Story Elements
Characters
A dynamic character is one who
goes through a personality
change due to the events in the
story.
A static character is one whose
personality does not change
throughout the story.
Round Characters
A round character is one whose
personality, background, motives,
and other features are fully described
or explained by the author. In
general, main characters are round
because many insights are given.
Flat Characters
A flat character is one who is not
fully described but is useful in
carrying out some narrative purpose
of the author. They tend to be minor
characters.
Dynamic and Round
In most books the main character is
both dynamic and round.
Round and Static
Characters can be round and static.
For example, think about the
character James Bond. We know a
great deal about this character’s
personality (round), yet he does not
go through an inner personality
change from the beginning to the
end of the story (static). Often the
side-kick in a story is round and
static.
Dynamic and Flat
Characters cannot be dynamic and
flat, because in a flat character we
do not know enough about them to
recognize a change.
Dynamic or Static
Round or Flat
Ebenezer Scrooge
from Charles Dickens's
A Christmas Carol
Dynamic and Round
Dynamic or Static
Round or Flat
Billy Coleman
from Wilson Rawls
Where the Red Fern Grows
Dynamic and Round
Dynamic or Static
Round or Flat
Will Coleman (Billy’s dad)
from Wilson Rawls’
Where the Red Fern Grows
Static and Flat
Dynamic or Static
Round or Flat
Mayor Cole
from Jeanne DuPrau’s
The City of Ember
Static and Flat
Dynamic or Static
Round or Flat
Lina Mayfleet
from Jeanne DuPrau’s
The City of Ember
Dynamic and Round
Dynamic or Static
Round or Flat
Robin
from Batman
Static and Round
Dynamic or Static
Round or Flat
Mandy, Ella's fairy godmother
from Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted
static round
Dynamic or Static
Round or Flat
Ella
from Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted
dynamic round
Dynamic or Static
Round or Flat
Weasel from Cynthia DeFelice's Weasel
Static and Round
Dynamic or Static
Round or Flat
Harry Potter from J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Dynamic and Round
Assignment
On your story map list these characters
in The Cay.
• Phillip Enright
• Timothy
• Mrs. Enright (Grace)
• Mr. Enright (Phillip)
• Henrik van Boven
Label each as dynamic or static & round
or flat.
Assignment - Answer Key
•
•
•
•
•
Phillip Enright dynamic round
Timothy static round
Mrs. Enright (Grace) static flat
Mr. Enright (Phillip) static flat
Henrik van Boven static flat
Setting
The setting of a story
includes the time and
place in which the story
takes place. Some stories may
have more than one setting.
Setting
What is the setting for
Where the Red Fern Grows?
Setting
Where the Red Fern Grows
Where the Red Fern Grows is
set in the Ozark Mountains on
Cherokee land in northeastern
Oklahoma during the Great
Depression.
Setting
What is the setting for The City of
Ember?
Setting
The City of Ember is set in an
underground city in the future.
Setting
THE LION AND THE MOUSE by Aesop
A lion asleep in his den was wakened by a mouse running over his face. Losing his
temper, he seized it with his paw and was about to kill it. The mouse, terrified,
pleaded to the lion to spare its life. "Please let me go," it cried, "and one day I will
repay you for your kindness." The idea of so small a creature ever being able to do
anything for him amused the lion so much that he laughed aloud and let it go. But
the mouse's chance came after all. One day the lion got tangled in a net. The
mouse heard the lion’s roars of distress and ran to help. Without hesitation it set
to work to gnaw the ropes with its teeth and succeeded before long in setting the
lion free. "There!" said the mouse, “You laughed at me when I promised I would
repay you, but now you see that even a mouse can help a lion."
What is the most likely setting for this fable?
A.
B.
C.
D.
a zoo
a savannah
a desert
a swamp
Assignment
On your story map fill in
the setting box for
The Cay.
(Note: List 2 locations.)
Assignment – Answer Key
1. February 1942 on the island of Curacao,
then part of the Dutch West Indies.
2. When Phillip is ship-wrecked, the setting
shifts to an unnamed cay deep in the
Devil's Mouth, the long U-shaped coral
banks in the Caribbean. Most of the
action takes place between April and
August of 1942, although the narrative
actually concludes in April of 1943.
