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READING JOURNAL FORMAT EXAMPLE
Name of Literary Work: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Author: Mark Twain
Date Published: 1884
Genre: episodic picaresque novel
Setting: Mississippi River, mid 1800s
Main Characters: Huckleberry Finn, Jim, Miss Watson, Tom Sawyer
Main Plot, Idea, or Concept: Huck, abused by his alcoholic father, escapes with a
runaway slave named Jim. He struggles with whether or not to turn Jim into the authorities.
Tags: satire, American themes/setting, slavery, pragmatism versus romanticism, dialect
Name of Literary Work: Their Eyes Were Watching God
Author: Zora Neale Hurston
Date Published: 1937
Genre: novel (coming of age, spiritual journey)
Setting: Florida, 1920s or 30s
Main Characters: Janie, Pheoby, Joe Starks, Tea Cake
Main Plot, Idea, or Concept: From poor plantation beginnings, Janie’s quest to be her
own person teaches her about love and life’s joys and sorrows.
Tags: dialect, self determination, quest, race and racism, feminism
Name of Literary Work: The Crucible
Author: Arthur Miller
Date Published: 1982
Genre: play
Setting: Salem, Massachusetts
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Main Characters: John and Elizabeth Proctor, Thomas and Ann Putnam, Reverend Parris,
Abigail Williams, and Reverend John Hale
Main Plot, Idea, or Concept: Abigail Williams leads a group of young girls who accuse
local men and women of witchcraft partly to cover up their “sinful” nocturnal activities in the
forest., John Proctor, who has committed adultery with Abigail Williams, tries to combat the
hysteria.
Tags: intolerance, greed, sin and forgiveness, tragedy, McCarthy Hearings (Red Scare)
Note: Miller’s play is based on real character in the Salem Witch trials.
Name of Literary Work: Ethan Frome
Author: Edith Wharton
Date Published: 1911
Genre: novel
Setting: Massachusetts, late 19th century and early 20th centuries
Main Characters: Ethan Frome, Zenobia (Zeena) Frome, Mattie Silver
Main Plot, Idea, or Concept: Ethan Frome is a married man who cannot act upon his
feeling for another woman
Tags: social oppression, marriage
Name of Literary Work: Frankenstein
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Name of Literary Work: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
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Name of Literary Work: The Story of An Hour
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