Assignments. (a) In writing a short story, an author has a specific purpose in mind

(a) In writing a short story, an author has a specific purpose in mind. It may be the portrayal of character, the creation of a particular mood, or atmosphere, or the presentation of a serious theme or idea. Say which of the purposes mentioned above you believe the author had in mind writing this particular story. Give your reasons.

(b) Discuss the story from the point of view of structure and composition. Give definite answers to each of the following questions.

 

1. What is the dominant effect of the story on you? What effect did the author intend to have? 2. What is the essential conflict in the story? 3. What does the author emphasize most in the story: plot, characterization, setting, incident, motive or theme? 4. What point of view on life or human behaviour does the author want the reader to get from the story? 5. Is this story true to life, or is it exaggerated or fantastic? Are the characters real and convincing? 6. What makes the story believable? 7. Why does the story hold (or fail to hold) your attention?

(c) Pick out from the story all the facts about: (a) the woman with the pink velvet poppies; (b) the host; (c) Walter Williams.

(d) The main character in the story is known as 'the woman with the pink velvet poppies'. Explain why the author did not give her a name, and believed it enough just to mention the pink velvet poppies, saying no more of her dress.

(e) There is a character in the story who remains behind the scenes. Give his name, say what kind of person he is, describe his role in the story.

(f) Character shows itself through the way a person talks. Discuss each of the characters on the basis of: (a) what he or she says, and (b) how he or she says it (making special mention of the basic characteristics of the woman's speech, explaining why the host expressed himself in monosyllables, etc).

(g) Say whether, in your opinion, the woman with the pink velvet poppies:

 

1. behaved naturally as she said she did; 2. she had really heard Walter Williams sing; 3. she would really be coming to Walter Williams's concert, and telling people they should go to hear him sing; 4. she was truthful saying she wanted to meet Walter Williams because she greatly admired his talent.

(h) Discuss the author's attitude to the problem raised in the story.

(i) Retell the story in narrative form.

(j) Write a summary of the story.

Ex 42 Read the text, consulting the dictionary, if necessary. Write five questions covering the main points, answer each question in one complete sentence in your own words as far as possible; then, using your answers as guides, write a summary of the text.

 

THE NATIONAL QUESTION IN THE USSR

 

Assimilation, the obliteration of national differences and blending of several nations into one is an objective process. The more industrialized a multinational country becomes and the more varied and firmer are the economic relations within it, the more noticeable is this process. The state, society and political parties can either accelerate or slow it down by applying conscious efforts, but, as history has proven, it cannot be averted or stopped.

The stand taken by Lenin and the Communist Party, which he founded, was that the inevitable drawing together of the nations and nationalities of Russia should be neither accelerated nor slowed down artificially, that no nation should be given preference and that each one be ensured equal opportunities for full, all-round development and, on that basis, for a mutual drawing together and enrichment. The concept of full, all-round development presupposes not only cultural and economic progress, but the development of statehood. The result of this policy was that the nations and nationalities acquired their own forms of statehood and autonomy (15 Union and 20 Autonomous Republics, 8 Autonomous Regions and 10 Autonomous Areas).

The Soviet people are not a new nation. Comprising this people are full-blooded nations and nationalities. At the same time it is not just a simple sum total of nations living within a single state. Soviet people, irrespective of nationality, have many common features which unite them into a monolithic whole. The multinational Soviet people, as a new historical community, are not the result of an " absorption of nations"; rather, they have reached a certain degree of unity which is conditioned by their common ideology, common conditions of socio-economic life, and their basic interests and goals.

When we speak of a new historical community of people, we do not mean that our national differences are disappearing or that the nations have emerged. All the nations and nationalities retain their specific national character, language and their best traditions. They all have the opportunity to further develop national culture.

Of course, we cannot say that all the questions of national relations have already been settled. Such questions inevitably arise in such a large, dynamically developing multinational state as ours. The Party's policy on national relations is aimed at the all-round development and drawing closer together of nations and nationalities, and we are equally against tendencies aimed at an artificial obliteration of national identities or at their artificial inflation.