Grade 12
- Collected essays.
- Reviewed the four functions of myth: sociological, pedagogical, cosmological, and metaphysical.
- Introduced the story and the characters.
- Viewed movie to 23:00
- Discussed functions of myth illustrated so far, and steps of the hero journey covered.
Grade 10
- Journal: Pd. 6: write about an early memory. Pd.8: Write about a memory from middle school
- Continued Critical Lens Essay practice. Interpreted a quote, chose stories that applied, wrote the introductory paragraph and started the first body paragraph.
- Handout: Literary elements:
Antagonist: Counterpart to the main character and source of a story’s main conflict. The person may not be “bad” or “evil” by any conventional moral standard, but he/she opposes the protagonist in a significant way.
Climax: The turning point in a story, at which the end result becomes inevitable, usually where something suddenly goes terribly wrong; the “dramatic high point” of a story.
Conflict: A struggle between opposing forces which is the driving force of a story. The outcome of any story provides a resolution of the conflict(s); this is what keeps the reader reading. Conflicts can exist between individual characters, between groups of characters, between a character and society, etc., and can also be purely abstract (conflicting ideas).
Mood / Tone: Mood is the atmosphere or emotional condition created by the piece, within the setting. The mood is conveyed in part through the author’s tone. Tone is the apparent emotional state, or “attitude,” of the speaker / narrator / narrative voice, as conveyed through the language of the piece.
Plot: Sequence of events in a story. Most literary essay tasks will instruct the writer to “avoid plot summary;” the term is therefore rarely useful for response or critical analysis. When discussing plot, it is generally more useful to consider its structure, rather than simply “what happens.”
Point-of-view: The identity of the narrative voice; the person or entity through whom the reader experiences the story. May be third-person (no narrator; omniscient or limited) or first-person (narrated by a character in the story). Point-of-view is a commonly misused term; it does not refer to the author’s (or characters’) feelings, opinions, perspectives, biases, etc. Remember the car crash: the first person on the scene says, "I saw it, I was there." The second person is given directions: "You, call 911 and go get help" (second person voice is rarely found in literature). The third person to get to the accident scene says, "That guy over there saw the crash. He said that the car came from that direction..."
Protagonist: The main character in a story, the one with whom the reader is meant to identify. The person is not necessarily “good” by any conventional moral standard, but he/she is the person in whose plight the reader is most invested.
Setting: The time and place where a story occurs. The setting can be specific (e.g., New York City in 1930) or ambiguous (e.g., a large urban city during economic hard times). Also refers directly to a description thereof.
Theme: The main idea or message conveyed by the piece. A theme is generally stated as a complete sentence; an idea expressed as a single word or fragmentary phrase is a motif.
Allegory: Where every aspect of a story is representative, usually symbolic, of something else, usually a larger abstract concept or important historical/geopolitical event – such as Animal Farm.
Alliteration: The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables, as in “on scrolls of silver snowy sentences”
Allusion: A reference to something supposed to be known, but not explicitly mentioned. In “Throwing the Racetrack Cats at Saratoga” (the one we read in class), the mention of Herod is an allusion because it refers to something outside of the poem.
Characterization: The author’s means of conveying to the reader a character’s personality, life history, values, physical attributes, etc. Also refers directly to a description thereof.
Foreshadowing: Where future events in a story, or perhaps the outcome, are suggested by the author before they happen.
Imagery: Language which describes something in detail, using words to substitute for and create sensory stimulation, including visual imagery and sound imagery. Also refers to specific and recurring types of images, such as food imagery and nature imagery.
Metaphor: More than a simple comparison - a metaphor relates one thing as being another. If someone says, “My friend is a real pit bull,” they likely mean that he is aggressive, intense, violent – as opposed to short and dog-like.
Motif: A recurring important idea or image. A motif differs from a theme in that it can be expressed as a single word or fragmentary phrase, while a theme usually must be expressed as a complete sentence.
Personification: Where inanimate objects or abstract concepts are seemingly endowed with human self-awareness; where human thoughts, actions and perceptions are directly attributed to inanimate objects or abstract ideas.
Simile: An indirect relationship where one thing or idea is expressed as being similar to another – often using “like” or “as.”
Structure: The manner in which the various elements of a story are assembled (may also be considered a literary element).
Symbolism: The use of specific objects or images to represent abstract ideas.
