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Teaching Tips
Theme
Theme is the central idea or message in a work of
literature. Some authors, such as Shakespeare and Mark Twain, are
known for telling stories with universal themes, or ideas to which
people across time and cultures can relate. All elements of the
novel or play--the characters, plot, setting, and mood--work together to
express these themes.
By theme, we often mean a lesson that may be learned
from the story or a portion of the story.
Some common themes are:
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Honesty is the best policy.
There are some forces in life, such as fate, over which we have no control.
Better be safe than sorry.
Think before you act.
Tone and Mood
Tone is the emotional quality of the words that the author has chosen.
It is also the author's attitude and point of view toward a subject; it
reflects the feelings of the writer, and can affect the emotional
response of the reader to the piece. While we have all heard,
"Don't use that tone of voice with me!" a writer does not have the
advantage of the sound of his voice to reveal the tone. As we read
the words on the page, the author hopes that the words he has chosen and
the way he has arranged those words will help us hear a voice in our
heads, supplying the emotional appeal.
Closely related to tone, mood is the atmosphere or
emotional state created by a piece of literature.
The words and sentence structure that a writer uses can contribute to
the mood of a piece of work. Mood is usually described in
expressions of feelings and emotions, such as fear, surprise, anger,
hatred, contentment, or jealousy, to name a few.
Irony
Verbal Irony
Verbal
irony occurs when an author or character says one thing but means
something else.
Example: When it is a dark, gloomy,
rainy, day and someone says, "Wow, what a gorgeous day!"
Situational Irony
Situational irony is an inconsistency between what the
audience or reader expects, and what actually happens.
Example: When you have stayed
up all night cramming for a test the next day, and the test is actually
not until the next week.
Dramatic Irony
Dramatic irony occurs when an audience or reader knows something that
a character does not know.
Example:
On a TV talk show, a guest thinks she is there to have a
makeover, but the audience knows that she will soon be
confronted by her cheating husband and his girlfriend.
Point of
View
The narrator is the person who relates
the events of a story to a reader or audience. Point of
view is the perspective from which the story is told.
The point of view from which a story is told determines how the
reader interprets the story and understands the characters.
There are three main types of point of view:
First Person:
narrator is a character in the story; uses the first person "I"
to tell the story.
Third Person Limited: narrator does not
participate in the action of the story; relates the thoughts and
feelings of only one character.
Third Person Omniscient:
narrator does not participate in the action of the story;
relates the thoughts and feelings of all the characters.
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Theme
Tone and Mood
Irony
Verbal Irony
Situational Irony
Dramatic Irony
Point of View
To the Teacher: Please feel free to contact us about
any concepts or elements of literature you need
help presenting. We realize that it can often be difficult to relate detailed
information to your middle school or high school students in terms
that are easy for them to understand.
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