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else’s lack of concern about the paper strewn everywhere at Walker-Jones, which is a
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detail her mother appears not to notice.
The rising action culminates in the mother’s admission: “I don’t know how to read or
write” (par. 17). This moment, the climax of the story, reveals to us why the daughter’s
first day of school is such a momentous occasion for both mother and daughter. Even
the mother’s care in grooming and dressing her daughter for school takes on a new
dimension — education is important to the mother because she did not have the
opportunity to attain it for herself, and she wants to make sure her daughter has more
opportunities than she has had. This information also complicates the daughter’s
Analyzing Short Fiction
understanding of the woman who has raised her. While the daughter’s sense of
excitement and anxiety about the first day of school before this point in the story seems
© Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Do not distribute.
to stem from the idea that everything about the day — from her attire to the school
building itself — is fresh and new, she starts to understand more about why her mother
also feels the day is important. Emphasizing this turning point in the story, the mother
looks at her daughter before looking away with an expression that the daughter has
never seen before.
The falling action begins when another parent agrees to help the mother. Seemingly,
this woman does so out of kindness, but the daughter recognizes a subtle shift in the
other mother’s attitude as well as a more pronounced feeling of superiority now coming
from the other woman’s daughter, who stares at them as the required paperwork gets
completed. Toward the end of the falling action, the daughter attempts to share a
familiar, physical exchange with her mother, but her mother’s reaction signals a shift in
their relationship because she responds in a way that “is not a part of the game” (par.
22) they have long played. The story’s brief denouement establishes the daughter’s new
understanding of her mother as someone who not only cannot read and write but also
as someone who darns her socks and wears noisy shoes, both of which cause the
DIFFERENTIATION daughter to feel disappointed at this insight into how the world sees her mother and,
Connections to Self perhaps, appreciative of the lengths to which her mother goes to ensure she will have
more opportunities in life.
Ask students to journal about a quiet
tension that exists in their lives. For
example, they may wish to develop their KEY QUESTIONS
discussion about their conflicting feelings Analyzing Plot
about their first day of school — or another
first in their lives. Or, they may wish to • Is the plot arranged in chronological order? If not, how would you describe the
address something more general — such arrangement and structure of the plot elements?
as being late to school because they had • Does the plot involve foreshadowing? A flashback? If so, what is the purpose of this
to pick up a cup of coffee, or the tension choice, and how does it contribute to your interpretation of the story?
found in selecting an outfit. Ask them to • Are the key conflicts internal or external? What complications intensify them?
develop a paragraph that includes a claim • What is the turning point or climax of the story?
(their specific conflicting attitude/feeling • How are the conflicts resolved? If there is no resolution, why not?
words) with evidence from their own lives.

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DIFFERENTIATION
Scaffolding
Using the modeling provided for “The contributed to their understanding of the
First Day” on pp. 11–12, ask students to character or characters.
use a dialectical notebook to analyze the
significance of the plot points for a new TRM Instructional Strategies
short story, such as Katharine Brush’s For advice on conducting an effective dialec-
®
“Birthday Party” (2005 AP Exam Prose tical notebook, see the Teacher’s Resource
Fiction Analysis FRQ) or Ernest Hemingway’s Materials.
“A Very Short Story.” Both are short and
accessible. After completing the dialectical
notebooks, ask students to form small
groups to discuss how the sequence of
events they identified in their notebooks

12 chapter 1 / Analyzing Short Fiction

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