https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9 Made with eyes on the prize en-us 2020-03-18 12:24:16 UTC 2024-02-27 17:20:34 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464498059 Although the word "funeral" is never mentioned, it is made clear in the first few paragraphs of the story that it is going to be about a funeral.
"she pushed past the door her uncle had specifically said not to open, the only room in the whole place where she wasn’t supposed to go. It was obvious why, the dead woman lying on a table"]]> 2020-03-18 14:06:20 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464498059 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464498356 In the text the terms `coffin´ and `the dead woman´s box´ are used. The dead body is observed by the little child and by this, quite an eerie atmosphere is created as a young child encounters death. ]]> 2020-03-18 14:06:33 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464498356 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464501538 Mankato, Minnesota and Tulsa]]> 2020-03-18 14:08:27 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464501538 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464502348 The night time is mentioned quite often, eg "twilight", "late into this night", "by one in the morning"
This already gives the story a certain "gloomy, dark" atmosphere, which is then heightened through her climbing into a coffin as well as finding a dead woman. ]]> 2020-03-18 14:08:57 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464502348 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464504588 The pumpkins immediately tell the reader which season the story plays in. ]]> 2020-03-18 14:10:22 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464504588 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464505754 Although it is only mentioned briefly, these 2 words create a completely new setting - it creates the idea or image of two women who are sitting in the sun, enjoying their cocktails (and life) after a day of work - very different images appear in one's mind, especially compared to the eerie atmosphere mentioned in the second comment from the top]]> 2020-03-18 14:11:09 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464505754 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464505878 The porch is mentioned continuously ("old table set out on the back porch / lead littered porch) ]]> 2020-03-18 14:11:14 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464505878 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464505883 two-bedroom apartment and the mortuary below
the yard out front]]> 2020-03-18 14:11:14 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464505883 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464506336 2020-03-18 14:11:32 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464506336 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464506356 A lot is revealed about the protagonist in the description of the different cities/houses: 
"All the spots in her flat Tulsa house had long ago been scouted and discovered." 
"But here, in Mankato, Minnesota, in a game that sprawled her aunt and uncle’s two-bedroom apartment and the mortuary below, hiding spots abounded."
- One of her favourite games (hide and seek)
- that she is probably a child
- that she is staying with relatives (namely her uncle and her aunt) at the moment]]> 2020-03-18 14:11:33 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464506356 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464506357 A main element mentioned throughout the story are pumpkins. 
The act of carving said pumpkins, in combination with the description of the fallen leaves on the porch and the bare trees surrounding the house, indicates that the story is set somewhere close to Halloween, which means that the storyline takes place in fall. ]]> 2020-03-18 14:11:33 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464506357 helene48 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464507070 We are immediately informed that the narrator is on a trip with his father. A rather uncomforable one at that as it is cold and quiet. We do not know the purpose of the trip at first, adding a feeling of uncertainty to this setting.]]> 2020-03-18 14:12:00 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464507070 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464513851 The foyer works as a vocal point since she opens her mail there. We as the readers follow her from the car to the house, to the foyer, and back to the porch.]]> 2020-03-18 14:15:44 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464513851 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464517777 In the last scene the setting is completley different to the first part in the car and the main part in the mental health institution (although I have to admit that I am not quite certain if I understood the plot and the theme of the short story right, wasn't the revelation in the end, that Uncle Ted was randomly chosen by number to serve in the vietnam war... I googled Stephen Minot and read aboout his activism against the vietnam war... but anyhow). The  setting conveys, normality, warmth, coziness: "warm, humming, soothing, smoky world, sausage and beer" in contrast to the unfamiliarity, anxiousness and coldness of the "hospital" (large room, lack of furniture, odd smell).

]]> 2020-03-18 14:17:51 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464517777 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464518053 The main location of the story is the house. Since it is mentioned that one of the main character looks out across a ravine, we can assume that the house is somewhere out in the nature. It is also mentioned that they live in Virgina. ]]> 2020-03-18 14:18:01 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464518053 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464520011 One core feature of the setting is the lighting. As mentioned above, it starts in twilight and, later on, candle light and darkness become crucial for conveying the atmosphere
 of the narrative.]]> 2020-03-18 14:19:02 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464520011 annamayer6 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464521192 When the characters first enter this setting in the story, the little boy thought they were entering a prison. Every building looks the same and overall the place is described as colorless and enormous but only sparsely furnished. It is quite a sad scene. The boy sees a couple and is unable to detect who the patient is and who the visitor. In a way the people there resemble the buildings of the place because they all look the same. 
Additionally, the empty, washed out and rather unfriendly setting is not only seen in the place itself but also in the way that the people living there interact with one another. Uncle Ted is very suspicious of the other people and does not talk about them in a positive tone. ]]> 2020-03-18 14:19:40 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464521192 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464521897 We can assume that the story start somewhere before nighttime and continues on well into the night (Late, late night...; until 1 am; etc.)

While the general setting is the house (in nature, as mentioned above), we can follow one of the characters through the different settings inside and around her house: from her getting out of the car, to her talking/carving pumpkins with her husband on the back porch, to her reading her mail in her foyer and later we follow her even to her bedroom.  ]]> 2020-03-18 14:20:02 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464521897 lena_naemi https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464522866 What's special about the seasonal setting is that the story is set on Halloween which is followed by All Saints' and All Souls' Day. A time to commemorate the dead. This resonates with the storyline. ]]> 2020-03-18 14:20:33 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464522866 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464525100 late hours have a somewhat exhausted feeling to them, this is why this relatively short story feels rather long


]]> 2020-03-18 14:21:46 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464525100 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464525512 "We were on city streets I had never seen before." "We plunged into a warm, humming, soothing, smoky world."
This might be interpreted as the son discovering new sides of his father]]> 2020-03-18 14:21:59 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464525512 helene48 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464580522 While only mentioned briefly, the kitchen is where the action of the story began. Here the father asked the son to join him on the trip. It is a more intimate setting, especially compared to the cold car.]]> 2020-03-18 14:52:47 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464580522 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464587187 There is a clear contrast right from the beginning between the girl's home and the place where she finds herself in the story. Her home is clearly positioned as safe but boring and static (all the hiding spots are known, there is no uncertenty, no surprises)against the mortuary (where there are a lot of hiding spots) which at the same time gives a sense of insecurity but also of excitement. ]]> 2020-03-18 14:56:04 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464587187 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464599635 Maybe just a minor detail, but when they get back to the car, it is dark; hinting that their day and soon the whole story will end.]]> 2020-03-18 15:04:49 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/464599635 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/485583131 "The room was large and it seemed even larger for the lack of furniture"
Shows the distance and loneliness at the place - mental hospital. The way other patients paced up and down, and Ted being absent-mnded indicates his loss of touch with the real world. He is even "hidden" from his sister-in-law. Will is asked by his dad not to mention that they visited uncle Ted. ]]> 2020-04-01 00:02:53 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/485583131 https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/485587240 The winter is cold and the story opens with the description of how cold it is. Ted fears the cold that they might be frozen to death. The cold he talks about could also mean the kind of cold and rough treatment they face in the mental hospital. As he was brought to his visitors he was pushed towards them. That is not such a good gesture. Ted acknowledges that his brother's connections are saving him a great deal.]]> 2020-04-01 00:08:07 UTC https://padlet.com/gabrielle_smith4/2s7kpsbg9yh9/wish/485587240