Common Core Standards
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The Art of Fielding and
Symbolism/Close Text Analysis
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Book: The Art of Fielding
Author: Chad Harbach
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Type: Symbolism/Close Text
Concept: Symbolism and Close Text Analysis
Primary Subject Area: English
Secondary Subject Areas: N/A
Common Core Standards Addressed:
Grades 9-10
Grades 11-12
Key Ideas and Details
Key Ideas and Details
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and
analyze in detail its development over the
course of the text, including how it emerges
and is shaped and refined by specific details
Comprehension and Collaboration
Analyze the impact of the author’s choices
regarding how to develop and relate elements
of a story or drama
Prepare for and participate effectively in a
range of conversations and collaborations with
diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and
expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
Propel conversations by posing and
responding to questions that probe reasoning
and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range
of positions on a topic or issue; clarify, verify,
or challenge ideas and conclusions; and
promote divergent and creative perspectives.
Comprehension and Collaboration
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The Art of Fielding And Symbolism/Close Text Analysis: Common Core Standards
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The Art of Fielding And Symbolism/Close Text Analysis: Lesson Plan
2
Lesson Plan
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The Art of Fielding and
Symbolism/Close Text Analysis
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Book: The Art of Fielding
Author: Chad Harbach
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Type: Symbolism/Close Text
Overview:
Materials:
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Copies of The Art
of Fielding
Computer
This lesson will allow the students to take a closer look at the text in order to
identify symbols and motifs and explain their significance.
•
Objectives:
Other Resources:
Students will be able to:
Reflect upon the text and identify any overarching themes, symbols, and motifs
Understand and explain why they are important
•
Warm-Up Activity:
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Have the students do a five-minute free write. Pose the following question: “The
Art of Fielding is in many ways a very straightforward text, yet it contains several
motifs and symbols that may indicate Harbach’s complex intentions in writing
the novel. What stands out to you as a symbol in this text? Why?”
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Book:
Author:
Grade Lev
Lesson Ty
•
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Key Vocabulary
Terms
General
Discussion/Compre
hension Questions
Text References
Useful for Analysis
Assignments or
Essay Questions
Supplementary
Materials Chart
Have the students share their answers and keep a running list of the symbols
they come up with. When they finish, ask them to explain why they have chosen
these.
Short Lecture & Partner Activities:
Discuss the ways writers employ symbolism to convey a greater meaning in
their texts. Why are symbols important? You may want to define the following:
Symbol: Something representative of something else, as in a material object
conveying something abstract
Motif: A dominant idea in a literary work
Theme: An overarching topic of discourse or discussion
Discuss the following, as they are frequently present in the text: literature,
athleticism, baseball, youth, success, perfection, whales
--Have the students pair up and choose one of the previously discussed symbols.
Give them ten minutes to find as many examples in the text as they can, noting
the page numbers. Collect these when they are finished and create a master list
to be distributed to students later.
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The Art of Fielding And Symbolism/Close Text Analysis: Lesson Plan
3
Lesson Plan
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The Art of Fielding and
Symbolism/Close Text Analysis
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Book: The Art of Fielding
Author: Chad Harbach
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Type: Symbolism/Close Text
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Book:
Author:
Grade Lev
Lesson Ty
Discussion Wrap-Up:
Take the following excerpt and either distribute it to students on a handout or project it on the
board:
(Page 431) “The students’ mistakes lay ahead of them, were prospective and therefore
glorious. His own lay in the past. They might have been glorious, too, his own
mistakes—at least, he would not change them for anyone else’s. He regretted only a
single loss—those years he’d missed of Pella’s life, and the string of errors that led to a
loss like that was so thick and knotted that he’d never found one end of the string, so
that he could follow it in and up and around and figure out why. Perhaps he’d been
too permissive and tolerant a parent, and thereby forced Pella to grow up too fast. Or
perhaps he’d never been tolerant enough to accommodate a girl of Pella’s talents. Or
perhaps he’d raised her perfectly, but every other parent in the world had miserably
erred, and so Pella, precisely because of her perfect upbringing, had been forced to
find her own way.”
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The Art of Fielding And Symbolism/Close Text Analysis: Lesson Plan
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Lesson Plan
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The Art of Fielding and
Symbolism/Close Text Analysis
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Book: The Art of Fielding
Author: Chad Harbach
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Type: Symbolism/Close Text
!
Book:
Author:
Grade Lev
Lesson Ty
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Writing Activities/Evaluations:
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The Art of Fielding And Symbolism/Close Text Analysis: Lesson Plan
5
Lesson Plan
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The Art of Fielding and
Symbolism/Close Text Analysis
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Book: The Art of Fielding
Author: Chad Harbach
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Type: Symbolism/Close Text
!
Book:
Author:
Grade Lev
Lesson Ty
Analytical:
Water seems to play a large role in this text, whether it is water to be consumed, a body of water, or even
rain. How do you think water functions as a symbol? Cite specific examples from the text to support your
argument.
