R 7 . A . 1 . 6 . 2
I D E N T I F Y E X A M P L E S O F T E X T T H A T S U P P O R T I T S
P U R P O S E
R 7 . B . 1 . 1 . 1
I N T E R P R E T R E L A T I O N S H I P S A M O N G C H A R A C T E R S ,
S E T T I N G , P L O T , A N D T H E M E I N F I C T I O N A N D / O R
N O N F I C T I O N

Author’s Purpose -
His or her main reason for writing

Skills and Strategies you will learn:
 To recognize details that indicate the author’s purpose
 To use background information to determine the author’s purpose

Using the Skills and Strategies
 In this part you will learn to recognize the author’s purpose (or reason for writing). The author’s purpose influences what the author says and how he or she says it. You will practice using text clues and background knowledge to determine the author’s reasons for writing.

Some examples of clues to help you determine the author’s purpose
Author’s Purpose
To persuade
To entertain
To inform
To reflect on an experience
Clues
Strong language, favors one side of an issue
Silly, humorous, suspenseful, exciting details
Facts and details
Descriptions, comments by the writer

Word Definition Example Sentence previous Occurring before in time or order recall To call back; remember Can you recall the story details?
background A person’s experience or knowledge
The author’s background influences the setting of the story.
establish Determine; make sure of
The author’s previous works were more persuasive.
prior Coming before in time; earlier
Knowing the author’s background helped
establish the author’s purpose
Prior to reading the story, we learned about the author.

Reading Skill – Author’s Purpose
 Fiction writers may write for a variety of purposes.
They may wish to entertain, to teach, to call to action, or to reflect on experiences. Recognizing details that indicate the author’s purpose can give you a rich understanding of a text. As you read, use a chart like the one shown to note details from the story that fit the different possible purposes of the author.

Entertain Teach Reflect
Funny details or details that create interest
Explanations Details that create a mood

Literary Analysis - Setting
 The setting of a story is the time and place of the action. In this example, the details in italics help establish the story’s setting:

As night fell , the hungry raccoons roamed the forest for food.
In some stories, setting is just a backdrop. The same story events could take place in a completely different setting
 In other stories, setting is very important. It develops a specific atmosphere or mood in the story. The setting may even relate directly to the story’s central conflict or problem.

B Y : R A Y B R A D B U R Y

Background
 Venus: “All Summer in a Day” is set on Venus, the second planet from the sun. Today, we know that Venus has a surface temperature of almost 900 degrees Fahrenheit. In 1950, when
Ray Bradbury wrote this story, some scientists believed that the clouds of Venus concealed a watery world. That information may have led
Bradbury to create a setting of soggy jungles and constant rain.

Venus
 Venus is roughly equal in size to Earth. For this reason, it is sometimes called “Earth’s Twin.”
Its climate and atmosphere, however, are unlike Earth’s, and it is unable to sustain life.
The atmosphere is primarily carbon dioxide – the gas human beings exhale – and the atmospheric pressure is about ninety times greater than that of Earth. The clouds are around Venus that scientists one thought to be rain clouds are actually clouds of sulfuric acid.

Ray Bradbury


As a boy, Ray Bradbury loved magicians, circuses, and science-fiction stories. He began writing his own imaginative tales and by the age of seventeen had his first story published in a magazine called Imagination!
In 1950, Bradbury won fame for his book of sciencefiction stories called The Martian Chronicles. One story describes how a group of Earthlings struggle on the rainy world of Venus. Bradbury began to wonder how a child might react to the sun’s brief appearance on Venus. Four years later, he answered his own question by writing “All
Summer in a Day.”


Many of Bradbury’s stories have been adapted for the television series The
Twilight Zone
 He has served as a consultant to the
Disney Company, the New York World’s
Fair, and a number of architects.

Vocabulary
 Slackening – easing; becoming less active
 Vital – extremely important or necessary
 Tumultuously – Noisily and violent
 Resilient – Springing back into shape