Discussion – Compare Chopin and Kincaid

Outcome Alignment

Identifying point of view. Evaluating text. Applying literary terms.

1.   General Education  1)     Interpret literary texts by using essential terms from literary analysis (Thinking)
2.   General Education 2)      Apply methods for researching and writing original arguments about literature (Skills)

Question

"Girl" and Kate Chopin’s "The Story of an Hour" have some similarities and differences that are important. As you read "Girl," try to determine the point of view and setting. Do a quick Google search for Jamaica Kincaid and it might help. Your discussion posts will as usual be graded as discussion/participation.  

 Also, as you might have concluded, the short Ted Talk by Sarah Kay, which is actually spoken word poetry, is very much like "Girl". Please watch it and refer to it in your discussion posts related to today’s reading. Anything that catches your attention is worth mentioning:). The issues are somewhat similar, though the approach of "the mother" may differ. You can explore this as part of the discussion, and it may help you see what is happening in "Girl"…You may also want to watch it more than once as you definitely will need to read Kincaid more than once.

#1: For your response you should discuss, in an original posting, then a response to two others’, what differences in point of view  (is it first person? third person? limited omniscient? omniscient? is it stream of consciousness? is it interior monologue? Is it memory? Is it narrating "reality" as it happens? is there one voice? two voices?) you find between Chopin and Kincaid. Also, does the point of view remain the same throughout the stories? Where is it different and how do you know? What "voice" do you hear and who might it belong to? What are the clues in "Girl" that let us know about this?  Refer to the introduction to your book if you need more on point of view. Take the discussion, again, farther into meaning if that’s where it leads.

#2: For a second thread posted on this board:  Both are very short stories. How do they differ though in their structure or form? Many traditional stories have a traditional structure: a plot which begins with a rising action, a turning point, climax, and resolution (denouement).  How are these two stories different? What do you think that means for "Girl" in particular? How does this contribute to the meaning in "Girl"?

Again, for this second posting, write one response