Elements of Story or Fiction -

character, setting, plot, point of view,

style, tone, theme

Elements of fiction and elements of story in general can be used by the reader to increase their
enjoyment and understanding of different literary pieces. Once students are aware that all
stories have elements of character, setting, plot, theme, point of view, style, and tone; they can
be encouraged to ask themselves to identify the characteristics of each for a particular story.
The more familiar they become with the different kinds of elements the better they will
understand and critically analyze stories.

Character
Character is the mental, emotional, and social qualities to distinguish one entity from another
(people, animals, spirits, automatons, pieces of furniture, and other animated objects).

Character development is the change that a character undergoes from the beginning of a story
to the end. Young children can note this.

The importance of a character to the story determines how fully the character is developed.
Characters can be primary, secondary, minor, or main.

Characters are developed by

Actions: In Charlottes' Web, Templeton, creeps up cautiously to the goslings, keeping close to
the wall. Later he grins when Wilbur falls trying to spin a web. At the fair he bites Wilbur's tail as
hard as he possibly can. His actions portray him as sneaky, ill-tempered, and pleased at others'
discomfort.

Speech: In Charlottes' Web,Templeton after Wilbur asks him to play, frolic or have fun. Replies,
"...I never do those things if I can avoid them... I prefer to spend my time eating, gnawing, spying,
and hiding... I am a glutton not a merry-maker. Right now I am on my way to your trough to eat
your breakfast, since you haven't got sense enough to eat it yourself"

Appearance: In Charlottes' Web ,Templeton after his night at the fair returns swollen to double
his usual size. He agrees to fetch the egg sac so that he may eat first every day and grow fatter
and bigger than any other known rat.

Other character's comments: Other characters' comments help form judgment of the characters
by supporting other characters' actions speech, appearance, and author's comments.

Author's comments: The wording the author uses in the narrative adds to characterization. In
Charlottes' Web, White describes Templeton ...had no morals, no conscience, no scruples, no
consideration, no decency, no milk of rodent kindness, no compunction, no higher feeling, no
friendliness, no anything. He would kill a gosling if he could get away with it. These statements
certainly develop character.

Unity of character and action: the character must be credible. If the character changes then the
change must be shaped by events which the author is obligated to explain how they impacted to
create the character's change. Stories with main character change: Meg; A Wrinkle in Time,
Claudia; From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the Duck; The Ugly Duckling, Wilbur;
Charlotte's Web and Jess; Bridge To Terabithia.

Types of characters

Round characters are those the reader/listener/viewer gets to know well. They have a variety of
traits that make them believable. Central characters are well developed in good literature. Meg,
Claudia, Duck, Wilbur, and Jess are the central character, or protagonist (hero or heroine).

Flat characters are less well developed and have fewer or limited traits or belong to a group,
class, or stereotype. Fern in Charlotte's Web. A character foil are minor characters whose traits
contrast with a main character. The lamb is young and naive as Wilbur, but she is smug instead
of humble.
Anthropomorphic characterization is the characterization of animals, inanimate objects, or
natural phenomena as people. Skilled authors can use this to create fantasy even from stuffed
toys (Winnie-the-Pooh). The characterizing of inanimate objects from tiny soldiers to trees and
so on is represented in Andersen's works and the ballet The Nutcracker.

Animal characters in realism are best when the animals act only like animals as in The Incredible
Journey.

Character Change

Dynamic characters are rounded characters that change. Wilbur as the panicky child. "I can't be
quiet," screamed Wilbur, racing up and down. "I don't want to die. It is true... Charlotte. Is it true
they are going to kill me when the cold weather comes? Later: "Listen to me? ... Charlotte ... has
only a short time to live. She cannot accompany us home, because of her condition. Therefore,
it is absolutely necessary that I take her egg sac with me. I can't reach it, and I can't climb. You
are the only one that can get it. There's not a second to be lost... Please, please, please,
Templeton, climb up and get the egg sac. This desperate plea does not come from personal
need. Further, he tells Templeton to "stop acting like a spoiled child.", and he who once planned
his day around his slops offers Templeton to eat first and take his choice of all the yummies.
Other dynamic characters are Meg in A Wrinkle in Time, Jess in Bridge to Terabithia, and Claudia
in From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Static (stock) characters are round or flat characters that do not change during the story.
Charlotte is the same wise and selfless character at the end of the story as at the beginning.
Folktales, fairytales, and other types use static and flat characters whose actions are
predictable, so the listener or reader is free to concentrate on the action and theme as it moves
along toward an often times universal discovery.

