1. Harrison Bergeron
Our First Short Story

2. Learning Goal/Scale
4 Students will be able to take a position on the thematic issues of a story, supporting the argument with clear textual evidence.
3 Students will be able to trace the development of theme within a story, using textual evidence to support the decisions.
2 Students will be able to place events of a story into a plot diagram, describe the theme of a story, and identify the setting and mood of a story.
1 Student will recall and define the following words:
Plot
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Setting
Mood
Conflict: Internal vs. External
Theme
Satire

3. Vocabulary: Copy these Down!
Oppression: prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control.
Calibrated: adjust to meet a set of standards
Consternation: feelings of anxiety or dismay, typically at something unexpected
Cower: crouch down in fear.
Hindrance: a thing that provides resistance, delay, or obstruction to something or someone
Luminous: bright or shining, especially in the dark.
Synchronizing: To cause to occur or operate with exact coincidence in time or rate
Vigilance: alert watchfulness

4. Wince: A shrinking or startled movement or gesture.

5. Literary Terms
Anachronism: out of time order! Like a car in Romeo and Juliet—the writer made a mistake
Allusion: a reference to someone or something in literature, art, or history
I like big books and I cannot lie
setting : the time and place of a story
What is the setting of the story? 2081, urban city, dark, everyone is the same, strict government control

6. Literary Terms 2
Satire: a text that uses humor to illustrate a flaw in society or people
What is the author satirizing? The idea that we can all be equal. He realizes that we need to be different and appreciate our differences.
point of view: the method of narration used in a story
From what point of view is the story told? 3rd person

7. Theme Theme: the lesson or moral of the story
What is the theme of the story? We need to be individuals; if everyone is the same, we will not see improvement nor will work hard to better society

8. Pre-Reading—Write on the white board. Be prepared to share!
What would the world be like if everyone were the same—average in intelligence, talents, appearance, and strength—and not one was better than anyone else? How do you think people would feel and act toward each other? Would they be happy and satisfied? Explain!

9. Brainstorm—Table Partners!
What are advantages and disadvantages of a world where everyone is the same— exactly average? List your ideas on your white board.

10. Background—What is this about?
“Harrison Bergeron” is set in the United States in 2081, when laws require everyone to be average or handicapped into average sameness. One day, tall brilliant, 14 year-old Harrison Bergeron is arrested. He escapes and storms a TV studio. He defies the system…..but what happens to him after that????

11. Who Wrote this?...Kurt Vonnegut
Worked as a journalist
Started writing short stories in the 1940s
Discusses serious topics such as war, brutality, and fear of technology
Write dark humor and elements of fantasy that includes absurdity
Held prisoner in Germany during WWII
Critics first disliked his writing; he was accepted in the late 1970s as a star writer
Most Famous Work=Slaughter House Five

12. Utopia Vs. Dystopia Utopian Writing= creating a perfect world/society
Dystopia=a dysfunctional society

13. What is the Value of Setting?

14. Setting Time and Place (Where and When) Also includes
The citizens/characters
The weather
Background information (previous conflict, for example

15. Setting Dialogue and Dialect Modes of Transportation
Buildings/Architecture
Landscape/geographical features
Allusions (jokes, songs, literature, plays, historical events)
Clothing
Modes of Communication
Objects/Technology

16. Setting
Word Choice (Diction) and these other items in the setting help to create the mood or atmosphere of the story.

17. Difference between Mood and Tone
Tone – The author’s attitude towards the topic, situation and his audience
Mood – The feeling created in the reader (or audience)

18. You try….Grab a Note Card
1) Pick a location you enjoyed this past summer.
2) Write the name of the location
3) What is the time of day?
4) Describe who else is with you or around you.
5) Describe the weather.
6) Previous encounters, conflicts, feelings towards the location
7) Describe the building/surroundings.

19. Let’s Evaluate the setting
TIME and PLACE
IMPORTANT DETAILS
(Include at least five details.)
FACTS or CONCLUSIONS DRAWN about the location, the characters, and the story –Focus should be on setting/location first!
MOOD CREATED
And support (Provide at least three words or phrases that support this mood.)
Mood:
Support:

20. Follow Up Assignment
Visual: Create a visual (drawing or collage of several drawings or three scenes of anime/comic strip. . . ) that depicts the scene described in your group’s assigned passage. Complete the visual on the back of this paper or on a separate sheet of blank copy paper.

21. Narrative Hook
A narrative hook (or hook) is a literary technique in the opening of a story that "hooks" the reader's attention so that he or she will keep on reading. The "opening" may consist of several paragraphs for a short story, or several pages for a novel, but ideally it is the opening sentence.

22. Inciting Incident Begins the action
A plot point in the first act which disturbs the life of the protagonist and sets them in pursuit of an objective..

23. Conflict/ Types of Conflicts
Conflict = The struggle or problem for the protagonist
Internal
Man vs. Himself (internal struggle, what should do, or split personality)
External
Man vs. Man (hero vs. villain, physical fight, mental play)
Man vs. Society (Anthem, rebelling vs. societal expectations, Katniss in the Hunger Games)
Man vs. Machine/Technology (Terminator, I Robot, 9)
Man vs. Nature (Survivor shows, vs. animals or natural events/disasters; Hatchet)
Man vs. Supernatural (Charmed; Percy Jackson; Harry Potter; Ghost Busters; Goosebumps)
Man vs. Fate

24. Complications = Rising Action on Plot Diagram
The events during which the protagonist attempts to solve the problem. The events or “complications” then get in the way of the solution.
Build suspense

25. Climax The highest point of suspense in the story.
This point should still be a question – We are wondering which way it will turn out. (The answer to the question is then the resolution)

26. Falling Action
Events that occur after the Climax (or highest point of suspense) and lead to the Resolution (solution to the problem). Often times, there are no to few events in the falling action of a very short story.

27. Resolution
The end to the central conflict (the solution to the problem). This does not mean that it always ends favorably for the protagonist.
Periodically a story leaves you hanging at the Climax and does not provide either an answer or solution to the conflict.