(Download) "Using Science Fiction to Teach Point of View." by Extrapolation # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Using Science Fiction to Teach Point of View.
- Author : Extrapolation
- Release Date : January 22, 2005
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 171 KB
Description
I have found Science Fiction to be the perfect vehicle for helping freshmen become aware that, despite what their families may have taught them, they are not the center of the universe. Because my focus in my first year Introduction to Literature courses is point of view, I have used three SF works which I've found to be particularly successful: "Born of Man and Woman" by Richard Matheson to show how first person narration allows the author to withhold key information, "That Only a Mother" by Judith Merril to show how an author can have the benefits of first person narration while actually using third person, and The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin to demonstrate the use of multiple first person narrators. "Born of Man and Woman" is the first work I ask them to write a paper on, having them analyze why Matheson has chosen to tell this particular story from this unique point of view. (I begin the course with "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson--a relatively simple story to allay anxiety--and discuss different point of view choices at that time.) Most of my students have had very little prior experience with sf--or literary analysis--or reading in general--so I don't expect very sophisticated responses. I most frequently hear that the narrator is an abused child, but sometimes I'm told that it's a dog--or Richard Matheson himself. Reading this first set of papers is always a humbling experience and reminds me that I'll earn my keep. The day that the papers are handed in--and I won't accept late papers!--I spend the ninety minute period going over the story line-by-line, so that they will have a better idea how I expect them to read the stories, novels, poems, and plays that the course includes, whether they're science fiction works or mainstream fiction. Obviously the brevity of Matheson's story allows me this opportunity.