Archive for the ‘Studying Lit’ Category

Newer Entries »

From the trenches

Tuesday, May 15th, 2007

I hope you all had wonderful Mother’s Days. That date always sneaks up on me and I never quite expect it to be wonderful and for some reason, it just usually is. In addition to Mother’s Day, I went into deep recovery mode. As many of you know, I spent the last four years in grad school, taking it one class at a time (usually) with summers off (except one). As I tallied up how much writing I’ve done for grad school in those four years, it turns out I’ve written 600 pages of double spaced academic writing. 600 pages (I was kind of surprised the number was so round, actually).

I got to thinking about all that writing and what I learned from it (beyond the obvious content analysis that the writing was meant to generate). I want to share a little of that here.

  • Weekly essays are too frequent.
    Several of my professors liked assigning weekly writing topics. They would give us something to read and then ask for 2-4 pages of writing to a prompt related to the reading. Usually we were narrating the content and then bringing a bit of personal insight or an interrogative point of view to the topic. I found that in classes where I had to generate original writing about brand new material without the benefit of a lecture first every week, I did not learn as much as I did when I was given time to read, think, listen, discuss and then write about that topic. I often felt I was prematurely offering my thoughts before they had had time to grow inside of me.

    The plus side to weekly writing is that you get over the intimidation factor pretty quickly. I did get into a groove and could produce weekly essays without much angst.

  • Academic writing benefits from mingling personal experience with scholarly analysis.
    I usually found a point of contact between myself and the material whenever I could. My professors not only valued this, but several of them specifically asked for it from us as students. My final MA thesis has six pages at the start that trace my journey theologically which leads to the thesis and why I chose to write the paper. These introductory remarks were requested by my advisor. I want to point this out because there is still a feeling among so many homeschooling moms that academic writing is meant to be objective and impersonal. Certainly the analysis must have the air of scholarship and considered opinion, but situating the argument contextually and relating it to personal experiences is valid and in some cases, encouraged in the humanities, in particular.
  • Introductions need to include a “word map” of where the paper will go.
    When I teach the essay, I tell my students that they need to include both a thesis and a sentence or two (at least) that suggest the direction of the paper (what points they will cover in the essay). I can’t emphasize this point enough. Scholarship depends on clarity of organization more than any other element. The reader must know where he or she is being taken and how he or she will get there.
  • There’s a difference between textual analysis and the use of secondary sources in analytical writing.
    Usually academic writing in the humanities (philosophy, literature, theology, history, sociology, theater arts, political science) means analyzing primary sources (reading original documents and doing textual analysis) and then cross-checking that analysis against secondary sources (scholarship that offers insight into the primary source). Using tools designed for textual analysis and examining arguments of secondary sources helps you create your unique take on the topic. It’s strange, but given how many of us went through college and spent hours writing papers, I’m surprised that I have never read in the homeschooling market a book or tool that breaks this all down and helps kids understand what they are doing when they write a paper. For the June and July issues of the Slingshot, I’ll be writing tools to help you determine source credibility, how to do textual analysis (primary source work) and how to use secondary source material. In the fall, I hope to offer an essay class that works with primary and secondary sources to give your kids a feel for how it’s done.

I have many other insights to offer and will do that over the next few weeks. In the meantime, feel free to ask questions in the comments section. I can’t wait to expand what we offer through Brave Writer. It’s been such a wonderful experience being a student and I think my experiences can translate to real benefit to all of you, particularly those worried about how to prepare your teens for college writing.

Posted in Brave Writer Philosophy, General, Studying Lit, Tips for Teen Writers | 4 Comments »

Characterization in books and movies

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

In addition to plot conventions, movies and books share similarities in how they portray characterization. Naturally movies rely on visual cues such as costume, make-up, and hair style to define the period, personality and attention to personal hygiene of a character. In a novel, the author must describe enough of these details for the reader to create a corresponding image in the imagination. In addition to these obvious categories of characterization, however, are the more subtle aspects of personality which are usually manifest in the following ways: physical idiosyncrasies like a limp or a lisp, twitches, wheezing, playing with hair strands, adjusting glasses, slumped shoulders, saucy gait, pursed lips, raised eyebrows, military posture, poor speech and so on.

When looking at a actor’s choices in a movie, then, it is important to consider what you see the character doing as much as what the character looks like or says. Movies require us to notice acting choices. Does the character mumble or speak clearly? Does the character turn away from someone intimidating or does the character face that person squarely? How does the character relate to the other characters? You can often detect differences in relationships through observing the changes in conversational style and posture between a single character and each unique relationship within the story.

