Portable+Phonograph

LINK TO PRESENTATION: https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AeiCE_823Vm-ZHQ0Zm41ZF8waGtwc203Z2Q&hl=en_US

Point of View: Limited Omniscient (third person)

Protagonist: The Musician

What type of character is the Protagonist? He's round because he has a couple of recognizable traits of humanity, and static. He doesn't show any change.

Antagonist: Himself, his painful past, his longing for pleasant memories

Describe the setting It is in the future. In a Dug out in an old war zone. There is not society, there is no urban parts, just past war remnants. The setting could be viewd as post-apocolyptic. The overall mood of the story is brokenness... hopelessness.

Type of Conflict: Man vs. Self

Describe the main conflict: The musician is having a hard time recalling the music, and is having a very painful experience trying to concentrate on it.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The old man puts some music on the Phonograph and the young musician, can not remember any of the songs. He can't recall any memories associated with the song, and he is struggling internally with the pain and suffering he has gone through and which is causing him grief now. All he can focus on is the music its' self.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? He seems to go from being happy, and honoured that he is able to listen to one of the records (and even with a real needle) to going through a quite painful experience and leaving sort of empty.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. The Phonograph is one of the main aspects of the story, and in the end, one can make the assumption that the young musician was tempted to steal it, which would kind of make is portable.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The man thought that because HE was a musician, and believed that he had the worst life, he needed to take the phonograph for himself, instead of treasuring it with friends, and savoring what beauty, they have left from before the war.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? The climax is when the man put the music on the phonograph, and all of the men were cherishing the music besides the musician.

Give examples of each of the following literary terms in the story (use quotes): Simile: "the the mouth of a mine tunnel"

Personification: "They were the scars of gigantic bombs," (the ground can't really have scars.)

Symbol: "The four stars flying" seem to be a symbol for hope.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): "at that very moment he heard what he had been listening for, the sound of supressed coughing." Gives the reader a hint that the mysterious sound in the bush is the musician, coming back to take the phonograph.

Irony: The fact that the musician, was the on who couldn't remember the music, and couldn't link any memories to the music. All he could hear was the literal music, itself.

Imagery: "The wet, blue-green notes tinkled forth from the machine..."

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. The overall theme, is How people react to change and what people do in better, or worse circumstances. Kind of like how the best people are most beautiful when they are surrounded by ugliness. And humanity is basically, being a mirror of others humanity, and vise-versa.

1.When is this story set? What has recently happened? The story is set in the future, in a post-apocalyptic world. A large, devistating war just ended.

2.What is the purpose of the men's meeting? Why does the author compare the unwrapping of the book bundle to a ceremonial rite?t The men were getting together to in a way, get away from all of the distruction, and try to reminisce the life they had before. The unwrapping of the book bundle was so ceremonial, because usually, books are not thought of as something super special or unordinary. The men were so greatful to have books to read and enjoy, when everything else had been lost.

3.What is the significance of the books that were saved? Why are there no recent works of fiction included? Shakespeare- a classic author, poet, and play-write was the very beginning of modern literature The Bible- a very sacred book of rules, stories, and helpful virtues for christians Moby Dick- A classic story about a whale The Divine Comedy- an epic poem written by an Italian guy in the 1300's, about life and death

All books were classics, and all had something that they could enjoy or ponder, to take their mind off of the war. There are no recent works of fiction included because this story is set in the 1940's.

4.a) What do you think is the significance of Dr.Jenkins clutching the pipe at the end? It represents how bad of a state the characters and the rest of the world are in, and how savage everyone has gone from losing almost everything.

b) What do you think might happen next? Discuss, using references from the story. I can make an educated guess, that from the ending of the story (Dr.Jenkins hearing coughing, then grabbing his lead pipe) that next, the young musician would creep in, and attempt taking Dr.Jenkins phonograph, Dr.J would put up a fight, and the musician would explain to him his thoughts about going through a tougher time that him, and then push Dr.J out of the way, and take the phonograph for himself.

COMPLETION 5/5 EFFORT 4.5/5 CONTENT 4/5 QUESTIONS 8/8 TOTAL 21.5/23

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