First-Person Point of View
In the first-person point of view one
character tells the story. This character reveals
only personal thoughts and feelings of what
s/he sees. The writer uses pronouns such as
"I“, "me“, “mine”, or "my".
Example:
I woke up this morning feeling terrific. I
hopped out of bed excited to start the new
day. I knew that today was the day my big
surprise would come.
Second-Person Point of View
With the second-person point of view the
narrator tells the story using the pronoun
"you". The character is someone similar to
you.
Example:
You wake up feeling really terrific. Then you
hop out of bed excited to start the new day.
You know that today is the day that your big
surprise will come.
This is rarely used in literature. It can be seen
in Choose Your Own Adventure books.
Third-Person Point of View
The third-person point of view is the most
commonly used in fiction. When writing in the
third-person you will use pronouns such as
"he", "she", or "it".
Example:
Brian woke up feeling terrific. He hopped out
of bed excited to start the new day. He knew
that today was the day that his big surprise
would come.
Group Practice
Using your response cards, determine if
each of the following excerpts are
written in first, second, or third-point
of view.
1st, 2nd, or 3rd Point of View
Excerpt from Woodsong by Gary Paulsen
I go up to the front of the team in the
darkness and drag them around, realizing we
are lost. My clothes have been ripped on tree
limbs and my face is bleeding from cuts, and
when I look back down the side of the
mountain we have just climbed I see twentyseven head lamps bobbing up the trail.
Twenty-seven teams have taken our smell as
the valid trail and are following us. Twentyseven teams must be met head on in the
narrow brush and passed and told to turn
around.
Excerpt from Woodsong
by Gary Paulsen
First-Person Point of View
1st, 2nd, or 3rd Point of View
Excerpted from Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen
There would be a shooting war. There were rebels who
had violated the law and fired on Fort Sumter and the
only thing they'd respect was steel, it was said, and he
knew they were right, and the Union was right, and one
other thing they said as well--if a man didn't hurry he'd
miss it. The only shooting war to come in a man's life and
if a man didn't step right along he'd miss the whole thing.
Charley didn't figure to miss it. The only problem was that
Charley wasn't rightly a man yet, at least not to the army.
He was fifteen and while he worked as a man worked, in
the fields all of a day and into night, and looked like a
man standing tall and just a bit thin with hands so big
they covered a stove lid, he didn't make a beard yet and
his voice had only just dropped enough so he could talk
with men.
Excerpted from Soldier's Heart
by Gary Paulsen
Third-Person Point of View
Practice
Number your paper from 1 – 10.
1st, 2nd, or 3rd Point of View
1. Excerpted from Father Water, Mother
Woods by Gary Paulsen
It started that simply. At the courthouse or the
library there was a large bulletin board, and for a
dollar you could sign the board and write down
your guess to win the car-through-the-ice
raffle. Of course, you never met anyone who had
won, but only those who knew somebody who
had won, and therein, in the winning, the
simplicity was lost.
1st, 2nd, or 3rd Point of View
2. Excerpted from Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen
A
"Tonight we just do A." He sat back on his heels and pointed.
"There it be."
it?"
I looked at it, wondered how it stood. "Where's the bottom to
"There it stands on two feet, just like you."
"What does it mean?"
"It means A--just like I said. It's the first letter in the alphabet.
And when you see it you make a sound like this: ayyy, or ahhhh."
"That's reading? To make that sound?"
He nodded. "When you see that letter on paper or a sack or in
the dirt you make one of those sounds. That's reading."
1st, 2nd, or 3rd Point of View
3. Excerpted from Caught by the Sea by Gary
Paulsen
I drove to California that very day, straight to the
coast, then north, away from people, to a small
town named Guadalupe, near Santa Maria. There
I bought some cans of beans and bread and
Spam and fruit cocktail and a cheap sleeping bag
and then walked out through the sand dunes,
where I could hear the surf crashing. I walked
until I could see the water coming in, rolling in
from the vastness, and I sat down and let the sea
heal me.
1st, 2nd, or 3rd Point of View
4. Excerpted from Guts by Gary Paulsen
I have spent an inordinate amount of time in
wilderness woods, much of it in northern
Minnesota, some in Canada and some in the
Alaskan wilds. I have hunted and trapped and
fished and have been exposed to almost all kinds
of wilderness animals; I’ve had bear come at me,
been stalked by a mountain lion, been bitten by
snakes and punctured by porcupines and torn by
foxes and once pecked by an attacking raven, but
I have never seen anything rivaling the madness
that seems to infect a large portion of the moose
family.
