Portable+Phonograph

Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: __The Portable Phonograph__

Link to the Slideshow- [|Emily, Sarah, David]

Point of View: Third Person

Protagonist: Dr. Jenkins What type of character is the Protagonist? Dr. Jenkins is cautious, generous and protective of the things he preserved after the war. He is a round character.

Antagonist: Dr. Jenkins, society

Describe the setting: The setting of the story is a cold, desolate prairie in the late fall or early winter. It is a time period after a terrible and devastating world war where almost nothing remains of the world we know. The mood is desperate and despairing.

Type of Conflict: Man vs. Himself, Man vs. Society

Describe the main conflict: All four of the men covet the phonograph and other items that they have preserved. Since the items they have left are the only ones that remain, each of them would seek to have them for their own.

Describe the Climax of the Story: Dr. Jenkins thinks he sees someone's silhouette and hears a cough so he hides the phonograph and other things he has preserved. He goes to bed with a lead pipe beside him.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? He does not change.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. The theme of the story is holding on to the finer aspects of humanity, perhaps, even at the expense of losing one's humanity by causing harm to others. The relationship between the title "The Portable Phonograph" and the theme is that the phonograph is a symbol of of the finer aspects of humanity and the men put its preservation ahead of their own. "The soul of what was good in us" according to Dr. Jenkins.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The main conflict helps illustrate the theme because their coveting of the items to preserve humanity has lead them to be willing to go to any lengths, possibly at the expense of destroying eachother. They value the objects, their idea of humanity, more than eachothers' lives.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? The climax helps to illustrate the theme because Dr. Jenkins was willing to harm another man to defend his idea of the higher part of humanity. In this sense, he misses the fact that harming someone else goes against all the finer aspects of humanity.

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

Simile: "The red sunset, with narrow, __black cloud strips like threats__ across it" comparing cloud strips to threats. "The young man, however, said anxiously, between suppressed coughs, "Oh, please," __like an excited child."__ comparing the young man (musician) to an excited child.

Metaphor: "The wet, blue-green __notes__ tinkled forth from the old machine, and __were individual, delectable presences__"

Personification: "__Expansive blizzards paraded__ for days" because blizzards cannot parade. " __crept__ the narrow and deeply rutted remains of a __road__" because a road cannot creep. "and in it settled the __mute darkness__ and greater cold of night." because darkness cannot be mute.

Symbol: The phonograph, because it was a symbol of the finer, more beautiful aspects of humanity and civilization.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): The musician standing abruptly and leaving quickly without saying anything. Dr. Jenkins seeing someone's silhouette and hearing the sound of suppressed coughing.

Irony: The fact that Dr. Jenkins was willing to harm someone else to preserve his idea of the finer aspects of humanity, and by doing so, going against everything that makes humanity refined and civilized is the greatest irony. "I have saved what I love; the soul of what was good in us is here; perhaps the new ones will make a strong enough beginning not to fall behind when they become clever." This quote summarizes the irony of it all.

Imagery: " The red sunset, with narrow, black cloud strips like threats across it, lay on the curved horizon of the prairie. The air was still and cold, and in it settled the mute darkness and greater cold of night."

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story.

The relationship between the class theme and the story is that the story is about the aspects of humanity and our human nature. It makes us think about and question what humanity is and what it is to be human. The story shows us some of the most positive aspects of humanity, like the ability to write and create music, and also the most ugly, like jealousy and our inability to share.

1) The story is set on a cold, desolate prairie in the wintertime. It is set after a devastating world war. My opinion is supported by the information at the beginning of the story. The first few paragraphs state that it is after a devastating world war, that it is on a prairie and that the air is cold and their is ice on the remnants of the road.

2) The purpose of the men's meeting is to read the books, listen to the phonograph and remember civilization and humanity. The author compares the unwrapping of the book bundle to a ceremonial rite because it has become something special, a rarity and a privilege, it has become almost spiritual.

3) The significance of the books that were saved is that all of them are classic samples of man's work from different time periods. There are no recent works of fiction because the world was probably at war for quite some time and within this time no one would be writing. After the war, their civilization was destroyed so everyone left was simply surviving, without the means to do things for pleasure.

4) **a.** The significance of Dr. Jenkins clutching the lead pipe at the end of the story is that he is willing to harm another man to defend his view of the finer aspects of humanity and by doing so, going against everything that makes humanity refined and civilized.


 * b.** I think that the musician will try to take the phonograph and Dr. Jenkins will attack him with the lead pipe to stop him. I believe this will happen because Dr. Jenkins sees a silhouette and hears a suppressed cough after the other men leave. He goes back inside, hides the phonograph and the other items and when he gets into bed he has a lead pipe beside him. I assume that the person he sees and hears is the musician because he was sick and coughing and he seemed to be affected more significantly by the music than the other men.

Completion 5/5 Effort 5/5 Content 4.5/5 Questions 8/8 total 22.5/23

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 * |||| || || || ===Portable Phonograph - Slideshow===

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 * CATEGORY || 4 || 3 || 2 || 1 ||
 * Content ||  All required slides complete with insightful responses and support || All required slides. Responses are adequate but may not be fully supported. || May be missing 1-3 slides and information is cursory and not fully supported. || Missing more than 3 slides and content is inaccurate. ||
 * Citations ||  All citations are present and in the proper format. || All citations are present however there are 1-3 errors in format. || Missing 1-3 citations. || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,verdana,tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Missing more than 3 citations. ||
 * <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,verdana,tahoma; font-size: 11pt;">Images || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,verdana,tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"> All images are relevant and add significant incite to the meaning of the text. All images are clear and unpixelated. || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,verdana,tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Most images are relevant and add incite into the meaning behind the text. || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,verdana,tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">1-5 Images have no clear connection to the text and some images are pixelated. || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,verdana,tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">Several images (more than 5) have no clear connection to the text. ||
 * <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,verdana,tahoma; font-size: 11pt;">Spelling/Grammar || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,verdana,tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">No discernible spelling or grammar errors. || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,verdana,tahoma; font-size: 9pt;"> 1-3 errors. || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,verdana,tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">3-6 errors || <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: arial,verdana,tahoma; font-size: 9pt;">More than 6 errors || || || ||