Tuesday 19 June 2012

Novel Summary Sheet ~Quartering the Text ~
Your name: Sarah Tayler Novel Name: Girlfriend in a Coma
Quarter # 4     Author’s last name: Coupland
1. Skeletal plot(Point form only- keep this short but insightful):
1.–The last person Jared visits for this visit is Richard, who says he doesn't need a miracle. Richard is able to connect with Jared again. jared visits his old house, now ruined, and they remember their lives when they were young. Jared says they'll meet again in 2 weeks.
2.– The group's finding it harder to survive, while some get sick and Jane rejects food. Karen can no longer hear the voices or see the visions. Weather has gone chaotic. Richard's the only guy trying to be civil. Jared comes back and tells them that he's going to each them how to change who they are.
3.– They've been given the gift to see what they would be like without the world, and Jared's been watching since Karen woke up. They realise that none of them have any values, beliefs, convictions or anything of the sort. Jared says they should've been asking millions of questions about he world in the past year, but they didn't, so he has to start plan B. Says to meet him at Cleveland dam after the lightning at sunset.
4.– Wild lightning attacks, driving the group to gather as much as they can as fast as they can (which isn't very much) and hide in a stone cabin to wait it out. They lost almost everything and go down to the dam thinking hey're forsaken. Jared informs them of plan B. The world will to back to the night Karen recovered, and for the rest of their lives they must commit to asking questions, even if it means other think you're crazy, you must go extreme, or return to the apocaplypse of this world. They all agree---
5.– ---Except Karen. She must stay here as a sacrifice for seeing all of it, it's the price. Richard and co. must go on without her ever waking up, but they'll remeber it all and retain all the miracles. Everyone goes to the point they were at when karen woke up, Karen goes up the mountian, temporarily keeping Jane before she's born. Jared must also stay in the apocalypse world for eternity. Everything goes back and Richard marvels at the world and begins his mad quest for questions.
Conflict or“tension” eg person vs person, or (internal) person vs self; Is this important to the novel’s theme or purpose? Yes.
Explanation: It's the group vs nature as they struggle to survive each week and each person vs themselves. They have to deal with he world, but don't know how and waste it all. Jared sets the conflict in themselves so they will question the world.
2. Setting (Where & where does various parts of your novel take place-how are these places important to the character or the theme of your work?): The setting of an apocalyptic Vancouver that quickly falls deeper and deeper into complete ruin sets up there struggle to survive, and with nothing to do but ponder, or kill time until the inevitable.
3.Characters (Know your character types and why this is important to your novel! (Eg. Are they round/flat-why?/static/dynamic-why?) How many characters do you meet in this quarter or do you find more about their personalities?):
1) Karen: Round / Dynamic – In the end she remembers what she discovered during her coma and accepts her own sacrifice so her friends can go back.
2) Richard: Round / Dynamic – He forgets resentment towards Jared and becomes friends again. He tries to remain civil, and in the end, he's the one to realize that Jared's right and that they should have changed over the year. He accepts his fate to return and spend his whole life seeking answers and asking questions, sad but accepting Karen's choice.
3) Megan: Round / Dynamic – Megan becomes sensitive and lonely without her friend, and grows as a new mother. She, too, accepts to question the world when she returns.
6) Hamilton: Round / Dynamic – Still stubborn, but with a clear head now, Hamilton realizes how he's wasted life, and agrees the terms of going back.
7) Pam: Round Dynamic – She becomes humble and agrees to the terms.
8) Linus: Round / Dynamic – Phyosophically he gladly accepts the terms to ask and seek for answers, after being blind, and showing the first ounce of manhood jealousy after finding out Wendy's pregnant with Jared's kid.
9) Wendy: Round / Dynamic – She becomes incredibely lonely, and...suggestive, and accepts the terms.
4.Point Of View~ Circle one!: Omniscient and all seeing from Jared's God-like perception.
§ Whydo you think the writer chose this point of view to develop plotcharacter or themes?
Because all though it is the perceptiong of a higher power, we can see not only what happens with Ricahrd and co. but what happens in this new philosophical ghost Jared's afterlife in return for the others going back.
5.Notables on writer’s style and structure!
§ Are there similes or metaphors? Record a quote: “Chattering like maracas."
§ Visual or other imagery? Record a quote: “A landscape of half-used Gerber jars, cigarette  butts, CD's and batteries."
§ Is there unusual vocabulary or diction? Record a quote: ”F***ing A... ...like a wad of Slim Jims... ...Swiss tuberculosis sanitorium..."
§ Is the novel structured with a particular idea? Record a quote or explain:“I'm here to talk to you about transforming your lives and yourselves. Making choices and changing who you are." This quarter is about how the characters finally start to realize that they should be changing.
§ Is here dialogue & is it realistic? Record a quote: "Ladies and gentlemen---lets have a big round of applause for . . . the Moon!"
6. Themes:Record words and topics related to themes contained and developed in your novel:
· “You've got just one option left. You blew it this year, but you can make good. As i said, there's still plan B."
· “Each new advance made by 'progress' created its own accelerating warping effect that made your lives here on earth feel even smaller and shorter and more crazed. And now . . . no time at all."
· “Scrape. Feel. Dig. Believe. Ask.
"Ask questions, no screech questions out loud---while kneeling in front of the electric doors at Safeway, demanding other citizens ask questions along with you---while chewing up old textbooks and spitting the words onto downtown sidewalks---outside the Planet Hollywood, outside the stock exchange, and outside the Gap."
· “We will change minds and souls from stone and plastic into linen and gold---that's what I believe. that's what I know."
Personal Response to this quarter: what you thought or felt, related to, did not relate to; how universal is the experience that your protagonist goes through?
The last quarter was very inspiring. The phylosophical need to question our lives, the world, destiny and the universe is represented by thsis quarter. The more I read things like this, the more I think about my own life. However, I struggled to get through the book because it was so sparse and full of slang I didn't understand half the time.

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