Plot
Plot is the order in which things move and happen in a story.

Chronological order is when a story relates events in the order in which they happened.

Flashback is when the story moves back in time. Jean George, Julie of the Wolves or dreams in
Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. Dreams are easier for children to understand
because of their experience with them. Flashbacks are more problematic.

Conflicts occur when the protagonist struggles against an antagonist (villain that goes against
the protagonist), or opposing force. Conflict and order make plot. The author creates the
conflict by describing one of the following types of interactions.

Person-against-self: Tom Sawyer's fear of Injun Joe and guilt, can't sleep, fear of talking in sleep,
ties mouth shut, struggle with moral responsibility even in the face of danger. A Wizard of
Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin. Ged struggles against the flaws in himself, as the shadow, must
make himself whole. "a man who, knows his whole true self cannot be used or possessed by
any owner other than himself. He will now live his life for its own sake, not for hatred, pain, ruin,
or the darkness of evil.

Person-against-person: Meg and IT in A Wrinkle in Time, Michael and his mother in The Hundred
Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis, Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs Vs. the
wolves.

Person-against-society: Child will probably call it "will Wilbur live?", but it is really Wilbur Vs.
dinner table, Wilbur Vs. good business. Kit Vs. the Puritans in The Witch of Blackbird Pond by
Elizabeth George Speare.

Person-against-nature: Julie in Julie of the Wolves by Jean George. Karana in Island of the Blue
Dolphins by Scott O'Dell.

Lack of conflict: A story that lacks struggle, lacks suspense, lacks alternatives, lacks a sense
that it had to happen, and therefore, satisfaction. All the reader can say at the conclusion of
such a story is "So what does that prove? A Wrinkle in Time shows Meg in a powerful planet
saving person-against-person conflict. The author builds the plot, character, ... so well that the
reader/listener cares very much what happens to Meg. Even simple stories like Goldilocks, The
Three Little Pigs, and The Billy Goats Gruff have conflict and tension. Double Fudge by Judy
Blume has a different sense of conflict. There are little incidents that happen throughout the
book but nothing of significance to anyone but Fudge and maybe some family members.
However the reader's attention is maintained by an attachment to Fudge and his struggle with
childhood.
Pattern of action

Rising action builds during the story and reaches a peak at the end. The Borrowers by Mary
Norton.

Steady action maintains the same amount of action through out the story, rising and falling from
time to time. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Rise and fall action: the action rises to a climax and then trails off. Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry
by Mildred D. Taylor.

Suspense is what makes us read on. Charlotte's Web: Wilbur's fate. Will he live? Will Charlotte
run out of words? Is Templeton too selfish to help? Will Wilbur win at the fair? Can Charlotte go?
Lose to Uncle? New category? Dead pig! Templeton bites tail...

Cliffhanger: Trouble River by Betsy Byars, The Borrowers by Mary Norton, and the High King by
Lloyd Alexander.

Foreshadowing is the planting of clues to indicate the outcome of the story. Not all readers will
be alert to these. Some may notice them subconsciously and describe their inferences as
guesses or feelings. Charlotte's Web: When we first meet Charlotte we are told that she eats
living things and the friendship looks questionable. But White adds that "she had a kind heart,
and she was to prove loyal and true to the very end. A prophetic statement. Another clue is
when Charlotte assures Wilbur, after he learns of the slaughter, with, "I am going to save you."

Sensationalism: the thrilling and the startling. Achieved at the expense of the character and the
idea. A writer must be careful with sensationalism, so as not to weaken the character or theme,
to balance suspense over action, and then hint at the outcome, as not to overpower small
children but provide relief as needed.

Climax: The peak and turning point of the conflict, the point at which we know the outcome of
the action. Children call it the most exciting part. In Charlotte's Web when the pig survives. The
Borrowers when the boy ventilates the fumigation. A Wrinkle in Time when Meg discovers what
she has that IT does not.

Resolution is the falling action after the climax. When the reader is assured that all is well and
will continue to be, so the plot has a closed ending. If the reader is left to draw their own
conclusions about the final plot then the ending is open. Many adults as well as children are
disturbed by open endings.

Inevitably is the property of it had to be. This is high praise for a writer.

Coincidence: events that happen by mere chance. The Incredible Journey has some coincidental
events that remove credibility from the plot. First, a handwritten note blows into the fire and
leaves the housekeeper baffled. She therefore does not know that the two dogs and cat have
struck out on their own, and does not search for them. Later a crumbling beavers' dam gives
way at just the right moment to sweep the frightened cat downstream. Later a boy hunting for
the first time with his own rifle saves the cat from a lynx with one remarkable shot.

