The Snowstorm” and “The Shot” by Pushkin How is Maria characterized? How old is she? What is she reading? When is the story set? [historic and cultural setting] What is the local setting? What is the peculiarity of the plot and the structure of the story? What is the role of the incident in the story? What is the function of the blizzard (snowstorm)? How is the story structured? How are the two men — Vladimir and Colonel Burmin evoked? What is the tone of the story? Is there any irony? Is there any suspense? (Find proofs in the text). What is the resolution of the story? What similarities did you find in the two stories?
Discussion of “The Spectre Bridegroom” by Washington Irving What type of narrator /point of view is used in the story? How the setting and the characters are evoked? What main stylistic device is used in characterization? What can you say about the father, the aunts and the bride? What do you know about the bridegroom, Count Von Altenburg, and his friend Herman Von Starkenfaust? How can you characterize the tone? Did you find any paradoxes, ironic discrepancies and any other inconsistencies in either characterization or the plot of the story? What is the role of the incident in the story? What is the climax of the story? What is the theme of the story? What similarities did you find in the two stories — Irving’s “The Spectre Bridegroom” and Pushkin’s “The Snowstorm”?
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