Characters
Identify/Generate the principle
Time: 30 minutes
Distribute the handout and explain the context of the passages
(as described at the top of the handout). Ask for a volunteer
to read the first passage aloud. Then ask the class who or what
might be responsible for the fire, in this version. (Clive and/or
Derek)
Then ask for another volunteer to read the second passage aloud.
Afterwards, ask the class who or what the author suggests might
be responsible for the fire in this version. (Certainly not Clive
and Derek; instead, the excess flow valve emerges).
Talk as a class about how the authors manipulate our sense of who
is responsible: through characters.
Finally, ask students to write the story from the point of view
of the manufacturer of the excess flow valve: which characters
would the manufacturer choose. Share results as a class.
_________________________________________________________________________
Compare
these two versions of a story of a fire at FruitCorp. The first
version is an internal letter in which the investigator explains
how the accident happens. The second version is the story of
the fire that FruitCorp released to the public. (The documents
are
real, but the names and places have been changed.)
a.
At approximately 3:55 o'clock AM on the morning of Saturday,
July 30, 1983, an explosion and fire occurred at the plant in
an area
where railroad tank cars are loaded with vinyl chloride for shipment.
The fire seriously burned Clive Harris, a FruitCorp employee
involved in the vinyl chloride loading operation, and seriously,
but less
severely, burned Lola Ritchie, a fellow employee loading caustic
at a loading rack approximately 15 to 20 yards away. The fire
originated at tank car 96 and spread to an adjacent car 74. Your
insured suffered
some $950,000.00 in damages as a result of the fire.
The theory best supported by the physical evidence is that Clive
Harris mistakenly disconnected the south loading hose attached
to tank 96 without first closing its intake valve, thus permitting
vinyl chloride to escape from the tank car into the atmosphere
when the tank car's excess flow valves failed to function. This
theory is supported by a number of factors: [List of factors.]
Harris relieved Derek Calzini, who had been loading the cars
with vinyl chloride. It is possible that Calzini did not communicate
with Harris regarding what stage of the loading procedures he
had
arrived at prior to the time Harris relieved him, or that Calzini
communicated incorrect information to Harris regarding what stage
of the loading procedures he had arrived at prior to his relief
by Harris.
b.
On or about July 30, 1983, at approximately 3:55 AM, an explosion
and fire occurred at the FruitCorp plant located on Cherry Lane
in Dallas. The explosion and fire occurred in an area of the
plant where railroad tank cars are loaded with vinyl chloride
and caustic
for shipment. The explosion and fire originated as tank car 96
was being prepared for transit. The loading line connected to
the south angle valve of tank car 96 either ruptured or became
prematurely
disconnected, allowing the release of highly flammable vinyl
chloride onto the loading rack area, even though the tank car
was equipped
with excess flow valves that were intended to prevent this type
of product loss. The vinyl chloride ignited causing this explosion
and fire.
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