How the Author Molds Your Child s Heart

Transcription

1 1 Every secret of a writer s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works. British author Virginia Woolf 1. Why Don t We Like This Woman? Lost Horizon by James Hilton Hilton uses Conway s to mold our feelings for Miss Brinklow. 2. Why Don t We Like This Man? Hawaii by James Michener Michener uses and Reverend Thorn s to mold our feelings about young Abner Hale, and, by extension, most missionaries. Copyright by. All rights reserved.

2 2 3. Why Are We Cheering for This Woman Who Has Just Killed Her Husband? A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell Glaspell creates an empathetic character by showing the aligned against Minnie Wright and by showing her. 4. Why Do We Believe These Men Had to Kill Someone? Montag from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury The unnamed protagonist in The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells Bradbury and Wells narrow down the their protagonists have. Copyright by. All rights reserved.

3 3 5. Why Do We Have Negative Feelings About Christianity? The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells Whirligig by Paul Fleischman Wells uses, and to mold our hearts against the curate, and, therefore, all Christianity. Fleischman uses and language to turn our hearts toward other religions and against Christianity. 6. Why Do We Want This Immoral Man to Be Happy? Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton Fade In 1 by Robert Berman Wharton creates an character to mold our feelings about Ethan. 1 Robert A. Berman, Fade In. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 1997, pp Copyright by. All rights reserved.

4 4 7. Why Are We Glad When These Men Get Their Revenge? The Italian Job movie They are empathetic characters because they have been, they are, and they each other. To Sum Up 1. Writers use and character to mold the way they want us to feel about their characters. 2. It is the writer s job to create characters. The strongest tools are these: The protagonist is in some way or is the. Example: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone by J. K. Rowling The protagonist is in. The protagonist has formidable. 3. Writers narrow down the characters have, as in The War of the Worlds. That s one reason our children say, He had to do it. He had no other choice. The job of the writer is to create empathy for his characters. The job of the reader is to read with. Copyright by. All rights reserved.

5 5 What Can You Do About It? 1. Read the books your children are reading. Short of that, go online to find information about the books: shmoop.com, sparknotes.com, and cliffsnotes.com. Look for something that doesn t just give you a summation of the plot but gives you a chapterby-chapter synopsis. 2. Do any of the protagonists do anything that would seem questionable outside the context of the book (like killing someone or having an affair)? Ask your student which characters do something wrong but are viewed as right. Then ask how the author justifies the actions to the reader how the author makes the reader think that this is inevitable or acceptable. Then ask, What danger the character was in just after the action and how does that make you feel about the decision/action? 3. How does the author make the protagonist empathetic? 4. How does the author make other characters unsavory or dangerous in order to justify any questionable actions done by the protagonist or by others? 5. What scene, event, or character in the story did your student have a strong reaction to? Reread the scene and list the characters reactions. 6. While reading the story, did your student formulate a new opinion about something? If so, instruct him to find the reaction or the justification that led him to change his mind. For instance, if he formerly was against lying but now thinks that it is permissible in certain circumstances, what events in the book led him to this new conclusion? 7. Choose a scene in a story where a new character is introduced. Discuss the reactions of the other characters. This will tell you not only about the new character but about the others as well. Example: the Israelite army s fear when confronted with Goliath. 8. Give your student a 150-word writing assignment in which a character enters a room. How will the other characters react to him or her? What will this tell the reader about the original characters? About the new character? The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it (Pr. 27:12). Copyright by. All rights reserved.

6 6 Meet Hi! I m the author of Jump In, Apologia s easy-to-use middle school writing curriculum, which appears in Cathy Duffy s 102 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. I was forced to retire from homeschooling after 18 years when I ran out of children but still teach writing and literature courses to homeschool teens in the Kokomo, IN, area. My popular course The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School is based on my sought-after writing classes and is the sequel to Jump In. Let my practical, easy-to-use textbooks teach writing for you: Jump In, Apologia s popular middle school writing curriculum The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School Writing Fiction [in High School] Stop by my booth for FREE writing resources. Just when you thought you couldn t have a literature class, along comes Illuminating Literature: When Worlds Collide. Available this summer! THIS COURSE MAKES A LITERATURE CLASS POSSIBLE FOR YOU! Go to to download the first two chapters FREE! Get three FREE writing lessons when you subscribe to Writing with. You ll also receive fun weekly writing prompts for your middle school and high school students, along with tutorials and teaching tips for you! Connect with me on Facebook and Pinterest as well! Or me at writingwithsharonwatson@gmail.com. Original image of child s hands courtesy of D. Sharon Pruit, creative commons license Copyright by. All rights reserved.