Sentimentality is a natural concern or emotion for another person. The way a soap opera or a
tear-jerker plays on its viewers.

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell is told by the horse and stuffed with sentimentality.

"Poor Ginger" a title of a chapter concludes with these observations. "A short
time after this a cart with a dead horse in it passed our cab-stand. The head hung
out of the cart-tail, the lifeless tongue was slowly dropping with blood; and the
sunken eyes. But I can't speak of them, the sight was too dreadful. It was a
chestnut horse with a long, thin neck... I believe it was Ginger; I hoped it was, for
then her troubles would be over. O! If men were more merciful they should shoot
us before we came to such misery."

Because of the sentimentality, the reader/listener/watcher may sob more soulfully over Ginger's
death than over that of a human being, although there is little confusion in some minds as to
which misused creature is more deserving of grief.

The rapid pace of folktales does not allow time for tears by false sentiment. We do not anguish
over the fate of Rumpelstiltskin, when he stamped his feet and split in two and that was the end
of him.
The most destructive element from the over use of sentimentality is not boredom, but the fact
that the young reader, faced with continual sentimentality, will not develop the sensitivity
essential to recognize what is truly moving and what is merely a play on feelings. If, after all, we
regard the death of a pet mouse with the same degree of emotional intensity as the death of a
brother, we have no sense of emotional proportion.

By contrast Katherine Paterson in Bridge to Terabithia uses a wide range of emotions that
children wrestle with or the genuine sentiment that a small child, reading or being read to,
experiences during the relationship with Charlotte and Wilbur. The child fed only on such
surface sentimentality as soap operas, the average television program, and Walt Disney, with
their sterile and stereotyped pictures of human beings and their distorted sensationalism with
simplistic solutions, risks developing emotional shallowness.

Types of plots

Progressive plots have a central climax followed by denouement. Charlotte's Web and A Wrinkle
in Time are examples.

Episodical plots have one incident or short episode linked to another by a common character or
unifying theme (maybe through chapters). Used by authors to explore character personalities,
the nature of their existence, and the flavor of a certain time period.

Setting
Setting includes time and place.

Backdrop setting is when the setting is unimportant for the story and the story could take place
in any setting. Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne is an example of a story in which could happen in
any setting.

Integral setting is when the action, character, or theme are influenced by the time and place,
setting. Controlling setting controls characters. If you confine a character to a certain setting it
defines the character. Characters, given these circumstances, in this time and place, behave in
this way. The Tail of Peter Rabbit is an example of how the setting is an integral part of Peter's
behavior. Charlotte's Web is another example of an integral setting.

Functions of setting: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth Speare creates a setting of
Puritanical austerity: hand-rubbed copper, indicating hard work, the heavy fortress-like door, the
dim little mirror, the severe wooden bench, the unpainted Meeting House, the whipping post, the
pillory, and the stocks. The tasks of a typical day performed by Kit: mixing soap with a stick, the
lye fumes stinging her eyes, tiring muscles, with one of the easiest tasks: making corn pudding,
which keeps her over a smoky fire with burning and watering eyes. A frightening and
uncompromising environment compared to her carefree Barbados upbringing.

Setting as antagonist: Characters must resolve conflict created by the setting: Julie of the
Wolves, The Incredible Journey, and Island of the Blue Dolphins.

Setting that illuminates character: The confining setting of the attic in Anne Frank and Flowers in
the Attic help the characters find themselves and grow as individuals.

Setting as symbolism: a symbol is a person, place, object, situation, or action which operates on
two levels of meaning, the literal and the figurative, or suggestive. Children will understand only
obvious symbols. Forest: unknown; garden: natural beauty; sunlight: hope, goodness; darkness:
evil, despair. A grouping of symbols may create an image called an allegory. The Narnia books
by C. S. Lewis are allegories. In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Speare uses symbols in the usual
way and to create conflict, as when she describes Hannah as a kind and harmless woman who
lives in the sunny meadows. When you would expect a witch to live in the deep dark shadowy
forest or swamp.

Theme
Theme is the main idea that weaves the story together, the why, the underlying ideas of what
happens in the piece of literature, often a statement about society or human nature.

