The Pieces of Silver

Writer: Dini Mustaqima
Indonesia University of Education

The Pieces of Silver by Karl Sealy The focus of this story is the development of plot which is started from the basic situation followed by some complications, climax and resolution. In order to develop this story line, there are some factors that are needed to be taken into consideration and those are the characters, conflicts and also setting that later on will give us the idea of the story’s theme. From the story we will discover how those factors are related to each other to build a nice plot. In the basic situation, we can find a detail description about how students’ activities in the playing field are stopped because the bell rings. From the description of activities found in the second paragraph the reader may imagine how the playing field looks like. The games of cricket and pick-ups which are usually played by many people can be played in this playing field which gives us the clue that the playing field is actually large. And then the action of some students, who come slithering down from the old tamarind tree, lets us know the fresh nuance of the environment around the playing field. In the next paragraph, the author gives the additional description of playing field by mentioning explicitly that it is pebbled and also dusty with reference to the statement that students coming from there with the dusty naked feet. Besides giving the description on setting, this paragraph also explains the impact of the rung bell for students, which becomes a signal for health inspection. The idea of health inspection in this story is more similar with the one conducted for army, that every students who are dirty and untidy will be given physical punishment by their teacher, in this case the stroke. That is the reason why when the students hear the bell rings, they will obediently stop their activities and line up in front of the school building every morning. This situation is the reflection of