English 10 Unit 3: Fiction or The Short Story

Stories Used in Class

Lather and Nothing Else by Hernando Tellez

Additional Resources for Lather and Nothing Else

• PBS News Hour - Honduran Refugee Crisis
• Frontline - The Gang Crackdown
• Honduras Refugees 
• Honduras Gangs
• Doctors on the Frontline

 The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe

Who Was Edgar Allan Poe

Frequently Asked Questions about Edgar Allan Poe

In literature, a “reliable narrator” is one who is accurate and impartial. ... This is in contrast with the “unreliable narrator”, who lacks objectivity, and may conceal, or be ignorant by happenstance, or design, of significant information.

After reading the "The Black Cat", watch this great animated video while asking yourself, "is the narrator reliable or unreliable?" 

• The Riddle of the Black Cat

Reliable - How does this change your perception of the perversity of this tale?

Unreliable - What factors make this narrator unreliable?

Do you think Poe wrote this story simply to engage readers by appealing to their fascination for the morbid, or do you think Poe had a deeper message? If you believe a deeper message, what might it be?

Like the Sun by R.K. Narayan

Worksheets

• Lather and Nothing Else
• The Black Cat
• The Moment Before the Gun Went Off
• The Necklace
• Like the Sun