In books, characterization is developed along similar lines, however, you also often have the benefit of internal processing (what the character thinks in addition to what the character does). This is most often the case for the protagonist (the primary character in the story). You may not have access to the minds of the other characters. The benefit of knowing what is in the mind of the character is that you will have layers of motivation to evaluate rather than merely drawing conclusions from behavior. Shakespeare’s sililoquies serve a similar purpose in his plays. They are meant to reveal to the audience what the character is thinking that can’t be observed from the outside.
Another source of commentary on the character is often supplied by the author. Authors will give you clues about characterization based on how they title or describe the character. In The Red Badge of Courage which we are reading for the Boomerang this month, the main character, Henry, is referred to as “the youth” in every paragraph except dialog. It’s important to ask why because the author clearly intends to communicate something about Henry through that label.

In classic plots seen in movies and found in books, there are two primary characters to look for: the protagonist (usually the one we root for) and the antagonist (the one that makes us “boo”). The protagonist faces an obstacle that is the key to the plot. The antagonist wants to thwart the protagonist’s progress in achieving that goal. Sometimes the protagonist is supported by other characters in achieving the quest (as Frodo was in The Lord of the Rings trilogy). Sometimes the antagonist is not human but instead is a force in nature or a war or the gods (not all antagonists are human, either). And sometimes the primary antagonist is the self – a conflict occuring within the primary character.

Don’t feel you need to over-analyze characterization. What is helpful to do is to ask questions of your kids as they read or view that helps them to notice what they might miss otherwise.

  • Why do you think the protagonist has a limp? How does that hurt his chances of success?
  • Who is the antagonist? Why does he or she oppose the protagonist?
  • What does the costume say about that character?
  • What can we learn about the character from the way he iinteracts with his parents, his friends and authorities?

And so on. Enjoy movies and books above all.

Posted in General, Studying Lit, Wednesday Movies | 1 Comment »

Email: Books and Movies

Monday, March 19th, 2007

Julie, it’s been a long time since I’ve been in a schooling situation where books and movies are discussed in terms of plot, settings, and I can’t even remember what else to mention in that list – is there any way you may be able to do a blog entry about it, for people who may need a little reminder of how to do so? It’s easy for my kids to describe what they’re reading, and to discuss the storyline, but what sorts of things should I be pointing out, or bringing to their attention, etc? Thanks so much for your consideration!–
Susan
–
Hi Susan.
Great topic for multiple blog entries. Books and movies (because they are built on plots) can be discussed in similar ways with your kids. They also have some differences which can lead to fruitful discussions. Let’s talk first about what they share: plot. I’ll continue this series over the course of the week so stay tuned.

Plot: The narrative arc of most stories can be easily detected by using a little rubric I took from Anne Lamott’s writing classic Bird by Bird. She suggests the rubric: ABDCE (action, background, development, climax, ending). Most movies in particular start with action (often with credits popping through the opening scenes). The action is usually a set up for the storyline but not the key event. In books, the writer is not as often compelled to start with action, but in a similar way, must grab the reader’s attention and will do so with an opening hook.

Following that opening action, the plot will expand to share the background of the primary characters and story so that you understand the purpose of the opening action. The Pirates of the Caribbean is a good example of this kind of opening which transitions into background. During the background, you will often be given insights that act as foreshadowing events. These are events that tell you of the impending doom/danger that lies ahead, or of the potentially successful resolution of the problem presented. Usually following the background (which can be a few paragraphs or scenes, or much longer if the plot is complex) the plot moves into development of the story. Development is characterized by a series of set-ups and frustrations. You are offered possible solutions to the key problem the story sets out to resolve, but the characters are repeatedly frustrated because the obvious solution is thwarted time and again.

The climax is the moment the story has been waiting for all along. You often know what the climax will or should be after the opening scenes. When you come to the climax, it feels like the do or die moment (the boy will or won’t get the girl, the criminal will or won’t get caught, Dorothy will or won’t go home). Following the climax, a very short ending (usually) follows to wrap up any dangling details. In some books, the ending lasts longer than in movies because the author takes the time to give a few fleshed out scenes that might develop as a result of the resolved climax. A great illustration of this contrast is the way the movie Pride and Prejudice ends (with the nuptial kill between Darcy and Miss Bennett) and the way the book ends (with the recounting of who lived happily ever after and who did not).

When watching movies that are based on books, you ought to pay attention to the ways in which movies alter the book’s narrative in order to make it more action based, to heighten the frustration the viewer feels (usually movies create more crises than books), and to get to the climax more quickly (they have less time to develop the story and subplots). You can ask yourself if the movie successfully modifies the book, note whether or not the changes work for the movie and if you agree with those choices. You can also discuss what choices you might make if you were to modify a book into a movie format.

We’ll look at characterization next.

Posted in General, Studying Lit, Wednesday Movies | No Comments »

Newer Entries »