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Chapter 7


Literary Elements

Chapter Summary:

One literary element to know more about, is the theme within a piece of writing.  A theme is something that can be shown from the text.  It is a message that is stated or suggested by the author.  Themes need to be stated in a complete sentence.  There can be more than one theme within a text.   Readers may see a theme within a piece that the teacher or other readers may not have observed. Teachers and librarians can encourage these thoughtful insights in their students by reminding them, that themes are supported in the text.  It is important to also think about what theme is not within a piece of writing. A theme is not the main idea, a topic, or a summary.  It is not an old saying, moral, or parable.  A theme is not a single word.  The remaining part of the chapter shared resources for literary elements.

In reviewing pieces of writing the reader needs to have a good understanding of these different literary elements.  Included are just a few of these elements.

Short List of Literary Elements:

  • Antagonist: The person or force that works against the protagonist, the hero.
  • Characters: The people or animals in the story.
  • Conflict: The problem or struggle in the story.
  • Mode and Tone: The feeling the piece of writing is meant to create in the reader.
  • Plot: The actions that make up the story.
  • Protagonist: The main character in the story, the hero or good character.
  • Setting: The place and time the story takes place.
  • Themes: The message about life and human nature that the writer is trying to share.

Helpful links on Literary Elements:

Chapter Reflections:

The video on what theme is and what theme isn't, was very helpful.  It could be confused with the main idea, topic, or a summary of the book.  The details and examples shared within the video and additional links were very helpful.  It is important that the writers and readers both have a common language.  This common language can be used to understand more about what the author has created as well as evaluate the effectiveness of the author's use of these elements.  While it can be a bit overwhelming at the volume of these terms, students and readers need to know them.  I can see that having an organized scope and sequence of these terms, is something that I will need to make sure is in place for my future students.  I will need to work with their teachers to see how I can compliment and collaborate with them to  assure that the students have a good understanding of these terms.  The students don't need just a good understanding of these terms, but we will need to help them to use these terms.  This is essential in helping the students to be active, critically thinking readers.





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