(INWB) Introduction and Novel: The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963

Introduction and Novel: The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963

Introduction

Literature not only creates an escape for readers, but different types of texts also provide examples of how human beings work through many problems or events in their lives. Novels, poems, short stories, dramatic literature, and nonfiction all reveal ideas and lessons, or themes, that people can understand and connect with. The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis reveals the themes of determination and life, love, and learning. After understanding the elements of literature, the reader will have the ability to identify the elements in other works of literature as well as observe the appearance of common themes.

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Essential Questions

  1. What is a theme?
  2. How do I identify a theme within a text?
  3. How do I understand the different genres?
  4. What are the literary terms authors use to show deeper meanings within a text?
  5. How do I use literary terms to select important details from a work of literature and show main ideas and themes in the novel?
  6. How do I identify common themes in different literary works?
  7. How do I pace my reading in order to understand the novel fully?

Key Terms

1. Exposition: The background of a story, usually presented at the beginning, in order to understand the story properly.
2. Foreshadowing: Hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story.
3. Suspense: Nervous uncertainty; tension.
4. Rising action: The events in a conflict that lead to a climax.
5. Climax: The point where forces in conflict meet; the turning point.
6. Falling action: The conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist unravels, with the protagonist winning or losing against the antagonist; events that occur after the climax has been reached.
7. Resolution: When the falling action unwinds to the conclusion—all ends are tied.
8. Dénouement: When the falling action unwinds to the conclusion—all ends are tied; another word for the resolution.
9. Characterization: The way in which an author presents and defines characters.
10. Direct characterization: When the writer makes direct statements about a character's personality and tells what the character is like.
11. Indirect characterization: When the writer reveals information about a character and his personality through that character's thoughts, words, and actions, along with how other characters respond to that character, including what they think and say about him.
12. S.T.E.A.L: An acronym indicating what to look for when finding indirect characterization: Speech, Thoughts, Effects on others, Actions, Looks.
13. Narrator: The voice that relates, or tells, the events; the speaker.
14. Conflict: A struggle between two or more forces.
15. Man v. man conflict: An external conflict where a character has an argument, disagreement, struggle, or another type of problem with another character.
16. Man v. nature conflict: An external conflict where a character has a problem with outside forces in nature such as weather, animals, and land.
17. Man v. society conflict: An external conflict where a character encounters a struggle with the laws or beliefs of a group.
18. Man v. himself conflict: An internal conflict where the character struggles to decide what to do or think.
19. Chronological order: The arrangement of events following one after another in time.
20. Implied setting: The time and place of the story suggested by clues within the text.
21. Stated setting: The time and place of the story are clearly stated in the text.
22. Cultural context: Understanding the behaviors, beliefs, and characteristics of a particular social, ethnic, or age group that may be relevant to understanding the meaning of the story.
23. Historical context: Understanding the political and social events of a period that may be relevant to understanding the story's meaning.
24. Historical fiction: A type of literary genre that tells a story that is set in the past. The setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the main characters tend to be fictional.
25. Protagonist: The main character of a story.
26. Antagonist: The person or force that opposes the main character.
27. Point of view: The perspective of a narrator.
28. First person: The point of view where the narrator uses the pronoun "I."
29. Third person: The point of view where the narrator uses the pronouns "he," "she," "it," or "they."
30. Omniscient: The point of view where the narrator is “all-knowing” or sees and hears everything.
31. Theme: The meaning behind a story.
32. Tone: The attitude of the writer conveyed through writing.
33. Dialect: A particular form of a language or accent that is peculiar to a specific region or social group.
34. Dialogue: Conversations between or among characters.
35. Plot: The sequence of events in a story.

 

 

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