The Personal Narrative Our Milestones of Light and Dark: Two Perspectives David Sedaris and Susan Sontag

Five Main Elements Plot Point of View Character Setting Theme The Shortes t Short Story…

The Shortest Horror Story The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door.

PLOT  STORY Story = a chronological sequence of events Plot need not be chronological and can rearrange elements of story so that the end is narrated before the beginning. Plot can contain: Irony Suspense Flashback Plot will contain: Exposition Complication Climax Resolution

E.M. Forster illustrated the difference between PLOT and STORY thusly: STORY: The King died, and then the Queen died. (the question that propels the story forward is what happened next?) PLOT: The King died, and then the Queen died of grief. (the question addressed by the plot is why/how is the second event caused by the first?) STORY = SEQUENCE PLOT = CAUSAL

Who is David Sedaris?

David Sedaris is the difference between… Imagine the meanest, most merciless teacher ever. OR Imagine a teacher as cruel as the harsh winters of Alaska, as vicious and merciless as a hungry grizzly bear in a one-room cabin with nothing to eat but you and a loaf of bread.

Me Talk Pretty One Day – Chapter 15  Look for use of ETHOS, LOGOS, and PATHOS Answer the questions on the handout for tomorrow.

Who is Susan Sontag?

The Way We Live Now Susan Sontag's "The Way We Live Now" first appeared in the New Yorker in Narrated almost exclusively through dialogue - an unnamed man's struggle with AIDS through the reactions of his large circle of friends. Sontag began writing the story on night she learned a close friend had been diagnosed with AIDS. Upset and unable to sleep, she took a bath; there the story took shape. "It was given to me, ready to be born. I got out of the bathtub and started to write very quickly standing up. I wrote the story in two days, drawing on experiences of my own cancer and a friend's stroke."