Focus Question: How do we analyze literature?
Part 1
In this lesson, students will review literary elements and use this knowledge to analyze a children’s tale.
“During this unit, we will focus on learning how to analyze a literary passage, and at the close of the unit you will be asked to write your own literary analysis of your independent reading book. You will be asked to work in a group, to participate in class discussion, and to do individual exercises to develop your analytical skill.”
Analyzing an independent reading book offers several advantages: the book has been selected by the student (although from a list you have provided), it offers fresh material to analyze, and it allows students to read one another’s analyses as they are in progress without the fear that they will all end up writing the same paper. Using a variety of books allows students to benefit from observing both the strengths and weaknesses of the drafts written by their classmates and to apply what they learn to their own work.
“When we analyze something, we break it down into its separate parts and look at how those parts work together. In the case of a story, we break it into its literary elements, like character and plot, in order to see how they work together to produce the story. For instance, let’s talk about the story Cinderella. Who are the characters in this classic tale?” Write students’ responses for the class to view. “Good. Let’s discuss the stepmother. Based on your memory of the story, how would you describe the stepmother’s character?” Write students’ responses next to where you identified the stepmother. Reaffirm what students said about the stepmother’s character, filling in any gaps with your own description. “Now let’s think about how the stepmother influences or affects what happens in the story. Is she important? (yes) How is she important?” Summarize students’ responses for the class to view. “As you’ve said, the stepmother’s character is very important because it is her cruelty to Cinderella that causes several important events to happen, such as making Cinderella a servant in her own home, attempting to keep her from attending the ball, and locking her in the attic to keep her from trying on the glass slipper. Therefore, the impact of the stepmother’s cruelty on the plot could become the focus of an analysis. We are simply examining how one story element, character, affects another story element, plot.”
Ask students whether they have any questions. Making the leap from literature to literary analysis can be difficult for some, so allow time for additional explanation about the nature of analysis.
Once all understand what literary analysis is, guide them through the following analysis process.
“Now we are going to analyze another story that most of us know: the tale of the three little pigs.” Go through the story with them. Access a version of the story at
http://www.read.gov/books/pageturner/2003juv81093/#page/2/mode/2up
Then put students in small groups of three or four and give them markers and sheets of chart paper. “The first step in the analysis is to break the story into its literary elements. Let’s start with identifying the characters.”
Step 1. Identifying Characters and Plot Elements
“Make a list of the main characters.” The groups will most likely list the three pigs and the wolf.
“Now identify one important characteristic for each character you listed and record it next to that character’s name. For example, what word or phrase would you use to describe the first pig, who made his house out of straw?” Let students respond. They may describe the first little pig as not particularly bright or not having foresight. “What is the evidence from the text that supports your evaluation?” Let students respond. “Now complete this task by listing characteristics (precise words or phrases) for the other characters you have listed.” Walk around the room to make sure each group understands the task. They might describe the second little pig as being similar to the first little pig. They may describe the third pig as being clever, quick, and daring, whereas the wolf is dense and overly confident.
After you have glanced at each group’s work and provided verbal feedback, say, “Before we analyze the plot, let’s review the basic plot elements: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.” Give the groups copies of a plot graph (LW-8-1-1_Plot Diagram.docx). Also, post the definitions of these plot elements in the classroom. “As you can see from the diagram, most stories don’t follow a flat line. Imagine how uninteresting stories would be if the characters didn’t do anything or if everything was always okay. Sure, most readers like to learn about the setting and the characters before the main action starts, and the writer is able to give some of this information during the exposition. However, in order to build and maintain a reader’s interest, the writer needs to introduce obstacles that a character needs to overcome. These situations or events make up the rising action in the story. Eventually, the main character has to face the main conflict directly. This is the climax of the story. As a result of this event, the character wins or loses. The character gets or doesn’t get what s/he wants. The falling action of the story shows the fulfillment of the climax, with the resolution providing an ending to the story.”
Ask students if they have any questions about the basic plot elements. You may want to refer again to the Cinderella story to illustrate plot elements. Or you could lead the entire class in a quick graphing of the plot of Cinderella on chart paper as a model. “Now you will continue working in your groups. Use the plot diagram to graph the plot of ‘The Three Little Pigs.’” Give students a time frame, and then walk around the room to review each group’s work. Provide support when needed. When students are finished, ask them to share the events they identified for each part of the plot structure. Discuss any differences of opinion. What follows is a general examination of the tale:
- Exposition: Three little pigs leave home to seek their fortune.