1st, 2nd, or 3rd Point of View
5. Excerpted from Winterkill by Gary Paulsen
And I would like to stop the story of Duda here
and tell how he got his divorce and married
Bonnie and they adopted me and we bought a
farm . . . . That's how it would end in a movie,
with Rock Hudson playing Duda and Doris Day
playing Bonnie, and that's how it should end, and
that's how I dream of it ending almost every
night, until I wake up sweating and remember
that it isn't a movie and it doesn't end that way.
6. Choose the sentence that is written using a first
person point of view.
A. While walking home, he tripped and fell into a puddle
of water.
B. I believe that it’s important for students to be involved
in after school activities.
C. The City Council should reconsider its recent vote on a
tax increase.
D. Citizens need to exercise their right to vote in the next
election.
7. Choose the sentence that is written using a third
person point of view.
A.Several of their players have signed scholarships to play
college football.
B. You should know better than to send a text message
while driving!
C. We need to take our time on this project; we could
both use a good grade.
D. The red car with the black convertible top is mine.
8. Choose the sentence that is written using a first
person point of view.
A.You need to do your best on the English test tomorrow.
B. Would you please pass the mashed potatoes?
C. Softball is my favorite sport, but soccer is a close
second.
D. Darrell went to the movies with John this weekend.
9. Determine the point of view of the following
passage.
Walking home, I heard someone running behind
me. I was frightened. A tall man ran by me. He
raced to an emergency police phone and frantically
began pushing buttons. The man brushed sweat
from his forehead and then noticed me standing
there. “Hurry,” he began, “we need to get out of
here quickly. There’s been an accident at the plant.”
What point of view is used in this passage?
A.first person
B. second person
C. third person
D. fourth person
10. Read the following excerpt from O. Henry’s
The Ransom of Red Chief and determine the point
of view.
“IT LOOKED like a good thing: but wait till I tell
you. We were down South, in Alabama -- Bill
Driscoll and myself -- when this kidnapping idea
struck us. It was, as Bill afterward expressed it,
"during a moment of temporary mental apparition";
but we didn't find that out till later.”
A.first person
B. second person
C. third person
D. fourth person
Answer Key
1. second
2. third
3. first
4. first
5. first
6. B
7. A
8. C
9. A
10. A
Third-Person Point of View
Third-person point of view may be written
using several variations.
In the third-person objective the story is
told without describing any character's
thoughts, opinions, or feelings. Think of
this as seeing what a camera can see. A
camera can not see what is going on inside
someone’s mind.
Third-Person Objective
Third-person objective is rarely used except in
easy picture books.
Example
The alarm clock sounded. Brian cut off the
clock and jumped out of bed. He had a smile
on his face.
Third-Person Point of View
In the third-person omniscient, the reader
knows exactly what is going on inside various
characters’ heads in regards to their thoughts
and feelings.
Rob is
Joe is
sad.
Tim is
sneaky.
surprised.
Pete is
in love.
Third-Person Omniscient
Example from Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen
Although Samuel's parents lived in the wilderness,
they were not a part of it. They had been raised in
towns and had been educated in schools where they'd
been taught to read and write and play musical
instruments. They moved west when Samuel was a
baby, so that they could devote themselves to a quiet
life of hard physical work and contemplation. They
loved the woods, but they did not understand
them. Not like Samuel.
(Here the reader knows both the parents’ and
Samuel’s feelings.)
Third-Person Point of View
In third-person limited, the reader knows
only one character's mind, either throughout
the entire work or in a specific section. The
narration is limited to what can be known,
seen, thought, or judged from a single
character's perspective.
Sally wondered
what the boys
were thinking.
Practice with Point of View
http://mrshatzi.com/files/pointofview-ws.pdf
http://www.tusd1.org/resources/curriculum/hs/9R2C1PO1_3.doc
Answer Key with Point of View
Guided Practice
1. first person
2. third person limited
3. third person omniscient
Answer Key with Point of View
1. From Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli - third person limited
2. From From the Mixed-Up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E. L.
Konigsburg - third person limited
3. From The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois - first person
4. From Number the Stars by Lois Lowry - third person limited
5. From Missing May by Cynthia Rylant - first person
6. From The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis - third person
omniscient
7. From I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - first person
8. From The Olympic Games by Theodore Knight - third person limited
9. From “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing - third person omniscient
10. From “Pictures on a Rock” by Brent Ashabranner - third person limited
Assignment
On your story map, fill in
the Point of View box for
The Cay.
