Unit A Dill Pickle 教案.doc

.Unit 3 A Dill Pickle 教案1. Role playDramatize the scene of their reencounterpay attention to the subtlety of tone, look, and action.2. Objectives l Understand the story: theme & character.l Appreciate literature: read between the lines; read the story from a particular perspective: feminism; interpret the symbolsl Learn to describe a scene or object with accuracy: verbs.3. Author Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) rebellious, dangerously witty, and lonely creative years burdened with loneliness, illness, jealousy and alienation: bitter depiction of marital and family relationships died of TBthe “romantic disease”Her works: In a German Pension(1911) The Garden Party: and Other Stories(1922) The Doves Nest: and Other Stories(1923) Bliss: and Other Stories(1923) Stream of consciousness Characters psychological activities with detailed descriptions and symbolism Her influence: Revolutionized the English short story; Marked the maturity of English short story; Was often compared to Dickens and Chekhov.4. ThemeQuestions for thinking:1) Do you think the character of the two lovers plays an important role in their relationship? 2) What do you think results in the failure of their love and communication? 3) How would you describe the two characters relationship as presented in the story? Do you think this is a typical love story? If not, why does the writer choose to tell it this way? Or what is her real purpose in writing such a story?l Womens condition at the time: Women were advocated to cultivate such qualities as “tenderness of understanding, unworldliness and innocence, domestic affection, and above all, submissiveness in various degrees.” l “The Woman Question”: rising wave of feminist movement (late Victorian age to the early 20th century)l Man-Woman relationship: sexual politics (ideas and activities that are concerned with how power is shared between men and women, and how this affects their relationships)l Feminist concern: What does a woman want? It was her “born duty to reckon everything subordinate to his comfort and pleasure, and to let him neither see nor feel anything coming from her, except what is agreeable to him.” J. S. Mill, The Subjection of WomenSexual politics: 1) The man talks while the woman listens.2) The man controls the conversation, demanding attention.3) The man is tantalizing, offering hopes that he withdraws at wish.4) The womans reaction: contradiction compromise rebellion5) The womans desire to be heard and understood5. Style:1. Characteristics of modernist writing: symbolic images fragmented plot trivial subjects psychological insightinternal monologues, “stream of consciousness” 2. Many of the images in the story are deliberately symbolic. For example, the flowers. Can you find out the implication of the flowers? Do they take on a second meaning in the story?3. Why is the story titled “A Dill Pickle”? How is it relevant to a love story? What might it represent symbolically, if it does?6. Character analysis VeraQuestions for thinking: 1) How did Vera feel when she saw her former lover? Was she still attached to him?2) Why did Vera break up with the man six years earlier? 3) Do you think Vera left the man again for the same reasons as the first time?4) What indeed did Vera want? Why had she been so lonely? Was it because, as the man said, she was an egoist?5) What does the “strange beast” stand for? Why does the author describe it as a “strange beast”? Is this image conventionally associated with women?6) How do you understand that Vera was “born out of her time”?The manQuestions for thinking: 1) What is the mans name? Why isnt he given a name? 2) Was the man still in love with Vera? If not, why did he seem so happy talking to her and ask her to stay?3) Why did he “let it go at that” when Vera told him she had sold her piano?4) In what tone did he mention the break-up letter? Do you think he really understood now what Vera had written about him?5) Do you agree with what the man said about Vera? Did he understand her to some extent?7. StructureQuestions for thinking: 1) How does the story begin and end? How is it different from a traditional story? 2) Why isnt the story told in the original time order? What kind of effect does it create on the readers mind?3) We know little of what really happened between the characters. Instead we are provided with only scattered memories and feelings. Why does the writer withhold the information? Do you find it more intriguing to work out the puzzle than to have a direct and full picture?8. Detailed Analysis Part One1. How differently did Vera and the man react to their chance reencounter? Why? 2. Do you think the man meant it when he said that Vera looked “so well”? Why did he say so?3. What details in this part have you noticed that might help us understand better the characters and the problem in their relationship?Part Two Episode 1 (13-15): first date 1. How did Veras memory differ from the mans recollection of their first date? 2. Why did she later admit that “His was the truer.”?Episode 2 (16-21): on a lawn1. Why did Vera at the moment think of this particular incident in their love affair? What might it tell of her feelings for the man?2. How did the mans words at that time contrast with his at the present? Do you find this contrast ironic? Why?Episode 3 (22-43): the Russian trip1. In what way had the man changed in the six years? And the woman? What influence would it have on their relationship?2. Why did the man “let it go” when he knew that the woman had sold her piano? Was it strange for him to do so?3. How did the man describe his experience of the river life? What picture did it provoke in Veras mind? Episode 4 (44-51): the night of the Christmas tree1. What did the man suggest when he praised the woman as a “marvelous listener”? Why did Vera find “a hint of mockery” in his voice?2. What did it show that the man did not remember his dogs name whereas Vera did?3. What did it imply when the man “snapped the cigarette case to”? Part Three1. Why did Vera want to leave when the man mentioned their breakup six years ago? Why did she then change her mind and stayed?2. Do you think Vera and the man were lonely for the same reasons? Was she an egoist as he was?3. Why did she leave again, and so abruptly?9. Discussion 1) We find Veras impression or memory very different from the mans.