Reading Fiction: Short Stories

and Novel
J.C. Macatangay, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Opening Prayer
 Lord Jesus, I come before you, just as I am, I am sorry for my sins, I
repent of my sins, please forgive me. In your Name, I forgive all others
for what they have done against me. I renounce Satan, the evil spirits
and all their works. I give you my entire self, Lord Jesus, now and
forever. I invite you into my life, Jesus. I accept you as my Lord, God
and Savior. Heal me, change me, strengthen me in body, soul, and
spirit.
 Come Lord Jesus, cover me with your Precious Blood, and fill me with
your Holy Spirit. I love you Lord Jesus. I praise you Jesus. I thank you
Jesus. I shall follow you every day of my life. Amen.
 Recite Our Father
 Mary, My Mother, Queen of Peace, St. Peregrine, the cancer saint, St.
John Baptist de La Salle, all the Angels and Saints, please help me.
Amen.
A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Understanding Magical
Realism as a Genre of Fiction
 The Story
 “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” is a short story by
Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, first published in
1955 in the journal Casa de las Américas. The story is a
magical-realist allegory that follows the arrival of a decrepit
angel in a small coastal town.
 The townspeople’s reactions to the supernatural being divided
among reverence, skepticism, and exploitation. The story
explores themes of faith, otherness, and the nature of miracles.
 García Márquez received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982.
 The author Gabriel García Márquez

