Part1. you’re going to provide feedback on your three classmates’ drafts. Please review the directions above on how to give peer critique and the numbered items I have below.(150words each)
I’m not concerned with your titles, minor punctuation errors, or your grammar so you don’t need to write about that! Instead, focus on larger, structural issues such as:
1. Are there two characters who know each other?
2. Is the conflict evident? What’s the story about?
3. What’s driving the story? Does the story begin in media res, which leads to why today? What is different about today than any other day? Some things to think about: If the story covers a large amount of time, does it need to? Can the story be told in a shorter amount of time? Can the crux of the story exist over an afternoon? Over dinner? Do you need all the zipping from one place to another?
4. What is at stake in this story? That is, what is the character risking with his/her/their actions or behavior? A marriage or relationship? A job? Their house? Something needs to be at-stake externally.
5. Is the main character active or passive? Does the main character only observe the action or does s/he/they participate–say things, move around–in the story?
6. Does the writer effectively use sensory detail? Can you picture the setting? What’s the most memorable image and why? Are strong, colorful verbs used?
7. Are there cliches or stereotypes in the story? Be gentle, but direct when pointing them out.
8. Is the story in first person or limited third? Do you only go into the head/thoughts/feelings of the main character (first & third limited) or does the narrator shift the POV, going into the head/thoughts/feelings of more than one character (omniscient)? Remember, the story should be told either in first or limited third.
Part2. Post your summary of John Cheever’s story using the summary evaluation. Turn your summary + one of your other paragraphs of analysis into turn it in. (150 words)
SUMMARY EVALUATION
1. Authors name + Title of the text
2. Main topic of text is paraphrased (Topic is the literal, concrete sequence of events)
3. Main purpose of text is paraphrased (Purpose is what the story’s themes are)
4. Summary is 2-4 sentences long
5. Summary is in your own words (no quotations)
6. Vivid and precise verbs & transitions are used
7. Proofread
8. An author is always referred to by their last name (Gilman) not first (Charlotte)
Part 2-1. In about 150 words, try to map Ned’s conflict and how Cheever shows us Ned’s conflict. To do this, name his conflict. Then, analyze how Cheever shows Ned’s conflict by analzying the setting (weather, pool details, Ned’s mood, etc) at some of the pool’s in the beginning compared to a few of the pools later.
There is harmony–by harmony I mean Ned is in harmony with his environment and the people in it–in the beginning, but the weather changes as the story progresses.
Be sure to do some citing from the text.
