Morally-Questionable Pastiche Narrative

During this unit, our class is studying short stories that all contain morally-questionable characters. You
will try your hand at writing a narrative that has a morally-questionable character as well. Your
assignment is to write a pastiche based on one of the four stories from this unit (“Lamb to the Slaughter,”
“The Landlady,” “The Possibility of Evil,” “The Tell-Tale Heart”).

According to dictionary.com, a pastiche is “a literary, musical, or artistic piece consisting wholly or

chiefly of motifs or techniques borrowed from one or more sources.” You will choose one of the four
stories from the unit and borrow heavily from its

• plot • writing style

• setting • mood/atmosphere
• characters • use of irony

You will not simply rewrite the story; you will take the archetype of the story and write a new story in the
same style as the original. Some examples:

“Lamb to the Slaughter” your pastiche

Mary Maloney and Patrick Maloney are married
to each other.
Patrick tells Mary something horrible that likely
ends their marriage.
Mary Maloney kills her husband with a lamb leg.
The police come and investigate.
The police unknowingly eat the evidence: the lamb
leg.
Two BWYA students are lab partners in science
class.
One of the students decides he wants to work with a
different lab partner, so he tells his current partner.
The betrayed lab partner throws his traitor partner’s
Macbook Air in the garbage.
The science teacher comes to investigate.
The ayi changes the trash bags in the garbage
because there is lots of soiled science lab stuff in the
garbage, so the evidence – the Macbook - Air is
gone.

Be creative. The only things you are really going to steal are the plot archetype and the writing style. To
prepare for your pastiche, spend some time investigating the writing style of the story you have chosen.
Consider:
• Does the original story use first-person point-of-view, or second-person, or third-person?
• How does the author of the original story create mood/atmosphere?
• Does the author use American English or British English?
• What methods of characterization does the author of the original story use?
• How does the author of the original story use line breaks, punctuation, etc.?
• How does the author of the original story reveal things?
• How does the author of the original story build suspense?
• What is the pace of the original story?

The narrative is due – printed – on _______________________________. The format will be in MLA