Assignment – Answer Key
first-person
Conflict
Conflict is the struggle between the
opposing forces on which the action in a
work of literature depends.
In short stories, there is usually one
major conflict. In longer stories, there
could be several conflicts.
Conflict
Some forms of conflict include the
following:
•Person vs. Person
•Person vs. Self
•Person vs. the Environment
•Person vs. Technology
Person vs. Person
A person vs. person conflict is between two forms
of like beings.
Examples
From Where the Red Fern Grows Billy and his dogs are attacked by a mountain
lion, and they must do everything they can to
survive.
From Weasel Nathan is captured by Weasel, an Indian fighter.
Earlier in the book, Weasel had attacked
Nathan's pa, had taken away Pa’s riffle, and had
killed the farm animals.
Person vs. Self
In a person vs. self conflict the main
character has a problem within him/herself.
Examples
From Weasel
Nathan spends the winter months struggling
with his conscious. Should he go back to
Weasel’s cabin to seek revenge or forget
about Weasel?
Person vs. the Environment
In a person vs. the environment conflict a character
is struggling against the forces of nature.
Example:
From Where the Red Fern Grows Little Ann and Old Dan tree a coon in the tallest tree
in the river bottoms.
From Where the Red Fern Grows Billy enters the championship coon hunt and
encounters the snowstorm.
Person vs. Technology
In a person vs. technology conflict, a
character has a problem with robots or
machines.
Example
From Hatchet Brian flying the airplane after the pilot
dies.
Practice
Number your paper from 1 – 10.
1. The house could have easily been the scene for a horror movie. On
the outside, its fading paint job, broken windows, and creaking
porch swing provided a hint to what we would find on the inside.
The front door swung open to the inside, forcing us to enter the
building before we could glimpse the contents. Several families
had lived in the house through the years, most recently the
Duttons. Every inch of the front room was covered in dust, and
cobwebs hung in every corner. We immediately started hearing
sounds, soft moans like those of a sick person. The scariest thing
we saw was a portrait of an evil looking man above the mantle. His
eyes appeared to follow us as we moved farther into the room.
Which sentence that describes the setting of a story is most likely to
lead to the main conflict?
A. The front door swung open to the inside, forcing us to enter the
building before we could glimpse the contents.
B. Several families had lived in the house through the years, most
recently the Duttons.
C. Every inch of the front room was covered in dust, and cobwebs
hung in every corner.
D. We immediately started hearing sounds, soft moans like those of a
sick person.
2.
The Missing Chip
“Here, Chip. Come here, boy.” Jackson stood in the open doorway, calling to his
dog. The boy stood still and listened. He hoped he would hear the sound of
Chip’s rustling the bushes as he came bounding to the door. As the boy
stood there, he heard the birds chirping in the treetops. He heard the tractor
in the field across from his house. He heard many sounds of nature, but he
did not hear Chip. Jackson closed the door and spoke to his mother.
“I don’t know where Chip could be,” he said. “I haven’t seen him since yesterday
morning.”
“Why don’t you ride your bike around the neighborhood to see if you can find
him?” suggested Mom.
Jackson put on his shoes and his jacket and headed for the door. “Be careful on
the road,” said Mom. “If a car comes, pull your bicycle over to the far side of
the ditch.”
Jackson rode across the creek bridge, calling out to his dog. “Chip, come here,
boy. Here, Chip!” The daffodils fluttered as he rode past them. Jackson
looked across the field. He scanned the cow pasture as he rode along the
fencerow. There was no sign of the dog. Jackson stopped his bicycle in front
of Mr. Yoder’s barn. He stood still and listened. He thought he could hear a
faint whimpering sound coming from the barn. He pedaled quickly toward the
barn. “Chip! Here, Chip!” he called as he raced. He climbed off his bike
quickly and let it fall to the ground. The whimpering sound was coming from
inside the barn.
2. Continued
Jackson climbed over the barn gate and went inside. His eyes panned the stalls
and the hay, but he saw no sign of Chip. Just then he heard movement from
the left side of the barn, and the whimpering began again. “Chip, I’m here,
boy,” Jackson said as he rushed to a broken board behind a small wagon.
