Analysis and Review of the Short Story 'Home Place'

Questions to Consider while Reading 'Home Place'

Since writers often do not explain every point they make, proficient readers make inferences about what they are reading.  

As you read “Home Place,” which is found in your anthology Sundog Highway consider the following questions.  You do not have to hand these in for marking.
1.Is Gil MacLean a good father?
2.Why does Ronald do the things he does?  
3.Does the story have an effective ending?  Why, or why not?
Be sure to read the author’s biography and statement which can be found at the back of the anthologyIn a few sentences, discuss the ending of this short story.
1)  Explain why the ending is predictable or unexpected.  Give one reason to support your statement.
2)  Explain whether or not the ending is effective.  Give one reason to support your answer.
3)  In sentence form, state the point of view of this story.
4)  State why or why not this point of view is effective.  Use sentence form.
5)  We read short stories to be entertained: however, short stories offer more than entertainment.  Many short stories offer insights into what our world is like and why human beings behave as they do.  These insights or truths about human nature and our society are the themes of stories.  
State ONE theme in “Home Place,” and write a paragraph (8-10 full sentences) explaining how this theme is present in the story.  
6)  This question will involve question writing. I will be asking you to do this for all the short stories that you read in this unit, so keep these examples handy.  You must ask and answer 6 questions about “Home Place.”  You will ask and answer one question that describes, one that compares, one that associates, one that analyzes, one that applies knowledge, and one that argues.  At the end of this assignment, you will have six well written questions, that are each answered thoughtfully using whatever insight you can offerYour assignment is to find and read TWO MORE short stories.  You can choose from the Sundog Highway Anthology, or you can find three of your own.  The only stipulation that I impose is that the stories you choose MUST be written by a Canadian author.  Because I can’t put choices in your hand, you may be limited to what is available in Sundog Highway, what is on your personal bookshelf, and what you can find online.  You must tell me what the titles of your chosen stories are and you need to give me the author’s name.
For each of your three chosen stories you need to complete the following:
1.Tell me from which Point of View the story is told.
2.Identify for the where the climax of the story occurs.
3.Write your first response to the story.  Follow the “first response” guidelines that I gave you for “Turkle.”
4.Do the question writing exercise that you did for both “Home Place,” and “Turkle.”When you have finished these four exercises for all three of the stories you chose to read, you are finished this short story unit.