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Literary Topics Videos 221 videos

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How to Read Short Stories 2254 Views


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Description:

Short stories are really the best of both worlds: short enough to hold your attention but long enough to be meaningful—but only if you read them well. This video explains how to read a short story, pointing out key elements to look for like characters, allusions, and point of view.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

Thank you We sneak How to read short stories allah

00:06

shmoop one thing to remember about chart stories is that

00:09

they're short Hey come on we're guessing it won't take

00:13

much for that fact that stick in your mind Give

00:15

me a hand here What's cool about the shortness of

00:18

short stories is that usually we have time to read

00:20

them more than once So if we're cramming right before

00:26

class we skip our favorite step in short story reading

00:28

process which is reading for pleasure Yes reading doesn't have

00:33

to be painful Don't make me could you So believe

00:36

it or not most short stories were assigned to read

00:39

Are pretty awesome So we let the story flow over

00:43

us enjoying whatever it's parked in our minds after the

00:47

initial read we jot down our overall impressions we ask

00:51

ourselves stuff like what moments where most poignant in our

00:53

brain what characters did we love or hate And why

00:58

after we've sketched our general impressions it's time to dive

01:01

back in when we read this story for a second

01:04

time we dig into the details this time we take

01:07

notes as we go along making sure to write down

01:09

the page numbers but what are we taking notes on

01:12

exactly you know the major elements of literature and junk

01:15

like that Well first there are characters or the people

01:18

in the story One important thing to note who is

01:22

the protagonist or main character in the story Well there's

01:26

usually easy to figure out because the author shines the

01:28

spotlight on this person the whole time Another important thing

01:31

to note is the setting for the time and place

01:34

in which the story occurs Time and place could definitely

01:37

make a big difference in terms of context if a

01:40

character walks into his yard in a pair of short

01:42

shorts these days Nobody would freak out about it at

01:45

all looking good bob but if he did the same

01:48

thing in uber conservative victorian england well people would flip

01:51

out so type of language the author uses is also

01:56

a big is the text loaded with flowery figurative like

02:00

similes and metaphors Is there a ton of imagery to

02:04

titillate our senses Are there allusions references to other literary

02:08

works Point of view is also a major element in

02:11

any story from which characters perspective rehearing things Is that

02:15

the protagonists or somebody else's whose head are we inside

02:19

or isn't told from another point of view lycan on

02:21

mission voice through which we can see into every character

02:24

brain after we're done with our second read we like

02:27

to write down the big themes that stuck out to

02:29

us We ask ourselves what universal statements does the story

02:34

get across love conquers all Love is doomed to fail

02:39

Love is love in the end it's up to us

02:42

to look through our notes research one other critics have

02:44

said about this story it's okay good and then form

02:48

some ideas of our own and even on the so

02:51

so days well we've had a chance to really get

02:53

to know a cool story which is nothing to sneeze 00:02:55.068 --> [endTime] at Good Don't make me cut you

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