Chip had somehow climbed between the broken boards and was stuck in the
wall. “How did you get in there, boy?” Jackson asked. The hole was much
smaller than the basset hound. “You must have chased something behind
the boards, and that’s how you got stuck. I’ll get you out of here,” Jackson
said. The boy sat on his knees and tugged on each board until he found one
that was loose. He wriggled the board and pried the nail loose until the board
finally came off, enlarging the opening. He reached his arm inside and pulled
the dog back through the hole. Chip shook the dust from his coat. Jackson
scratched his hound behind the ears. “Come on, boy,” he said. “Let’s go
home.”
What is the main conflict of the story?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Jackson cannot find his basset hound, Chip.
Chip rides his bike through the neighborhood.
Jackson has to find a way to free his dog.
Chip could not find the hole in the barn.
Read this story; then answer questions 3 & 4.
The Cardboard
Surprise“Mom, have you seen Jasper?” Marie asked as she walked into the
kitchen. “I can’t find her anywhere.” “Did you check the garage?” Mom
replied. Marie turned in her tracks and headed outside to check the garage.
She grabbed her coat and mittens, which were hanging by the door. She
flipped on the porch light and shut the door behind her. “Here, Kitty, Kitty,”
she called as she walked along the driveway to the garage behind the
house, the noise of the city traffic nearly drowning the sound of her voice.
Marie opened the garage door and shut it behind her. The noise remained
outside. “Jasper Kitty,” she sang. “Where are you, Jasper?” She flipped on
the light so that she could see in the shadows. “There you are,” she cried,
spying the calico in a cardboard box underneath some old shelves in the
corner. “Come here, girl,” Marie pleaded, but she could not get the cat to
move. “Well, if you won’t come to me, I will go to you,” Marie reasoned. She
moved the junk that was in her way. She pushed a tricycle to the left. She
lifted two old boxes and balanced them on the tricycle seat and handlebars.
She stepped her feet gingerly between piles of rope and stray yard tools.
Finally she reached the box where Jasper rested. Marie tipped the edge of
the box out into the light so that she could see inside it. “Oh, my!” she said.
“No wonder you didn’t come when I called! You have baby kittens!” Marie
rubbed Jasper’s belly as the newborn kittens wriggled their heads into their
mother’s fur. “One, two, three, four…” Marie counted. “You have four baby
3. What is the main conflict of the story?
A.
B.
C.
D.
The family keeps too much junk in the garage.
The girl, Marie, found the cat and her kittens.
Marie cannot find her cat, Jasper.
The cat, Jasper, had four kittens.
4. How is the conflict resolved?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Marie cannot find her cat, Jasper.
Jasper has had four new kittens.
The girl cleans out the garage, throwing the junk in the garbage.
Marie found the cat with its new kittens in a box in the garage.
5.
The Jump Drive
“Jontez, it’s 7:15. The school bus will be here in five minutes,” Mom hollered up
the stairs.
“I’m almost ready,” Jontez replied from his room on the second floor. Less than
a minute later, Jontez bounded down the stairs. “Have you seen my math
binder?” Jontez asked.
“No, I haven’t seen it,” said Mom.
“The binder has my jump drive in it. My math project is due today, and it is
saved on my jump drive,” Jontez explained.
Mom thought for a moment. “What were you doing with the binder the last time
you had it?” she asked.
“I was using it as a hard surface to write my spelling words on,” answered
Jontez.
“Where were you, Tez, while you were writing the spelling words?”
“Sitting on my bed,” he said.
“And what did you do when you were finished?”
“I walked downstairs and got a soda from the kitchen,” replied Jontez.
5. Continued
“Did you bring your binder with you?” questioned Mom.
Jontez thought for a minute. He retraced his steps in his mind. “Yes, I did,” he
said finally, his face lighting up. Jontez walked over the counter beside the
refrigerator. There was a stack of papers lying there. “I put it down right
here,” he said, lifting the top half of the papers. “And here it is!” he
exclaimed.
Just then Jontez heard the bus’ brakes squeal as the bus stopped outside his
house. “Thanks, Mom,” he said, and he quickly kissed her cheek before
heading out the door.
How is the conflict resolved?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Jontez’s mother punishes him for losing the binder.
Jontez finds the binder on the counter in the kitchen.
