Plot and Time in the Short Story
Amy Hempel, “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried”
Choose one of the short stories from our readings for the past week – Amy Hempel, “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried”.
Using the information and concepts from our handout (also available in Canvas) “Fiction Essentials Part 1,” briefly answer the following questions in three or four well-developed paragraphs. Where possible, give quotations and page references for passages that illustrate or support your answers. You Micro-theme should run about 500 words total.
Is the narrative perspective MAINLY unified or episodic? Regardless of how you answer this question, where in the narrative perspective do we find elements of the OPPOSITE kind of plotting (unified “within” a larger episodic structure, or vice versa)?
Do you find the narration’s relationship to the events depicted to be mainly immediate (story told as if it’s happening as the speaker / reader experiences it) or reflective (remembered and highly processed, with editorial commentary on the significance of events, or even anticipation of events not yet narrated)?
A well-developed paragraph is one that has a clear controlling idea, evidence from the text that illustrates or provides examples of that idea, and some commentary on or analysis of the evidence that makes our understanding of the idea more detailed and complex.
OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
Demonstrate an understanding of the basic categories of narrative analysis: unified or episodic plot; immediate or reflective narration.
Write in well-developed analytical paragraphs.