In this section, students will read a novel from British literature, learn literary forms and terms associated with selection being read, and interpret possible historical context on a literary work.

Section 3: Objectives

Students will be able to:

1. Read to be entertained, to appreciate a writer's craft, to be informed, and to take action.
2. Read from varied sources as maps, encyclopedias, electronic text, and other media.
3. Read British literature including contemporary and classic works.
4. Interpret possible influence of the historical context on a literary work.
5. Recognize distinctive and shared characteristics of cultures through literature.
6. Compare text events with his/her own or other reader's experiences.
7. Establish a purpose for reading.
8. Draw upon his/her own background to provide connections to text.
9. Monitor his/her own reading strategies and make modifications when understanding breaks down such as rereading, using resources, and questioning.
10. Construct images such as graphic organizers based on text descriptions and text structures.
11. Analyze text structures such as compare and contrast, cause and effect, and chronological ordering for how they influence understanding.
12. Produce summaries of text by identifying main ideas and their supporting details.
13. Draw inferences such as conclusions, generalizations, and predictions and support them with text evidence and experience.
14. Use study strategies such as skimming and scanning, note taking, outlining, and using study guide questions to better understand texts.
15. Read silently with comprehension for a sustained period of time.
16. Expand vocabulary through wide reading.
17. Rely on context clues to determine meaning of unfamiliar words, figurative language, dialect, etc.
18. Use reference materials such as glossary, dictionary, thesaurus, and available technologies to determine precise meanings and usage.
19. Respond to informational and aesthetic elements in texts.
20. Use elements of text to defend, clarify, and negotiate responses and interpretations.
21. Compare and contrast aspects of texts such as themes, conflicts within texts.
22. Analyze relevance of setting and time frame to text's meaning.
23. Describe the development of plot and identify conflicts and how they are addressed and resolved.
24. Connect literature with historical contexts, current events, and his/her own experiences.
25. Understand literary forms and terms.
26. Analyze characteristics of clearly written texts.

Topic 1 - A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens

In writing A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens drew from history and from his own experiences. Growing up in the slums, he suffered poverty. By the time he was eleven, he worked in a shoe-polishing factory for a few shillings a week. During his brief experience with schooling, he faced a tyrannical schoolmaster. When he was sixteen, he worked as an office boy for a law firm where he was able to observe the English courts.

The setting of this book was based upon the French Revolution, which ended sixty years before Dickens wrote the novel. Common people deprived of basic rights, exploded in rebellion against the aristocratic ruling class. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens recreates the revolutionary atmosphere from the point of view of the revolutionists.

Study Guide #1      

Using what you have learned from reading about Charles Dickens, answer the following questions:

1. Describe Dicken's childhood.
2. Explain why his father was sent to prison.
3. Explain how his childhood experiences affected his writing.

On a sheet of paper, answer each question above. When you have finished, review your work with your Red Comet Contact Person.

Click Here for Sample Study Guide Answers

Elements of a Novel

setting:  the time and place in which the action happens. The setting may provide background for the action or be a crucial element in the plot. The setting may create the mood of the story.

mood:  the feeling created in the reader by the story. One way a mood is created is by the use of suspense.

plot:  the sequence of events in the story. The plot contains:

• exposition:  the beginning of the story when the characters are introduced, the setting is described, and the situation is presented

• rising action:  the part of the story in which the suspense is building

• climax:  the point in the story at which the suspense reaches its peak

• falling action:  the events following the climax

• resolution:  how the conflict is resolved

conflict:  a struggle between opposing forces. The conflict can be:

• internal: within a character
  • making a decision
  • choosing a course of action
  • dealing with feelings

• external:  between a character and an outside force
  • another character
  • society
  • nature
  • fate

characters:  a person or animal that takes part in the action

• main character:  the one character on which the story focuses
• major characters:  those that play an important role in the story
• minor characters:  those that play minor roles in the story
• dynamic characters:  those that change during the story
• static characters:  those that do not change during the story

The main character is called the protagonist. The antagonist is the character or force in conflict with the main character. Not all stories have antagonists, but in many stories, the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist is the basis of the story.

Characterization is the method used to develop a character. There are two types of characterization:

1. In direct characterization, the writer simply states the traits of characters.

   Example:  John was a stingy, mean man.

2. In indirect characterization, the traits of a character are revealed through:

   • words, thoughts, and actions of the character
   • description of the character's appearance or background
   • what other character's say about the character
   • how others react to the character

   Example:  As John walked along the street, he smiled at everyone he met and often stopped to talk with his neighbors.

The writer uses a narrator to tell the story. The narrator is a speaker or character that tells the story. The narrator's point of view is the perspective from which the narrator tells the story.

Commonly used points of view include:

• first person point of view:  the narrator is a character in the story and tells the story as he/she experiences it. This narrator refers to himself/herself as “I”.

• third person limited point of view:  the narrator is not a character in the story, but tells the story through the thoughts and feelings of one character.

• third person omniscient point of view:  the narrator knows and tells what each character thinks and feels.

The central message revealed by a story is its theme. The theme is often a general message about real life. The theme is usually not stated directly so the reader has to infer the theme from the elements in the story.

foreshadowing:  the use of clues to suggest events that will happen later in the story. Foreshadowing is used to create suspense in the story.

figures of speech:  an expression which is used imaginatively rather than literally.

irony:  a contrast between what is expected and what actually happens in a story.

Types of irony include:

• verbal irony  -  a word or phrase used to suggest the opposite of actual meaning
• dramatic irony  -  a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader knows to be true
• irony of situation  -  an event occurs that directly contradicts what the character or reader expects will happen

metaphor:  a comparison in which one thing is spoken of as though it was something else.

Example:  “death is a long sleep”

personification:  giving human characteristics to non-human things

Example:  The wind caressed her cheeks.

simile:  a direct comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as”

Example:  “as red as fire”, “as hot as the sun”

parallelism:  balancing the structure of a sentence. In a balanced sentence, the words being balanced must carry the same "weight" in the sentence. One part of speech or of a sentence can be balanced only by one (or a series) of the same kind.

Example:  Jerry went to London; John went to Paris.

On a sheet of paper, answer each question above. When you have finished, review your work with your Red Comet Contact Person.

Click Here for Sample Study Guide Answers

On a sheet of paper, answer each question above. When you have finished, review your work with your Red Comet Contact Person.

Click Here for Sample Study Guide Answers

On a sheet of paper, answer each question above. When you have finished, review your work with your Red Comet Contact Person.

Click Here for Sample Study Guide Answers

On a sheet of paper, answer each question above. When you have finished, review your work with your Red Comet Contact Person.

Click Here for Sample Study Guide Answers

On a sheet of paper, answer each question above. When you have finished, review your work with your Red Comet Contact Person.

Click Here for Sample Study Guide Answers

On a sheet of paper, answer each question above. When you have finished, review your work with your Red Comet Contact Person.

Click Here for Sample Study Guide Answers

Activity # 4 - Practice

Online Quiz
Students: You can take this online quiz as many times as you need in order to insure you understand the topic.