The binder is found under the bed where Jontez had been working.
The boy cannot find the binder that has his math project in it.
6. Read this excerpt from Gary Paulsen's book How Angel Peterson Got His
Name.
There was--this is important--no television. There were just two channels in the
major cities on the East and West Coasts. Almost nobody in town had a set.
A TV set at that time was a huge buzzing, hissing black-and-white monster
that had the added benefit of being dangerous. The coating on the inside of
the picture tube required no less than forty-two thousand volts to operate,
an amount that could easily kill fifteen or twenty horses. When television
finally did come to the small towns up in Minnesota many a cat was turned
into something close to a six-hundred-watt lightbulb by sticking his nose
back in the power supply area of a console television set, trying to
investigate the little crackling sounds and blue glow that came out of the
ventilation holes. On his twelfth birthday, my pal Wayne Halverson licked the
end of his finger and stuck it near the ventilation panel on his family's new
RCA set. (Even though there was no television station programming to
watch for nearly two more years they used it for a conversation piece and a
place to put their bowling trophies, but my grandmother said the Halversons
had always put on airs ever since Dewey, who was Wayne's great-greatgrandfather, was kicked in the head by a workhorse and found that he could
do accounting.)
6. Continued
Wayne never actually touched the top of the main rectifier tube and so didn't
get the full jolt, which would have cooked him on the spot, but it arced over
to his finger and a lesser charge, say enough to light two or three singlefamily dwellings for a week or so, slammed him back into the wall and left
him unconscious for several minutes. He later claimed that the incident was
what made him the only one in our group who could actually talk to girls.
Which type of conflict is present in this reading?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Person vs. Person
Person vs. Self
Person vs. the Environment
Person vs. Technology
7. Read this excerpt from Gary Paulsen's book Brian's Hunt.
He dreamt of it often and at first his dreams sometimes had the qualities of
nightmares. He dreamt he was sitting there in the small plane, the only
passenger, with the pilot dying and the plane crashing into the lake below.
He awakened sometimes with sudden fear, his breath coming fast. The
crash itself had been so wild and he had been so out of control that the
more he had grown in the years since, the more he had learned and
handled difficult situations, the more insane the crash seemed; a wild,
careening, ripping ride down through trees to end not in peace but in the
water, nearly drowning--in the nightmares it was like dying and then not
dying to die again.
Which type of conflict is present in this reading?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Person vs. Person
Person vs. Self
Person vs. the Environment
Person vs. Technology
8. Read this excerpt from Gary Paulsen's book My Life in Dog Years
And so Caesar entered my life. He became many things to us – friend, entertainer,
horror show – but he was never, never boring and his life comes back now in a
montage of memories. There was the Halloween when he greeted a little boy who
came to the door in a werewolf costume. There was one moment, priceless, when
the two eyed each other, hairy monster-mask to Great Dane muzzle, at exactly the
same height. I’m not certain what the little boy expected but he didn’t quail – he
leaned forward and growled. I’m not sure what Caesar had expected either but it
certainly wasn’t an angry werewolf. He made a sound like a train in a tunnel and
disappeared into a dark corner of the bedroom closet and would not come out until
all the little people stopped coming and the doorbell quit ringing. And it might be
noted that he had a remarkable memory. Every one of the seven years that he was
with us, when the first trick-or-treater came to the door on Halloween, no matter the
costume, Caesar went into the bedroom closet, pulled a housecoat over his eyes,
and would not come out until it was over. He had great heart, but courage against
monsters wasn’t in him.
Which type of conflict is present in this reading?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Person vs. Person
Person vs. Self
Person vs. the Environment
Person vs. Technology
9. Read this excerpt from Gary Paulsen's book Guts.
There was a kind of bleeeeekkkk, hoarse and very loud, coming from directly
behind me and accompanied by a crashing in the brush, and I turned,
raising my rifle (about as useful as a BB gun in these circumstances but we
use what we have), to see two glaring red eyes coming at me at what
seemed like sixty or seventy miles an hour. . . . .At the first instant I didn't
realize that it was a large bull moose. He's lost the previous year's antlers
and hadn't grown new ones yet. I just saw brown. I saw big. I saw death
coming at me, snorting and thundering. I think I may have thought of
phantoms, wood spirits, wild monsters-I most certainly did not think of
moose.
