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FACULTY OF EDUCATION

JANUARY/ 2017

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INTRODUCTION TO NOVELS AND SHORT STORIES

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LEARNING CENTRE : SEREMBAN

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CONTENTS PAGES

TASK A 3-5

TASK B 6-9

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A) Short stories

A flat character is a type of character in fiction that does not change too much from the start
of the narrative to its end. Flat characters are often said not to have any emotional depths.E. M.
Foster has discussed some features of flat characters in his book “Aspects of the Novel.”
According to him, a flat character is a simple character, shown by the authors having just one or
two qualities, which almost remain the same throughout the story and do not undergo significant
growth or changes. Besides, audience also does not know much about such characters, because
writers do not provide detailed information about them.

In Romeo and Juliet is an Aristotelian tragedy because the action revolves around the story,
not the characters.  In other words, they are more or less at the mercy of the story rather than
making their own choices.  We see this in the very beginning of the way.  Shakespeare lets us
know, so there can be no mistake.  He tells us that Romeo and Juliet are “star-cross'd,” so we
know that they were fated to be together.  However, their families also hate each other, so they
are fated to heartache and tragedy.

Aristotle wrote in Poetics that a real tragedy was all-encompassing, larger than life, and
incredibly dramatic.  In this play, we have two families that, for reasons no one can really
remember, hate each other so much that their servants can’t even pass each other in the streets
without a bloodbath threatening to break out.

I would describe Paris as a flat character. As suitor to Juliet he is a polite and courteous
gentleman. As befits his social position as kinsman to Prince Escalus, Paris is an equitable match
for Juliet. There is no reason to suggest that there is any other path for Juliet other than to accept
his proposal. He does not change in his demeanour and is loyal to her even after death. In the
final scene he takes flowers to her grave and vows to return each night to her -

Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew 

(O woe! thy canopy is dust and stones) 
Which with sweet water nightly I will dew; 

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Or, wanting that, with tears distill'd by moans.

The obsequies that I for thee will keep 
Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep.

In addition, Paris's language says: "I'm a stiff and lacking in passion." Notice how rhythmic and
sing-songy his words are? How they rhyme in a tight, closed off, heroic couplet, almost like he
Googled "How to mourn your dead fiancée?" Yeah, there's no way that Paris would die for
Juliet. He's probably already crossing her name of his "Girls To Marry" list and moving on to
next candidate.
Meanwhile, here's Romeo:

The time and my intents are savage-wild

More fierce and more inexorable far
Than empty tigers or the roaring sea. (5.3.37-39)
Romeo is furious over Juliet's death, and eloquent in his fury. He won't drip a few tears on
Juliet's grave and then go home to bed. Unlike Paris, this guy is a passionate lover. (Oh, by the
way? This isn't Shmoop's idea—and unlike Shakespeare, we like to give credit where credit's
due.)
An actor can make Paris seem like a total jerk, or like a sympathetic nice guy who just
happened to get caught in somebody else's love story. In Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film Romeo +
Juliet, Paul Rudd plays Paris as, well, Paul Rudd: a handsome but undeniably dorky guy. (Paul
Rudd, call us!) His dance with Juliet at the Capulet ball is very awkward—he starts swing
dancing a little—and Juliet keeps looking at Romeo and making "this is awkward" faces. (We
should point out that in Shakespeare's text, Paris doesn't actually show up to the Capulet ball as
expected.)
Paris's dialogue with Juliet in Friar Laurence's church can make him seem either a little
clueless or a complete fool. Paris thinks Juliet is upset over Tybalt's death—he has no idea that
she's already married to Romeo and that the prospect of marrying him makes her physically ill.
It's easy to make some of Paris's lines seem overbearing and arrogant. He greets her with the
cringe-worthy, "Happily met, my lady and my wife" (4.1.18).
Later, when he looks at Juliet more closely, he tells her, "Poor soul, thy face is much abused with
tears" (4.1.30). Just when we're aww-ing about how sweet that sounds, she tells him that her face

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was bad enough to begin with and he reprimands her with, "Thy face is mine, and thou hast
slandered it" (4.1.36). Hmm, sounds like someone has a real sense of ownership toward his
fiancée. His possessive attitude towards Juliet—especially laying claim to her face as his own—
could come across as creepy, spoiled, and chauvinistic.
Unless, that is, an actor plays these lines as earnest and well-meaning. Paris, after all, has no
reason to believe that Juliet doesn't love him and isn't excited about their marriage. In this
interpretation, Paris's confidence in their marriage comes across as pathetic rather than
obnoxious. Either way, though, the "holy kiss" that Paris gives Juliet at the end of the scene is
painful for everybody. Seriously, it's so formal and stiff that we almost can't bear to watch it—
which is basically how we feel about all of Paris's scenes.

