4) climax 5) falling action 6)resolution
Explain 1 & 4

Who are the protagonist and antagonist in Lamb to the Slaughter?

1. Protagonist: Mary Antagonist: Lamb
2. Protagonist: Frank Antagonist: Harry
3. Protagonist: Mary Antagonist: Frank
4. Protagonist: Frank Antagonist: detective

What is the theme of Lamb to the Slaughter?

1. Revenge
2. Deception
3. Traditions, weaker ones
4. Revenge & Deception

What is the climax of Lamb to the Slaughter?

1. When Mary kills Frank
2. When the detectives eat the leg of lamb
3. When the baby is born
4. When Mary walks out to do groceries

Explain the title
"Lamb to the Slaughter"
(literal and figurative meaning)

Short story

• A brief, imaginative narrative containing:

few characters, 

simple plot, 

conflict, 

suspense, 

swift conclusion.

• Can be read in one sitting

• Short short story = 3-5 pages / Short story = 10-12 pages / Long short story = up to 20 pages

Four elements Short Story

1. Plot
2. Setting
3. Characters
4. Theme

Plot - definition

Chain of events in a story, consisting of 6 elements:

 

1. exposition
2. inciting incident
3. rising action
4. climax
5. falling action
6. resolution

Element 1 - Plot (6 parts)

A) Exposition: introduces the reader to 

• setting (when/where/basic situatio)
• characters
• narrative hook

B) Inciting incident: the first major action in the story that sets the story in motion

C) Rising action: incidents that carry the plot along:

• Foreshadowing: a literary device that hints at events occurring later on in the plot
• Flashback: a literary device that inserts an earlier event in the timeline; that looks back at a past event 
• Conflict: what prevents the main character from getting what (s)he wants
• Internal conflict: person vs self
• External conflict: person vs person/society/environment/technology/fate etc.

Element 1 - Plot (6 parts)

D) Climax - the highest point of interest in the story when the character solves his/her struggles; highest point of emotion

     Can be subjective -> different answers, you need proof from the story to support answer

E) Falling action - The character completes the action of his/her decision

F) Resolution - the final workings of the story's conflict; all loose ends are (usually) tied up here.

     There can be a narrative twist = a surprise ending

Element 1 - Plot  (6 parts)

D) Climax - the highest point of interest in the story when the character solves his/her struggles; highest point of emotion

     Can be subjective -> different answers, you need proof from the story to support answer

E) Fallling action

Element 2 - Setting (when/where/mood/atmosphere)

When and where does the story take place

When = present/past/future; time of day; season

Where = country, planet, town, building, surroundings 

Both create:

1) mood = the writer's attitude towards the subject (NOT the characters' mood)

2) atmosphere = the feeling the setting evokes (mysterious, happy, eerie etc.)

Element 3 - Characters

1. What types of characters are there in a short story?
   
2. What are their roles in the plot?
   

Element 3 - Characters

• Protagonist - "good guy - person audience is rooting for", main character that solves conflict

• Antagonist - "bad buy - person audience wants to fail", creates conflict for the main character
  

• Secondary characters - move the plot along, may not be involved in conflict
  

Element 3 - Character -> traits

character traits = physical and personality characteristics revealed through:

• What the character him-/herself does & says 

• What the other characters say or do about the character

• What the author states directly

• What the author implies (suggests/not explicitly written)

Element 4 - Theme

Theme = 

a central idea about life the story highlights

the main idea (universal truths)

(i.e. love/hate/revenge/coming of age/innocence/death etc.)

Look at: 

conflict & 

what side of the conflict the story represents

how is the conflict resolved (who wins and who loses)

Little Red Riding Hood - Theme

Theme = 

a central idea about life the story highlights

the main idea (universal truths)

(i.e. love/hate/revenge/coming of age/innocence/death etc.)

Themes: Trust/Innocence vs deception

Moral: don't trust strangers/obey your parents/rely on your internal warning system

Look at: 

conflict & 

what side of the conflict the story represents

how is the conflict resolved (who wins and who loses)

Literary devices

Irony:

when the speaker means the opposite of what (s)he says (for humorous effect)

"Don't go overboard with the gratitude" she said to her unthankful husband.

Dramatic irony:

the audience or reader knows what is going to happen but the character (play/novel) doesn't

Lamb to the Slaughter - Title 

A) Lamb to the Slaughter (proverb): To undergo something without a fight

B) How does the title apply to the story?

1)  Literal meaning: 

2) Figurative meaning:

C) Who is initially the "lamb"?

D) Who is eventually the "lamb" (= weak one) ? 

