PROJECT 2ND. EVALUATION: ONCE UPON A TIME - JULIA BELLIDO

PROJECT 2ND EV ONCE UPON A TIME

ENGLISH

JULIA BELLIDO VARONA

“All the King's Horses” from Welcome to the Monkey HouseKurt Vonnegut

INDEX

3 CHARACTERS

10 QUOTES

SUMMARY

A NEW TITLE

5 #

10 WORDS

SELF-ASSESSMENT

FORMAL LETTER

REVIEW

SUMMARY

Bryan Kelly was an American Colonel whose plane crash-landed on Asiatic territory. In the plane were Kelly’s wife, their two sons, ten enlisted men, the pilot, and the two copilots, and all of them survived the crash. They all were taken as prisoners by a Communist chief called Pi Ying who locked them until he thought about how to kill them in an entertaining way.Finally, Pi Ying decided to play chess against Kelly, but the pieces that Kelly was going to play with were the people he was in the plane with. The conditions were that the American pieces that Pi Ying captured would be executed at that moment, if Kelly wins, the American pieces still on the board will survive, but if Pi Ying wins they all would be executed. The day of the game, Pi Ying seated with his wife and a Russian military officer, Major Barzov, and Colonel Kelly colocated as the king of the white pieces and all the other Americans occupied the rest white pieces. The game started and some Americans captured by the black pieces were executed but, suddenly, the only chance to not lose for Kelly’s team was sacrificing one of his sons, and that is what he did. But just before the execution of Kelly’s son, Pi Ying’s wife killed Pi Ying and herself with a knife. That is why Major Barzov was the one who continued playing instead of Pi Ying. Finally, Colonel Kelly won the game and all of the white pieces still on the board were set free, including his wife and sons. And at the end, Barzov explains that as the USA and the USSR were not at war, he would have set them free anyway and proposed to Kelly to play another game in a friendly way.

3 CHARACTERS

+ INFO

GUERRILLA CHIEF PI YING

MAJOR BARZOV

He is a Russian military officer who accompanied Pi Ying during the chess game. Once Pi Ying is killed, he is the one who continues the game but with the difference that he did not intend to execute any more Americans since America and the USSR were not officially at war.

He is a communist guerrilla chief of the Asiatic territory, who finds the survivors of the plane. He keeps them locked in the basement of a palace while he decides how to kill them. Finally he decides to play a game with them, but with them being the pieces.

COLONEL BRYAN KELLY

He is one of the protagonists since he is the one who represents the Americans who are on the plane, in addition to his wife and children. He is the one who talks to Pi Ying.

+ INFO

+ INFO

10 QUOTES

He detested himself for the calm, the detachment with which he did it. He saw the fear and reproach in Margaret’s eyes. She couldn’t understand that he had to be this way that in his coldness was their only hope for survival.

“The sixteen of us, soldier, are the chessmen I’ll be playing with.”

Major Barzov struggled with the Chinese girl. In her small hand, still free of his grasp, was a slender knife. She drove it into her breast and fell against the major.

“This room was a whim of my predecessors, who for generations held the people in slavery”

“The rules of the game are easy to remember. You are all to behave as Colonel Kelly tells you. Those of you who are so unfortunate as to be taken by one of my chessmen will be killed quickly, painlessly, promptly.”

Barzov ordered servants and soldiers to carry out the bodies of Pi Ying and the girl. It was more of the act of a scrupulous housekeeper than a pious mourner. No one questioned his brisk authority.

Pi Ying leaned over the balustrade and pointed a finger at the struggling soldier. “For those who run from the board or make an outcry, a special form of death can be arranged,” he said sharply.

“No, I won't take the boy. I feel as Pi Ying felt about you that you, as Americans, are the enemy, whether an official state of war exists or not. I look upon you as prisoners of war”

“Unfortunately, the time and the place are up to you,” said Colonel Kelly wearily. “If you insist on arranging another game, issue an invitation, Major, and I’ll be there.”

Before Kelly could order his thoughts, Pi Ying gave the order “Take his king’s pawn.”

10

NEW TITLE

"THE CHESS OF DEATH"

10 WORDS

PIECES OF CHESS

OTHER WORDS

PAWN

SLENDER KNIFE

BISHOP

GUERRILLA CHIEF

ROOKE

KNIGHT

OUTCRY

QUEEN

OUTCOME

KING

5 #

#CHESSALIVE

#PLOTTWIST

#WINtolive

#SURVIVALGAME

#WARLITERATURE

A FORMAL LETTER

Dear Mr Vonnegut, I am Julia, a 17-year-old student from Spain. I just wanted to get in touch with you to express how interesting I found this short story, especially because of the main theme it deals with and the metaphors that are used. The way in which you have introduced the topic of war and the way in which it affects people's behavior seemed very intelligent to me. And it is explained in such a way that anyone could understand it. I also loved the plot twist when the Chinese woman kills Pi Ying and the perspective of the story changes completely, just as it could happen in war. Thank you for your time and attention to this email and I am sure I will read more of your stories. Yours sincerely, Julia Bellido

REVIEW

All the King's Horses” is a psychological short story written by Kurt Vonnegut that is about some Americans who become war prisoners and whose lives are going to be decided in a chess game. The leader of the Americans is Colonel Kelly and is the one who has to play against Pi Ying, the leader of an enemy territory. The most shocking thing about this short story is the plot twist that allows us to observe a different perspective of the story and makes the ending surprising. However, I didn't like that the author spent so much time talking about chess moves because these parts could be insignificant and boring. Personally, I would recommend this story especially to people who like history and want to learn about the behavior of society. But I would not recommend it to children because they are not going to understand the metaphor of the story.

SELF ASSESSMENT

In this project I have encountered several challenges, such as some vocabulary and that the short story I read is not very well known and I have not been able to find much information about it, but finally, searching in many pages, I found some information. What I liked most about this project was that everything was well organized and that I knew what I had to do at every moment. And what I liked least was the little time we had to read in class and that perhaps we should have needed one more session. This project gives us the possibility to read in English, something that we are not used to, and it has helped me to learn a lot of new vocabulary, in addition to having learned to summarize a story, make a review or write to an author. And for this reason, I would recommend this project for future students.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• ALL THE KING’S HORSES from WELCOME TO THE MONKEY HOUSE by Kurt Vonnegut, 1905
• a - English-Spanish Dictionary - WordReference.com (n.d.). https://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=a
• Chess pieces Names, moves & values. (n.d.). Chess.com. https://www.chess.com/terms/chesspieces#:~:text=Rook%20%2D%20Moves%20any%20number%20of,can%20move%20two%20squares%20forward.

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