{"id":93,"date":"2023-08-04T14:14:14","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T14:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/representations-of-nature\/?page_id=93"},"modified":"2025-01-20T20:29:52","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T20:29:52","slug":"assignment1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/story-and-the-brain\/assignment1\/","title":{"rendered":"Assignment 1: Getting Started"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For most of this course, you will be reading stories you\u2019ve never read before. But we\u2019re not doing that quite yet. As we get started, you\u2019re going to select a story that you\u2019ve already read (or watched or played)\u2013one that prompted a memorable experience. Making such a selection can seem a bit daunting. Maybe you\u2019re not in the habit of reading these days or maybe you don\u2019t think the stories you consume are worth mentioning in a \u201cliterature\u201d class. Trust me, this process will work with any story (a novel, film, album, videogame, etc). This is because all stories (from Star Wars<\/em> to Beowulf<\/em> and from Hamlet<\/em> to Bridgerton<\/em>) are fundamentally tools that do work on our brains. These tools are crafted by artisans (authors, content creators, stand-up comics, songwriters, video game developers, etc.) who draw on an ever-expanding set of narrative technologies as they create. Literature scholars like to argue about which stories are superior (this is why we have a literary canon), but if it has a character doing something, it\u2019s a story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, be honest about what you like! Your semester will be most enjoyable if you use this first assignment to explore something you have genuinely enjoyed. Once you\u2019ve put a name to the experiences you\u2019ve had with stories in the past, you can find more stories that have provoked similar experiences in others. If it\u2019s hard to pick just one story, you can go through this process for two or three different stories. The more you explore in this assignment, the more you\u2019ll discover about your preferences (and remember, that\u2019s the point of this assignment).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you\u2019ve decided on the story you\u2019ll explore in this assignment, make sure you have access to it. It\u2019s often been the case that students don\u2019t have a copy of the book they read five years ago or don\u2019t have the right setup to play a specific video game on campus. Talk to your professor and your library if this is the case. Within the two weeks you\u2019ll spend on this assignment, there should be time to track it down. You can also change your choice if it turns out you can\u2019t access the story. You will need to be able to quote from it to meet the requirements for this assignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our goal is to isolate specific story experiences and then try to figure out which specific features of the story prompted those experiences. Once we\u2019ve isolated the features of the story, we\u2019ll try to figure out the narrative technology the author used to create those features. We\u2019ll do this step by step and you\u2019ll submit a piece of writing that shows your thought process. This means that you are not (for this or any other assignment this semester) going to be asked to produce a traditional \u201cEnglish paper\u201d (clear thesis statement supported with evidence from the text). Instead, you are going to describe, explore, and chronicle your process figuring out how you think one or more stories work. You might feel an urge to find out if others have already figured it out and it\u2019s fine to do this (though definitely not required). It\u2019s unlikely you\u2019ll figure everything out, and that\u2019s okay. If you do find a source that offers an explanation (like an article or a blog post), make sure to cite it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Describe your Experience<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Describe how you came to experience the story you\u2019ve chosen and what you remember about the experience. If possible, include who or what introduced you to the story. Try to remember the year or even the specific time of year. Most importantly, try to put into words the emotions you experienced when you encountered the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Classify Your Experience<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now that you\u2019ve described your experience, you\u2019re going to consider whether others have had that same experience with a story. This might be a little challenging because it\u2019s not what we typically do with literature in a classroom. You might be expecting to interpret<\/em> literature in a course like this, perhaps using class discussion to debate the meaning of Frankenstein\u2019s relationship with the monster he created in Mary Shelly\u2019s Frankenstein<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with this assignment, I\u2019m not asking you to find out if someone has interpreted the story you\u2019ve chosen in the same way you have. Instead, I\u2019m asking you to determine if others have had a similar experience with any work of literature<\/em>. You can see in the example experiences below that an experience is different than an interpretation (and wildly different works of literature can prompt similar experiences):
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confusion<\/td>The feeling of being bewildered or unclear.<\/td><\/tr>
Connection<\/td>Feeling linked or bonded to others in community.<\/td><\/tr>
Courage<\/td>The feeling of being genuinely afraid of something and simultaneously bold enough to face it.<\/td><\/tr>
Curiosity<\/td>When we feel we have some idea about an answer, but are unconfident about what that answer is. The active form of wonder. Where the first form of wonder is passive (essentially pausing in astonishment as a miracle washes over you), curiosity is active.<\/td><\/tr>
Empathy<\/td>The feeling of understanding another person’s actions. You may not condone the actions or identify with the person, but you accept that their actions weren’t wrong<\/td><\/tr>