- Rising action: The first little pig builds his house of straw; the wolf blows it down; the wolf eats the pig. The second little pig builds his house of sticks; the wolf blows it down; the wolf eats the pig. The third little pig builds his house of bricks; the wolf fails to blow it down; the wolf tries to trick the pig with invitations to collect turnips, pick apples, and go to the fair, but the pig outwits him each time. After the fair, the pig sees the wolf as he is coming home and hops into the butter churn to avoid being seen; the butter churn rolling down the hill scares the wolf, and the wolf runs home. The next day the wolf tells the pig about the churn and how frightened he was; the pig laughs and tells him about the churn.
- Climax: The wolf starts climbing onto the roof to go down the chimney; the pig takes the lid off a pot of boiling water and the wolf falls into it.
- Falling action: The pig pops the lid back on the pot.
- Resolution: The pig has wolf for supper.
Step 2. Analyzing the Effect of Character on the Plot
Ask students to reread what they have recorded about each of the characters; then ask, “Does the characterization of any one of them have an important impact on the plot? What is the evidence?”
Have them respond to this question aloud. Write their responses for class viewing. Two effective responses are the third little pig or the wolf. Ask them to explain their choice using evidence from the text. Summarize their responses for class viewing.
Possible answers: The third little pig is clever enough to build his house of bricks and thus saves his own life. He outsmarts the wolf on several occasions, going earlier than the appointed time for the outings suggested by the wolf, diverting the wolf’s attention by throwing an apple, and scaring the wolf by hiding himself in the butter churn and rolling down the hill toward the wolf. He is also quick-witted in getting the lid off the pot of boiling water and popping it back on after the wolf falls into it. The pig’s cleverness shapes the story.
OR
The determination of the wolf is the force that shapes the story. Despite the fact that he can’t blow down the brick house and is outsmarted about the turnips and the apples, he still tries to catch the third pig by making a date to go to the fair. When he discovers what the pig has done with the butter churn, he doesn’t go home mad; instead, he climbs onto the roof and down the chimney, determined to have pork for supper. Unfortunately, the pot of boiling water finally puts an end to the wolf’s attempts to achieve his goal.
Either of the italicized sentences above could serve as the thesis sentence for an analysis of the story. Pick a few of the students’ responses and briefly discuss how their explanations could be turned into a thesis statement for an essay. Before leaving plot, remind students of the definition of conflict and conflict’s importance in the plot (i.e., the plot is based on the main conflict: wolf versus pigs).
Step 3. Identifying Setting and Analyzing Its Role in the Story
“Now we are going to look at a third important story element: setting.” If necessary, review the definition of setting. “In your groups, take another sheet of paper and write down the setting of the story.” After the groups are finished, have them volunteer to discuss the setting they chose. Possible answers include the road on which the pigs journey, the straw house, the stick house, the brick house, the turnip field, the apple orchard, the hill on the way home from the fair. “So far, we’ve talked about how characters can affect the plot. Do you think the setting plays an important role too? If so, how?” For example, the brick house appears most frequently, but it does not affect the events involving the first two pigs. However, a student could make a good case for the impact of the brick house on the rest of the story because it provides security from the wolf.
Step 4. Identifying the Theme of the Story
“The last literary element we’re going to discuss is theme. What is ‘theme’?” Possible answers include that theme is the central idea of a story. It is shown through the story’s characters and its plot and setting. If students need more instruction about what a theme is, discuss the theme of another popular tale, such as “Humpty Dumpty” or “Cinderella,” which you discussed earlier in the lesson. “Remember that a theme is always a general statement, one that could be used for more than one story. For instance, one theme for the old nursery rhyme ‘Humpty Dumpty’ might be ‘Good intentions cannot solve every problem.’ All the king’s horses and all the king’s men try very hard to put Humpty Dumpty back together again after his fall, but they simply can’t do it. Now, take 2 or 3 minutes in your group to talk about the theme of ‘The Three Little Pigs.’ Write down one sentence you can agree on that states a possible theme or lesson the story teaches.”
Identifying a theme is tricky, so tell students that you’re writing down a possible theme too. (Then you’ll have a theme in case no one else has one that works.) Possible answers: Dangers lurk in unexpected places. Greediness can result in disaster. Perseverance does not always bring success. Walk around the room and help groups as needed.
Part 2
After you have reviewed and approved each group’s theme, say, “If you were about to write an analysis of this story, you would first decide on your thesis statement, the observation you want to make about the story. In this case, use the sentence you have just composed for theme as your thesis statement. This means that everything you would write in an analysis would be focused on this statement, and all your evidence would support this statement. For the next 4–5 minutes, list the evidence that you would use to support your particular thesis statement.” Walk around the room and help groups as needed.
