Literary Elements of Realistic Fiction
Kathleen Buss & Lee Karnowski
Reprinted from: Kathleen Buss & Lee Karnowski, Reading and Writing Literary Genres. International
Reading Association, Inc., Wisconsin, 2000, pp. 8–11; 14–17; 26. Permission requested.
Realistic fiction is structured as a narrative. The introduction includes background
information that is needed to understand the story, and establishes the setting, the
characters, and the conflict. The middle of the story develops the plot, which includes the
story’s events, the characters’ reactions to these events, and the roadblocks the characters
encounter. Usually the plot builds events to a climax, which is called rising action plot
development. The story ends with a resolution to the conflict or a conclusion.
It may be helpful to describe the elements of realistic fiction to students using the
following basic definitions:
Introduction is where the author builds the story’s background. This is where the reader
learns about the setting, the characters, and the story’s conflict, and perhaps what took
place before the story begins.
Setting is where and when the story takes place: location, season, weather, and time
period (Tompkins, 1994). Setting is important to the plot, the characters, the characters’
problems, and the theme. For example, in realistic fiction the season and the weather may
be important to the characters’ dilemma. Because realistic fiction must depict characteristics of the real world, authors must develop detailed descriptions of the setting so
that the reader can imagine the setting and understand the characters and their plights.
Characterization allows the reader to learn about what characters look like, what they
say, what others say about them, and what they do (Lukens, 1999). Characters seem real
because their actions and dialogue are believable. As readers, we often can identify with
these characters because they are like our friends or ourselves.
1
There are many types of characters in realistic fiction. The main character is usually fully
developed and multifaceted and is called a round character. If this character changes
during the story, this character is also dynamic. Flat characters are not as well-developed
as round characters. Static characters, on the other hand, can be round or flat characters
who do not change but stay the same in the story. A character who has the opposite
personality traits of the main character is called a foil character.
Characters can also be classified as a protagonist or an antagonist. The protagonist is
usually the main character who is involved in a conflict. The antagonist is the character
who is the opposing force in the conflict.
Conflict in realistic fiction is defined by the type of problem in the story. Conflict is the
tension that exists between the forces in the character’s life.
Person-against-self is a conflict where the main character is both the protagonist and the
antagonist. The character must work out relationships with others, feelings of conflict,
and problems. One book that illustrates person-against-self conflict is On My Honor
(1986) by Marion Dane Bauer. In this book, the main character, Joel, has to resolve the
conflict of whether to tell his parents, his friend’s parents, and the authorities what
happened to his best friend, Tony.
Person-against-person is a conflict that puts the protagonist in direct conflict with
another person. One example, The Pinballs (I987) by Betsy Byars, contains three
characters that meet each other in a foster home and are in conflict with other people.
Harvey is in conflict with his father; Carlie is in conflict with her stepfather; and Thomas
J. is in conflict with his parents, who abandoned him when he was 2 years old.
Person-against-nature is a conflict where the main character has to fight nature. An
example of this type of conflict is Hatchet (1987) by Gary Paulsen. In this story, Brian
has to survive in the wilderness with only a hatchet, a gift from his mother.
2
Person-against-society is a conflict where society is the antagonist in a story, and the
main character must figure out how to overcome the pressures of the society in which he
or she lives. An example this type of conflict is Journey to Jo’burg (1986) by Beverly
Naidoo. In this story, Naledi and Tirs must fight the racial adversities placed on them by
the white people in South Africa in order to contact their mother and bring her home to
care for their ill sister.
Plot is what happens in the story. Cornett (1999) explains that “plot is the sequence of
events usually set in motion by a problem that begins the action or causes conflict” (p.
89). The plot in realistic fiction must be believable or possible and easily understood,
fast-paced and moving toward resolving the conflict. Two types of plots found in realistic
fiction are the progressive and the episodic plots.
Progressive plot is common in realistic fiction. The story begins with one event and all
the other events are tied to the same story line. These events form a chain, with each
event leading to the next event until the main character resolves the conflict. Examples of
realistic fiction books with progressive plots include Maniac Magee (1990) by Jerry
Spinelli and Stone Fox (1980) by John Reynolds Gardiner. (See Figure 1 for an example
of progressive plot development.)
Figure 1 Progressive Plot
3
Episodic plot occurs when the author tells short stories that are related by setting or
characters. Fig Pudding (1996) by Ralph Fletcher, Skinnybones (1982) by Barbara Park,
and Beezus and Ramona (1990) by Beverly Cleary all contain episodic plots.
Figure 2 Episodic Plot Diagram
Authors use other techniques such as flashbacks and foreshadowing to vary the plot.
Flashbacks allow the author to refer to a period before the actual story being told to fill in
the background information for the reader. Foreshadowing allows the author to drop hints
about how the main character will solve the problem. (See the example of an episodic
plot diagram shown in Figure 2)
Theme, according to Lukens (1999), is “the idea that holds the story together, … the
central meaning of a piece of writing” (p. 135). Realistic fiction is often classified
according to its themes, which center around the need to be loved, to belong, to achieve,
to be secure, or to know. Realizing the theme of a story is a personal response; each
reader brings his or her own personal meaning to the story. This personal response is a
“life-to-text” connection.