In 1982, Márquez was awarded the Nobel Prize for

Literature, making him the fourth Latin American at the time
to receive the honor.
Juan Manuel Santos, the President of Colombia, called
Márquez “the greatest Colombian who ever lived.”
Lesson Objectives
 Identify elements of magical realism in the text.
 Explain the relationship between realism and
fantasy in the story.
 Mention details from the story that make it
credible.
 Decipher the human truths revealed in the story.
Short Summary
Sequence of Events in the Story
1. An old man, face-down in the mud, who has enormous wings appeared in
a drab (pale) town in which the inhabitants lead mundane lives without
much aim or ambition.
2. Though the old man has his wings, his other attributes don’t match what
Pelayo and Elisenda expect an angel to be like.
3. Pelayo and Elisenda try to speak to the man, but he responds in an
“incomprehensible dialect” with a voice that sounds like a sailor’s.
4. While the neighbor believes that they should club the angel to death (to
beat with a large weapon) because angels are “fugitive survivors of a celestial
conspiracy,” Pelayo adopts and watches the angel through the window all
day, then locks him in the chicken coop before bedtime.
 Sequence of Events in the Story
5. A few hours later, the sick child’s appetite returns and this good
fortune makes Pelayo and Elisenda feel magnanimous. (kind/generous)
6. They decide that the next day they will put the angel on a raft
and push him out to sea. However, in the morning they find all
their neighbors crowded around the chicken coop.
7. By 7pm, the local priest, Father Gonzaga, arrives, examines him
closely and tries to speak with him in Latin, then, decides that,
despite his wings, the old man is not an authentic angel, and he
warns the townspeople about being fooled by circus tricks.
Sequence of Events in the Story
8. People flock in the place to see the strange c creature that
troops with bayonets come to disperse the crowd.
9. Greed takes over Elisenda as she senses an opportunity to make
some quick money by charging people five cents to see the old
man.
11. All sorts of people come to see the old man hoping for a
miracle, including a woman who “since childhood has been
counting her heartbeats and had run out of numbers” and “a
sleepwalker who got up at night to undo the things he had done
while awake.”
Sequence of Events in the Story
12. Pelayo and Elisenda make a lot of money from charging
admission fees: they stuff their rooms full of cash as the crowd
queues beyond the horizon.
13. Despite the stress they place him under, the old man never
shows any aggression towards the townspeople.
14. He bears everything with remarkable patience, but when he
is very distressed—he tearfully rants at the townspeople in his
incomprehensible language, flapping his wings and causing filth
and dust to go everywhere.
15. A spectacular new carnival attraction arrives in town: a
woman who has been changed into a spider.
Sequence of Events in the Story
16. Between the townspeople’s annoyance at the old man and their
distraction by the spider-woman, they stop paying much attention to the
winged old man.
17. Pelayo and Elisenda are not upset that the crowds have died down
—they’ve made enough money in that short time to build a big house.
18. Both the angel and the child come down with a case of the chicken
pox. A doctor comes to check on them and he is baffled by the angel.
19. The angel’s condition deteriorates: he doesn’t eat much, he suffers
from bad vision, and his wings are barely there anymore.
 Sequence of Events in the Story
20. But the angel survives the winter, and as the days get sunnier his
strength improves.
21. One morning, while Elisenda is cutting onions in the kitchen, she
notices the old man making clumsy attempts at flight. Though it looks
unlikely that he will succeed in taking to the air, eventually he manages
to do so, and flies off beyond the horizon.
22. As he does so, Elisenda lets out a sigh of relief—partly for him, but
mostly for her. The old man is no longer “an annoyance in her life but
an imaginary dot on the horizon of the sea”.
 What is realistic? What is fantasy?
 On the third day of rain, they had killed
so many crabs inside the house that
Pelayo had to cross his drenched
courtyard and throw them into the sea,
because the newborn child had a
temperature all night and they thought
it was due to the stench. The world had
been sad since Tuesday. Sea and
sky were a single ash-gray thing and
the sands of the beach, which on March
nights glimmered like powdered light,
had become a stew of mud and rotten
shellfish.
 Why does the story lack the explanation of the old man’s
appearance/disappearance?
 Story’s Intro Part of the story’s ending
 On the third day of rain, they had killed so But he did manage to gain altitude. Elisenda
many crabs inside the house that Pelayo had to let out a sigh of relief, for herself and for him,
cross his drenched courtyard and throw them when she watched him pass over the last
into the sea, because the newborn child had a houses, holding himself up in some way with
temperature all night and they thought it was the risky flapping of a senile vulture. She kept
due to the stench. The world had been sad since watching him even when she was through
Tuesday. Sea and sky were a single ash-gray cutting the onions and she kept on watching
thing and the sands of the beach, which on until it was no longer possible for her to see
March nights glimmered like powdered light, him, because then he was no longer an
had become a stew of mud and rotten shellfish. annoyance in her life but an imaginary dot on
The light was so weak at noon that when the horizon of the sea.
Pelayo was coming back to the house after
throwing away the crabs, it was hard for him to
see what it was that was moving and groaning
in the rear of the courtyard. He had to go very
close to see that it was an old man, a very old
man, lying face down in the mud, who, in spite
of his tremendous efforts, couldn’t get
up, impeded by his enormous wings.
 What human truth does the couple treatment of
the old man reveal?
 Elisenda, her spine all twisted
from sweeping up so much
marketplace trash, then got
the idea of fencing in the yard
and charging five cents
admission to see the angel.
In the midst of that shipwreck
disorder that made the earth
tremble, Pelayo and Elisenda were
happy with fatigue, for in less than
a week they had crammed their
rooms with money and the line of
pilgrims waiting their turn to enter
still reached beyond the horizon.
What aspect of this story seem rooted in the myth?
 She was a frightful tarantula the size of a ram and with the
head of a sad maiden. What was most heartrending,
however, was not her outlandish shape but the sincere
affliction with which she recounted the details of her
misfortune. While still practically a child she had sneaked
out of her parents’ house to go to a dance, and while she was
coming back through the woods after having danced all
night without permission, a fearful thunderclap rent the sky
in two and through the crack came the lightning bolt of
brimstone that changed her into a spider.
Magical Realism
A genre of fiction in which elements that defy the natural laws or logic are
incorporated into a realistic setting.
established form of literary style in Latin America
Gabriel Garcia Marquez = “distinctive blend of fantasy and realism” (blending
of fantasy and reality)
attempts to connect two traditions—the “low” folkloric and the “high” literary
—into a seamless - whole that embraces the extremes of Latin American culture
“uses realistic details alongside magical details”
“is a handy and recognizable way of drawing attention to the fusion of realism
with myth and fantasy”
 Characteristics of Magical Realism:

1. “The supernatural appears as normal as the daily events of

ordinary life”, i.e. the magical elements of the story appear plain and
familiar
2. Inconsistent and contradictory (ex. Appearance of angel;
Descriptions not usually associated with how people imagine angels”);
reveals distortion of reality
3. Use of the image of transformations; “Metamorphosis as a
relatively common event”
Example of Transformation or Metamorphosis
 We are introduced to the old man, “lying face down in the
mud, who, in spite of his tremendous efforts, couldn’t get up,
impeded by his enormous wings”.
 Later, after a time of, “dragging himself about here and there
like a stray dying man” the old man improves, sprouts new
wings, and flies away . In the beginning, the old man’s wings
are what keep him grounded, but by the end of the story he is
finally able to regenerate new wings and fly away.
Comprehension Questions
1. Explain why the neighbor woman, Fr. Gonzaga, and the
doctor give different interpretations of the angel.
2. In what ways does the story portray people’s gullibility?
How does Pelayo and Elisenda take advantage of the
people’s ignorance?
3. Consider the treatments of Elisenda and Pelayo and the
townspeople to the angel. What human truths do their
treatments reveal?
Summary and Analysis

 https://www.litcharts.com/lit/a-very-old-man-with-enormous-wings/summary-and-analysis
The Story of an Hour
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

 How does Mrs. Mallard defy the

expectations of women during her
time?
 Why is the story entitled “The Story
of an Hour?”
Part-by-part reading and
Analysis of the Story
 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
1. Knowing that Mrs.
Mallard was afflicted  Why is the protagonist
with a heart trouble, addressed as “Mrs.
great care was taken Mallard”?
to break to her as
gently as possible the
news of her
husband's death.
 Why do you think Josephine and Richards careful in
breaking the news to Mrs. Mallard?
 It was he who had been in the
2. It was her sister Josephine who newspaper office when
told her, in broken intelligence of the railroad
sentences; veiled hints that disaster was received, with
Brently Mallard's name leading
revealed in half concealing. Her the list of "killed." He had only
husband's friend Richards was taken the time to assure himself
there, too, near her. of its truth by a second
telegram, and had hastened to
forestall any less careful, less
tender friend in bearing the sad
message.
 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

3. She did not hear the story as
many women have heard the
same, with a paralyzed inability
to accept its significance. She
wept at once, with sudden, wild
abandonment, in her sister's
arms. When the storm of
grief had spent itself she went
away to her room alone. She
would have no one follow her.
 Why do you think Mrs.
Mallard understands
immediately her husband’s
death?
 Why do you think she wants
to be alone in her room?
 What images of freedom and repression do you find in
paragraphs 4 and 5? What do the images suggest?

4. There stood, facing the open
window, a comfortable, roomy
armchair. Into this she sank, pressed
down by a physical exhaustion that
haunted her body and seemed to
reach into her soul.
5. She could see in the open square before
her house the tops of trees that were all
aquiver with the new spring life.
The delicious breath of rain was in the air.
In the street below a peddler
was crying his wares. The notes of a
distant song which some one was singing
reached her faintly, and countless
sparrows were twittering in the eaves.
 What is unusual about the emphasis on spring given the
events of the story?
5. She could see in the open
square before her house the tops
of trees that were all aquiver 6. There were patches of
with the new spring life. blue sky showing here and
The delicious breath of rain was there through the clouds that
in the air. In the street below a had met and piled one above
peddler was crying his wares. the other in the west facing
The notes of a distant song her window.
which some one was singing
reached her faintly, and countless
sparrows were twittering in the
eaves.
 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

