The+Portable+Phonograph

[] One of your partners has the breakdown of the rubric score for your presentation. Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: The Portable Phonograph

Point of View: Third Person- Limited Omniscient

Protagonist: Dr. Jenkins What type of character is the Protagonist? Flat, Static

Antagonist: Himself

Describe the setting: Where- Out in the country (removed much civilization or structures), in a small, cave-like dugout in a creek bank. When- A fall night, after a great and destructive war. Probably not modern times because of their technology (phonograph) and books mentioned (Also, probably an 'alternate reality' in the future of when it was written- maybe inspired by WW2) Mood/Atmosphere- Desolate, chilling.

Type of Conflict: Man vs. Himself

Describe the main conflict: They argue about their books and records, but the real tension is the unsaid, palpable nature of their discomfort in their surroundings, present company, or with their inner psyche.

Describe the Climax of the Story: Dr. Jenkins thinks he hears a coughing in the distance and sees a shadow, so he hordes away his prized posesions and goes to bed with a lead pipe, thinking that the musician is coming back to steal his prized possesions. The climax was probably also an allegory of the trajedy they had been through.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? Although I do not believe the protagonist changes over the course of the story, I do think the author leads you to change your perception of the charachter as you learn about his inner turmoil. While he seems magnanimous at firts, you come to realize he is deeply suspicious and distrusting.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. I think the title is a metaphor for being able to take your humanity with you through times of suffering, in this case bringing music as a reminder of your humanity.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The theme in the main conflict is the turmoil that results from the theme of having an over-abundance but not being willing to share fairly with those who could also benefit from your wealth.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? I think it represents how we say one thing and do another, how we are suspicious of people because of our own assumptions and inner turmoil, and how we are greedy with our things and ourselves. The lead pipe was really the clincher here, where we will always hang on to our paranoia, no matter how irrational our fears may be.

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

Simile: "...black cloud strips __like__ threats across it,..." , "He was like a prehistoric preist performing a fateful ceremonial rite." , "...like the mouth of a mine tunnel."

Metaphor: "In the bank above it was dug a sort of cell..."

Personification: "...the Doctor saw four stars __flying__." , "Out of the sunset, through the dead, matted grass and isolated weed stalks of the prairie, __crept__ the narrow and deeply rutted remains of a road." , "The red sunset,...,__lay__ on the curved horizon of the prairie."

Symbol: The blocks of peat, representing Dr. Jenkins' limited hospitality and his frugality ("...the charry burning of four poorly-aged blocks of peat, which gave off a petty warmth and much acrid smoke."), the musiciaans cough, representing the fear of impending death and it is an outward symbol of their inner sickness in their minds and not only their bodies. ("He sat in the shadow farthest from the fire, and sometimes his body jerked in its rags from the cold. Although he was young, he was sick and coughed often. Writing implyed a greater future than he now felt able to consider. The four shooting stars, representing the men, and when it says one of them had been obsured, I think that represented the doctor's judgement clouding over.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): "A queer sense of torment, of two-sided, unpredictable nature, arose from the stillness of the earth air beneath the violence of the upper air." This passage forshadows the unsaid tension that occurs in the main conflict of this story, and how some of it may have been as a result of their environment ('the violence of the upper air) or from their present company ('the stillness of the earth air').

Irony: The allusion of the playing of the Debussy nocturne: my understanding is that that piece is meant to be sooting, where in this instance in the listening to it, it stirs up tension and inner turmoil in the listeners. ("The wet, blue-green notes tinkled forth from the old mackine, and were individual, delectable presences in the cell. The individual delectable presences swept into a sudden tide of unbearably beautiful dissonance, and then continued fully the swelling and ebbing of that tide...") It was ironic that when the war had started he had first grabbed music and books, but as a result of that war, he ends up automatically reaching for a weapon (the lead pipe.)

Imagery: "At first there was only the resonant boom of the wind overhead, then far over the dome of the dead, dark plain, the wolf cry lamenting."

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. I think this story is a good example of how we strive for our humanity and try our hardest to hang on to it in dire situations, even when it ends up hurting those around us. The men in the story found solace and hope in the art they had saved from their harsh environment, but it ends up creating tension between them, in the forms of greed and suspision, both negative aspects of humanity.

'Responding' Q's

1. The story is set one night, possibly in the fall because it says it is cold but before winter. A devastating battle or war has obviously ended or affected the area. (We know this because it talks about impressions in the roads from tanks and the scars of bombs.

2. The purpose of their meeting is to listen to the phonograph. The author compared it to a ceremonial rite because of how much care and reverance he gave to his task, how intensely they looked upon their treasures.

3. The books that were saved are all classics, timeless stories of humanity. There were probably no recent works of fiction because it was probably not set in the recent times. (the phonograph isn't recent technology either.)

4. a) I think it symbolized holding on to the negative parts of humanity like greed and suspision. b) I don't think the musician would come back and steal the phonograph, because Dr. Jenkins did seem a bit paranoid/skitsophrenic. Also, he had been the one that was listening for the cough and it said he believed he saw a shadow, not that he actually did.

Completion 5/5 Effort 4.5/5 Content5/5 Questions 6/8 total 20.5/23