Pale horse pale rider

The essay should be about 1000 words summarizing and analyzing a certain passage from the book

You can address Pale Horse, Pale Rider in any way that you wish, but to do the best job possible you might want to do some book reviewing as well as reporting. So a good response to this assignment might involve going through three functions: first, summarizing the novella; second, analyzing the story; and third, assessing and evaluating the work.

SUMMARYThis task seems like the most straightforward of the three. You should present a shortone or two paragraph,synopsis of the story. This seems like a simple thing but it includes an analytic element because sorting out what to include and what not to include depends upon your view of the story.

ANALYSISThis function involves developing your view of storys meaning and the authors purpose in developing the narrative in the way that she does. Again, you are free to do this in any way that you wish, but several issues that might bear consideration are as follows:

Miranda is presented as a Modern Woman and Adam as a Modern Man. How were their lives likely different from those of their forbearers? They lived on the cusp of the Jazz Age. What did this mean?

How are the hyper-patriotic enthusiasm and jingoism of 1917/18 presented in the story? What was a Liberty Bond? What was the Lusk Committee? What was the impact of anti-German propaganda? What kind of pressures forced American men to enlist in the army? What was a white feather?

What were American women expected to contribute to the war effort during World War One? What was hut service?

How is the social impact of the flu presented in the novella? Why did it seem like a funny new disease? How much was known about the communicable nature of epidemic disease in 1918?

Are Mirandas fever dreams and near-death experience presented as being spiritual or psychological in nature?

Critics made much of the apocalyptic tone of Porters story. In the Book of Revelation, the Pale Rider and Pale Horse follows riders and horses representing conquest, combat and famine (thus the four horsemen of the apocalypse). Did Porter mean to suggest that the 1918 Flu was somehow a reckoning for the previous sin of fighting a war?

The story in Pale Horse, Pale Rider was devised by Porter in 1932, completed in draft form by 1936, and published in 1939. It is thus really a literary artifact of the 1930s. Is that apparent in any way?

Again, you do not have to address anyor certainly not all,of these issues in your book report, but the suggestions do offer a few possible lines of approach.

ASSESSMENT/EVALUATIONAs part of this element you might want to consider how effectively Pale Horse, Pale Rider communicates its principal themes and fits into larger discourses about collective expressions of patriotism or epidemic disease.

So, for instance, there are a few issues you could consider:

Porter writes in a Modernist vein, so while her writing is plain and straightforward the meaning of her story is not so openly stated and could be ambiguous. Her narrative is fragmented and includes analepses (flashbacks); she portrays the disjointed character of the thinking process (the stream of consciousness); and she pays a lot of attention to altered states of consciousness. Does this style contribute to the effective telling of her story?

Is Porters story built upon plot or character development?

Are there ironic elements in Pale Horse, Pale Rider?

Does the author seem to write from personal experience? If so, why did she not frame the story as a first-person narrative?

Was Porter trying to communicate an experience that lots of readers would recognize and identify with, or was hers an intensely personal story reflecting an idiosyncratic experience?

Why would this literary work be of interest to anyone looking at the general history of the early twentieth century?

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