Genre
Mrs. Singleton
English II
Fall 2012
• Correct the following sentences
• the pilot had no alternative, stowaways must face judgment
• did the nasa pilot exaust everyone of his options
• barton’s ship lurched, slowed and suddenly accelerated
again
• in 1954, when the short story The Cold Equation were
written, no people had yet went into outer space
Do Now
• Genre is the category that a work of literature is classified under.
• There are five major genres in literature:
• Fiction is literary work whose content is produced by the
imagination and is not necessarily based on fact.
• Nonfiction is prose writing that deals with real people, things,
events, and places.
• Poetry is a type of rhythmic, compressed language that uses
figures of speech and imagery to appeal to the reader’s emotions
and imagination
• Dramas are stories that are written to be acted for an audience
• Folklore is the anonymous traditional story originally passed
down orally from generation to generation.
Genre Defined
• There are four main types of fiction:
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Realistic fiction
Historical fiction
Fantasy
Science fiction
Fiction
• Fiction can come in two forms:
• Short Stories-short piece of narrative fiction.
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Can be read in one sitting
Information is relevant to the tale being told.
Tries to leave behind a single impression or effect
Writers depend on the reader bringing personal experiences and
prior knowledge to the story.
• Novels-long fictional, prose narrative, usually of more than
fifty thousand words.
Forms of fiction
Realistic Fiction
Historical Fiction
• Seems like real life
• Could happen in today’s
world
• Situations are true to life
or could be true
• Includes adventure
stories, mysteries, and
humorous stories.
• Set in the past
• Based on real people
and/or events
Types of Fiction
Science Fiction
• Has monsters, magic, or
characters
Fantasy with
superpowers
• Has aliens, robots,
futuristic technology,
and/or space ships
Types of Fiction
• Story of Alfred Bulltop Stormalong by unknown:
Stormalong was said to be a sailor and a giant, some 30
feet tall; he was the master of a huge clipper ship known
in various sources as either the Courser or the Tuscarora,
a ship so tall that it had hinged masts to avoid catching on
the moon.
• The Endurance: Shackleton`s Legendary Antarctic
Expedition by Caroline Alexander: Photos and first
person accounts describe Shackleton's 1914 expedition to
Antarctica in this companion volume to a museum
exhibit.
Which Genre am I?
• The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer: Humans
and clones populate a corrupt drug empire located
between the United States and Mexico in this futuristic
thriller.
• Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett: In the eleventh
century, the teenage princess Anna Comnena fights for
her birthright--the throne to the Byzantine Empire--which
she fears will be taken from her by her younger brother,
John.
Which genre am I?
• Correct the following sentences:
Do Now:
• Think of one of your favorite movies and write down the
storyline. What happens in the very beginning of the
film? What do you learn at the beginning? What starts to
happen next? Are there certain problems the main
character faces? What is the highest point of action or
tension in the movie? What happens after? How does it
end? Is the main character better or worse off than he/she
was at the beginning? How has he/she changed?
Critical Thinking
• Literary elements- characteristics of texts often see in nonfictional and
fictional stories and poetry.
• Elements of fiction
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Character- Who is in the story?
Conflict- What is the character’s problem?
Plot- What happens in the story?
Setting- Where does the story take place? What is the mood of the story?
Point of view-Who is telling the story? How much does the narrator know?
Theme- How can we express the central meaning of the story in a complete
sentence?
Character + Conflict + Plot + Setting + Point of View = THEME
Elements of Fiction
• Conflict is the struggle, or problem, that a character faces.
• Can be internal- between two opposing forces within the
character; or can be external- between the character and
an outside force.
• Internal conflict
• Man vs. Self
• External conflict
• Man vs. Man
• Man vs. Nature, Society, Machines, or the Supernatural
Conflict
Most stories follow a
basic dramatic structure.
Project Freytag’s
Pyramid. Gustav Freytag
analyzed Greek and
Shakespearean drama
and noticed a pattern in
the way the stories were
told. He viewed the
dramatic structure as a
pyramid or triangle, and
we can apply this
dramatic structure to
many stories, novels and
films.
Plot
• Exposition is background information, which prepares for
the next step in the story.
• Rising action introduces and develops the major conflict
in the story.
• Climax can be the turning point of a story, or it can be the
point of most intense feeling or excitement.
• Falling action contains events or actions that occur after
the climax.
• Resolution is the point at which conflict is resolved. It is
the final outcome of the conflict.
