Designed for literature classes that only need the essentials, The PORTABLE LITERATURE: READING, REACTING, WRITING, 5th Edition is the affordable, portable alternative to a full length--or even a compact--introduction to literature texts.

Preface
Reading and Writing About Literature
Reading Literature
Previewing
Highlighting
Checklist: Using Highlighting Symbols
Maya Angelou, My Arkansas
Annotating
Writing About Literature
Planning an Essay
Considering your Audience
Understanding Your Purpose
Writing To Respond
Writing To Interpret
Writing To Evaluate
Choosing a Topic
Finding Something to Say
Brainstorming
Keeping a Journal
Seeing Connections
Listing
Deciding on a Thesis
Preparing an Outline
Drafting an Essay
Revising and Editing an Essay
Strategies for Revision
The Revision Process
Thesis Statement
Support
Topic Sentences
Introductions and Conclusions
Sentences and Words
Using and Documenting Sources
Checklist: Using Sources
Checklist: Conventions for Writing About Literature
Three Model Student Papers
" 'The Secret Lion': Everything Changes." "Digging for Memories." "Desperate Measures: Acts of Defiance in Trifles." FICTION
Understanding Fiction
Defining Fiction
The Short Story
*Margaret Atwood, Happy Endings
Gary Gildner, Sleepytime Gal
A Final Note
Plot
Conflict
Stages of Plot
Order and Sequence
A Final Note
Checklist: Writing about Plot
Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour
William Faulkner, A Rose for Emily
Lorrie Moore, How to Talk to Your Mother (Notes)
Writing Suggestions: Plot
Character
Round and Flat Characters
Dynamic and Static Characters
Motivation
Checklist: Writing About Character
John Updike, A and P
Katherine Mansfield, Miss Brill
Charles Baxter, Gryphon
Writing Suggestions: Character
Setting
Historical Setting
Geographical Setting
Physical Setting
Checklist: Writing About Setting
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper
*Ralph Ellison, Battle Royal
Tillie Olsen, I Stand Here Ironing
Writing Suggestions: Setting
Point of View
First Person Narrator
Unreliable Narrators
Third Person Narrator
Omniscient
Limited Omniscient
Objective
Selecting an Appropriate Point of View
Limited Omniscient Point of View
First-Person Point of View (Child)
First-Person Point of View (Adult)
Omniscient Point of View
Selecting An Appropriate Point of View: Review
Checklist: Writing about Point of View
Edgar Allen Poe, The Cask of Amontillado
Richard Wright, Big Black Good Man
William Faulkner, Barn Burning
Writing Suggestions: Point of View
Style, Tone, and Language
Style and Tone
The Uses of Language
Formal and Informal Diction
Imagery
Figures of Speech
A Final Note
Checklist: Writing about Style, Tone, and Language
James Joyce, Araby
Ernest Hemingway, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Flannery O'Connor, A Good Man is Hard to Find
Writing Suggestions: Style, Tone, and Language
Symbol and Allegory
Literary Symbols
Recognizing Symbols
The Purpose of Symbols
Allegory
Checklist: Writing About Symbol and Allegory
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown
Shirley Jackson, The Lottery
*Raymond Carver, Cathedral
Writing Suggestions: Symbol and Allegory
Theme
Understanding Theme
Identifying Themes
Checklist: Writing About Theme
David Michael Kaplan, Doe Season
D. H. Lawrence, The Rocking-Horse Winner
Eudora Welty, A Worn Path
Writing Suggestions: Theme
Fiction for Further Reading
Chinua Achebe, Dead Man's Path
T.Coraghessan Boyle, Greasy Lake
Jamaica Kincaid, Girl
Joyce Carol Oates, Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried
Alberto Alvaro Rfos, The Secret Lion
Amy Tan, Two Kinds
Alice Walker, Everyday Use
POETRY
Understanding Poetry
Nikki Giovanni, Poetry
Archibald MacLeish, Ars Poetica
Marianne Moore, Poetry
Defining Poetry
William Shakespeare, That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold
Louis Zukofsky, I Walk in the Old Street
E. E. Cummings, l(a
Approaching Poetry
Recognizing Kinds of Poetry
Narrative Poetry
Lyric Poetry
Discovering Themes in Poetry
Adrienne Rich, A Woman Mourned by Daughters
Raymond Carver, Photograph of my Father in His Twenty Second Year
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