the+Portable+Phonograph

Short Stories - Literary DevisesTitle: The Portable Phonograph

Point of View: Third Person, Limited Omniscient

Protagonist: Dr Jenkins What type of character is the Protagonist? Round, Static

Antagonist: The musician/the environment.

Describe the setting: The story takes place in the future, after a huge war that wiped out almost everything. The environment is very harsh and there is a lot of hardship. The mood is depressing and there is very little hope.

Type of Conflict: Man vs. Environment/Man vs. Man

Describe the main conflict: The main conflict is the struggle for the men to retain their humanity.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The climax was when Dr Jenkins heard/saw the musician, hid everything, and took the lead pipe with him to bed (particularly the part with the iron bar).

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story?

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme: The Portable Phonograph is seems primitive to us and we take books for granted, but to these men, who had nothing, these thing were incredibly precious. Part of the theme was about how we take things for granted until they are no longer readily accessible. Another aspect of the theme was how the men were struggling to hold on to their humanity even though they could hardly meet their basic needs of survival. The Portable phonograph was one of the most important thing in their lives.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? Part of the theme was appreciation, and the main conflict in the story was: the musician (we presume) was trying to steal the phonograph. He wasn't able to appreciate and share the music with the other men.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? Another aspect of the theme was the way our environment effects our humanity. Dr Jenkins didn't think twice about bringing the lead pipe to defend himself. He didn't assume that the goodness of human nature would prevail and the musician would realize that it was wrong to try and steal from others. Both men were objects of their environment. The musician had was selfish, probably because he had to struggle to keep himself alive, which would make him more focused on himself. Dr Jenkins was also preoccupied by his own survival. He probably wouldn't have hesitated to use the lead pipe to defend himself against the sick man. Yet he was generous and compassionate, even after going through great hardship, by letting the other men hear the music. Therefore, I think he was the most human.

Give examples of each of the the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):

Simile: "…black cloud strips like threats across it…"

Metaphor: "The wet, blue-green notes…" I'm not sure if this is really a metaphor, but the notes cannot be literally wet and blue-green.

Personification: "… the mute darkness…" The darkness is not literally mute. "…saw four stars flying." I don't think the stars were literally flying, but appeared that way.

Symbol: "The Phonograph (the most obvious) could be a symbol of humanity and sophistication/civilization in this harsh, primitive world. It contrasts the barren landscape described at the beginning of the story*. The lead pipe could be a symbol of survival.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): "A queer sensation of torment, of two-sided, unpredictable nature…" This could be fore shadowing the surprise and two sidedness of the musician (possibly) trying to steal the phonograph.

Irony: "...the comfortable piece of lead pipe." It's ironic that Dr Jenkins would invite these men to his house, yet he sleeps with a lead pipe in case one of them tries to attack/rob him.

Imagery: The entire first two pages are almost all imagery. "There were scars of gigantic bombs, their rawness already made a little natural by rain, seed, and time," "The rush of their pinions sounded briefly,and the faint, plaintive notes of their expeditionary talk," and "The wet, blue-green notes tinkled forth from the old machine, and were individual, delectable presences in the cell," are three of the many examples of imagery in this story.

1. The story is set in the future, and recently there was a huge world war ("Time: the future after a devastating world war"). I got the impression that the environment, as well as the people, are just starting to recover from the war (there were lots of descriptions of old man-made remnants from the war, i.e. "There were scars of gigantic bombs, their rawness already made a little natural by rain seed, and time." "The frozen mud still bore the toothless imprints of great tanks..." "...the darker shadows of young trees trying again.").

2. I think that the purpose of the man's meeting was for Dr Jenkins to read the books to the other men (We thank you, Dr Jenkins, for the reading.") I was confused by the second part of the question; I couldn't find any part in the story where the books were being unwrapped.

3. Shakespeare, the Bible, Moby Dick, and the Divine Comedy are all very famous. I think that Dr Jenkins wanted to save these books because they are so well known and they could be topical at any time; they are classics, so they wouldn't become outdated. The Bible is a slightly different case, because it is a religious book, but his reasons for saving it would be similar. It is well known, applicable in many situations, and it/christianity has helped to define our civilization. I think that Dr Jenkins didn't include any recent works of fiction because he thought that our society had started to deteriorate, so he didn't want the future to be effected by more recent culture, for fear that future generations would end up making the same mistakes.

4.a) Dr Jenkins clutching the lead pipe at the end of the story showed that he was willing to hurt others in order to preserve his idea of sophistication, which is ironic because brute force and primitive defensive instincts are extremely unsophisticated. b) It is implied that the musician was going to try to steal the phonograph ("... he heard what he had been listening for, a sound of suppressed coughing." (coughing is one of the trademarks of the musician)). I imagine that, next, the musician will try to enter the room, not knowing that Dr Jenkins was expecting him. Then he might end up getting attacked by Dr Jenkins (maybe). The musician was very reckless during the story, perhaps reckless enough to try to steal the phonograph.

*I found it interesting that the author spent the first 2 pages describing the landscape but didn't mention the phonograph, which is in the title of the story, until the 4th page.

Completion 5/5 Effort 5/5 Content 5/5 Questions 8/8 total 23/23

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