Section: ReadingDate:

Heading: Short Story Introductions – Part 1: Understanding Exposition

Part 1 Directions:

  • Read each of the following “beginnings” to the short stories we are about to read in this unit.
  • Highlight or underline important details that indicate the exposition (background information, setting details, aspects of character, etc.) and annotate in the margins.
  • Circle all words that strike you as unusual, intriguing, and/or precise.
  • Respond to the questions that follow each selection. Be specific. CITE EVIDENCE!
  • For Part F, use the directions below to fill in the blanks of the template:

Sample for “The Book of Sand”

In the opening of his _____1______short story “The Book of Sand,” Jorge Luis Borges uses _____2_____ diction to introduce _____3______. Using words such as _____4______, Borges reveals _____5______, leading the reader to understand that _____6_____.

  1. Include an appropriate personal response. Show that you are engaged in this story.
  2. Be deliberate. Use a specific, well-chosen word to describe the type of diction used.
  3. Demonstrate insight into the opening. State clearly what is being introduced in this opening.
  4. Be precise. Provide clear “evidence” from the text to demonstrate your point.
  5. Be clear in your assessment of what is being revealed.
  6. Assert an interpretation. Provide a phrase or clause that clearly says what you think the author is trying to suggest for this story.

1. Jorge Luis Borges’ “The Book of Sand”

The line is made up of an infinite number of points; the plane, of an infinite number of lines; the volume, of an infinite number of planes; the hypervolume, of an infinite number of volumes…. No, unquestionably this is not—more geometrico—the best way of beginning my story. To claim that it is true is nowadays the convention of every made-up story. Mine, however, is true.

I live alone in a fourth-floor apartment on Belgrano Street, in Buenos Aires. Late one evening, a few months back, I heard a knock at my door. I opened it and a stranger stood there. He was a tall man, with nondescript features—or perhaps it was my myopia that made them seem that way. Dressed in gray and carrying a gray suitcase in his hand, he had an unassuming look about him. I saw at once that he was a foreigner. At first, he struck me as old; only later did I realize that I had been misled by his thin blond hair, which was, in a Scandinavian sort of way, almost white. During the course of our conversation, which was not to last an hour, I found out that he came from the Orkneys.

I invited him in, pointing to a chair. He paused awhile before speaking. A kind of gloom emanated from him—as it does now from me.

  1. What do we learn about the setting?
  1. What do we learn about the characters?
  1. How does this passage build suspense?
  1. What is the tone of this passage?
  1. What do you think will happen next, based upon this introduction? Explain.
  1. Fill in the blanks:

In the opening of his ______short story “The Book of Sand,” Jorge Luis Borges uses ______diction to introduce ______. Using words such as ______Borges reveals ______, leading the reader to understand that ______.

2. W.D. Wetherell’s “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant”

There was a summer in my life when the only creature that seemed lovelier to me than a largemouth bass was Sheila Mant. I was fourteen. The Mants had rented the cottage next to ours on the river; with their parties, their frantic games of softball, their constant comings and goings, they appeared to me denizens of a brilliant existence. “Too noisy by half,” my mother quickly decided, but I would have given anything to be invited to one of their parties, and when my parents went to bed I would sneak through the woods to their hedge and stare enchanted at the candlelit swirl of white dresses and bright, paisley skirts.

  1. What do we learn about the setting?
  1. What do we learn about the characters?
  1. How does this passage build suspense?
  1. What is the tone of this passage?
  1. What do you think will happen next, based upon this introduction? Explain.
  1. Fill in the blanks:

In the opening of his ______short story “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant,” W.D. Wetherell uses ______diction to introduce ______. Using words such as ______Wetherell reveals ______, leading the reader to understand that ______.

3. Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations”

He was not alone.

There was nothing to indicate the fact but the white hand of the tiny gauge on the board before him. The control room was empty but for himself; there was no sound other than the murmur of the drives—but the white hand had moved. It had been on zero when the little ship was launched from the Stardust; now, an hour later, it had crept up. There was something in the supply closet across the room, it was saying, some kind of a body that radiated heat.

It could be but one kind of a body—a living, human body.

  1. What do we learn about the setting?
  1. What do we learn about the characters?
  1. How does this passage build suspense?
  1. What is the tone of this passage?
  1. What do you think will happen next, based upon this introduction? Explain.
  1. Fill in the blanks:

In the opening of his ______short story “The Cold Equations,” Tom Godwin uses ______diction to introduce ______. Using words such as ______Godwin reveals ______, leading the reader to understand that ______.

Section: ReadingDate:

Heading:Short Story Introductions – Part Two: Understanding Exposition

Part 2ADirections:Fill in the three-columned chart. Compare and/or contrast the openings of these three stories. Think about HOW each author opened the story and what word choices each author made. Choose three categories to compare and/or contrast (Example categories: setting, characters, suspense, tone, etc.) and record the category in the first column. Then add specific details about each story based upon the opening.

Category / “The Book of Sand” / “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant” / “The Cold Equations”

Part 2B Directions:Open Response

  1. Createa thesis statement that compares and/or contrasts two of the three short stories. Focus on writing style and technique, NOT on theme or content.

Example Thesis:

The opening of Tom Godwin’s short story “The Cold Equations” is more suspenseful than the opening of W.D. Wetherell’s short story “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant” due to the unique setting and choice of details.

  1. Write a paragraph that supports your thesis statement. Use TEST-paragraph format:
  • Topic sentence: Use your thesis statement.
  • Evidence: Include specific details to support your thesis statement. Add textual evidence (a.k.a. quotations).
  • Summary sentence: Wrap up your paragraph by emphasizing what you are trying to prove.
  • Transition: Don’t forget to include a transitional word or phrase. Perhaps, this could be added to the beginning of your summary sentence (therefore, thus, etc.).