Short Story Analysis
Short Story Analysis 2
2. In order to delineate the notional structure for The Velveteen Rabbit, one must first assess the correct discourse type. In reviewing the narrative, procedural, behavioral, and expository discourse types, The Velveteen Rabbit is undeniably a narrative discourse in surface and notional structure. The plot or notional structure of the story provides insights into what one would imagine is a toy's ultimate dream of being loved and becoming real. The story begins with the phrase, "There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid." This sentence is an example of a formulaic aperture. This narrative discourse takes us from its introduction as a new toy stuffed in a stocking on Christmas morning through an early period in a boy's adolescence as seen through the eyes of a toy rabbit made of velveteen. The inciting moments or prebreak episodes within the story are as follows: Skin Horse explains what it means to be real; the Rabbit becomes the boy's favorite toy; and the Boy exclaims that the Rabbit is "real". Two examples of juxtaposition in the prebreak episodes are clearly evidenced when Nana brings the Rabbit to the Boy for the first time, and again when the Boy becomes ill (Longacre 36). Following the prebreak episodes, Longacre defines the peak as, "a zone of turbulence in regard to the flow of the discourse in its preceding and following parts" (38). Peaks are marked by the following six indicators: rhetoric underlining, concentration of participants, shift of tense, shift to more specific person, change of pace, and change of vantage point. All six can be found in The Velveteen Rabbit in the summer days episode. Rhetorical underlining is evidenced through parallelism, paraphrase, or repetition of words (Longacre 39). Multiple examples can be seen in the dialogue between the Rabbit and the wild rabbits. The first example is found when he says, "I can! said the little Rabbit. I can jump higher than
2. In order to delineate the notional structure for The Velveteen Rabbit, one must first assess the correct discourse type. In reviewing the narrative, procedural, behavioral, and expository discourse types, The Velveteen Rabbit is undeniably a narrative discourse in surface and notional structure. The plot or notional structure of the story provides insights into what one would imagine is a toy's ultimate dream of being loved and becoming real. The story begins with the phrase, "There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid." This sentence is an example of a formulaic aperture. This narrative discourse takes us from its introduction as a new toy stuffed in a stocking on Christmas morning through an early period in a boy's adolescence as seen through the eyes of a toy rabbit made of velveteen. The inciting moments or prebreak episodes within the story are as follows: Skin Horse explains what it means to be real; the Rabbit becomes the boy's favorite toy; and the Boy exclaims that the Rabbit is "real". Two examples of juxtaposition in the prebreak episodes are clearly evidenced when Nana brings the Rabbit to the Boy for the first time, and again when the Boy becomes ill (Longacre 36). Following the prebreak episodes, Longacre defines the peak as, "a zone of turbulence in regard to the flow of the discourse in its preceding and following parts" (38). Peaks are marked by the following six indicators: rhetoric underlining, concentration of participants, shift of tense, shift to more specific person, change of pace, and change of vantage point. All six can be found in The Velveteen Rabbit in the summer days episode. Rhetorical underlining is evidenced through parallelism, paraphrase, or repetition of words (Longacre 39). Multiple examples can be seen in the dialogue between the Rabbit and the wild rabbits. The first example is found when he says, "I can! said the little Rabbit. I can jump higher than