8. She was young, with a fair,

calm face, whose lines bespoke
 Describe Mrs. Mallard.
repression and even a certain
strength. But now there was a  What could have caused
dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze her “lines of repression”
in her face?
was fixed away off yonder on
one of those patches of blue sky.
It was not a glance of reflection,
but rather indicated a suspension
of intelligent thought.
 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
11. When she abandoned
herself a little whispered word
escaped her slightly parted  What do the following convey
lips. She said it over and over or suggest?:
under her breath: "free, free, a. Vacant stare
free!" The vacant stare and b. Look of terror
the look of terror that had
followed it went from her eyes.
They stayed keen and bright.
 Contrast the descriptions of Mrs. Mallard’s bodily
responses in the following paragraphs:

4. There stood, facing the open

window, a comfortable, roomy 11. Her pulses beat fast, and the
coursing blood warmed and
armchair. Into this she sank, relaxed every inch of her body.
pressed down by a physical
exhaustion that haunted her body
and seemed to reach into her
soul.
 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
12. She did not stop to ask if it
were or were not a monstrous
joy that held her. A clear
and exalted perception enabled her  What is a monstrous joy?
to dismiss the suggestion as trivial. Why does the author use
the word monstrous to
describe joy?
monstrous: ugly, gruesome, horrible
 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
13. She knew that she would weep
again when she saw the kind, tender
hands folded in death; the face that
had never looked save with love upon  What does she see beyond
her, fixed and gray and dead. But she the bitter moment?
saw beyond that bitter moment a long
procession of years to come that
would belong to her absolutely. And
she opened and spread her arms out to
them in welcome.
 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
14. There would be no one to live
for her during those coming years;
she would live for herself. There
would be no powerful will bending  What is Mrs. Mallard’s
hers in that blind persistence with portrait of male and
which men and women believe they female relations?
have a right to impose a private will
upon a fellow-creature. A kind
intention or a cruel intention made
the act seem no less a crime as she
looked upon it in that brief moment
of illumination.
 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

15. And yet she had loved him —

sometimes. Often, she had not.
What did it matter! What could
love, the unsolved mystery, count
for in face of this possession of
self-assertion which she suddenly
recognized as the strongest impulse
of her being!
To what extent do you
empathize with Mrs.
Mallard’s desire for
autonomy and psychological
space?
 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

 "Free! Body and soul free!"

 How do you characterize Mrs.
she kept whispering. Mallard’s emotional outburst?
 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
17. Josephine was kneeling before the
closed door with her lips to the
keyhole, imploring for admission.  Explain why the author withholds
"Louise, open the door! I beg, open the the protagonist’s first name until
door — you will make yourself ill. Paragraph 17?
What are you doing, Louise? For
heaven's sake open the door."
 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
19. Her fancy was running
riot along those days ahead of  How does the paragraph juxtapose
her. Spring days, and summer the repression of the past and the
possibilities of the future?
days, and all sorts of days that
would be her own. She breathed
a quick prayer that life might be
long. It was only yesterday she
had thought with a shudder that
life might be long.
 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
 She arose at length and opened the
door to her sister's importunities.
There was a feverish triumph in her Nike was the winged goddess of victory.

eyes, and she carried herself Why do you think Mrs. Mallard’s
unwittingly like a goddess of triumph will be transitory or not
permanent?
Victory. She clasped her sister's
waist, and together they descended
the stairs. Richards stood waiting
for them at the bottom.
 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
21. Someone was opening the front door
with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard
who entered, a little travel-stained,
composedly carrying his grip-sack and What suspense does this part of
umbrella. He had been far from the the story create in the reader?
scene of the accident and did not even
know there had been one. He stood
amazed at Josephine's piercing cry; at
Richards' quick motion to screen him
from the view of his wife. But Richards
was too late.
 The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

 When the doctors came, they said

she had died of heart disease —
of the joy that kills.
What is ironic in the story’s ending?
What is the true cause of Mrs.
Mallard’s death?
Did the doctors misdiagnose the true
cause of her death?
Thoughts to Ponder Upon

1. Argue for or against:

The short story “The Story of an Hour” reaffirms traditional
ideas about gender relations.

2. Argue for or against:

The short story “The Story of an Hour” provokes readers to
discover new truths about gender relations.
Ironies in “The Story of an Hour”
What is cosmic irony?

