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How to write a summary. Sample I. The escape by W. S. Maugham. The gardener by Rudyard Kipling. The boarding house by James Joyce
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How to write a summary
1. Read the article to be summarized and make sure you understand it.
2. Outline the article. Note the major points.
3. Write a first draft of the summary without looking at the article.
4. Always use paraphrase when writing a summary. If you do copy a phrase from the original, be sure it is a very important phrase that is necessary and cannot be paraphrased. In this case put “quotation marks” around the phrase.
5. Target your first draft for approximately 1/4 the length of the original.
Sample I
THE ESCAPE by W. S. Maugham
This story is about a wealthy man Roger Charing who decides to get married. His fiancé e Ruth Barlow is a very beautiful woman who hides her strong character behind the mask of a helpless woman to attract the attention of potential husbands. Roger does everything to please her, but suddenly he realizes her true intentions and falls out of love. As a gentleman Roger cannot cancel the wedding so he finds another way to break up with his fiancé e. They are going to marry the day they find a perfect house. But during two years of rejecting all the offers Ruth loses her patience and leaves Roger herself.
Sample II
THE GARDENER by Rudyard Kipling
In the short story “The Gardener” the author Rudyard Kipling presents Helen Turrell’s life. Being an honest and dependent woman she takes care of her dead brother’s son and brings him up. Her nephew, Michael, is a very smart boy who suffers because of his origin. When the war breaks out he wants to do his duty and goes to the front. Helen waits for his return but one day she learns that he is missing. Helen understands everything and, though her friends try to reassure her, stops to cherish hope. At the end of the story the author describes Helen’s visit to her nephew’s grave. On her way she meets two women who share her grief (under different circumstances). At the cemetery Helen sees a man, supposedly a gardener, who shows her nephew’s grave. He think Michael is her son.
Sample III
THE BOARDING HOUSE by James Joyce
In the short story “The Boarding House” the author James Joyce presents life of a strong woman, Mrs. Mooney. In spite of a drunkard husband and unhappy marriage, she is able to make a living by setting up a boarding house. Her clients mainly consist of tourists, artists from music hall and clerks from the city. Mrs. Mooney lives in the boarding house with her son Jack and daughter Polly. Polly is a 19-year-old girl who likes to flirt with the young men and gladdens them with her singing. When an affair between Polly and one of the tenants, named Mr. Doran, starts, Mrs. Mooney doesn't intervene. She allows it to continue. But when the right moment comes she decides to act. The end the story shows Mr. Doran’s inner conflict. He has only two options: to marry Polly even if he is not sure about his feelings towards her or to run away and totally ruin his reputation. As Mr. Doran realizes his sin, he decides to get married.
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Sample IV
LULLABY by Mulk Raj Anand
The opening scene of the story shows the main character, Phalini, rocking her baby Suraj Mukhi and singing him a lullaby. Phalini is a very poor woman, who has to work at a factory to feed her child and herself. While her baby is crying, Phalini is feeding the machine with jute. Everything around her: walls, the machine, even her face, is covered with fluff. She continues to rock her sick child when she remembers her lover Kirodhar, father of Suraj Mukhi. Memories make her feel better but soon she returns to the reality where other workers condemn and treat her badly. The end of the story takes a tragic turn. Her beloved son dies on account of the factory's bad conditions. Phalini is in agony but the world doesn't care for her troubles.
SCHEME OF ANALYSIS I (FIRST TERM)
1. Introduce the information about the author (his creative works, the main problems passing through his literary works).
2. Setting – the description of the physical background - the place and time of the story, the significant items surrounding the actions and characters.
3. Summary.
4. The main problem and the way the conflict is resolved (on the level of vocabulary, implicit level). Positively / negatively solved / suspended conflict.
5. The key vocabulary and the semantic sphere they belong to; connotation of these words (negative/positive); the tone made up by the vocabulary selection (ironic, humorous, dramatic, neutral, logic, pessimistic, optimistic, sarcastic, expecting, nervous, worrying, suspensive, touching off the spirit of the reader).
6. Characters: the way they are presented by the author, your perception, is the author’s perception objective or subjective? Round / flat characters.
7. Evaluation (appraisal part).
SCHEME OF ANALYSIS II (SECOND TERM)
1. Introduce the information about the author (his creative works, the main problems passing through his literary works).
2. Define the genre to which the story under study belongs.
- social- studies the effect of social conditions at a given time and place upon human life and conduct (“The adventures of Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens).
- psychological - is concerned mainly with the mental and emotional lives of the characters (“The Idiot”).
3. Define the style of the story (a novel).
- the belles- lettres style (poetry, drama, emotive prose).
4. Speak on the form of narration.
- the story is wholly a narrative (a narration), a description, a dialogue, an interior monologue, digression; mostly a dialogue and partially narrative (an interior monologue).
- it’s mostly narrative, but there are the elements of a description/digression.
- digression consists of an insertion of material that has no immediate relation to the theme or action. It may be critical, philosophical, lyrical etc.
5. Setting - the description of the physical background - the place and time of the story, the significant items surrounding the actions and characters.
6. The subject of a literary work – the central conflict, which the writer intends to present in his work, the general topic of which the particular story is an illustration.
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7. Summary (5-8 sentences).
8. The composition of the story consists of the exposition (завязка), plot (сюжет), climax (кульминация), denouement (развязка), ending (surprise ending).
Define the climax – the crucial moment. The decisive point on which the fate of the character & the final action depend (the narration come to climax when…),
denouement – развязка – positive, negative,
ending – at the end of the story... (clear cut),
surprise ending – an unexpected turn of the plot not made clear until the end of the story.
9. The author’s tone – his attitude to what he is presenting, to his characters (ironic, humorous, dramatic, neutral, logic, pessimistic, optimistic, sarcastic, expecting, nervous, worrying, suspensive, touching off the spirit of the reader... ).
10. Character drawing.
You are supposed take into account the following questions:
a. Does the author give a psychological insight into the characters?
b. With what main problem is the character faced?
с. Are the characters changed in the course of the story as a result of their personal experience and because of the influence of other characters?
d. Does the author reveal the thoughts and feelings of his characters directly or indirectly?
e. Does the author sympathize with his characters?
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