The short story: how it is built
English · 9th grade
Reading a story twice
Start with a question for Marcus: when a movie surprises you at the end, do you ever want to watch it again just to catch what you missed?
Today: A high school reader reads a story twice, first for what happens and then with a pencil for how it is built, and a story with a surprise ending plays fair by planting its clues early.
About 40 minutes to teach
Teach the idea
A careful reader reads a short story twice. The first reading is for what happens. The second reading goes slower, with a pencil, and asks how the writer made it happen.
Marking a story, also called annotating, is how the second reading works: underline a detail that matters, circle a name, put a question mark beside anything strange, and write a short note in the margin.
A story with a surprise ending plays fair when its clues are on the page before the surprise. In "After Twenty Years," the man in the doorway lights a cigar, and the light shows "a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes" and "a little white scar." On a first reading that is only a description of a stranger. On a second reading it is the moment the policeman sees exactly who is standing there.
O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter, an American writer known for stories that turn at the end.
Marcus reads:After Twenty Years, from the middle
406 words
When about midway of a certain block the policeman suddenly slowed his walk. In the doorway of a darkened hardware store a man leaned, with an unlighted cigar in his mouth. As the policeman walked up to him the man spoke up quickly.
"It's all right, officer," he said, reassuringly. "I'm just waiting for a friend. It's an appointment made twenty years ago. Sounds a little funny to you, doesn't it? Well, I'll explain if you'd like to make certain it's all straight. About that long ago there used to be a restaurant where this store stands—'Big Joe' Brady's restaurant."
"Until five years ago," said the policeman. "It was torn down then."
The man in the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar. The light showed a pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar near his right eyebrow. His scarfpin was a large diamond, oddly set.
"Twenty years ago to-night," said the man, "I dined here at 'Big Joe' Brady's with Jimmy Wells, my best chum, and the finest chap in the world. He and I were raised here in New York, just like two brothers, together. I was eighteen and Jimmy was twenty. The next morning I was to start for the West to make my fortune. You couldn't have dragged Jimmy out of New York; he thought it was the only place on earth. Well, we agreed that night that we would meet here again exactly twenty years from that date and time, no matter what our conditions might be or from what distance we might have to come. We figured that in twenty years each of us ought to have our destiny worked out and our fortunes made, whatever they were going to be."
"It sounds pretty interesting," said the policeman. "Rather a long time between meets, though, it seems to me. Haven't you heard from your friend since you left?"
"Well, yes, for a time we corresponded," said the other. "But after a year or two we lost track of each other. You see, the West is a pretty big proposition, and I kept hustling around over it pretty lively. But I know Jimmy will meet me here if he's alive, for he always was the truest, stanchest old chap in the world. He'll never forget. I came a thousand miles to stand in this door to-night, and it's worth it if my old partner turns up."
Do it together
1. Ask Marcus to tell you, in two or three sentences, what happens in "After Twenty Years" from beginning to end. Listen for the meeting at the doorway, the wait, and the note at the end.
2. Show Marcus the four marks a careful reader uses: an underline for a detail that matters, a circle for a name, a question mark for anything strange, and a short note in the margin. Have Marcus make one of each on a scrap of paper so the marks are ready.
3. Ask Marcus which moment in the story turns a stranger's face into a clue, and why a first reading slides past it. Let Marcus find the words about the struck match in "After Twenty Years, from the middle" and point to them.
4. Then go on to the activity together: the second reading, out loud and with a pencil.
Activity
Together: The second reading, out loud. Marcus reads the passage aloud while you listen. Then Marcus reads it again silently with a pencil, underlining every detail about the man in the doorway and circling everything the policeman says or does. Then talk it over. Which underlined detail would the policeman need in order to know who this man is, and which circled line shows the policeman knows this street well? Finish with one question. On the first reading of the whole story, did either detail seem important? For next time: Marcus reads "The Interlopers" by Saki, the whole story, from any copy. For the parent, about this unit's reading: "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a murder told by the murderer; its lesson prints only the opening, before the killing. "The Monkey's Paw" tells of a son killed at work and the parents left to grieve. "The Interlopers" ends as wolves close in on two trapped men. Characters in four of the stories swear mildly or call on God in alarm ("The Interlopers," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "A Retrieved Reformation," and "The Monkey's Paw"). There is no romance beyond an engagement, and nothing sexual.
Tip If Marcus spots the ending's trick right away, ask for the earliest clue that gives it away. Hunting for the first planted detail is the habit this lesson builds.
On paper
Worksheet
Reading Twice
The worksheet, as it prints
English · Worksheet
Reading Twice
Answer each question in complete sentences, quoting the story where it asks.
Name: Marcus
Score: ____ / 7
1. Copy the sentence from the passage that describes the man's face when the match is lit.
2. Write what the policeman says when the man mentions the old restaurant, and explain what it shows about the policeman.
3. Write one detail from the passage that suggests the man has made money out West.
4. What is the difference between a first reading and a second reading of a story?
5. Explain why most readers miss the clue of the lit match the first time through.
6. Write one question a careful reader might ask about the policeman on a second reading, and the answer the story gives.
7. What would happen to the story's ending if the man had never lit his cigar? Answer in a paragraph of four to six sentences.
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Your child’s year, written like this
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