THE ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE In order to adequately assess the quality of a book, it is important to examine not only the book’s effect on the reader but also to examine the elements that produce that effect. The traditional literary elements are discussed below. Leading children into discussion about these elements will help them take a closer look at a particular literary work and learn how to rely on their own judgments when evaluating a piece of literature. A. Characters Identify the main characters and secondary characters in a story. Do you like or dislike these characters? Tell me why. What seems to motivate a particular character? Who has influenced that character? Describe a character’s physical appearance/personality. How does the author reveal the character to the reader (through conversation, action, other characters talking, private thought of character?) 5. What are a character’s strengths and weaknesses? 6. Who is the strongest character in the story? The weakest? 7. Do you find yourself pretending to be a particular character in the story? How does this make you feel about this character? 8. Think about the main character. Tell the four most important things that make this character memorable. What qualities do you admire or not admire? 9. What does the main character in the story want? What goals or purposes are behind this character’s behavior? What do you think are his or her intentions? 10. Why do you think the main character behaves the way he or she does? What character seems to understand him or her? 11. What is the major problem of the characters? What caused the problem? How do they plan to solve the problem? 12. Does the main character suffer? Why does he or she have to suffer? 13. What other characters does the main character interact with? What does this show about him/her? 14. Are any of the characters symbols? How? 15. Have you ever known someone like this character? Who? Please explain. 16. What information do you have about the main character that is not revealed to the other characters? 17. How do the characters act in ways, which are unexpected or surprising? 18. Are the characters agents of action or reaction to the action? Explain (Evans 58). 19. What do you think a particular character is thinking? What clues do you have? 20. How do you think a particular character feels? What clues help you know? 21. What is your first impression of a particular character? At this point, what do you think of this character? 22. Select one character that is not the protagonist. Explain why this character is important to the story. 23. How does the age, gender, or race of a character affect the way you view or react to that character? 24. What is the author’s view of a particular character and his or her behavior? 1. 2. 3. 4.
25. How does the author make you think and feel about particular characters? How does the author accomplish this? 26. What characters voices are not heard in the story? What difference does this make? 27. Identify any changes that occur in a character and indicate the reasons for the changes. Create a poem showing how a character changed from the beginning of the story to the end. 28. What question(s) would you like to ask a character in the story? How might they respond? 29. Discuss the phrase “out of character” and ask questions to enlarge the understanding of this concept. 30. Do you like the way the main character solves his or her problem? What is another way he or she could solve it? 31. Is the main character a hero? Explain. 32. What do you think the main character learns about other people and their feelings? 33. What do you think the main character will do the next time some similar problem happens? 34. How do characters in the story change? 35. Which character in the story provides wisdom and perspective? 36. Can you identify any characters who protest against the injustices and inequities in the story? Who are they? How did they protest? What does it mean if no one objected to the injustices? 37. How is a particular character like or not like you? 38. How has the author written the story to favor some characters and make others seem unfavorable? What makes you like some characters in the story better than others? 39. Does the story have a “villain”? Who? What role does he or she play in the overall story? 40. Do any characters do things that are good? Or, do things that are wrong? Explain. 41. Place a character in an entirely new situation and improvise how that character might act. 42. Write a new chapter for a main character. Tell what happens next and how it ends. 43. Draw the face of a particular character. 44. Write a dialogue in which two characters in the story describe a third character from the story. 45. Create a dream a particular character might have had the night before an important event in the story takes place. 46. “Describe a typical day in the life of character X before X events happened and after X event happened” (Pritchard 27). 47. Write a will, eulogy, or obituary for one of the characters in the story. 48. Create a symbol you associate with a particular character.
B.
Plot 1. Summarize the plot of the story using a graphic organizer/chart.
2
2. What is the first complicating incident—the one that foreshadows the rest or sets up the subsequent action? (Evans 58). 3. What is the significance of a particular detail or event within the story? How are we prepared for these events? 4. What might have taken place before this story began? Write a prologue for the story. 5. Criticize the plot in terms of its believability and interest. 6. Is there a parallel plot or subplot? What is it? 7. Describe the resolution of the plot. Were you able to predict what happened at the end? 8. After a particular event in the story, predict what will happen next. 9. What basic conflicts are evident in the plot (person against person, person against environment, person against self, etc.)? 10. What does the author reveal or keep back from readers? From characters? 11. An author often leaves gaps when telling a story. What’s missing or left out? What’s significant about this gap? 12. How might this story be different if the main character were the opposite sex? 13. What examples of cliff-hangers or flashbacks can you find? 14. Does the story build to a climax or is it episodic? 15. Describe the climax of the plot. Identify details and events that build toward the climax. How has the author set up tension and relieved it? 16. What does the author want you to think and feel and particular events? 17. Does the story include any surprises? Describe them. 18. If the book has chapter titles, how do these titles reflect the rising and falling action of the story? Create appropriate chapter titles if none exist. 19. Create a time-line of events for the story, highlighting the climax. 20. Cite examples of how the author builds suspense. What surprise techniques does the author use? What examples of foreshadowing can you find? 21. If the author asked you to write another ending or a new chapter or a sequel to the story, what would you write? 22. After completing the novel, look back at the first part of the book and then re-read the ending? What special connections do you see? 23. Are there episodes that the author could have eliminated without damaging the overall plot? 24. Keep a list of any problems or confusions you have while reading a story. Record page numbers. Discuss these problems/confusions with a partner or small group. C. Setting
1. Look at the picture on the book cover. What clues do you find that tell you about the setting of the story? 2. Is the setting real or imaginary? 3. What clues in text and illustrations reveal setting (both place and time)? 4. What descriptions regarding the setting appeal to the five senses? 5. Is there particular language that gives you clear images of the setting? 6. How can you determine if the author treats historical persons or periods accurately? 7. How is the passage of time noted in the course of the novel?