The nurse can be considered a flat character.  Her purpose in the play is to help Romeo
and Juliet get married.  She is Juliet's closest confidant, and she meets with Romeo on her behalf
to arrange the marriage time and place. But she is more comic relief than a fleshed-out character.

Another flat character is Benvolio.  He is the same throughout the entire play, solid,
temperate, and loyal.  The irony is that others accuse him of being hot-tempered and wild, when
they are the hot-tempered ones. This is a classic Shakespearean character type. A way in which
you can show these flat characters through text is by comparing early and later dialogue. For
example, compare Benvolio's reaction to the first street fight and his attempt to stop the deadly
duel between Mercutio and Tybalt.

Moreover, without friar Laurence in the play Romeo and Juliet would not have been
married. If this event had not taken place, Juliet would not have as much of a dilemma as she
does now about marrying Paris publicly. She feels like she would betray Romeo if she marries
Paris because she is already married to Romeo. Yet without friar Laurence's deed, the guilt of
marrying Paris would not be as apparent. This guilt inside of Juliet is internal conflict. She does
not know whether to deny Romeo or her parents and so, again, friar Laurence intervenes and
creates a loophole for Juliet to escape. 

Task B

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Novel: The pearl by John Steinbeck

Dreams and hopes for better living conditions are quite frequent in John Steinbeck's
literary works. In the Pearl, Kino and his concubine Juana are in such dire straits, that they
strongly believe that only the pearl of the world could lift them from poverty upto a middle-class
position. They could not imagine that poverty as well as wealth are respectively sources of
misfortunes and calamities. While living in poverty, they face many problems caused by the
scorpion's stinging of their beloved Coyotito and the doctor's refusal to cure the baby because of
the couple's moneyless situation After finding the pearl of the world, the couple's hopes for a
better livelyhood are turned into calamities by stonehearted buyers, who have put their heads
together to cheat him, and criminal robbers that Kino has been obliged to murder. While running
away to go to the town where he hopes to sell the pearl, his son is killed by one of the trackers.
Then, Kino and Juana stoically return to their community to throw the pearl back into the ocean
and face their destinies

Poverty: The Source of Misfortunes. The novella starts with the morning hours, with the stars
still shining, the crowing of cockerels, as well as the singing of birds. Such beautiful moments
may also symbolize the hope for a beautiful life or the dreams of better conditions of existence
for Kino and Juana who have been in a harsh situation of poverty for such a long time. The quiet
atmosphere in their hut, where their beloved son is still sleeping, expresses the sense of nobility
of the young couple, despite the uncertainty of their future, full of flying dreams like birds: «
Kino watched some birds flying towards the hills. The world was awake now » (Steinbeck, 10).
Despite their reduced circumstances, Juana and Kino look happy according to Steinbeck, but that
definitely signifies a relative happiness or rather a quiet life with no ambitions because they are
imprisoned in acute poverty. To prove that the moment of happiness is imaginary or fictional, the
relative peaceful atmosphere and quietness quickly turns into a moment of danger and
powerlessness due to a scorpion threating to sting their child. Something moved on one of the
ropes. Kino and Juana stood quite still and looked. A scorpion was coming slowly down the rope
and its tail was straight out behind. A scorpion’s tail has a sting in the end, a sting that kills
(Steinbeck, 10). That immediate danger, after the sweet moment of the early morning, reminds

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the reader that Kino and Juana live in a situation of dire straits, where poverty does not only
mean lack of money, but also danger and inability to stop it because of want of proper means :
Kino stood still and moved his hands forward very slowly. The scorpion’s tail bent over
again. At that moment, Coyotito touched the rope and the scorpion fell. Kino put his hand
forward very quickly, but the scorpion fell past Kino’s fingers, onto the baby’s shoulder. The
scorpion stung Coyotito (Steinbeck, 11). From a moment of relative happiness, the couple is now
plunged into the sad reality of their daily lives made of misfortune, powerlessness, lack of
money, while becoming the cynosures of the other villagers who do not react out of sympathy,
but rather out of curiosity and meanness. In fact, the screams of the baby cause the neighbors to
assemble in Kino’s house, not to offer any real help, but to learn about what has happened to the
family.
Only Juana’s prompt reaction through the sucking of the poison out of the baby
momentarily saves it from dying right away. However, the expertise of a physician is highly
necessary for Coyotito to survive. How could they pay for the doctor’s services, since they have
got no money? Poverty, in John Steinbeck’s opinion confines some people, like Kino and his
concubine, in the realm of inhumanity where their lives are worthless; and the wealthy, like the
doctor, do not care about them. Because of their poverty, they understand that the doctor will not
go to their place to cure the stung baby. Going to the physician’s surgery remains then, the only
possibility left to them. Although, they know in advance the answer that the doctor will give
them, they nevertheless decide to visit him, followed by the curious neighbors and gossipers.
Even the beggars notice the couple’s extreme poverty and they are also eager to witness the
disillusionment that Kino and Juana are going to experience at the physician’s:

The beggars in front of the church looked at Kino and Juana. The beggars looked at Juana’s
old, blue skirt and the holes in her shawl. They looked at Kino’s old blanket. They could see that
Kino was poor. The beggars followed because they wanted to see what was going to happen
(Steinbeck, 14).

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Prospective Wealth: The Source of Calamities. No sooner had Kino found the pearl of the
world than everybody in the village was aware of it. Even the beggars, the buyers and all Kino’s
neighbors look forward to having their shares in that treasury. Consequently, the greediest ones
think of possessing it for themselves, in order to turn their own dreams into actualities.
Obviously, the obstacle of Kino has to be eliminated for the fulfilment of such ambitions:‘’the
pearl became part of everyone’s wishes and needs. Only one man stopped these people from
having the pearl. That man was Kino. And so Kino became everyone’s enemy’’ (Steinbeck,25)

Thus with the possession of the pearl, Kino is turned into the first public foe in the village
because of the prospective money that could be obtained from its sale. Such an idea has already
generated hostile feelings towards the courageous fisherman. Steinbeck even compares the pearl
to something black and bad, in other words, the scorpion that has stung the baby and brought all
the present hardships to the couple’s lives. The pearl seems to have poison in it, like the scorpion
and this time, Kino, Juana and Coyotito himself are going to be ‘’stung’’ by the pearl and
undergo much pain and suffering. However, Kino seems to be ready to bear all the calamities to
reach the prospective wealth embedded in the pearl :‘’He believes that the pearl will be the only
chance to become rich enough to get what he wants and restore his pride. For Kino, getting out
of poverty and overcoming ignorance are short cuts to the freedom and self-esteem essential for
human beings(Kyoko,88). In fact with the discovery of the pearl, Kino contemplates the
possibilities of purchasing a rifle, new clothes for the whole family, but most importantly
sending Coyotito to school to be educated in order to fulfill his father’s own personal dream:
Coyotito’s education will make the Indians free, a social, political and economic sophistication,
new clothes and a church wedding will give Kino and Juana position and respectability, again a
social sophistication ; the rifle will give Kino power, an intellectual sophistication (Harry, 491).

Colonial Society’s Oppression Of Native Cultureon of the themein this novel.

The doctor who refuses to save Coyotito’s life at the beginning of the novel because Kino lacks
the money to pay him represents colonial arrogance and oppression. Snide and condescending,
the doctor displays an appallingly limited and self-centered mind-set that is made frightening by
his unshakable belief in his own cultural superiority over Kino, and by the power that he holds to

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save or destroy lives. Steinbeck implicitly accuses the doctor’s entire colonial society of such
destructive arrogance, greed, and ambition. The European colonizers that govern Kino and the
native people are shown to bring about the destruction of the native society’s innocence, piety,
and purity.

Throughout the novel, whenever Kino has a particularly powerful feeling or instinct, he
hears a song in his head that corresponds to that feeling. When he is happy with his family in
Chapter 1, for instance, he hears the Song of the Family. When he senses malice or dishonesty,
he hears the Song of Evil. These songs point to the oral nature of Kino’s cultural tradition. The
ancient, familiar songs, presumably handed down from generation to generation, occupy such a
central place in how Kino’s people perceive themselves that the songs actually give form to their
inner feelings. Kino is much less likely to become aware of the sensation of wariness than he is
to hear the Song of Danger in his head. Similarly, he is much less likely to take action because of
his own conscious judgment than because he associates the song with a certain kind of urgent
behavior in relation to the outside world. The songs also point to Steinbeck’s original conception
of The Pearl as a film project; in a motion picture, the songs could be played out loud for the
audience to hear and thus function as recurring motifs and melodies that would underscore the
story’s themes.

John Steinbeck’s The Pearl is a simple story, well told and, at the same time, a very
interesting work of fiction with powerful messages to mankind. The world of the Pearl is one of
greed, lust, envy, mere wickedness and illusory wealth that cast a slur on human relationships.
Steinbeck has managed to highlight that poverty is one condition of unhappiness among others,
especially when people, in dire straits, are confronted with social hardships such as finding
money to pay for a doctor to cure suffering