Ray Bradbury has long been a hero of mine, and I'm hoping to find the perfect Bradbury short story or poem to read out loud for one of my speech classes. I have read a lot of Bradbury, but not nearly as much as I'd like to, and I'm sure not as much as you guys have. So I'm wondering if you guys could suggest a brief story, section of a story, poem, or multiple poems that would take about four to five minute to read out loud.

I really hope that I make one of Bradbury's stories work for this assignment, since when I listed him as the one person in the world I would most like to have lunch with, my classmates' faces were blank.

Hi moxy, and welcome. Before making suggestions, it moght be useful for us to know a bit more about you. Approximate age, gender, maybe your physical build - because some passages will be more or less appropriate depending on these factors.

And then there's the question of whether you want to amuse, surprise or scare you audience!

Hi Phil! Sure, no problem, a bit about myself seems appropriate

I'm 21, female, in my last semester of university. Physical build? Average height, average weight. Neither imposing nor inferior, if that's what you mean.

My goal is to surprise my audience, I suppose, although I'm not against amusing them. I tend to gravitate towards humor when I'm in stressful situations, and presenting in front of the class will certainly be stressful for me!

My favorite Bradbury stories are The One Who Waits and the Scythe, and my favorite novel is undoubtedly Dandelion Wine. However, like I said, I've only made a small dent in his works, and I'm sure my favorite story will change often in the future.

I'd be flipping through my Bradbury collections to figure this out, but they are at home at the moment, being read by my mother.

quote:

Originally posted by moxy:

I'm 21, female, . . . My goal is to surprise my audience, I suppose, although I'm not against amusing them. I tend to gravitate towards humor . . .

Four to five minutes isn't much time to work with, and all the speech classes I've been in impose penalties for running over time.

I might suggest the story called "The Wilderness", not only because it's rather brief but also because it's written from a young woman's perspective. From there you can choose to play-up or play-down the parallels it draws between space colonization, and previous historical migrations and settlement movements. You should also give some thought to how you (as the story's narrator) will express some of the comments in the narrative that reveal gender stereotyping - unquestioning acceptance, disdain but compliance, scorn and rebellion, etc. If you are permitted to use visual aids or props, the story mentions several objects - a telephone (desk set, not a mobile), or a toy model of a conestoga wagon, for example - that would be very much in-character for the narrator to hold and ponder as she relates the story.

It probably doesn't fit well with a goal of surprising, or amusing, an audience. There are several pretty serious topics going on in there, though the real climax of the story (the phone call) has a touch of the surprise ending techniques you might find in H.H. Munro, or Arthur C. Clarke.

Dale

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dale,

Hi Moxy...

I was going to suggest something from another author, but Dale is right "The Wilderness" would be a very good short piece for a speech class (also difficult)but to actually recieve a phone call from someone offstage helping you would be a great shocker to many of your classmate (not to mention a total surprise to your teacher)...again I would highly recommend "The Wilderness". Read it first, self edit what you want to include and or eliminate, then turn what parts you like into a speech.
If all else fails.....The Dog ate your speech!!! (just Kiding).
Good Luck

quote:

Originally posted by moxy:
. . . I'm hoping to find the perfect Bradbury short story or poem to read out loud for one of my speech classes. . . .

I'm curious to know what you selected, and how it turned out for you.

Dale