The Damned Thing

Literary Analysis of "The Damned Thing"

Ambrose Bierce from jed51459

Origins of the Vampire

Click here to watch the documentary:

http://ep.fmcc.edu:8081/login?url=http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=1824&xtid=45472

Digital Explication

Our next project will consist of a presentation of sorts. Picking one short story from the sign-up sheet, you will present an "unfolding" of the story. These reports must contain . . .

• The title of the story and the date of its original publication
• The author’s name and dates
• The genre of the work and leading traits inherent (conventional or invented)
• The name (if any) of the main character, together with a description of that character’s dominant traits or features
• Other characters, dealt with the same way
• A short description of the setting
• The narrator of the story (POV)
• A concise summary of the main events, given in chronological order
• A description of the general tone of the story (the author’s feelings toward the central character or main events)
• Some comments on the style in which the story is written (quotes are helpful)
• Whatever kinds of irony the work contains and what they contribute to it
• The work’s main theme in a sentence
• Leading symbols (if any), with an educated guess at what each symbol suggests
• Finally, an evaluation of the reading as a whole, concisely setting forth your opinion of it

The final presentation should be delivered in the form of a narrated slideshow saved and shared as a four-to-seven minute video. It doesn't matter which software you use for this project as long as the final video is sharable as a video. I've had students use PowerPoint, iMovie, MovieMaker, and WeVideo for projects like this before, but feel free to use anything as long as it is, in the end, viewable and listenable as a video.

Due dates:

• Story Table (storyboard - the exact words you will narrate along with a brief description of the images that coincide with your narration) -shared with your peer group and me in Google Drive by 11/13 -group instructions and arrangement will follow
• Final five-to-seven minute video -uploaded to Google Drive and shared with me, michael.youngs@apps.fmcc.edu by 11/20

Finally, here are some writing and performing ideas for your presentation development. 

Horror Readings

10/21
"The Old Nurse's Story" p.41
"The Damned Thing" p.80

10/23
"Dracula's Guest" p. 86
"The Monkey's Paw" p.94

10/28
"Catnip" p.125
"The Lottery" p.134
"To Serve Man" p.140

10/30
"Duel" p.158
"The Raft" p.174

Be afraid . . .

Why Do Some Brains Enjoy Fear?

Why Our Brains Love Horror Movies

Horror Is Good for You

Gothic Horror, "The Fall of the House of Usher" and the Sublime

Gothic Horror

The Sublime and Poe's "Apocalyptic Sublime"

Psychological Literary Criticism

Click here to learn about it.

"Young Goodman Brown"

1. What do you think Hawthorne’s purpose was for writing this story?
2. Hawthorne states that Brown’s wife is “aptly named,” Faith (i.e., her name fits her personality).  After reading the story, do you agree?  Does Brown have true “faith” in her? 
3. What do you think the pink ribbons are meant to signify?
4. Who do you think the old man Brown meets on the road really is?  Look closely at the words used to describe him.  What do they signify?
5. What does the staff represent?  Do you think the staff leads Brown onward in his journey or does Brown’s own conscience/mind lead him forward?
6. If Brown had not ventured into the forest, how would his life have been different? If Brown had stayed home with Faith, do you think he would have gone on trusting her and the other townspeople?
7. Was everything Brown witnessed a figment of his own imagination, something conjured by evil, or a dream?  Support your answer with passages from the text.
8. What do you think Hawthorne was saying to his contemporary audience?

Stephen King's "Ten Bears"

from "The Horror Market Writer and the Ten Bears" Stephen King, 1973

Freudian iceberg

Readings

For next time, please read the following:

"The Fall of the House of Usher" p.16
"Young Goodman Brown" p.33
"The Tell-Tale Heart" click