Next, have the groups present the evidence for their thesis statement. For instance:
- Dangers lurk in unexpected places. This is shown through settings of the pigs’ own homes, a turnip field, an apple orchard, a road to the fair. All become dangerous settings because of the main conflict of the story, wolf versus pigs, and the events caused by the wolf’s determination to dine upon all three pigs.
- Greediness can result in disaster, as illustrated by the actions of the wolf, who is motivated by greed, and climaxes in his final ill-fated attempt to eat the third little pig. This theme of greed is supported by evidence drawn from the effects of character on the plot.
Explain to students: “The thesis statement is the heart of your analysis, and the rest of it is presenting and explaining the evidence that supports your thesis. In this case, you used the theme sentence as the thesis statement and showed how one theme is revealed through the setting(s) and, for the other theme, through the personality and actions of the characters.”
Or, instead of focusing on theme, you could say, “The cleverness of the third little pig is the force that shapes the story of ‘The Three Little Pigs,’ and then you would show how his cleverness affects the plot of the story and creates the main conflict for the wolf. It is also the pig’s cleverness that brings about the climax of the story when he takes the lid off the pot of boiling water just in time for the wolf to fall into it.
“As you can see, analyzing a story means examining the elements of a story and the ways they affect one another. Then you form a thesis statement and find evidence to support it. If you can’t find very much evidence for your statement, you need to choose a different one. Look at the story again, more closely. The thesis sentence should have a generous amount of evidence, and it should be, in some way, closely connected to the climax of the story.”
Language Skills Mini-Lesson
Take ten minutes to use the last paragraph of “The Three Little Pigs” to illustrate the different effects of active and passive voice in writing. See that each student has a copy of the final paragraph or display it for class viewing. Access the story at
www.read.gov/books/pageturner/2003juv81093/#page/2/mode/2up
“Before we finish this lesson, let’s look at the last paragraph of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ to understand the difference between using active or passive voice. In an active sentence, the subject of the sentence is obviously doing the action. A simple example is the sentence ‘Scott plays the guitar.’” Write this for class viewing and label the performer, action, and object. “‘Scott’ is the subject, the performer of the action, ‘plays’ is the action he is performing, and ‘guitar’ is the object he is playing. In most active sentences, the performer usually comes first, then the action, then the object. This makes it very clear who is doing what to what.
“However, in passive voice, the position is often flipped; the object is often first, then the action, then the performer of the action. The sentence ‘Scott plays the guitar’ in passive voice would read, ‘The guitar is played’ or ‘The guitar is played by Scott.’” Write the sentences for class viewing and label the parts. “The guitar, which is the object, is now the first thing we hear about, and then we know that it is being played, which is the action, but Scott, who is the performer of the action, either isn’t named at all or isn’t mentioned until the very end. In longer sentences, this can confuse the reader. Passive voice often makes the reader wonder who did something, because the performer of the action is often missing.
“Most action in stories is clearer and more interesting if it is written in active voice. In passive voice, it can be hard to tell who is doing what to what. For example, what if the last paragraph of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ had been written like this:
The little Pig saw what he was about. A pot full of water was hung on the blazing fire. Just as the Wolf was coming down, the cover was taken off the pot and in fell the Wolf. The cover was put on again in an instant and the Wolf was boiled up. He was eaten for supper by the little Pig.
“What passive voice did you hear?” (Write these parts for class viewing and have students tell you how to label them.)
“It is difficult to tell who is doing what to what in this version. It makes the reader wonder ‘who?’ It is as if the cover of the pot was magically removed and replaced, and we cannot really tell that the Little Pig was the one responsible for defeating the Wolf. Although it is sometimes appropriate to use passive voice, most writing should be in active voice.
“Rewrite these passive voice sentences into active voice. Start by looking for the action in the sentence. Then decide who is doing the action. Put these two pieces in the common order: performer first, action second. Then the object will come afterward.”
Students may have a problem when they discover the sentences with missing subjects. Use this teachable moment to elicit their agreement about how confusing passive voice can be. They may insert a performer of their choice in order to rewrite the sentence into active formation.
1. An award for good citizenship was won by Ty.
2. The clothes were neatly folded and put away in the dresser. (missing performer)
3. The final song was sung by Kent and Keesha.
4. The soup was eaten. (missing performer)
“Share with a partner and double check each other’s work.”
Collect students’ rewritten sentences to end the lesson.
Extension:
- (For ELL students or to review) Have students read another children’s tale, like “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” and follow precisely the same process used with “The Three Little Pigs.” For ELL students, this has the added benefit of acquainting them with another tale often referred to and helps them become more familiar with the English-speaking culture.
