PROJECT 2ND. EVALUATION: ONCE UPON A TIME. - DANIEL CASTILLO

10 quotes

3 characters

Summary

New title

"Good Boys Deserve Favors" from Fragile Things - Neil Gateman

10 words

Self evaluation and bibliography

Review

Formal letter

5 #

By Daniel Castillo

Summary

"Good Boys Deserve Favors" is a short story by Neil Gaiman that appears in his collection "Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders". This story talks about a boy who was different from the rest of his age because he was shorter. One day in the school, when he was nine, the teacher let the students choose an instrument. He was elected to play the double bass, he loved the idea because he was so small compared with the height from the double bass. He learned how to play the instrument thanks to his teacher. Despite practicing a lot with it, he couldn’t develop a big talent with the double bass but when he presented to an orchestra he did it incredibly. But unfortunately, the instrument broke, he fixed it but after that he was never able to play it again, because it wasn’t the same.

3 characters

YOUNG BOY This character is the protagonist of the story. He loves to play the double bass, this instrument was bigger than him. He tried to learn how to play thanks to double bass teacher but he will never be a good musician. From my point of view this character is very interesting because the relationship between the double bass and him is very deep. DOUBLE BASS TEACHER He is an old man who is trying to teach the boy how to play the double bass. He treats the bass like a person. I find very interesting this character when he talks about his history. FAMOUS OLD BOY He is a guy from the school that became famous. One day when he heard the boy playing, he decided to bring people to watch him play the double bass. I think that it is very beautiful when he keeps listening to the young boy ‘s music.

10 quotes

"I played, and I played, and I played, tumbling down into the four taut metal strings, clutching the instrument as I had never clutched a human being."

"I stopped pretending to play, and slipped off my high stool and stood up respectfully, holding the bass by the neck."

"I had not taken care of her; she would no longer take care of me."

"He had a contraption attached to the back of his bicycle, on which his bass rested, and he pedaled sedately through the countryside with the bass behind him."

"And, soon enough, I knew, there would be girls."

"The wooden bridge of the bass was smashed, and the front was cracked."

"The blonde woman led the applause, but they all clapped, even, with a strange expression on his face, the deputy head of music."

"I was lazy and uninspired."

"He had never married. Good double bass players, he told me, were men who made poor husbands."

"The double bass is not a solo instrument, really, not even for the competent, and I was far from competent."

New title

"GROWING UP WITH MUSIC"

¿WHY? I chose this new tittle because it represents perfectly the esence of the short story, a young boy that started playing music with an instrument and little by little he became a man. Along the story his relation with it, the double bass, change a lot.

10 words

• Inextricable: Impossible to separate.

• Cacophony: A harsh discordant mixture of sounds.

• Astonishment: A feeling of great surprise or amazement.

• Incongruity: Lack of harmony.

• Resonance:The quality in a sound of being deep, full, and reverberating.

• Lament: A passionate expression of grief or sorrow.

• Confluence: The junction of two rivers.Dulcet:Sweet and soothing.

• Precarious: Not securely held or in position.

• Ephemeral: Lasting for a very short time.

5 #

#OrchestraOfLife

#YoungMusicianAdventure

#DoubleBassLearner

#DreamerStringsMelody

#BassLoverMemories

Formal letter

"Dear Mr Gateman, I write to you to express my congratulations for the short story “Good boys deserve favors” from Fragile Things. I really liked it but I would like to let you know what I like and what I like less. I loved the connection that the young boy developed with the instrument during the story. Also, I got very interested in the story of the old teacher. However, I also have some things that I would like to know more about. For example, I would like to have known more about the secondary characters, like the life of the old teacher. Also the final part of the story is a little bit confusing at the end. If you could respond to me, I would like you to clarify these things that I couldn't understand after reading the story. Yours sincerely,

Review

“Good Boys Deserve Favors” from “Fragile Things”, which is written by Neil Gateman, is a buildium romano play about a boy who tries to become in a musician of a double bass after use this instrument at first time in school. This short story deals with the experience of a young boy with an instrument, in which the relationship between the double bass and the child it’s developed, appearing new characters that help to understand it. From my point of view, there is a good aspect that I find in this story,it made me feel like the protagonist and transmitted the feelings from the characters very well. However, one bad aspect is that sometimes it is very easy to know what it’s going to happen. I really recommend this book because it’s very interesting how the young boy became a man.

Self evaluation

From my point of view, this project has been very interesting and fun to do and I found it very entertaining. Also, I have had some complications during the project, especially in finding a new title for the story and the hashtags because it was challenging for me to be creative in coming up with them. The thing that I liked the most was reading the short history and the one that I liked for least was the creation of a new tittle and hashtags. I really recommend keeping this project because thanks to it, you will learn new vocabulary in a more dynamic way.

Bibliography

Oxford language - Google Dictionary