2. • Tim Macy is not a very well known author. "The Brass Teapot"
was his first publication. He has written plays, and he is
currently finishing his MFA at the University of Kansas.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
TIM MACY
3. ALICE
• Alice is one of the main characters
and an INDIRECT one. She is a
round character because she
changed throughout the story
because of the teapot (making
unwise decisions).
4. JOHN
• He is one of the main characters
and an INDIRECT one. He is the
protagonist because he is always
on the "good side" (trying to make
the right decisions about the
teapot).
5. • THE OLD WOMAN:
She gave the brass teapot to
Alice and John. She is a direct
character
THEIR DAUGHTER:
Indirect character. Minor
character.
THE REPAIRMAN:
Direct character. Minor
character. He is a stock
character because he is
a stereotypical
repairman (i.e. overalls,
bald,etc) Direct
Character
6. SETTING
• The story takes place over a few months.
• In a small town and nameless town but apparently in the U.S.
• Sometime in the late 1900's
• Genre: Horror
7. • The Brass Teapot is about a married couple named Alice and
John who get a brass teapot from an old antique shop. They are
struggling with money and are very desperate to get any money
they can manage. They soon realize that money appears inside
the teapot whenever they harm or insult each other or
themselves. The worse things they do, the more money they get.
They eventually become so obsessed with the teapot that they
quit their jobs to stay home to try to get money out of the teapot.
In the end, they have become so desperate that they do
something extreme to get money.
8. CONFLICT
• Man vs man: John and Alice argue all the time about money and
the teapot. Alice also argues with the repairman when he comes
because he cannot fix the fridge (she starts to physically fight
with him).
• Man vs self: John struggles with what he should do about the
teapot and about his wife. Alice deals with inner conflict also
about what to do with the teapot.
9. EXPOSITION
• The characters appeared in the story as it went on, they were
introduced naturally as they spoke. Some minor characters were
directly introduced by the writer. The story occurred in a
nameless place with not exactly given time.
• The conflict was introduced since the beginning of the story and
it continued to be present until the end as the conflict was not
resolved at all.
10. • RISING ACTION: It happened when the main characters noticed
that money came out of the teapot when they injured themselves.
• CLIMAX: When Alice killed the repairman
11. • FALLING ACTION: It occurred after killing the repairman when a
lot of money came out of the teapot but John was worried about
the repairman’s corpse.
• RESOLUTION: This part happens when Alice says “We could buy
our way to Paradise” "We could buy our way to paradise," she
whispered. "There's got to be fifteen neighbors in houses right
around here that trust us. Don across the street has a gun in his
closet. He keeps it loaded."
12. • POINT OF VIEW
The story was told in the 3rd person viewpoint. The narrator itself was not
part of the story but he appeared to know every little detail of it. As the
narrator conveyed the story, the reader was able to fully understand all the
important points of it as well to infer others by the clues expressed by the
narrator.
• Atmosphere: The author creates uncertainty and fear. As the reader, you do
not know what will happen to the characters (feel uncertain). Alice and John
fear about many things, as the reader you fear for them as well.
14. INSANITY: The characters at some point appear to be mentally ill
because they do not think about anything else but hurting
themselves to get the money they wanted.
