STUDY QUESTIONS -FIRST LOVE:1. Briefly summarize the plot of the short story.
2. Name and characterize the major characters.
3. Are there any strange attributes about the man? What do we know about him and his life?
4. What attitude as a reader do you have towards him?
5. Comment on the way he narrates his story. Is he a reliable narrator? Why/why not?
6. To whom is the man talking?
7. Are there any elements in the story that may shock the reader? (violating the cultural code)
8. Comment on the role of the title. What did you expect before reading the story? Were your expectations fulfilled? What do we usually imagine under the expression "first love”? In your opinion, did the man love the woman?
9. Why does he leave the house and thus his family at the end of the story?
10. Analyze the man’s personality by using the following concepts – quietism, solipsism, existentialism.
Activity:
Students were asked to create shapes / posters of the main characters and characterize their personalities and their relationships.
2. Name and characterize the major characters.
3. Are there any strange attributes about the man? What do we know about him and his life?
4. What attitude as a reader do you have towards him?
5. Comment on the way he narrates his story. Is he a reliable narrator? Why/why not?
6. To whom is the man talking?
7. Are there any elements in the story that may shock the reader? (violating the cultural code)
8. Comment on the role of the title. What did you expect before reading the story? Were your expectations fulfilled? What do we usually imagine under the expression "first love”? In your opinion, did the man love the woman?
9. Why does he leave the house and thus his family at the end of the story?
10. Analyze the man’s personality by using the following concepts – quietism, solipsism, existentialism.
Activity:
Students were asked to create shapes / posters of the main characters and characterize their personalities and their relationships.
This is the epitaph the man creates for himself in the story.
In this part, students were summarizing all provoking and strange things that occurred in the story (e.g. the man likes the smell of corpses, he eats at graveyards, etc.) and thus creating a web. A discussion on why does Beckett violate the cultural code followed.
Plot: Pictures
