Teachers Outlines for Studies in English | Page 6

IV connected? Are they connected with what follows?
Group the remaining chapters to show which belong together.
How many separate stories do you find with no connection except for the presence of the same characters?
We are told that a good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. What seems to be lacking in Cranford?
If we were to consider as complete stories the incident of Miss Matty's love affair or of Poor Peter, should we find the same lack?
CHARACTERS.--What are the chief motives that prompted the Cranford ladies to do the things that they did, and to do them in the way they did?
How did Captain Brown differ from them in the motives that prompted his actions?
Show how the incident of Miss Jenkins's argument with Captain Brown on the relative merits of Mr. Boz and Dr. Johnson, illustrates one side of Miss Jenkins's character. What is her other side? Illustrate. Compare Miss Matty and her sister to show the strength and weakness of each. What was there in Miss Matty that made the other ladies help her so generously in her trouble?
What sort of woman was Mrs. Jamieson? Were her neighbors blind to her faults? Why did they treat her as they did? Do you think they were insincere?
What other characters in the story have a distinct personality?
INTERPRETATION.--What purpose do you think the author had in writing this book?
From this story, what would you judge were her ideas on sincerity? on the treatment of one's neighbors? on conformity to custom? on social rank? and on other matters of everyday life?
METHOD OF NARRATION.--Who tells the story?
Does the narrator tell us only of the things that she sees and hears, or of other things as well? How is it in Ivanhoe? Would the story have to be changed essentially if it were told by Miss Matty, Miss Pole, or some other of the characters? Give your reasons.
Has Mrs. Gaskell succeeded in avoiding the awkwardness in the use of "I" so common in stories told in the first person? If so, how? Compare it in this respect with one of your own narratives in the first person.
Point out, if you can, some ways in which the author has made her dialogues smooth and natural. Compare with one of your own.
STYLE.--Note a few of the most humorous passages; of the most pathetic. In the humorous passages is the author laughing at her characters, or laughing with them? Compare in this respect her treatment of Mrs. Jamieson, Miss Barker, and Miss Pole with Scott's treatment of Prior Aymer, Friar Tuck, and Athelstane.
THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE AUTHOR.--What facts do we know of Mrs. Gaskell's girlhood? her education? her married life? her great sorrow? her first literary success? her acquaintance with the literary men of her day? the regard of her neighbors for her?
COMPARISON.--Does the value of this book lie in its setting? in its plot? in its characters? in its style? in its teaching? or in all of these factors?
Compare Cranford in respect to each of the above topics with the other novels that you have studied.
OUTLINE FOR THE STUDY OF SILAS MARNER
I. Preparation
A few facts about George Eliot's early life will help to show how she could write as she did about country people--their ideas, habits, and manner of life.
II. Reading and Study
A rapid reading, followed by a second and more careful one, is quite practicable with so short and interesting a story as Silas Marner. It is especially to be recommended for this book, since the chapters are so full of suggestions of character, of customs of a by-gone time, and of hints for the further development of the story, that it is difficult for a young reader, urged on by his interest in the plot, to stop long enough to grasp all the essential features. So many important lessons for the beginner may be drawn from the structure of this book, from its teaching, and from its representation of life, that it especially repays thorough study.
III. Study of the Book as a Whole
SETTING AND SITUATION.--What means does the author take in Chapters I and III to acquaint us with the time of the story? How definitely can you fix it? (See p. 47, l. 22.)
What sort of place was Lantern Yard? Describe the people who worshiped there. What was their social life? Why was their church called a chapel?
Compare this place, where Silas first lived, with Raveloe in respect to location, people, religious beliefs, wealth, social life, etc.
Although Raveloe is not on the map, in what part of England is it supposed to be?
Do the descriptions, for example, of the company at the Rainbow or of the party at the Red House, seem like caricatures or like pictures from real life? Give reasons.
Has the author been true to the life of a