 Cosmic irony occurs when a higher power (e.g., God, fate,

the Universe) intervenes to create an ironic situation.
Otherwise known as “irony of fate,” this idea of “interference”
can either be actual or inferred. In other words, there are clear
cosmic irony examples when a 'mystical meddler' was
involved. But there are also examples that only seem to be
supernaturally influenced, or are ambiguous enough for the
argument to be made.
Cosmic irony examples in movies:
• In Pulp Fiction, Jules assumes that “God stopped the
bullets” when he and Vincent are shot at and live.
• When Aladdin is transformed into a rich man by the
Genie, only for Jasmine to reject him.
• In Bruce Almighty, Bruce is given God’s powers but
instead of making life better, he makes it worse.

 https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-cosmic-irony-definition-and-examples/
Gothic Literature and The Fall of the House of
Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
 The Fall of the House of Usher

 Type of Work
 Gothic fiction
 first-person point of view
 first published in September 1839 in Burton’s
Gentleman’s Magazine
 In 1840 and 1845, Poe published it with other stories
in Tales of the Grotesque and of the Arabesque.
Literary Style

 “The Fall of the House of Usher” is an example of Gothic literature, a literary genre that
began in England in the late 1700s. The term Gothic was originally used as an architectural
term. It refers to medieval buildings, such as castles and cathedrals, that were seen as dark
and gloomy by later generations. When writers began to set their stories in those buildings
of the past, the term for the architecture was applied to the literature.
The Gothic style, which has the following
elements, appealed to Edgar Allan Poe’s dark
view of the world:

 • Bleak or remote settings • Characters in psychological and/or physical torment • Plots

that involve weird or violent incidents and supernatural or otherworldly occurrences •
Strongly dramatic and intensely descriptive language • A gloomy, melancholy, or eerie
mood • Symbolism that evokes ideas and feelings through repeated images

 https://schools.scsk12.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?
moduleinstanceid=56757&dataid=68364&FileName=The%20Fall%20of%20the
%20House%20of%20Usher.pdf
IMPORTANT SOURCES

 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edgar-Allan-Poe
 https://www.storyboardthat.com/lesson-plans/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-by-edgar-
allan-poe/theme (STORYBOARD)
 https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/poestories/section3/
 https://www.elacommoncorelessonplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/House-of-
Usher-Paraphrasing-the-Masters.pdf
 https://schools.scsk12.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?
moduleinstanceid=56757&dataid=68364&FileName=The%20Fall%20of%20the
%20House%20of%20Usher.pdf Source of activity
 https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher (Source of lesson)
 Gothic Writing

Story is set in a bleak or

Setting
remote location.
The plot typically involves
Plot
macabre or violent incidents.
Characters are usually in a
Characters state of psychological or
physical torment.
Often an otherworldly
The Supernatural element is present and driving
the plot.
 ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
 How are elements of Gothic literature reflected in
characters and setting?
 What kind of mood can language and setting
create?
 The Fall of the House of Usher

 Characters
Narrator, a friend of the master of the House of Usher; witnesses terrifying events
Roderick Usher, the master of the house. He suffers from a depressing malaise
characterized by strange behavior.
Madeline Usher, twin sister of Roderick; suffers from a strange illness. After
apparently dying, she rises from her coffin.
Servant, domestic in the Usher household; attends to the narrator's horse
Valet, domestic in the Usher household who conducts the narrator to Roderick
Usher's room.
Physician, one of several doctors who treat Madeline Usher.
Sources for Les Miserables

 https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/l/les-miserables/study-help/essay-questions
 https://www.prestwickhouse.com/samples/200972.pdf
 https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1582811902/delasalle/dznehiampvx6kly4xaxt/
LESMISERABLESTeacherGuide2020.pdf

 https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lesmis/motifs/
 https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lesmis/symbols/
Sources for God Sees the Truth but Waits

 https://www.litcharts.com/lit/god-sees-the-truth-but-waits/summary-and-analysis
 https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/god-sees-the-truth-but-waits
(Source of lesson)