The Night The Bed FellBy James Thurber

James ThurberJames Thurber was an American author and

cartoonist. He was born Dec. 8, 1894, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.—died Nov. 2, 1961, New York, N.Y.. He is best known for his

contributions to The New Yorker magazine. He was on The New Yorker staff from 1927

to 1933 and remained a consistent contribution thereafter. His cartoons became some of the most popular in

America. By 1952, Thurber had to give up drawing because his failing eyesight had

developed into full blindness. 

Background

Although James Thurber ultimately pursued a dual career as a writer

and cartoonist for the New Yorker. His first cartoon sketch appeared

in the magazine in 1931. He focused on writing, but his

drawings attracted the attention of a friend E.B. White, who

encouraged Thurber to work on further illustrations .http://www.thurberhouse.org/james-thurber.html

CA Standards

Reading 3.2 Identify events that advance the plot and determine how

each event explains past present actions or foreshadows future

actions .Language Conventions 1.3 Identify all

parts of speech and types and structures of sentences

Listening and Speaking Develop narrative presentations .

Story Background

An early accident left writer and cartoonist James Thurber blind in first one eye and then both eyes.

This loss of sight led him to develop his own readily identifiable

style of simple line drawing. Like the cartoon above, many of his

cartoons enhance the humor of the situations he describes .

Humorous Cartoons

Humorous Essay

Humorous essays are brief works of nonfiction meant to amuse readers. In

“The Night the Bed Fell,” James Thurber produces a humorous effect

by contrasting the reality of a situation with the characters’

mistaken views of what is happening. Using an organizer like the one shown,

record the different ideas characters have about events in “The Night the

Bed Fell ”.

Connecting Literary Elements

One way writers create humor is through characterization

Characters are the actors in the narrativeCharacterization is the process through

which a writer develops a characterA writer can develop a character through

direct description, through the character’s actions, words or thoughts,

or through the reaction of other characters .

The Following example shows characterization through a characters actions and thoughtsOld Aunt Melissa Beal (who could whistle like a man with tow fingers

in her mouth) suffered under the premonition that she was destined

to die on South High Street…Look for other details used to

develop characters in “The Night the Bed Fell ”.

Identify Significant EventsIn any narrative, whether humorous or

serious, there are significant events that move the action forward. Significant events

reveal new information, causes other events, change the way a character acts or

thinks, or settle a question or problem. Use the following questions as you read.

.1What is the first event that sets the other events in motion?

.2What is one event that increases the misunderstanding?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFX8q_DVIOQ