Which type of conflict is present in this reading?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Person vs. Person
Person vs. Self
Person vs. the Environment
Person vs. Technology
10. Read this excerpt from Gary Paulsen's book The Beet Fields.
The sun was hot when it came up late. There was no early-morning coolness,
no relief. An early heat came with the first edge of the sun and by the time
the sun was full up, he was cooking and looking for some relief. He tried
hoeing with his left hand low, then his right hand, then leaning forward more,
then less, but nothing helped. It was hot, getting hotter, and he straightened
and spit and resettled the straw hat he had bought in Grafton. It had a piece
of green plastic in the brim that looked cool but wasn't.
Which type of conflict is present in this reading?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Person vs. Person
Person vs. Self
Person vs. the Environment
Person vs. Technology
1. D
2. A
3. C
4. D
5. B
6. D
7. B
8. A
9. A
10. C
Answer Key
Assignment
On your story map, fill in
the conflict boxes for
The Cay.
Assignment Answer Key
Conflict
Person vs. The Environment
Phillip and Timothy must survive the hot
sun, sharks, and lack of water while on
the raft. Later they must live through a
hurricane.
Person vs. Self
Phillip struggles with his prejudice of
black people. Phillip has to learn to come
to terms with his blindness to survive.
Plot
The plot is the story that is told in a novel, play,
or movie. The plot has five components.
Plot Structure Components
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution
Exposition
The exposition is the introduction of the story.
It contains the setting, introduces the main
characters, and gives background information.
It is the information needed to understand a
story.
Rising Action
The rising action is the portion of the story
where a character tries to solve the conflict.
This is the longest part of the story.
Climax
The climax is the tensest moment of the story.
It is the turning point in the story that occurs
when characters try to resolve the
complication.
Falling Action
The falling action is where the characters
begin to apply a solution to the conflict and tie
up loose ends.
Resolution
The resolution is how everything turns out in
the story. It is the set of events that bring the
story to a close.
Read this passage; then go to the next page to determine
the resolution.
Matt and Charlotte had never met their grandparents
because they live across the country. Matt and Charlotte
decided one day that they would like to meet them. All the
way home from school, they talked about how they could
contact them and possibly even go to see them. They
decided to ask their parents for help. The parents seemed
very anxious after talking to Matt and Charlotte. They said
they needed time to think it over. Matt and Charlotte
couldn't wait to get home from school the next day to see if
their parents had made a decision. Finally, the school day
was over. Matt and Charlotte ran in the house. Their parents
smiled and handed them airplane tickets. Matt and Charlotte
were headed to California to see their grandparents. Matt
and Charlotte thanked their parents and ran to start
packing.
What is the resolution in this passage?
A. Matt and Charlotte are going to see their
grandparents.
B. Matt and Charlotte attend school.
C. Matt and Charlotte ask their parents to go and
meet their grandparents.
D. Matt and Charlotte had never met their
grandparents.
Read this passage; then determine how the conflict is resolved.
Cara’s I-Jet
“Cara, the airbus is approaching. The monitor has picked
up the signal less than three miles away. It will be here in
less than a minute,” Mother said.
“Can you send the AB a delay request?” asked Cara. “I
can’t find my I-Jet, and it has my homework stored on it for
this whole semester.”
“You’ve already used your delay allotment for this
month,” answered Mother. “I believe you’ll just have to be
on the hovermac, with or without your I-Jet, when the
airbus arrives.” Cara rushed back to her room. She looked
under her sleeping station, but there was nothing there but
dust and some old memory chips. She opened the doors of
her clothing dock and rummaged through her AB suits. Cara
found her grandmother’s old MP3-player stuck in the pocket
of one of her AB suits.
The MP3-player had been a keen device when her
grandmother was a child, but the old piece of technology
hadn’t worked in 50 years. Cara just kept it as a reminder of
how difficult life used to be.
“20 seconds,” Mom shouted from the food unit.
Frustrated, Cara gave up the search. She grabbed an AB
suit from the clothing dock and slipped it on. She ran outside
to the hovermac and pushed the silver button, signaling the
airbus that she was ready to be uploaded. The airbus
appeared and hovered over the hovermac, lowering the
platform to the ground. As Cara stepped onto the platform,
she put her hand in the pocket of her AB suit and felt a cool
steel casing. She pulled it from her pocket and opened the
case. Inside was her I-Jet, just as she had left it. “There it is!”
she exclaimed, relieved that her months of work would not
have to be duplicated. A smile spread across her face as she
and the platform disappeared inside the airbus.