Plot Analysis
• Correct the following sentences:
• a strongly, detailed, precise, setting effects the reader’s
emotions
• Boys and Girls is a short story that is setted in tough
brutally hard ranch country in canada
• floras the horses name Keisha sayed but whats the
protagonists name
• flora runned out the gate but the men catched her anyways
Do Now
• Create a foldable detailing each plot element for the short
story, Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket.
Assignment
• Correct the following sentences:
• alice has never wrote no novels and don’t think she never
will
• that is the most coldest milk of the world
• alice walker who was the most young of 8 children is born
in Eatonton Georgia
• walker’s novel The Color Purple was winning the pulitzer
prize in fiction in 1983
Do Now
• Setting is the background for the action of the story (i.e, part of exposition).
• Includes time when story occurs
• Also includes the place where the story happens
• May also include general surroundings (i.e, daily habits of characters,
jobs, social activities)
• Mood- the feeling created within the writer
• Tone-the writer’s attitude toward a subject
• Shown through word choice (positive vs. negative descriptions)
• Atmosphere-determined by setting, mood, and tone.
• Word choice, attitude, and descriptions, combined with the reader’s
emotions create atmosphere.
Setting, Tone, Mood,
Atmosphere
Excerpt from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
When I got up, I saw that Captain Nemo and his first mate were on the platform. They were examining
the ship’s position, exchanging several words in their incomprehensible language.
Here was our situation. Two miles to starboard rose Gueboroar Island, whose coast extended from
north to west like an immense arm. Toward the south and east, we could already make out the tops
of several coral formations which the ebb tide was beginning to uncover. We had gone aground at
high tide, which would make it difficult to refloat the Nauti-lus. Nevertheless the ship had suffered
no damage, for her hull was sol-idly joined. But even though it could never sink or spring a leak,
there was a serious danger of its remaining grounded forever on these reefs, and that would be the
end of Captain Nemo’s submarine.
I was thinking of all this when the captain came over looking as cool and calm as ever. He seemed
neither disturbed or unhappy. “An accident?” I asked. “No, an incident,” he replied.
“But an incident,” I retorted, “that will force you once again to live on that land you have been
fleeing!”
Captain Nemo looked at me curiously and made a gesture, as if to say that nothing would force him to
set foot on land again.
Setting, Mood, Tone,
Atmosphere Practice 1
• On a sheet of paper, answer the practice 1 questions on
page 42.
• ONLY write the letter of the correct answer.
• Put the paper with your responses to the side.
Practice 1 Questions
• Correct the following sentences:
• where’s you’re sister at Larry
• unfortunately I have a sister whose a lot like Dee
• john steinbeck almost didn’t except the nobel prize, he was
afraid that he wouldn’t wright any more
• during the great depression of the 1930s many families in
the midwest losed their farms
Do Now
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Turn to page 172.
Read “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury.
As a group, answer the Reading Check questions.
Then, on another sheet, make a sketch model of the set if
“The Pedestrian” is turned into a play. Use Bradbury’s
descriptions as the basis for your design.
Group Activity
• Write a brief response (5 sentence) response to the
question, “In what ways is there a tension between
equality and opportunity in our nation today?”
Do Now
• Characters: the story’s actors.
• Created when writers reveal characters’ TRAITS or
special qualities
• Traits are revealed either directly or indirectly.
• Motivations: why a characters acts as he/she does.
Characterization
Indirect
Characterization
• Revealed through
• Character’s appearance.
• Dialogue (character and
another character)
• Private thoughts
(character’s mind)especially important when
character is the narrator
• Actions
• Effects (of character’s
actions on another)
Direct Characterization
• Writer tells exactly what
the character is like.
Direct vs. Indirect
• Flat characters: two-dimensional, with only one or two
key personality traits.
• Round character: three-dimensional qualities of a real-life
person, with many traits and complexities.
• Stock character: fits preconceived notions about a “type.”
• Correct the following sentences;
• i cant believe it the banker said how can you think money is
more important than time
• id be happy the lawyer said to give up time for money
• grandma tell us that story again the children clamored
• tell us the story about the boy with no last name who you
dance with that night they pleaded
Do Now
• 5 stages
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Prewriting: brainstorm ideas and organize topic
Drafting: create a rough copy
Revising: improve your writing
Editing: proofread your work
Publishing: create a clean final copy
Writing Process
• Assignment: In an essay, compose a character sketch of
any character from the stories we’ve read (“The Bass, the
River, and Sheila Mant”; “The Pedestrian”; “Everyday
Use.”
