This document provides a schedule for fiction reading assignments and discussions for a class. It lists the date, assigned readings, and tasks due each week. All readings are from the textbook or course site and include short stories. Weekly assignments involve posts responding to introduction questions or analyzing elements like plot, character, symbolism from the stories. Close reading assignments analyzing these elements in more depth are due every two weeks. The schedule is subject to change with any announcements made in class or on the online learning site.

1. Fiction Reading and Assignment Schedule
Please read the following schedule carefully and regularly. All weekly assignments are
indicated in red font. All Close Reading Assignments are indicated in blue font. All reading is
found in our textbook, The Norton Introduction to Literature, or in PDFs in the “Fiction”
section of our BbLearn site.
All assignments must be submitted via BbLearn to earn any points.
Any changes to this schedule will be announced during class and via BbLearn. This schedule
is subject to change.
Date Reading. To be completed before class. Assignments. All due by
11:59pm on date stated
Wed, Jan 13
Fri, Jan 15 “Introduction” PDF Introduction Post
Mon, Jan 18 MLK Jr. Day MLK Jr. Day
Wed, Jan 20 “Plot” (75-83), “Narration and Point of View”
(169-173), James Baldwin “Sonny’s Blues”
(91-113)
Plot, Narration, and POV
Assignment
Respond to two (2) of your
peer’s introduction posts.
Fri, Jan 22
Mon, Jan 25 Read: Charlotte Perkins Gilman “The Yellow
Wallpaper” (571-582)
AND
Read one (1) of the following:
Edgar Allan Poe “The Cask of Amontillado”
(173-179); Viet Thanh Nguyen “I’d Love You to
Want Me” (127-140);
Plot, Narration, and Point
of View Discussion Post
Wed, Jan 27
Fri, Jan 29 Submit Close Reading
Assignment “Plot,
Narration, and Point of
View” by Sunday, January
31st
Mon, Feb 1 “Character” (211-217), “Setting” (282-287),
Ray Bradbury “The Veldt” (328-339)
Character and Setting
Assignment
Wed, Feb 3
Fri, Feb 5
Mon, Feb 8 Read: Octavia E. Butler “Bloodchild” (340-
354)
AND
Read one (1) of the following:
William Faulkner “Barn Burning” (217-230),
Karen Russell “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls
Raised by Wolves” (265-276),
Character and Setting
Discussion Post

2. Wed, Feb 10
Fri, Feb 12 Submit Close Reading
Assignment “Character
and Setting” by Sunday,
February 14th
Mon, Feb 15 President’s Day President’s Day
Wed, Feb 17 “Symbol and Figurative Language” (380-385),
“Theme” (429-433), A.S. Byatt “The Thing in
the Forest” (397-412)
Symbol, Figurative
Language, and Theme
Assignment
Fri, Feb 19
Mon, Feb 22 Read: Gabriel Garcia Marquez “A Very Old
Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for
Children” (451-456)
AND
Read one (1) of the following:
Ernest Hemingway “Hills Like White
Elephants” (665-668), Nathaniel Hawthorn
“The Birth-Mark” (385-396),
Symbol, Figurative
Language, and Theme
Discussion Post
Wed, Feb 24
Fri, Feb 26 Submit Close Reading
Assignment “Symbol,
Figurative Language, and
Theme” by Sunday,
February 28th