Undertaking the Journey of Identity: Tutorial

What is the meaning of theme?

• an idea that grabs the reader’s attention at the start of a story

• an underlying message that is present throughout a narrative

• the personality of the different characters in a narrative

• the time or era in which a particular narrative takes place

Wordiness refers to the excessive use of words to express an idea. Which sentence illustrates wordiness?

• Mr. Butler went quickly to the furniture store to make payments for the sofa he had purchased from the store during the week prior to this one.

• Mr. Butler rushed to the furniture store to pay for the sofa he bought last week.

• Mr. Butler rushed to the furniture store in order to pay for the sofa he bought last week.

• Mr. Butler went quickly to the furniture store to pay for the sofa he bought last week.

What is descriptive language?

• language that is excessively wordy and descriptive

• language that is flowery and includes complex sentences

• language that depicts characters and events vividly

• language that is easiest to grasp and follow in a narrative

What is the meaning of perspective?

• the use of expressive language to provide vivid and more realistic descriptions to the reader

• the beliefs on which the central character chooses to base decisions

• how authors grab the reader’s attention at the beginning and maintain it throughout the story

• the information a reader gathers based on the personality, background, and position of a character

Read this excerpt from “A Horseman in the Sky” by Ambrose Bierce. Which type of point of view does the narrative portray?

An officer of the Federal force, who in a spirit of adventure or in quest of knowledge had left the hidden bivouac in the valley, and with aimless feet had made his way to the lower edge of a small open space near the foot of the cliff, was considering what he had to gain by pushing his exploration further. At a distance of a quarter-mile before him, but apparently at a stone's throw, rose from its fringe of pines the gigantic face of rock, towering to so great a height above him that it made him giddy to look up to where its edge cut a sharp, rugged line against the sky. It presented a clean, vertical profile against a background of blue sky to a point half the way down, and of distant hills, hardly less blue, thence to the tops of the trees at its base. Lifting his eyes to the dizzy altitude of its summit the officer saw an astonishing sight—a man on horseback riding down into the valley through the air!

• first person

• third-person objective

• second person

• third-person omniscient

A short story is ...

• a fictional story which is more than 1,600 words and less than 20,000.

• a narrative work of fiction published in book form.

• a piece of writing in which the words are chosen for their beauty and sound and are carefully arranged, often in short lines which rhyme.

• a paper that provides information on a specific topic.

Because finding one’s identity is a difficult task, many authors examine this idea in literature. This examination is often revealed as the ________ or the underlying message that recurs in a story.

• plot

• theme

• conflict

• setting

A narrative point of view is ______ while a perspective is ______ .

• a method of narration that authors use / a specific attitude toward something

• a specific attitude toward something / a method of narration that authors use