The+Portable+Phonograph

Short Stories - Literary Devises

Title: The Portable Phonograph

Point of View: Third Person.

Protagonist: Dr. Jenkins. What type of character is the Protagonist? The protagonist is a round character.

Antagonist: Himself and the musician.

Describe the setting The story is in a wasteland in the prairies during the future after a war. It starts in the evening and goes throughout the night in cold times. The mood is sad and rejected and lonely.

Type of Conflict: man vs.self, man vs. man.

Describe the main conflict: The main conflict is how the man must fight himself to hold on to humanity and not to get too paranoid to hurt someone over an object that he thinks might be stolen.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The climax of the story is when the men leave and Dr. Jenkins think that he hears a cough and thinks that he sees a shadow. He thinks that the musician will steal his only way of clinging to humanity and so becomes somewhat paranoid.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? The protagonist begins very generous towards his friends because he is willing to use a steel needle when that could wear out the disc and that is his piece of humanity. Then he becomes more greedy and proud near the end of the story when he is so obsessed with his music that he hides it in his wall and he listens for the musician because he thinks he would steal it. He is proud of his phonograph and displays when the men give him thanks.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme.

The theme is of how the men try to hold on to humanity. The portable phonograph is an attempt at holding on to humanity because it is a wonderful piece of art and it shows a kinder, less savage world. They try to hold on to humanity through the portable phonograph.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The men cling to humanity by keeping works of art. In their heads, they believe that those pieces of art will help keep them human but they become obsessessed with humanity and they want the art. So it is an internal struggle over keeping their humanity. The main conflict is internal and so is the theme.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? The climax helps because it shows of when the musician couldn't contain himself, his want for humanity was so great that he was willing to steal the phonograph from the man, savagely. The theme of the want for humanity is demonstrated when Dr. Jenkins goes to all measures to protect it and the musician is willing to steal it.

Give examples of each of the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):

Simile: "narrow black clouds across it like threats"

Metaphor: "the veil of the suk"

Personification: "mute darkness"

Symbol: "young trees trying again"- this symbolizes that after all the war and tragedy, life goes on.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): It says that there was a world war that was devastating and that foreshadows that the men will most likely be quite poor and living like animals which they are. The cough of the musician from the darkness foreshadows that he might be trying to steal the phonograph and then it foreshadows by the way the man loves his phonograph and books that he will go to all measures to protect it. The musician foreshadows that he will be the one most desperate for the music because he is a musician.

Irony:

It is ironic that the musician who loves music and plays music is the only one who does not seem in pain while listening to the music. It is ironic that the musician is the sickest man there when he is also the youngest.

Imagery: "In the road in places, there were crusts of shallow, brittle ice."

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. The class theme and this story have everything to do with eachother. The entire story is about humanity and wanting to hold on to their piece of humanity. The theme is about holding on to their humanity. Humanity is what was destroyed in this story after the war. Humanity is what the works of art are thought to represent. If humanity wasn't a part of this story, there would be no story.

__**Responding**__ 1. The story is set in a war stricken time when a horrible world war is over. It happens in the cold because of everything frozen all over the ground. There is a sensation of torment and you can feel the violence of the upper air. The story is set during the evening and night. You can see the toothed impressions of tanks in the mud. There are pits because of bombs everywhere. There are portions of barbed wire fence in places. There are sheltered hollows as well. The place is in horrible condition and everywhere there is tragedy.

2. The purpose of the meeting is the men are having a ceremonial rite from the past. They are doing this to reclaim their humanity after the war. The author compares it to a ceremonial rite because they feel as though dr. Jenkins keeping the books and the phonograph was what would keep a little soul left in him when he dies even after the devastating war. It was his way of holding on to the past and to hold on the soul of what was good in humans. Mechanical fools ruled them and that is why they hold on to what was good by use of a ceremonial rite.

3. The books are of great significance because they are books of soul without too much soul. They are works of art in which is made easier to hold on to their soul. There are no recent works of fiction because that would be holding on to the new world which as humans was not what was good in them but the older world before everybody became mechanical fools, had good in it like these very old books. These sold books are what was good in humanity and newer works of fiction would be what is the now version of humanity; souless.

4. a) I think that it is of great significance that Dr. Jenkins goes to bed clutching a lead pipe because it shows how desperate and how much he loves his pieces of art that he would hurt someone who was his friend. He wants some soul so he would destroy anything in his path if it meant keeping his objects even kill a man. b) I think that the musician would attempt to steal the phonograph and records but won't succeed because it is hidden and I suspect that the old man would leap upon him and attack with the lead pipe. I think this because it foreshadows it when the musician waits for the man to go to bed and he hides in the shadows. It also foreshadows this when the old man takes all measures to protect it and he faces the door with a lead pipe in hand.

Completion 5/5 Effort 5/5 Content 5/5 Questions 8/8

total 23/23

Google Presentation: https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AXSv8ytpnKP6ZGNiZjl4N3hfMWZzbng0aGhy&hl=en_US One of your partners has the breakdown of the rubric score for your presentation.