ENGLISH 1-2
La Jolla High School Name:________________________________________
Period:____ Date:______________________________
Short Stories: Culminating Project
Directions: Select ONE of the projects below in order to prove that you can make connections between the
stories that we read, and the literary terms that we learned.
LITERARY TERMS
Author: The writer who creates the plot and the characters, chooses the writing style, presents the theme, decides on
the point of view and setting
Plot: The flow of action in the story.
Characterization: The creation of characters through description, action, and dialogue.
Style: The choice of words and sentence structure.
Theme: The topic of the story, summarized by the reader as a "thought for the day" or "bumper sticker."
Point of View: The story is told through the eyes of a character in first person, through an observer in third person, from
a limited point of view, or from a narrator who "knows all" (omniscient point of view).
Setting: The time and location of the story.
SHORT STORIES
"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant
"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
"The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank Stockton
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber
"Marigold" by Eugenia Collier
Project Choice #1:
Write an essay about one of the stories and one of the literary terms. Explain how the story contains examples of the author using the literary term in action. You can write a final draft of the essay you already wrote
in your notebook about "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and the plot line, or you can create a new essay.
Project Choice #2:
You have completed two worksheets featuring the seven literary terms. You completed one worksheet on
"Marigolds" and another worksheet on a story of your choice. To complete this project, fill out three more
worksheets on the rest of the stories. Then write a summary of each of the five stories (short, short summary)
and explain which stories are the best examples of which literary terms. For instance, "The Secret Life of
Walter Mitty" is an excellent example of how authors create plots.
Project Choice #3:
This project is about characterization. Select 5 characters from any of the stories that we have read. (You can
select more than one character from a story, for instance, Walter Mitty and Mrs. Mitty, or select one character from each of the stories.) Then go through your notebook, reading each "thought for the day" and find a
"thought for the day" that matches each character. Explain in a paragraph for each character why the "thought
of the day" is an example of how the character thinks, or what the character would do, or what happened to
the character.