Introduction to Short Stories Essential Question

Example First Piece of Evidence for the PROSECUTION:

• First of all, the killer remembers everything about the crime and can talk about it calmly. In his confession, the killer says, “Hearken! and observe how healthily, how calmly, I can tell you the whole story” (1). A person who is legally insane cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, so he probably wouldn’t have such an accurate memory of everything that happened. If he remembers all the facts about what he did, this proves that he was aware of reality and was not insane.

Example First Piece of Evidence for the DEFENSE:

• First of all, the man was hearing things that weren’t really there. In his confession, the man claimed that he had a very acute sense of hearing. He says, “I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell” (1). It sounds as if this man can’t tell the difference between things he’s actually hearing and things that he’s just imagining—you can’t actually hear sounds coming from heaven or hell. If a person who is legally insane has a hard time distinguishing between fantasy and reality, this man is clearly insane.

“Seventh Grade” by Gary Soto

How did Gary Soto show the reader how much Victor liked Teresa? Provide text evidence to support your answer.

EXAMPLE OF CITING TEXT EVIDENCE

• In “Seventh Grade” by Gary Soto, the protagonist, Victor, likes Teresa. On page 36, lines 10-11, the narrator refers to Teresa as “a girl he had liked since catechism classes at St. Theresa’s.” On page 39, lines 73-74, Victor admired how Teresa walked down the hall, “one foot in front of the other.” On page 42, line 177, the narrator says that “The rosebushes of shame on [Victor’s] face became bouquets of love.” It is clear through Victor’s actions that he likes Teresa and wanted her to be ‘his girl’.

You will use the handout to help you structure a paragraph citing text evidence to support the above thesis.