ENG3UE Preparing for the World Lit. Assignment (Paper 1)

1. For about ten minutes (don’t worry about grammar or spelling!) write a one-page memory list about Like Water for Chocolate of whatever moments, events, details, people, questions, literary devices, narrative techniques, structural details, and characterization techniques that come into your mind as you think back about your reading of the whole work. 2. Do the same for Madame Bovary. 3. Do the same for A Doll’s House. 4. Make notes on comparisons/contrasts among all three works. 5. Look for any patterns that seem to emerge. Make a list of possible topics. 6. Think about: Structure:  How has the plot been constructed?  Is there a linear or chronological development or are there flashbacks and other manipulations of time?  Is the work divided into distinct parts or can it be viewed as a whole?  Is the plot circular?  Are there subplots?  How important or effective is the ending?  Has everything been revealed by the end or are there unanswered questions – and does it matter?  What period of time has been covered, long or short? Is this even important?

Point of view and character:  From whose point of view is the story told? Does this change?  How reliable is the narrative voice?  If there are several narrators, are they equally reliable or unreliable?  Is there one main protagonist or several main characters?  Are there major and minor characters? Are they round or flat? Does it matter?  How well does the reader get to know the characters and how credible are they?  How are they presented: by description, dialogue, interior monologue?

7. Try to narrow possible topics. For example. “The Use of Religious imagery in…” will likely produce a much better essay than “Religion in…” It is a more focused aspect of investigation, and concentrates of the titles as crafted works of art.