Kimberly McKean's Short Story Proposal

Exposition

            Rita Flores is a hardworking music student at a college where she is forced to hold a part-time job in order to pay off student loans. Surrounded by wealthy students supported by their parents, she often feels alienated, finding solace in her studies. She is fascinated by one of the composition professors, a bitter eccentric who takes his work so seriously that students hold more grudges than respect for him. Upon meeting with him, she finds out that he resents students for selling out to their audience, for caring more about impressing others than presenting what they hear in their heads. She learns many things from him and values him greatly as a teacher.

Inciting Incident

            On the night of the premiere of his new piece, the professor is nowhere to be found. The audience and musicians complain about the resentful, arrogant disposition he exhibited during rehearsals and how he would criticize the musicians for being unable to play the music how he heard it in his head. He is viciously insulted, and the piece is poorly performed. Later, it’s discovered that he’s dead.

           

Rising Action

            A date for the professor’s memorial is set, but it is cancelled at the last minute, as his death is considered to be an insult to the school. On the day that his memorial was supposed to occur, Rita stays in her dorm room and listens to recordings of his older works. Depressed, she attempts to write her own piece. That night, she goes to her professor’s house with the intent of giving condolences to his family. When she arrives, she sees his wife angrily throwing away a box of his old things. She takes the box back with her and attempts to go through it, though upon seeing that it’s filled with old letters and compositions, cannot bring herself to look at it.

Climax

            When Rita returns to school, she finds that there is a new replacement for the old professor, a classically trained teacher with very rigid beliefs. When she plays one of her pieces for him in a master class, he violently criticizes her in front of the other students. Additionally, he invokes ideas concerning how they should just do whatever they can to get money. Reminded of the dead professor’s beliefs, she walks out of the class, with a few others following her.

            She returns to her dorm and retrieves the box of her teacher’s works. She manages to get through a piece, and realizes that in the midst of all his insanity, he was able to produce true art. The piece is dated from several years ago, making her believe that he wished to keep its existence a secret. She initially believes that it’s her duty to share it with the world, but she’s also torn by the unthinkable act of betraying a dead man’s wishes.

Falling Action

She drives out to the train tracks where her professor killed himself, and walks along the tracks, while contemplating her decisions. She has the option of either giving his music to an unforgiving audience or respecting his wishes to keep a secret. She is the last one left to make such a decision, since there is no one left to care.

Resolution

            She sits on a dock by a lake and tries to make a decision. She almost throws the pages into the water, but is unable to. The story ends with her breaking down on the shore, unable to come to terms with her mentor’s death.