(especially double-spaced), and you must turn in the rubric along with the story.
 Criterion B: Organizing
Level Level Descriptor
The student…
0 The student does not reach a standard described by any of the descriptors below.
i. makes minimal use of organizational structures
though these may not always serve the context
and intention
ii. organizes opinions and ideas with a minimal
degree of coherence and logic
1-2
iii. makes minimal use of referencing and
formatting tools to create a presentation style that
may not always be suitable to the context and
intention.
i. makes adequate use of organizational structures
that serve the context and intention
ii. organizes opinions and ideas with some degree
3-4 of coherence and logic
iii. makes adequate use of referencing and
formatting tools to create a presentation style
suitable to the context and intention.
i. makes competent use of organizational
structures that serve the context and intention
ii. organizes opinions and ideas in a coherent and
logical manner with ideas building on each other
5-6
iii. makes competent use of referencing and
formatting tools to create a presentation style
suitable to the context and intention.
i. makes sophisticated use of organizational
structures that serve the context and intention
effectively
ii. effectively organizes opinions and ideas in a
coherent and logical manner with ideas
7-8 building on each other in a sophisticated way
iii. makes excellent use of referencing and
formatting tools to create an effective
presentation style
Clarifier
! You usually do not organize paragraphs correctly.
! You are usually not effective in your use of transitional
devices (transition words, transitional phrases, line breaks,
punctuation), or you do not really use many transitional
devices at all.
! Your story does not really follow the plot chart of the
original story in a recognizable way.
! Your story is often difficult to understand.
! The pace of your story is not really similar to the pace of
the story on which your pastiche is based.
!
! You sometimes organize paragraphs correctly.
! You are sometimes effective in your use of transitional
devices (transition words, transitional phrases, line breaks,
punctuation), or you did not use very many transitional
devices.
! Your story follows the plot chart of the original story to
some degree.
! Your story is at times a bit difficult to understand.
! The pace of your story is somewhat similar to the pace of
the story on which your pastiche is based.
!
! You usually organize paragraphs correctly.
! You are generally effective in your use of different
transitional devices (transition words, transitional phrases,
line breaks, punctuation).
! Your story generally follows the plot chart of the original
story in a balanced, coherent, and logical way.
! Your story is generally easy to understand.
! The pace of your story is mostly similar to the pace of the
story on which your pastiche is based.
!
! You always organize paragraphs correctly.
! You use many different transitional devices (transition
words, transitional phrases, line breaks, punctuation)
effectively.
! Your story follows the plot chart of the original story very
logically in a balanced, coherent way.
! Your story is easy to understand at all times.
! The pace of your story is very similar to the pace of the
story on which your pastiche is based.
!
 Criterion C: Producing Text
Level Level Descriptor
The student…
0 does not reach a standard described by any of the descriptors below.
i. produces texts that demonstrate limited personal
engagement with the creative process; demonstrates a
limited degree of thought, imagination or sensitivity
and minimal exploration and consideration of new
perspectives and ideas
ii. makes minimal stylistic choices in terms of linguistic,
literary and visual devices, demonstrating limited
1-2 awareness of impact on an audience
iii. selects few relevant details and examples to develop
ideas.
i. produces texts that demonstrate adequate personal
engagement with the creative process; demonstrates
some degree of thought, imagination and sensitivity
and some exploration and consideration of new
perspectives and ideas
ii. makes some stylistic choices in terms of linguistic,
3-4 literary and visual devices, demonstrating adequate
awareness of impact on an audience
iii. selects some relevant details and examples to develop
ideas.
i. produces texts that demonstrate considerable
personal engagement with the creative process;
demonstrates considerable thought, imagination
and sensitivity and substantial exploration and
consideration of new perspectives and ideas
ii. makes thoughtful stylistic choices in terms of
5-6 linguistic, literary and visual devices, demonstrating
good awareness of impact on an audience
iii. selects sufficient relevant details and examples to
develop ideas.
i. produces texts that demonstrate a high degree of
personal engagement with the creative process;
demonstrates a high degree of thought, imagination
and sensitivity and perceptive exploration and
consideration of new perspectives and ideas
ii. makes perceptive stylistic choices in terms of
7-8 linguistic, literary and visual devices, demonstrating
clear awareness of impact on an audience
iii. selects extensive relevant details and examples to
develop ideas with precision.
Clarifier
! Your pastiche attempts to use archetypes based on the
original text, but the archetypes are not clear and/or
don’t work.
! Your writing is not very logical.
!
! Your pastiche attempts to mimic the style of the
original story, but it is difficult to determine what
choices you’ve made to mimic the original.
! Your story’s characters are developed minimally.
! You include little dialogue and few details that create a
version (your pastiche) out of the original story; there
are not really clear connections between what you’ve
written and the original.
! You tell too much and show too little.
! Your pastiche includes archetype choices based on the
original text, but the archetypes are not very clear.
! The choices you make in writing your pastiche are
somewhat logical, but they don’t always work very well
in the story.
! Your pastiche mimics the style of the original story to
some degree.
! Your story’s characters are developed adequately using
a few characterization methods.
! You include some dialogue and details that create a
version (your pastiche) out of the original story, but the
connections are not that clear.
! You do an adequate job of showing and not telling.
! Your pastiche includes archetype choices based on the
original text.
! The choices you make in writing your pastiche are
generally logical and generally work in the story.
! Your pastiche substantially mimics the style of the
original story.
! Your story’s characters are developed using several
characterization methods.
! You include sufficiently engaging dialogue and
appropriate details that generally create a new version
(your pastiche) out of the old (the original story).
! You do a sufficient job of showing and not just telling.
! There are clear and effective archetype choices based
on the story on which yours is based in your pastiche.
! The choices you make in writing your pastiche are
logical and work in the story.
! Your pastiche successfully mimics the style of the
original story.
! Your story’s characters are developed by effectively
using a wide variety of characterization methods.
! You include interesting, appropriate dialogue and
vivid, descriptive details that create a new version (your
pastiche) out of the old (the original story).
! You do an excellent job of showing and not just telling.
 Criterion D: Using Language
Level Level Descriptor
The student…
0 does not reach a standard described by any of the descriptors below.
i. uses a limited range of appropriate vocabulary and
forms of expression
ii. writes and speaks in an inappropriate register and style
that do not serve the context and intention
iii. uses grammar, syntax and punctuation with limited
1-2 accuracy; errors often hinder communication
iv. spells/writes and pronounces with limited accuracy;
errors often hinder
communication
i. uses an adequate range of appropriate vocabulary,
sentence structures and forms of expression
ii. sometimes writes and speaks in a register and style that
serve the context and intention
iii. uses grammar, syntax and punctuation with some
3-4 degree of accuracy; errors sometimes hinder
communication
iv. spells/writes and pronounces with some degree of
accuracy; errors sometimes hinder communication
i. uses a varied range of appropriate vocabulary, sentence
structures and forms of expression competently
ii. writes and speaks competently in a register and style
that serve the context and intention
iii. uses grammar, syntax and punctuation with a
considerable degree of accuracy; errors do not
5-6 hinder effective communication
iv. spells/writes and pronounces with a considerable
degree of accuracy; errors do not hinder effective
communication
i. effectively uses a varied range of appropriate
vocabulary, sentence structures and forms of expression
ii. writes and speaks in a consistently appropriate
register and style that serve the context and intention
iii. uses grammar, syntax and punctuation with a high
degree of accuracy; errors are minor and
7-8 communication is effective
iv. spells/writes and pronounces with a high degree of
accuracy; errors are minor and communication is
effective
Clarifier
! Your word choices are repetitive; you use too many
“tired” words
! You organize your sentences in the same way most
of the time
! Your pastiche does not really have the same tone as
the story on which it is based.
! Your grammar has consistent mistakes; the story
rarely correctly uses
£ verbs that agree in tense and with their subjects
£ correct count/noncount nouns
! appropriate punctuation; there many consistent
errors
! You have some spelling errors in your story.
! You correctly use a few different interesting words
! You organize your sentences in a few different ways
! Your pastiche at times has the same tone as the
story on which it is based.
! Your grammar has some consistent mistakes; the
story sometimes uses
£ verbs that agree in tense and with their subjects
£ correct count/noncount nouns
! appropriate punctuation; there are consistent errors
! You have a few spelling errors in your story.
! You correctly use some different interesting words
! You organize your sentences in some different ways
! Your pastiche is generally written in the same tone
as the story on which it is based.
! Your grammar overall is accurate, with a few
errors; the story generally uses
£ verbs that agree in tense and with their subjects
£ correct count/noncount nouns
! appropriate punctuation, with occasional errors
! You have very few spelling errors in your story.
! You correctly use many different interesting words
! You organize your sentences in many different
ways
! Your pastiche is written in the same tone as the
story on which it is based.
! Your grammar overall is excellent and
sophisticated, with very few errors; the story uses
£ verbs that agree in tense and with their subjects
£ correct count/noncount nouns
£ appropriate punctuation, with very few
occasional errors
! You have no spelling errors in your story.