English 218 Discussion

Remember, discussions are worth 20 points each, and you must post your response to the Children's Literature Message Board no later than the due date in order to get credit.

NOTE: SPECIAL THIS WEEK you must post your answer to the topic below, but your are not required to put up additional responses to other students. This is more of an introductory week where people share works and make a first attempt at focusing on literary elements. I will likely put some responses up on the board to show which postings need some additional focus, to explore the works you've selected a bit more, to point out what is working well in the discussions so far.

Starting with next week's readings (which we are all reading in common, so we will all have common ground), you will be scored on your posting and your responses.

I went to Webster's Online and found this as the first major definition of literature: "writings in prose or verse; especially : writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest"

Hmmm... What are "ideas of permanent or universal interest?"

In Lit. classes we call these "themes"--the meanings/messages of the stories. In literature the themes are not explicit (as are thesis statements in essays). Literature for people above the age 10 or 11 allows the reader to "figure it out," and most enduring literature is open to a range of interpretation (not infinite interpretation, but, still, not one, fixed meaning). Since it's "enduring," the human experience needs to translate from Athens 2600 years ago to now, from central China to central Los Angeles.

Consequently, and I do indeed love CHICKA, CHICKA BOOM BOOM, simple teaching texts are not considered literature. They do not express universal ideas; they teach information (the alphabet). Now with enough scrutiny we CAN find meaning in even simple teaching texts (the letters crowding the coconut tree might lead us to some conclusion or other). We can also evaluate books in context (for example, we could look at the Dick and Jane primers of my youth (this was the era depicted in the television show Mad Men; America was very different, and these books offer a window into that world) to the "I Can Read" primers of today and find out a lot about each culture--cultural values, thoughts on education, etc.).

In any case, literature makes us consider...things.

With that in mind, answer the question below. Note that it is designed to get you started thinking of this as a literature class, not. a kid's book class.

First, you might want to briefly introduce yourself.
Then explore some literary quality (or qualities) of a book that you've read. Note that i did not say "children's book"; ideally, you would use a children's book for this discussion, but for this first assignment any book will do. I'm trying to get you warmed up thinking of literature as literature. And consider that some books are more "meaty" (have more substance and depth) than others. You may relish the Twilight series, for example, but these books do not have much more to talk about than whether you prefer Jacob or Edward or why Bella has no personality. If you look, instead, at The Hunger Games, you can relate (show similarities to) many of the political, social, and media issues in the book to real-world events.

Although some non-fiction has literary elements (Ishmael is a good example of this), most likely you will pick a work of fiction--a novel, a collection of short stories, a book of poems, a play. If you do use a children's book, remember that that "children" applies to people younger than 18, so don't ignore works often read by teenagers.

Here are a few tips for this discussion; consider the following about "literary analysis":
- literary analysis looks at what a book suggests about psychology, about culture, about the human experience, about issues, about what works symbolize or suggest (for instance, how the field of rye scene in A Catcher in the Rye symbolizes adolescence)
- literary analysis looks at peculiarities of style (why, for example, e e cummings puts words on the page in unusual ways in his poetry)
- literary analysis requires examples from the text (ideally quoted and documented) to support and illustrate your observations
- literary analysis is not just plot summary or author biography (those show up in book reports, and we are not interested in book reports
- literary analysis is not book review ("I liked" or "it was horrible") or unrelated opinions ("kids should not...")
Finally, the goal of the class is not just to express likes and dislikes or opinions about child rearing; you are demonstrating that you can think about what you read, consider what ideas are suggested by the literature, explain your understanding (with examples) to others.

And ideally, along the way, you'll have fun :)

Discussion 1: Children's Literature