Explicit theme is when the writer states the theme openly and clearly. Charlotte's Web:
friendship. Primary explicit themes are common in children's literature, as the author wants to
be sure the reader finds it.
Implicit themes are implied themes. Charlotte's Web: If two such unlikely animals as a spider
and pig can be friends, then so can we. Even a Tempelton can be a friend to a degree.
Friendship is giving of ones self, as Wilbur did for the egg sac and devotion to the babies. Best
friends can do no wrong. Friendship is reciprocal.

Multiple and secondary themes: Since a story speaks to us on our own individual level of varying
experiences, many individual themes will be obtained from a good piece of literature. Charlotte's
Web secondary themes could include: People don't give credit where credit is due, Youth and
innocence have a unique value, Be what you are, There is beauty in all things, Nature is a
miracle, Life is continuous.

Children may not be able to express themes but they are beginning to build an understanding of
them, which they need before they can express them.

Didacticism: If we give students stories that are too preachy, they will turn off and nothing is
gained.

Students need time to smell the fragrances of plants, compare their colors, feel their textures,
and have aesthetic experiences, so they will develop an appreciation of plants before they will
participate in a botany lesson. Likewise they must develop a caring relationship with characters
in a book before they will accept understanding from the story, good literature does this.

The Tail of Peter Rabbit can be used to illustrate this. Although Peter didn't feel very well the
evening that he returned. However, there is no hint that it served him right, or that he was
naughty. Peter's mother puts him to bed and gives him a dose of chamomile tea. Potter does
not call it punitive medicine, nor describe it as tasting bad. Nor does she call Flopsy, Mopsy, and
Cotton-tail's bread, milk, and blackberries rewards for goodness.

Peter Rabbit can become didactic. For example, when a reteller adds a single phrase to Potter's
final paragraph, saying that Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, "who were good little bunnies," ate
bread and milk and blackberries at supper time. Or when an illustration includes a plaque
hanging on the kitchen wall, saying, "Good bunnies obey," or preaching "Obedience is rewarded".

It seems unlikely that didactic messages made Peter Rabbit a childhood favorite that has been
alloved story for generations. A less didactic theme seems more likely. Animals, or people,
mature and go into the world to discover. Mother, scared to death about the consequences,
accepts them because of her love for her children.

Nonsense seems to say, The world and all its inhabitants, thank heaven, make no sense.
Nonsense, in its own way, may develop a theme. If it does not, it will fail.

Point of view
Point of view is determined by the authors' descriptions of characters, setting, and events told to
the reader throughout the story.

First-person is told with I, as in Island of the Blue Dolphins, A Ring of Endless Light; Madeleine
L'Engle, Dear Mr. Henshaw, Huckleberry Finn, Kidnapped, Treasure Island, It's Like This Cat,
Pigman and The Slave Dancer. The first person point of view may present difficulties for small
children, because they are learning their own "I" identity, and may have trouble identifying with
the strange "I" of the story.

Telling a story from one character also limits the amount of information available to the reader,
requiring the reader to add information. Small children may lack enough experience to do this.
However, Dr. Seuss wrote several successful books in first person: If I ran the Zoo, And to Think
That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, and May I Bring a Friend?.

Omniscient: third person (he, she, they) is all-knowing in every detail of action, thought, and
feeling (conscious or unconscious) Charlotte's Web.

Sometimes the author uses limited omniscient point of view (when only a select amount of
characters are presented omnisciently), Little House stories where Laura's actions and thoughts
are told but not other characters. Laura's understanding of Santa Claus. "Santa Claus did not
give grown people presents, but that was not because they had not been good... It was because
they were grown up, and grown people must give each other presents.

In Summer of the Swans, Byars tells most of the story from Sara's point of view but there are
some parts where she tells what is in the mind of Charlie, her retarded brother. "The whole world
seemed to have been turned off when Sara went into the Weicek's house. His ticking watch is
his pleasure as he listens to it and watches the red second hand sweep around the dial.
Objective or dramatic point of view: There is no explanation to the reader of what is going on or
what the characters think or feel. The camera selects and we see and draw our own
conclusions. Incredible Journey, is an example. Since the characters are animals we are not able
to know what they think, if indeed they do. We must imagine their actions and movements or
other sensory images. The old dog walked gingerly into the shallow water, shivering... turning
his head away. Once more the Labrador swam the river, climbed out... shook himself, and
barked. There was no mistaking the command. The old dog took another reluctant step forward,
whining piteously, his expressive tail tucked under... again the Labrador swam across...

Style
Style is how the author says something, the choice of words and the use of language, sentence
construction, imagery... not what the author says. It adds significance and impact to the author's
writing.