• Standards:
• The essay must be a minimum of three paragraphs.
• The essay must include details of the character’s physical
appearance, background, behavior, attitude.
Assignment
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Must be printed in blue or black ink.
Skip every other line.
Do NOT write on the back of the page.
Each paragraph must have at least eight (8) sentences.
Rough draft must be completed prior to leaving the class.
• Final copy will be due on Monday.
Requirements
• Correct the following sentences:
• because the daughter didnt think of herself as a prodigy her
mother gets angry with her
• the daughter thought her mother was trying to make her
something she wasnt her mother just thinks the child is
being disobedient
• ray bradburys futuristic character in the short story the
pedestrian is dismayed by his societies indifference
• everybody seems to be more interested in watching
telavision then in exploring their environment
Do Now
• Theme is the underlying message of a written work that
usually reflects a certain outlook on life.
• NOT directly stated.
• Gradually implied or revealed throughout the story.
Theme
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Read the entire passage
Think about the deeper meaning it portrays
Try to sum up that message in one sentence
Make sure the message you choose fits the ENTIRE
passage, not just one part.
Finding Theme
• The youth gave a shriek as he confronted the thing. He
was for moments turned to stone before it. He remained
staring into the liquid-looking eyes. The dead man and
the living man exchanged a long look. Then the youth
cautiously put one hand behind him and brought it against
a tree. Leaning upon this he retreated, step by step, with
his face still toward the thing. He feared that if he turned
his back the body might spring up and stealthily pursue
him.
(From The Red Badge of Courage)
Let’s Practice
• Which of the following is the best theme for the passage
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The living and the dead form bonds of love
Death should not be feared
Never speak badly about the dead
Confronting death can be terrifying
Practice
Choose a story you have
recently read that meant
something to you. Complete
this chart to discover the
theme.
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How the main character changes:
How the conflict is resolved:
What the title suggests:
What, in general, the story
reveals about life:
• The story’s theme:
Now your turn
• Read “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan
• Vocabulary
• Prodigy
• Lamented
• Listlessly
• Mesmerizing
• Discordant
• Dawdled
• Stricken
• Fiasco
• Nonchalantly
• betrayal
Today’s activity
• Answer the reading check questions
• Create a word map for each Word Bank Item
After Reading
• Concept chart
• Legend: (+)=know; (*)=familiar with; (-)=do not know
Word
Lottery
Boisterous
Profusely
Liberty
Paraphernalia
Recital
Do Now:
Interminably
Petulantly
Knowledge Level
• Irony is a contrast between what is said or done and what
is really intended to be said or done.
• Verbal irony: contrast or difference between what is said
and what is meant
• Situational irony: contrast between what is believed is
going to happen and what really does happen
• Dramatic irony: created when the audience knows
something that one or more of the characters in the story
does not.
• Sarcasm: statement that is delivered as praise but intended
to insult.
Irony
• What do you typically think of when you hear the word
“lottery?”
Lottery
• http://town.hall.org/radio/HarperAudio/022294_harp_01_
ITH.au
• http://town.hall.org/radio/HarperAudio/022294_harp_02_
ITH.au
Shirley Jackson’s “The
Lottery”
• What are two symbols in the story?
• What are five examples showing that men possess the
most power?
• What are two examples of foreshadowing?
Group Questions
Irony in the story
Possible themes
• In 100-150 words, explain the theme of “The Lottery.”
Include details on how Jackson uses irony to develop the
theme.
Assignment
Biography of Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643) was a Puritan woman, spiritual adviser, mother
of 15, and important participant in the Antinomian Controversy that shook
the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her strong
religious convictions were at odds with the established Puritan clergy in the
Boston area, and her popularity and charisma helped create a theological
schism that threatened to destroy the Puritans' religious experiment in New
England. She was eventually tried and convicted, then banished from the
colony with many of her supporters.
• Assignment: In a 100-150 word composition, compare and contrast Anne
Hutchinson with Tess Hutchinson. Use examples from the story and the
biography.
HOMEWORK
• Nonfiction is prose writing that deals with real people, things,
events, and places.
• Types of nonfiction
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Biography
Autobiography
Essays
Newspaper stories
Magazine articles
Historical accounts
Scientific reports
Personal diaries/letters
Nonfiction
Autobiography
Biography
• Latin Roots
• Latin Roots
• Auto: self
• Bio: life
• Graphy: writing
• Life story written by
oneself
• Bio: life
• Graphy: writing
• Writing about someone
else’s life.
Types of Nonfiction