Unit 2 Reading Fiction

Lesson 1: Literary Elements *See handout on literary elements (pictures)

Lesson 2: Plot & Conflict Plot: How stories are organized Exposition- background information (setting, characters) Rising action- character is faced with problem Climax- critical point Falling action- problem is solved Resolution- story comes to a close

Conflict is the problem in the story. Conflict can be internal or external. Types of conflict include: – Man vs. man – Man vs. society – Man vs. nature – Man vs. self

Lesson 3: Character & Setting Clues about character 1. traits: physical appearance, personality 2. motivation: what causes them to act a certain way 3. speech, thoughts, feelings, actions 4. relationships: how they interact with other characters 5. how they fit into the plot 6. point of view 7. conflicts

Clues about setting 1. time of day, month, season, etc. 2. specific dates 3. historical details 4. names of specific places 5. physical environment 6. geographic location 7. information about speech, clothing style, inventions, technology, etc. (social conditions) 8. weather 9. mood/atmosphere

Lesson 4: Theme & Mood Theme- the author’s message (not main idea!) moral life lesson or abstract concept says something about life or human nature must be inferred look for repeated ideas, lessons learned, things applied to real life

Examples of common themes in adolescent literature Central ideas/concepts 1. childhood 2. friendship 3. growing up 4. love 5. survival Life lessons 1.Never give up. 2.Be yourself. 3.Treat others as you want to be treated. 4.Man is his own worst enemy. 5.A person grows by facing obstacles.

Mood is the feeling created by the author Author uses imagery, sound effects and other elements to create mood Setting plays a huge part in establishing mood Examples- suspense, confusion, humor

Lesson 5: Point of View & Irony Point of view is who is telling the story 1 st – Main character – I, me, my, we… 2 nd – Usually in persuasive writing – Almost never used to tell a story – You, your 3 rd – Limited: narrator is a non-participant but only know the feeling of one character – Omniscient: non-participant is able to have knowledge of all characters

Irony- the expectation is the opposite of the outcome Situational- expect one thing to happen, but something else does Dramatic- character thinks one things to be true, the readers know something else (the reader is “in the know”); produces suspense/humor Verbal- say one thing but mean something different (like sarcasm)

Lesson 7: Genre *See handout on genre