Exposition: narrator or third person passages to provide background information to explain story
events.

Dialogue between characters.

Vocabulary words used. Two kinds of words are combined to add meaning: connotation and
denotation:

Connotation is the associative or emotional meaning of a word.

Denotation is the dictionary meaning of a word.

Sentence structure

Imagery words used to create mental sensory impressions (sights, sounds, textures, smells, and
tastes). It creates setting, establishes mood, or describes characters.

Figurative language is language used in a non literal context to add intensity of meaning.

Figure of speech is an expression used in a non literal context to add intensity of meaning.

Personification is a figure of speech that gives human qualities to inanimate objects, nonhuman
organisms, or abstractions.

Simile is a figure of speech that makes comparisons using like and as and occasionally than.
That describe something in a manner that communicates a deeper understanding with
economy of words or beyond a physical or direct description.

Metaphor is a figure of speech that transfers an idea associated with one word to another word.

Hyperbole is a figure of speech that exaggerates or uses an extravagant statement.

Understatement is the opposite of hyperbole.

Allusion is a figure of speech that refers to something in our common understanding, our past or
our literature. Allusion is difficult for children since it relies on background information which
they often lack.

Symbol is a person, object, situation, or action that operates on two levels of meaning, the literal
and the figurative or suggestive. Dove: peace, flag: nationality of a country, handshake or gift:
friendship.

Puns or wordplay

Devices of sound

Onomatopoeia is when a word sounds like what it represents.

Alliteration is repetition of initial consonants

Assonance is repetition of similar vowel sounds.

Consonance is the close repetition of consonant sounds.

Rhythm or in music meter, in prose cadence. Rhythm in Greek means flow. Reading aloud is the
best test. Often used in picture books, Millions of Cat, by Wanda Gag and Where the Wild Things
Are by Maurice Sendak. Compare two versions of The Ugly Duckling:
 Once upon a time there was a Mama Duck. She was sitting on four eggs, waiting
for them to hatch.
Every day she said, "Quack, Quack, Just wait till my babies hatch. I always have
such beautiful ducklings!"
One day the shells began to go Crack. One, two, three baby ducks hatched out of
their shells.

Or

"It was so lovely out in the country - it was summer! The wheat was yellow, the
oats were green, the hay was stacked in green meadows, and the stork walked
about on his long red legs speaking Egyptian, because he had learned that
language from his mother. The fields and meadows were surrounded by large
forests, and there were deep lakes in the middle of the woods.
Yes, it was really nice out there in the country. And right in the middle of the
sunshine was an old castle. It had deep moats, and burdocks that grew on the
bank, from the walls down to the water; the burdocks were so big that small
children could stand under the leaves of the tallest ones. It was a wilderness -
like the thickest forest - and that's where a duck had her nest. She was sitting on
her eggs, but she'd had just about enough of it because they took so long to
hatch and she rarely had visitors. The other ducks would much rather swim in the
moats than sit under a burdock and gossip with her."
     Anderson unabridged translation by Diana Crone Frank and Jeffrey Frank

Tone
Tone tells us the author feels about his or her subject. Words express the writer's attitude
toward his or her work, subject, and readers. Without vocal inflection to help convey tone, the
writer must choose words with great care. We often describe a writer's tone but are not aware of
how we discovered the tone. It sort of creeps into our consciousness. Tone can be serious,
humorous, satirical, passionate, sensitive, zealous, indifferent, caring, caustic...

The kindness in Charlotte's Web begins in the first pages when Mr. Arable looks at Fern "with
love", and speaks to her gently. Fern kisses her father and her mother, pleased that the runt pig
is safe. White describes the setting and characters in the same terms. The chapter "Summer
Days" begins: "The early summer days on a farm are the happiest and fairest days of the year.
Lilacs bloom and make the air sweet, and then fade. Apple blossoms come with the lilacs, and
the bees visit around among the apple trees. The days grow warm and soft. School ends, and
children have time to play and to fish for trout in the brook. ...

In A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle begins with Meg, being wakened during a storm, and
recounts her miserable day. Very depressing, until she thinks of home and then the tone
changes.