How is the conflict resolved?
A.
B.
C.
D.
The airbus lowers the platform for Cara to get on.
Cara searches her sleep station for the missing I-Jet.
The airbus uploads Cara safely and transports her.
Cara finds the I-Jet in the pocket of her AB suit.
Plot Structure Components
Plot Structure Components
http://www.kanedlive.org/files/Plot%20Resources.pdf
(View page 4.)
Example with Cinderella
http://www.learningthroughlistening.org/ClassroomTeaching-Tools/Strategies-and-Activities/GraphicOrganizers/Plot-Structure/419/
Assignment
Complete the Plot and
Plot Diagram on your
Story Map for The Cay.
Assignment
Answer Key
Theme
The theme is the insight about life or human
nature that the writer shares with the reader.
It is usually not stated directly, but must be
inferred.
The theme is the message of a story. Ask
yourself this question. What should you learn
from the story?
Practice with Theme
THE LION AND THE MOUSE
by Aesop
A lion asleep in his den was wakened by a mouse running over his face. Losing
his temper, he seized it with his paw and was about to kill it. The mouse,
terrified, pleaded to the lion to spare its life. "Please let me go," it cried, "and
one day I will repay you for your kindness." The idea of so small a creature ever
being able to do anything for him amused the lion so much that he laughed
aloud and let it go. But the mouse's chance came after all. One day the lion got
tangled in a net. The mouse heard the lion’s roars of distress and ran to help.
Without hesitation it set to work to gnaw the ropes with its teeth and succeeded
before long in setting the lion free. "There!" said the mouse, "you laughed at me
when I promised I would repay you; but now you see that even a mouse can
help a lion."
What is the theme of the story "The Lion and the Mouse?"
A. hunter's net cannot hold a lion for long.
B. A mouse is good at chewing things.
C. Lions and mice make good pets.
D. Size doesn't matter when doing a good deed.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (excerpt)
L. Frank BaumDorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with
Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife.
Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon
many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room;
and this room contained a rusty looking cookstove, a cupboard for the dishes, a
table, three or four chairs, and the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big
bed in one corner, and Dorothy a little bed in another corner.
What is the theme of the passage?
A.
B.
C.
D.
the plain life of a prairie farm family
the things found in a home on the prairie
building a prairie home
living away from your parents
“The Fox and the Goat” by Aesop (paraphrased)
One day a fox fell into a deep well and could not escape. A goat, very thirsty,
came to the same well. When the goat saw the fox, he asked if the water was
good. The fox, hiding his unfortunate problem by being cheerful, said the water
was excellent. He encouraged the goat to jump down. The goat, paying
attention to only his thirst, jumped down without thinking. Just as he drank, the
fox told him of the difficulty they were both in and suggested an idea for their
escape. "If," said he, "you will place your front feet upon the wall and bend your
head, I will run up your back and escape, and will help you out afterwards." The
goat gladly agreed, and the fox leaped upon his back. Steadying himself with
the goat's horns, he safely reached the mouth of the well and made off as fast
as he could. When the goat scolded the fox for breaking his promise, the fox
turned around and cried out, "You foolish old fellow! If you had thought before
you jumped into the well, you would never have gone down before you knew
how to get back up, and you would not have exposed yourself to dangers from
which you had no means of escape."
Choose the best answer. What is a universal theme in this story?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Look before you leap.
Be kind to your enemy.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Do not attempt too much at once.
Theme
One way to determine the theme is to make a
T – Chart. On the left write the theme. On the
left give examples to show this theme.
Theme Using Hatchet
Theme
Never give up - Determination
Proof (Evidence)
Brian kept flying the plane and
radioing for help after the pilot died.
Brian hunted and searched for food.
Brian built a shelter to protect himself
from the elements.
Brian kept working until he was able
to get inside the plane to get the
emergency pack.
Theme Using Weasel
Theme
seeking revenge vs.
moral choices
Proof (Evidence)
Nathan hunts down the violent and
disturbed man, but when the opportunity
to strike arises, he realizes that such
violence would make him no better than
the assailant he has been hunting
Assignment
Complete Theme section
on your Story Map for
The Cay.
Assignment –
Answer Key
Survival
Overcoming prejudices