DISCUSSION PROMPTS: CHARACTERIZATION, THANK YOU MA'AM, LANGSTON HUGHES, BLUE SUEDE SHOES, AUTHOR'S CHOICES
UP NEXT: Narrative Mode
One of our final mini-lessons on literature analysis was on characterization. We reconfirmed our understanding of important terms (protagonist, antagonist, round/flat, dynamic/static) and learned two new terms, stock character and foil. We will use this knowledge to help us analyze the literature we read this year more carefully, working to understand why the choices an author or creator makes regarding character are important to the development of the narrative and deeper meaning.
To deepen our understanding, and show our knowledge of characterization, we used the short story "Thank You, Ma'am" by Langston Hughes. Superficially, this story is pretty simple, but there is a lot of subtext, and students had to make quite a few inferences to understand the deeper meaning.
The short story, "Thank You Ma'am," can be found here.
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| A beautiful, influential poet, click the image for information on Langston Hughes. |
