Critical Reading - Reading and Discussing Fiction

1. Meeting 3 –
Reading and
Discussing Fiction
Critical Reading – Syifa Fadhilah Hamid, M.Pd.

2. Learning Objectives
This chapter is about reading and discussing fiction.
By the end of this lesson, students are expected to be able to:
1. Identify the component of fiction.
2. Comprehend fiction reading by answering questions.

3. • Fiction is a means of seeing life through
the art of storytelling. By reading fiction,
you are seeing life through the eyes of
someone else in a way that you can (or in
some cases cannot) identify with. That's not
to say that you'll relate to every single story
you read, but within every story you will
most likely encounter something that calls
out to you—a theme, concept, or
emotion—that will help you see yourself
more clearly.

4. FICTION STORY
Emotions expressed in the fictional story should be
reflective of a universal theme. We find these
reflections in novels, short stories, plays, and poems.
When we read this kind of literature, we are really
looking for pieces of ourselves. Do we really care
about a bunch of fishermen chasing after a whale?
Perhaps not, but we do care about battling our inner
demons. Do we care about a woman branded with a
scarlet letter/f on her dress? Maybe ... or maybe not ...
but we do care about injustice within society. This why
we read fiction: to dig out the bits and pieces of what
we do care about and relate them to our own existence.

5. The Elements of Fiction
• Characters
• Setting
• Plot
• Conflict
• Point of View
• Theme

6. Characters
Characters are the people, animals, or aliens in the story.
Readers come to know the characters through what they
say, what they think, and how they act. E. M. Forster, an
English novelist, identified that characters are either flat
or round. Flat characters do not play important roles in the
stories. They often have only one or two traits with little
description about them. A flat character may even be a
stock character, which is a stereotypical figure that is
easily recognized by readers, for example, the mad
scientist or the evil stepmother.

7. Setting
• Setting is where and when the story takes place. It includes the
following: The immediate surroundings of the characters such as
props in a scene: trees, furniture, food, inside of a house or car,
etc. The time of day such as morning, afternoon, or night. The
weather such as cloudy, sunny, windy, snow, or rain, etc. The time
of year, particularly the seasons: fall, winter, summer, spring. The
historical period such as what century or decade the story takes
place.
• The geographical location including the city, state, country, and
possibly even the universe, if the writer is writing science fiction.
Setting can function as a main force that the characters encounter,
such as a tornado or flood, or a setting can play a minor role such as
setting the mood. Often, the setting can reveal something about the
main character as he/she functions in that place and time period.

8. Plot
Plot is the order of events in the story. The plot
usually follows a particular structure called
Freytag’s Pyramid. Gustav Freytag, a German
playwright who lived during the 1800s, identified
this structure. Freytag’s Pyramid has five parts:
exposition, rising action, climax, falling action,
and denouement, also known as resolution.

9. Conflict
Conflict is the struggle between two entities. In story
writing the main character, also known as the
protagonist, encounters a conflict with the antagonist,
which is an adversary. The conflict may be one of six
kinds: Character vs. character, Character vs. nature or
natural forces, Character vs. society or culture, Character
vs. machine or technology, Character vs. God, Character
vs himself or herself.

10. Point of View
Stories are generally told in one of two points of views:
first-person point of view or third-person point of view.
First-person point of view means that one of the
characters in the story will narrate–give an account–of
the story. The narrator may be the protagonist, the main
character. Writing in first-person point of view brings the
readers closer to the story. They can read it as if they are
the character because personal pronouns like I, me, my,
we, us, and our are used. Third-person point of view
means that the narrator is not in the story.

11. Theme
A theme is not the plot of the story. It is the
underlying truth that is being conveyed in the
story. Themes can be universal, meaning they are
understood by readers no matter what culture or
country the readers are in. Common themes
include coming of age, circle of life, prejudice,
greed, good vs. evil, beating the odds, etc.

12. Have you ever heard the
name of this author?
Ray Bradbury

13. Ray Bradbury's other books include Fahrenheit 451 and
The Martian Chronicles. Do these titles help you to guess
what kind of fiction Bradbury writes?
Think about the title of this story, "All Summer in a Day,"
and try to imagine what the title might refer to. Guess
what type of story this will be

14. Exercise 1
Now read the story all the way to the end. As you read,
underline any unfamiliar words with a pencil but do not look
them up in a dictionary now. Mark any confusing parts of the
story with a question mark (?). Make notes in the margin about
your reactions. Then complete the exercises that follow.

15. Exercise 2
Write any unfamiliar words that made comprehension
difficult and write their dictionary definitions. Compare your
words with those of another student. Do you have any of the
same words?

16. Discuss these questions
1. Did you enjoy reading the story? Explain your answer.
2. Were there any parts of the story that you did not understand? Which ones?
3. Were there any unfamiliar words that you need to look up in order to understand the story?
4. Why do you think the author decided to call this story "All Summer in a Day"?

17. Read the story a second time. Then, working with
two or three other students, retell the story to each
other in your own words.

18. Exercise 3
In this exercise you will analyze the story for the way the writer sets the
scene and tells us "who," "when," and "where." (This is called the
"exposition.") Working with another student, look back at the first part of
"All Summer in a Day" and fill in the table.
Main Characters (List and describe)
Setting (time)
Setting (place)

19. Exercise 4
Listed below are the events that make up the plot of "All Summer in a Day." Working with another
student, put the events in chronological order by numbering them from I to 11.
a. They let Margot out of the closet.
b. The children stood at the window waiting for the sun.
c. The children remembered that Margot was in the closet.
d. All day the children read and wrote about the sun in class.
e. The teacher left the classroom.
f. The children put Margot in the closet.
g. William and the children began to mistreat Margot.
h. The whole world seemed silent, and the sun came out.
i. Raindrops began to fall, and a boom of thunder startled the children.
j. The children went inside.
k. The children ran and played in the sunlight.

20. Exercise 5
• Look the detail instruction on your handout.

21. Discuss these questions with two or three other students.
1. Did the children have any doubts about whether they should be locking Margot in the closet?
How can you tell?
2. How do you think Margot feels being locked in the closet?
3. Was the author trying to teach a lesson to the readers of the story? If so, what was the lesson?
4. How would you describe the ending of this story? Happy, sad, or inconclusive (incomplete)?
Explain.
5. Could this story have an alternate ending? Try to imagine one and describe it.