Wednesday, December 5 ~ Short Story #5

EQ: Why is the setting so important when reading/writing a short story?


GRAMMAR

Apostrophe Practice

TODAY

Short Story #5

There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury

Journal 25
Part 1 - Who's the author?

Take some bullet point notes on Bradbury.
Bradbury Bio


Part 2 - As You Read

1. Create a chart on a piece of paper. The chart should include the following:
   • three columns
     1. Label column 1 Time of Day.
     2. Label column 2 What Seems Ordinary?
     3. Label column 3 What Seems Unusual?
2. As you read the story, find five examples where Bradbury explicitly gives the time.
3. Write the time in the left hand column.
4. Write what seems ordinary in the middle column. Use as many specific details as possible.
5. Write what seems unusual in the right column. Use as many specific details as possible.

Part 3 - Writing

Thesis: In “There Will Come Soft Rains”, Bradbury uses setting to establish the premise of the story.

• In a paragraph, analyze the setting by comparing what seems normal to what seems unusual.
• Be sure to use specific details from the story to support your opinions.

Part 4 - Did you know?

Bradbury's story is influenced by a poem written by Sara Teasdale.

The story takes its title from her poem. In Teasdale's poem "There Will Come Soft Rains", Teasdale envisions an idyllic post-apocalyptic world in which nature continues peacefully, beautifully, and indifferently after the extinction of humankind.

There Will Come Soft Rains

Sara Teasdale, 1884 - 1933

(War Time)

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, 
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white,

Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone. 

Prompt (Two paragraphs - Intro. and one body)

Compare and contrast the authors’ themes in Sara Teasdale’s poem and Ray Bradbury’s short story "There Will Come Soft Rains". After comparing and contrasting explain why the author included the poem within his short story. Compose an argument and support your claims with valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence from the text, including direct quotes with page and line numbers. Use specific details from both works to support your answer.

Journal 25 is due Monday, December 10.