LITERARY CASE FILES

Don't tell me
what happens.

Tell me what you make of it.

THE PD FILES starts where the summary ends. Open a file, notice something, question it, return to the text — and see whether your first judgement survives.

🐦“Plot summaries have been informed that their services are not required.”
THE ARCHIVE GROWS.
New works can be added whenever a course needs them. A case file is not a checklist — and a locked file keeps its questions to itself until the class is ready.
Yesteryear visual case-file collage
CASE OPEN

Yesteryear

Would you rather live a life that feels perfect — or one that looks perfect?

Image, reality and the uncomfortable distance between imagining another life and actually living it.

OPEN THE FILE →
CASE 002 · OPEN

Macbeth

When does ambition stop being impressive?

Desire, influence, language and the choices people make when they want more.

OPEN THE FILE →
CASE 003 · OPEN

The Great Gatsby

You're invited.

Beautiful parties. A mysterious host. A light across the water. The rest of the file opens with the reading.

OPEN THE FILE →
CONNECTED DOSSIER · OPEN

The Handmaid's Tale

A society says women are being protected.

Voice, power, memory and the small things a system cannot completely erase.

Hysteria · The Yellow Wallpaper · Feminism · Gilead
CONNECTED FILE · OPEN

The Yellow Wallpaper

She says something is wrong. They say she's fine.

A short story inside a larger investigation of authority, medicine, voice and who gets believed.

OPEN THE FILE →
CASE 004 · YOU CHOSE THIS ONE

One of Us Is Lying

Five students walk into detention. Four walk out.

At first the question is who did it. Later, the more interesting question may be why you were so sure.

OPEN THE FILE →
SHORT STORY FILE

The Story of an Hour

CLASSIFIED

This file will open when the course needs it.

SHORT STORY FILE

The Lapse

CLASSIFIED

This file will open when the course needs it.

THE PD APPROACH

Same teacher. Different text. Different way in.

NOTICE FIRST

Don't explain before you've had a chance to wonder.

RETURN TO THE TEXT

An opinion matters. Evidence makes it worth listening to.

LEAVE SOME SPACE

Some questions are for answering. Some are for carrying with you.

ONE RULE

If the website has already done the thinking, we've done too much.

Other voices can help — classmates, Pd, critics, AI. None of them gets to own your judgement.

🐦“Different conclusion? Fine. Strong evidence? Even better.”
BEFORE YOU OPEN A FILE
What would you ask if nobody had given you the worksheet yet?

Interesting is enough to begin.