 Lamb to the Slaughter - Title 

Lamb to the Slaughter (proverb): To undergo something without a fight

How does the title apply to the story?

1)  Literal meaning: 

Mrs. Maloney "slaughters" (murders) her husband with a leg of lamb (bevroren lamsbout)

2) Figurative meaning:

Mrs. Maloney - a lamb ("zwak"/afhankelijk/meegaand) kills and is the opposite of someone undergoing something without a fight. Her husband wants to divorce her, and she does not simply accept this (undergo this without a fight), but kills him instead

Who is initially the "lamb"?

Who is eventually the "lamb"?

Questions - answer in pairs

Answer questions 1-13 on pages 25 and 26 in pairs

Start with reviewing question 5 & then onwards

Answers Lamb to the slaughter 

1) A suburban house (middle class), probably in the fifties (see descriptions of the house/living room at the start). The conservative male-female roles reveal this 

2) A typical stay-at-home housewife, who spends her time doing household chores, knitting and looking after her husband. Traditional roles!

3) Husband works, wife stays at home. Not much love between them, apparently they hardly talk 

4) He is quiet, does not say anything about his working-day, he seems stressed and slightly angry, pours himself a second drink, and drinks it faster than normal, does not want dinner 

x 

Because she makes the detectives eat the evidence, so it cannot be recovered 

The detectives look for and talk about the evidence while eating it, so they make sure it cannot be found anymore 

Section 10: she was quietly singing to herself; no acting was necessary 

Because then she realised she got away with a crime 

Answers Lamb to the slaughter 

5) She seems calculated, she swings the leg of lamb after he says he does not want dinner, she sees a sudden opportunity  

 "All right, she told herself. So I've killed him." (end of section 7). 

In the next sections she is singing, pretending nothing has happened and smiling (in the end). She know she has gotten away with murder. 

Mrs. Maloney being calculated is in line with the  role reversal: she appears to be the lamb/weak person at the beginning, but now her husband is the weak person/the lamb who has been killed by a leg of lamb

NOTE: she may have killed her husband in a fit of insanity/madness because he would leave her and her unborn child

Right after the murder, she becomes quiet/calm and collected and appears to be calculated.

Answers 

6. The antagonist is Frank, he creates the problem by cheating and wanting to leave his pregnant wife. Mary is the protagonist, she solves this problem by killing him and getting away with it. 

7. There might be two inciting incidents:. 

One: Frank stating that he wants to leave her makes her uncomfortable and restless. Without this statement she wouldn’t have killed him (then climax would be killing her husband). 

Two: the killing itself, this sets a whole set of actions in motion (then climax = detectives eating the lamb -> this is where the reader feels the most excitement and is the real/highest climax). 

8) Climax: The moment she makes the detectives eat the lamb, then you know that the murder weapon will not be found 

  

9) -> theme on next slides

10) Because she makes the detectives eat the evidence, so it cannot be recovered 

Answers 

11) Irony ( = opposite meaning of what is said): "It's probably right under our noses" The detectives look for and talk about the evidence while eating it. Initially the leg of lamb is right under their noses, but eating the lamb means that there is no evidence right under their noses.

  Dramatic irony: the reader knows what is going to happen (evidence/murder weapon can never be found), but the characters don't (in this case the reader knows the detectives will never find the evidence, whereas the detectives in the story don't know this)

12) Section 10: she was quietly singing to herself; 

13) Because she realizes she has gotten away with a crime (again: in line with the figurative meaning of the title - she seizes power)

Theme

• The central idea about life / Universal truth 

(e.g. love/oppression/sacrifice/marriage/betrayal)

Q. What is the theme in "Lamb to the Slaughter"?

Theme

The central idea about life high-lighted in the story:

1. Revenge (included revenge of the weaker one)
2. Deception/Betrayal

Genesis and Catastrophe - HW

Questions: 

1. Describe the setting. When and where does this story take place? 
2. What is the effect of the weather on the mood of the story? 
3. Who are the main characters? 

Read together and review answers to questions 1/2/3

Then answer the remaining questions 4-11 in pairs - 30 minutes

Genesis & Catastrophe - key

1) April afternoon, end of 19th century (20 April 1889), Braunau (Braunau am Inn, Austria), room at an inn. 

2) Rain displays sadness. The narrator mentioned the “wet April afternoon” right after Klara told him her other three children had died. It is also a precursor to the horrible deeds that Adolf Hitler is going to do. 