Creative:
Write a one-page dialogue between President Affenlight (the central character of the final third of the
novel) and another character. Center it around one of the previously discussed symbols.!
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The Art of Fielding And Symbolism/Close Text Analysis: Discussion & Comprehension Questions
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Discussion & Comprehension Questions
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The Art of Fielding and
Symbolism/Close Text Analysis
!
Book: The Art of Fielding
Author: Chad Harbach
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Type: Symbolism/Close Text
!
Book:
Author:
Grade Lev
Lesson Ty
•
How does literature function as a symbol in this text?
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In what way do the characters in the novel represent the texts with which they are most
closely associated? (For example, Henry with The Art of Fielding, Schwartz with
Meditations, Affenlight with Melville, Whitman and Thoreau, etc.)
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How does the theme of striving for perfection manifest itself in this text? Provide
examples of how each central character has strived for perfection at one point in his or
her life.
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What do you think is the overarching theme or takeaway message of this novel? What
did Harbach seek to achieve by writing it?
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What do you make of President Affenlight’s fate? Do you believe that his demise was
accidental, or is there a deeper backstory?
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How is the final event of the novel—which takes place on the lake—symbolic of
Affenlight’s life? His relationship with Pella? The rest of the novel?
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“Monomania”—the obsessive pursuit of a single thing—is one of the major themes of
Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. It is also a major theme of The Art of Fielding, as is Melville
and his work. How did you see this reflected in the different characters and in their
experiences?*
*These questions were pulled from the “Questions And Topics For Discussion” addendum in the reading
group guide at the end of the novel
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The Art of Fielding And Symbolism/Close Text Analysis: Key Vocabulary
Key Vocabulary
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The Art of Fielding and
Symbolism/Close Text Analysis
!
Book: The Art of Fielding
Author: Chad Harbach
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Type: Symbolism/Close Text
Word:
Definition:
Faddish
Intensely fashionable for a short time
Desultory
Lacking a plan, purpose, or enthusiasm
Exhortation
An address or communication emphatically urging someone to do
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Book:
Author:
Grade Lev
Lesson Ty
something
Tolerant
Permissive; able to accept the beliefs or opinions of others
Accommodate
To supply or provide; to adapt
Excavation
Removal by digging
Scrupulously
Characterized by precision or by close observation of what is morally right
Dubious
Doubtful; questionable
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The Art of Fielding And Symbolism/Close Text Analysis: Text References
Text References
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The Art of Fielding and
Symbolism/Close Text Analysis
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•
Book: The Art of Fielding
Author: Chad Harbach
Grade Level: 9-12
Lesson Type: Symbolism/Close Text
!
Book:
Author:
Grade Lev
Lesson Ty
(Page 512) “The shovel rang like a struck bell, continued to quiver after the sound was
gone. Contango howled as if trying to match the pitch. The ball dropped straight into the
infield dust. The feeling that ripped through Henry was better than that magic IV he’d
been served in the Comstock hospital, better than anything he’d felt on a baseball field
before. A half second later the feeling was gone. He’d make one perfect throw. Now
what?”
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(Page 500) “Schwartz nodded. He wondered how Emerson had done it—whether
Emerson really had done it, after all. It was one thing to hear President Affenlight tell the
story, one thing to imagine Emerson kneeling in the dirt in his suit, tears in his beard,
lifting the simple wooden lid off a simple wooden casket. Your mind stayed strained on
the emotional, the intellectual, the symbolic. Emerson became a character in a play, and
his act became a myth, a source of meaning.”
•
(Page 431) “The students’ mistakes lay ahead of them, were prospective and therefore
glorious. His own lay in the past. They might have been glorious, too, his own
mistakes—at least, he would not change them for anyone else’s. He regretted only a
single loss—those years he’d missed of Pella’s life, and the string of errors that led to a
loss like that was so thick and knotted that he’d never found one end of the string, so
that he could follow it in and up and around and figure out why. Perhaps he’d been too
permissive and tolerant a parent, and thereby forced Pella to grow up too fast. Or
perhaps he’d never been tolerant enough to accommodate a girl of Pella’s talents. Or
perhaps he’d raised her perfectly, but every other parent in the world had miserably
erred, and so Pella, precisely because of her perfect upbringing, had been forced to find
her own way.”
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The Art of Fielding And Symbolism/Close Text Analysis: Class Handout
Title Field: Class Handout
Name:
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THIS PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK
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FILL WITH CLASSWORK AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION
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The Art of Fielding and Symbolism/Close Text Analysis: Supplementary Materials Chart
Title Field: Supplementary Materials Chart
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Description of Resource
Brief article on symbolism in
Moby Dick
Interview with Harbach in which
he talks about Moby Dick
Potential Educational Use
Explain both the concept of
symbolism and the symbolism of
Moby Dick in The Art of Fielding
More depth for the Moby Dick
motif
Link to Resource
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