"...A delinquent, that's what I am, she though grimly. That's what they'll be saying
next. Not Mother. But Them. Everybody Else. I wish Father...
The interactions of Meg with Charles Wallace and her mother:
Meg enters the kitchen and Charles Wallace says, "I've been waiting for you...
Later when "Charles Wallace said. "Would you like a liverwurst-cream-cheese
sandwich? I'll be happy to make you one. "That would be lovely, Mrs. Murry said,
"but I can make it myself if you're busy. "No trouble at all. Charles Wallace slid
down from his chair and trotted over to the refrigerator, his pajamaed feet
padding softly as a kitten's. "How about you, Meg? he asked. "Sandwich? "Yes,
Please," she said. "But not liverwurst. Do we have any tomatoes?" Charles
Wallace peered into the crisper. "One. All right if I use it on Meg, Mother?" "To
what better use could it be put?" Mrs. Murry smiled.

Humor is an important tone in children's literature. Types of humor include: exaggeration,

incongruent, surprise, absurd, parody, ridicule, slapstick, situational, defiant, violent, verbal

Unexpected humor: The cow jumping over the moon, the dish running away with the spoon, the
barber shaving a pig.

Absurd: Winnie-the-Pooh, sailing off on an overturned umbrella or disguising oneself as a black

cloud.

The Summer of the Swans, When Sara tries to dye her orange sneakers baby blue.
"...Look at that. That is the worst color you have ever seen in your life. Admit it. "
" I admit it. "
 " Well, you don't have to admit it so quickly."
"They ought to put on the dye wrapper that orange cannot be dyed baby blue. "
"They do."
"Well, they ought to put it in big letters. Look at those shoes. There must be a
terrible name for that color. "
"There is," Mary said. "Puce."
"What?"
"Puce."
"Mary Weick, you made that up."
"I did not. It really is a color."
"I have never heard a word that describes anything better. Puce. These must look
like puce shoes."

Parody is a device that retains the original form but changes the words and the tone for
humorous effect. "An hour of freedom is worth a barrel of slops, is a parody for "an ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure." This device is usually for older readers, since readers must
have previous knowledge of the original writing.

Tone related to the story: although each reader has their own opinion as to the tone created by
the author and their own personal preference for enjoyment, there is a limit to the range of tone
for each story.
In A Wizard of Earthsea, LeGuin needed to create a tone of another world. She did so with long
and grand phrases to emphasis the seriousness of the struggle between good and evil in the
soul of Ged. She also uses inverted word order to describe the otak, a small animal, Ged carries
with him. "They are small and sleek, with.... fur dark brown or brindle... Their teeth are cruel and
their temper fierce, so they are not made pets of. They have no call or cry or any voice."

Variety of tone: even though tone should relate to the story it needs to vary according to the
situation. Tone varies from person to person to create people as individuals and group to group
to create different social groups. Tone also changes to change the pace, create character-
conflict, fit the theme, add pleasure...
Note the various changes of tone in The Ugly Duckling, Anderson is sometimes humorous,
sometimes tender, often critical, and even, sometimes, almost cynical.
In A Hero Ain't Nothin but a Sandwich, Childress changes point of view with each chapter as she
shows different characters: The principal as resigned: " No matter what I do or don't do there are
drug addicts." Benjie is naive when he says of his addiction, "I kicked once and I can kick any
time I wanta." Walter the pusher, angry and protesting that anyone who sells anything is a
pusher, says he is "pushin for cops, when you get right down to it. You heard me. When I pay off,
what the hell you think I'm payin with?"

Condescending tone is when the author looks down upon the reader or treats them as though
they are unintelligent or immature. A retelling of what seems to be obvious or explanation that
steals the opportunity for the reader to be awed, or to gain admiration from self discovery. Can
be moralizing, didactic, sentimental, or cynical none of which are appropriate for children.

In Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson portrays Jess with a tone deserving of

a Newberry Award. We read that Jess' stomach "felt so odd" And yet, the morning
after the news, pancakes doused in syrup taste "marvelous." Jess's sister
accuses him of not caring, and he is puzzled: "The coldness curled up inside of
him and flopped over." As Jess's mother and sister talk, he "could hear them
talking and they were farther away than the memory of a dream." He cannot leave
the table, but he doesn't know what to do. Then, his mind a blank, he mumbles,
"What little girl?" Paterson's depiction is not sentimental, filled with sighs and
tears and sobs. Nonetheless we see that Jess is shocked and grief-stricken.

In The Slave Dance, and My Brother Sam Is Dead the authors could have sensationalized, but
instead they have used their creative knowledge to present their characters with enough depth
that the reader is aware of the alternative consequences and struggles the characters must
face, instead of presenting only sensational events that would be condescending to the reader.

Didactic tone: refer to plot.

 
Dr. Robert Sweetland's Notes ©