3
8. Does the setting accurately reflect the geographic locale? 9. How do changes in the setting influence the story? 10. Discuss the relationships between the setting and experiences of the main character. 11. What experiences did the character have that could not happen in a different setting? 12. Would you like to spend time in this setting? 13. How does the time the author lived have an effect on the novel? 14. Read aloud a short passage that describes the setting. Listeners can respond to the question: what kind of mood does the writer want you to have? 15. Make a bulletin board display of magazine pictures that illustrate the setting of the story. Add words that describe the mood of the setting. 16. Identify the influence of setting on characters and events. 17. Describe the setting and relate its importance to the full work. D. Theme 1. Why do you think the author wrote this story? What do you think is the most important thing to remember about this story? 2. Think about the title of the book. What is the link between the title and the theme? 3. What do the characters learn as a result of their experiences? 4. What does the reader learn from the characters’ actions? 5. Does the author seem to have strong feelings about a particular issue? 6. Does the author use a particular character to express his or her message. Is the author trying to convince you to think or feel a certain way? 7. What is the author’s view of the “human condition”? 8. What does the novel say about life? How is the author making you feel about his/her viewpoint? 9. Indicate the significance of the theme for humankind. 10. How does the story convey “universal” ideas we all care about? 11. Evaluate one of the themes in terms of its significance to yourself. 12. Identify the theme or themes. Find the sentence or paragraph that best summarizes the theme of the whole story? 13. How does the title of the novel reflect the theme? 14. Make a collage of magazine and original drawings to illustrate one of the themes of the story. Title the collage. E. Point of View 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Identify who is telling the story. Describe how the point of view helps readers relate to the characters. Determine whether the narrator is biased or impartial. “Whose point of view is presented and whose isn’t?” (Simpson 120). Determine if the story would change if it were told by another character. Rewrite a portion of the story from this character’s point of view. 6. If you were writing the story, what point of view would you have used? 7. How would the story be changed if it were told in the first person/third person?
4
F.
Style 1. Examine the first paragraphs of different books by the same author. Write down the words and phrases you like. Do you see similarities in the various paragraphs? 2. What type of sentences does the author use? Long and complicated? Short and easy? Mixed? (Evans 57). How are these sentences used? Description? Thoughts of characters? Dialogue? 3. What is the significance of particular words or phrases? How do these words or phrases connect with other details or episodes in the story? 4. Find some words or phrases which are unusual or especially colorful or inventive. 5. Is the author’s language more concrete? Abstract? Slang or jargon-filled? (Evans 57). 6. How do sensory images contribute to the story? 7. Find names of characters which have symbolic meaning or special significance and which tell you that the author likes to play with words. 8. How is tension created and relieved? 9. Find words which are associated with a specific country or another language. 10. How does the author use original, fresh language (metaphor, simile, symbols, colloquial language)? 11. Keep a list of the images you associate with certain characters. What mental pictures does a particular character create? 12. What specifically do you like about the way the author has written this story? 13. Is there another way of “reading” the story? 14. By telling the story in a particular way is the author ignoring or devaluing certain kinds of people, contexts, or experiences? 15. Describe any “pictures” the author has left in your mind.
G.
Mood/Tone 1. “How did you feel while reading the book?” (Hornsby 159). 2. Think about your emotions or feelings at a particular moment in the book. What in the story moved you? 3. What did the author do to grip you or bring tears to your eyes? 4. Were there particular passages that made you laugh? What vivid descriptions, conversations, or events did the author create that made you laugh? 5. How does the language contribute to the mood or feeling? 6. Discuss passages from the book which show examples of the strong emotions in the story. 7. What was the most exciting thing that happened in the story? Or, the strangest thing? 8. What will you remember most about this story?
5
Sources Deming, Bonnie J. Literature and Story Writing: A Guide for Teaching Gifted and Talented Children in the Elementary and Middle Schools. Sacramento: California State Department of Education. ERIC ED 211 991. Eeds, Maryann and Ralph Peterson. “Teacher as Curator: Learning to Talk about Literature.” The Reading Teacher 45 (1991): 118-126. Evans, Ronald. “The Question about Literature.” English Journal 71 (1982): 56-60. Hornsby, David, and Deborah Sukarna. Read On – A Conference Approach to Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1986. Huck, Charlotte S., and Doris Young Kuhn. Children’s Literature in the Elementary School. 2nd ed. New York: Holt, 1968. Laidlaw, Carole. Curriculum Guide for Teaching Gifted Children in Grades One through Three. Sacramento: California State Department of Education, 1978. ERIC ED 157 072. Literature for Children, Series 9. Filmstrip. Piped Piper, 1985. Moss, Jay F. Focus Unites in Literature: A Handbook for Elementary Teachers. Urbana: NCTE, 1982. Pritchard, Ruie Jane. “Developing Writing Prompts for Reading Response and Analysis.” English Journal 82 (1993): 24-32. Richards, Patricia O., et al. “Don’t Let a Good Scare Frighten You: Choosing and Using Quality Chillers to Promote Reading.” The Reading Teacher 52 (1999): 830-837. Simpson, Anne. “Critical Questions: Whose Questions?” The Reading Teacher 50 (1996): 11827. State of Minnesota, Department of Education. Some Essential Learner Outcomes in Communications/Language Arts, 1982. Thomson, Jack. “Teenagers Reading: Developmental Stages of Reading Literature. International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. Ed. Peter Hunt. London: Routledge, 1996. 584-93. Zarnowski, Myra. “How to Think Historically.” School Library Journal 45.12 (1999): 36-37. Carol H. Sibley, Curriculum Librarian Minnesota State University Moorhead Moorhead, MN, Revised 11/06
6
7
8