E2.8.E
Description:
Analyze the use of literary devices such as irony, sarcasm, and motif to achieve specific purposes.
Maps to Reading Plus skills:
5A
Exemplars
5A: Examining Text Structure
5A: Examining Text Structure
Description:
Examining Text Structure
SeeReader
✓ standard met
Selection:
L-22
L-22
Grade level: 12
Word count: 3260 words
Author: Stephen Crane
Synopsis: Four men struggle to survive in a small lifeboat after a shipwreck. Many hours have passed, and the men grow increasingly worried that help may never arrive.
Excerpt:
As the boat swam over the great rollers, the men sat listening to this roar. "We'll swamp sure," said everybody.
If we stay out here too long, we'll none of us have strength left to swim after the boat swamps."
"If we don't all get ashore?" said the captain. "If we don't all get ashore, I suppose you fellows know where to send news of my finish?"
But no, she cannot mean to drown me. She dare not drown me. She cannot drown me. Not after all this work." Afterward the man might have had an impulse to shake his fist at the clouds: "Just you drown me, now, and then hear what I call you!"
"If I am going to be drowned...if I am going to be drowned...if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees? Was I brought here merely to have my nose dragged away as I was about to nibble the sacred cheese of life?"
If we stay out here too long, we'll none of us have strength left to swim after the boat swamps."
"If we don't all get ashore?" said the captain. "If we don't all get ashore, I suppose you fellows know where to send news of my finish?"
But no, she cannot mean to drown me. She dare not drown me. She cannot drown me. Not after all this work." Afterward the man might have had an impulse to shake his fist at the clouds: "Just you drown me, now, and then hear what I call you!"
"If I am going to be drowned...if I am going to be drowned...if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees? Was I brought here merely to have my nose dragged away as I was about to nibble the sacred cheese of life?"
Question:
A motif is a recurring story element that has symbolic importance. A repeated motif is often used to set a story's mood or tone. What is one motif in this selection?
- drowning
- sleeping
- music
- rebellion
Writing
✓ standard met
Writing prompt:
Explain why an author chose to organize a selection's plot in an unconventional way. What benefits or disadvantages resulted from the action being presented in this way?
Evaluator
Organization:
Certica Solutions