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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.
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
Full Transcript
- 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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