Wonder<\/td>An uplifting emotional experience of discovery. As Fletcher puts it, wonder is \u201clife through the eyes of a child” (16). It is like pausing in astonishment as a miracle washes over you (84).<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can peruse the full list of experiences we\u2019ve classified so far in the Experiences Glossary<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of interpreting, we\u2019re going to use a scientific method similar to what biologists use when they work from observations in the field toward taxonomic classification of species. If they observe an organism that hasn\u2019t already been classified, they get to name a new species (after conferring with other scientists, of course). But they might find that what they\u2019ve observed is not a new species (it\u2019s actually just a funny-looking zebra). We\u2019ll discuss new experiences as a class, helping you determine if you\u2019ve actually had a new experience or found a funny-looking zebra. If the experience you had isn\u2019t in the list above, you can give it a name and, if you want, submit it to WonderCat so it appears in our list of experiences going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Describe the Features Prompting your Experience<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s where it becomes important to have access to the story as you do this assignment. Return to the story and try to determine what exactly it was that shaped your experience. Was it some aspect of the plot? Was it the way the narrator told the story? Was it a surprising character? Was it some aspect of the world the author created? It might be a combination of features, so include everything! If it\u2019s specific language from the story, include direct quotation in this section. If it is something that can\u2019t be quoted (some aspect of the plot or some feel of the storyworld, for example), put it into your own words with as much detail as possible. Here are examples of direction quotation and paraphrase:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Direct quotation from Frankenstein<\/em>:             <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My rage returned: I remembered that I was for ever deprived of the delights that such beautiful creatures could bestow…I only wonder that at that moment, instead of venting my sensations in exclamations and agony, I did not rush among mankind, and perish in the attempt to destroy them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paraphrase from Frankenstein<\/em>:                     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story is presented from a variety of narrative perspectives: the explorer, Dr. Frankenstein, and his monster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try to Determine the Narrative Technology That Created the Feature<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As you try to figure out which features of the story prompted your experience, try also to imagine the narrative technology the author used to create those features. I say imagine because that\u2019s exactly how this sort of analysis works. You probably can\u2019t know exactly what the author(s) did or why they did it (even if they explain it in an interview!) so the trick is to remember that this thing you experienced was created deliberately by someone (or, more likely, a team of people). These people created the storyworld, made choices about the plot, decided to narrate the story in a particular way (this involves specific camera angles if you\u2019re looking at film or video games), and crafted characters. There might have been discussions (even arguments) between authors and editors, screenwriters and directors, or game designers and graphics editors. What set of decisions do you think prompted your experience and who is most likely responsible for it? Below, I describe the four basic elements of narrative (you can click to look at narrative technologies in each category)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narration<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

All of the choices about how the story is told. Sometimes the narrator is a character in the story, sometimes not. When you\u2019re looking at a film or video game, narration involves the camera angles, music, and voiceover narration. The glossary at this link<\/a> includes some narration technologies to consider, though there are many more. If you identify one that is not there, you can propose it as a new term!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storyworld<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The fictional world in which the story takes place. Even if the story is nonfiction, the world the narrator creates to tell it is best understood as a representation of the real world. The glossary at this link<\/a> includes some storyworld technologies, though there are many more. If you identify one that is not there, you can propose it as a new term!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plot<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The plot is what actually happens in the story, though the narrator may present it out of order, through a variety of perspectives, or in some other non-linear telling. The glossary at this link<\/a> includes some plot technologies to consider, though there are many more. If you identify one that is not there, you can propose it as a new term!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Character<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is pretty straightforward. These are the characters doing things in the story. The glossary at this link<\/a> includes some character technologies to consider, though there are many more. If you identify one that is not there, you can propose it as a new term!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you\u2019ve done your best to identify the technology that prompted your experience, you\u2019re done! Each Story-Experience-Feature-Technology linkage is one unit. This assignment requires you to identify at least one unit, but you can repeat this process for however many distinct experiences you had with a story. You can also repeat this process for however many stories you want to explore in this assignment (I\u2019d suggest no more than three). You can organize your post according to the steps outlined above, as I\u2019ve done in my example post, or you can write a post that includes all that information but presents it in a way that you think will be more compelling to your classmates. You have the option to share your post with your classmates or keep it private so I\u2019m the only one who sees it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Sum Up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Part 1: Draft your post on course website<\/p>\n\n\n\n