3) Klara Hitler, Alois Hitler, the doctor 

Genesis and Catastrophe

Questions: 

1. Describe the setting. When and where does this story take place? 
2. What is the effect of the weather on the mood of the story? 
3. Who are the main characters? 
4. Is there a protagonist, and an antagonist, and if so, who? 
5. When exactly is the climax of the story? What is the very first instance that is revealed who the child is? 
6. Who is the child? 
7. Why is the climax not at the very end of the story? 

(continued on the next slides 8-11)

  

Genesis and Catastrophe

Questions: 

8. Explain the irony (=meaning the opposite of what you say) in: 

“everything is normal” (section 1) 

“you have a fine son” (section 1) 

“this is a perfectly normal baby” (section 3) 

“there is something inherited” (section 5) 

“specimens” (section 6) 

“I think you will like him” (section 8) 

“he won’t bite you” (section 8) 

“you should have heard him screaming” (section 10) 

“there is nothing wrong with that child” (sectgion 10) 

“oh God, be merciful onto him now” (last line)

 

Genesis and Catastrophe

Questions: 

9. Which of the following terms can be used to describe Klara’s and Alois’ characters: 

Docile 

Worrying 

Overbearing 

Indifferent 

Cold 

Nervous 

Narrow-minded 

Arrogant 

Religious 

Cruel 

10.  What is the theme of the story?     11. Explain the title fully. 

Genesis & Catastrophe - key

1) April afternoon, end of 19th century (20 April 1889), Braunau (Braunau am Inn, Austria), room at an inn. 

2) Rain displays sadness. The narrator mentioned the “wet April afternoon” right after Klara told him her other three children had died. It is also a precursor to the horrible deeds that Adolf Hitler is going to do. 

3) Klara Hitler, Alois Hitler, the doctor 

4) No 

5) “Just imagine, Frau Hitler, ….”  - this is the climax, when you find out that this baby is actually Hitler

6) Adolf Hitler 

“you have a fine son” (section 1) – he turns out to be a cruel dictator 

“this is a perfectly normal baby” (section 3) – there is nothing normal about Hitler’s character and his deeds 

“specimens” (section 6) – this is also what Hitler called the Jews, and his father call him this 

“I think you will like him” (section 8) – there is nothing likeable about Hitler 

“he won’t bite you” (section 8) – yes he will, in the sense that he is responsible for the death of 6 million Jews 

“you should have heard him screaming” (section 10) – looking at the way he behaves in public, he always screams. Here it is meant as a sign of health, later a sign of his bad character 

“there is nothing wrong with that child” (section 10) – you must be deranged to do what Hitler has done 

“oh God, be merciful onto him now” (last line) – he has never been merciful towards anyone 

Klara: docile, worrying, nervous, religious 

Alois: overbearing, indifferent, cold, narrow-minded, arrogant, cruel 

There isn’t one, really. This is one of his stories about historical figures 

Genesis refers to the first book of the Bible, in which the world was created, a beginning, so in this case the birth of a boy 

Catastrophe refers to the horrors people, Jews mainly, experienced during the time that Hitler ruled Germany. 

Genesis & Catastrophe - key

7) Because it gives the narrator time to explain who the father is, what his traits of character are, and that Hitler probably inherited his cruel personality from his father, and the coldness in his upbringing. 

8) “everything is normal” (section 1) – this is far from normal because her other three children had died 

“you have a fine son” (section 1) – he turns out to be a cruel dictator 

“this is a perfectly normal baby” (section 3) – there is nothing normal about Hitler’s character and his deeds 

“specimens” (section 6) – this is also what Hitler called the Jews, and his father call him this 

“I think you will like him” (section 8) – there is nothing likeable about Hitler 

Genesis & Catastrophe - key

8) “he won’t bite you” (section 8) – yes he will, in the sense that he is responsible for the death of 6 million Jews 

“you should have heard him screaming” (section 10) – looking at the way he behaves in public, he always screams. Here it is 

meant as a sign of health, later a sign of his bad character

 

“there is nothing wrong with that child” (section 10) – you must be deranged to do what Hitler has done 

“oh God, be merciful onto him now” (last line) – he has never been merciful towards anyone 

Genesis & Catastrophe - key

9) Character traits:

Klara: docile, worrying, nervous, religious 

Alois: overbearing, indifferent, cold, narrow-minded, arrogant, cruel 

10) There isn’t a real theme actually.  This is one of his stories about historical figures 

11) Genesis refers to the first book of the Bible, in which the world was created, a beginning, so in this case the birth of a boy 

      Catastrophe refers to the horrors people, Jews mainly, experienced during the time that Hitler ruled Germany.