Therefore, what individual students identify as theme may differ. For example, lets look
briefly at the story by Marilyn Sachs, The Bears’ House. In this story, Fran Ellen, a fourth
grader, must hide her home situation of living with an ill mother and an absent father,
while tending to her brothers and sisters and coping with an unfriendly school situation;
Fran Ellen escapes these adversities by playing with her teacher’s doll house. Individual
student responses might focus on the themes of loving and caring for family members,
surviving at school, living without parents, finding relief from adversity, or receiving a
4
gift. Depending on the individual student’s perspective and his or her life experiences, the
transaction with the text will differ.
Authors use different elements to capture the reader’s interest. They use different points
of view to tell their story, and they use imagery and figurative language to build pictures
in the reader’s mind. Authors also write with a certain intent. This intent of the author is
how the author wants the reader to feel as the story is read.
5
Teaching the Realistic Fiction Story
There are three instructional arrangements used in this unit a whole-class read-aloud,
small-group guided reading, and individual writing of realistic fiction. Each instructional
arrangement will be discussed in detail. The first instructional arrangement, whole-class
read-aloud, has two components: pre-read-aloud activities and during read-aloud
activities.
Pre Read-Aloud Activities
The pre-read-aloud activities revolve around building background knowledge of the
genre, developing an understanding of realistic fiction, and preparing students for reading
realistic fiction.
To begin the unit on realistic fiction, conduct a brainstorming session to find out what
students already know about realistic fiction. After students have relayed what they know
about this genre, discuss the difference between fiction and nonfiction. Tell them that
fiction is a type of literature that contains stories that might be possible in the real world,
but these stories are made up and did not really happen; nonfiction stories are about
things that did occur and include biographies and autobiographies. Explain that in
realistic fiction, the characters act like real people, the setting could be a real place, the
characters experience problems of real children, and the resolution could happen in the
real world, but the stories did not actually happen. To give an example, read from the
credit section found in the biography, The Story of Harriet Tubman: Conductor of the
Underground Railroad (I991) by Kate McMullen, where the author states
The events described in this book are true. They have been carefully researched and
excerpted from authentic autobiographies, writings, and commentaries. No part of this
biography has been fictionalized.
6
Compare this testament to the note in the credit section from the book Flip-Flop Girl
(1996) by Katherine Paterson:
No character in this book is intended to represent any actual person; all the incidents of
the story are entirely fictional in nature.
These examples will spark a discussion of the differences between fiction and nonfiction.
After the concepts of fiction and nonfiction have been introduced, give students a
Realistic Fiction Quiz (see Figure 1). This quiz includes matching the titles of popular
realistic fiction stories to the main characters.
Figure 1
Realistic Fiction Quiz
Can you match the main character to the book title?
Main Character
Book Title
1. Jerry
a. Dogs Don’t Tell Jokes
2. Leslie
b. Skinnybones
3. Meg
c. Dear Mr. Henshaw
4. Applesauce
d. Bridge to Terabithia
5. Sam
e. The Leaves in October
6. Gary
f. My Side of the Mountain
7. Alex
g. The War With Grandpa
8. Pete
h. The Chocolate War
9. John
i. A Summer to Die
10. Livvy
j. Aldo Ice Cream
11. Leigh
k. Crash
Answers: 1-h; 2-d; 3-I; 4-j; 5-f; 6-a; 7-b; 8-g; 9-k; 10-e; 11-c.
If students are unable to match the book titles to the characters, invite them to read the
books listed in the quiz to find the answers.
7
Read-Aloud Activities
To develop an understanding of the elements of realistic fiction, you must select a book
for a whole-class read-aloud. While reading this story, you will teach, demonstrate and
apply the elements of realistic fiction. Have the following charts ready: Circle of Friends
Map Determining Round Characters Map (page 19), Life Events by Character Chart, Plot
Diagram, Rising and Falling Plot Chart, and Author’s Style Chart.
Introduce the read-aloud by telling the book’s title and author, then share the entire story
by reading it aloud to the class. The book used in this chapter to model the literary
elements of realistic fiction is Flip-Flop Girl (1996) by Katherine Paterson. This is an
appropriate read-aloud for fourth and fifth grades. However, all activities and questions
used in this unit are suitable for most realistic fiction stories, so you could read any
realistic fiction story to your class. Share the questions in this section before reading
aloud in order to set purposes for listening; allow students to answer the questions and
discuss the story once you have finished reading.
Building Background of the Story
Flip-Flop Girl begins with an introduction of what is happening in Vinnie’s life when the
story begins. The setting is a funeral home, and Vinnie’s father has died of cancer. Other
background information provided are the characters at the funeral home and the angry
dialogue between Vinnie and Mason, her brother.
8
Evaluating Setting
The setting in realistic fiction is integral to the story, the main character, and the theme.
These questions and activities help students understand the importance of a realistic
setting to the development of the character or problem:
1. Where does the story take place?
2. Does the weather or the season affect the characters or the plot?
3. Does the author describe the setting using enough detail for you to gain an
understanding of how the setting affects the characters?
4. Could the setting that the author developed be a “real” place, existing in our times?
In this story, the setting becomes the major problem for the main character, Vinnie.
Vinnie’s father has died of cancer, and her mother cannot afford to stay in Washington,
so the family must move in with Vinnie’s grandmother in Texas.
After the read-aloud is completed, discuss the descriptions of the settings in relation to
the main character, the main character’s problem, and the events in the plot. This
discussion will lead readers to the conclusion that the setting is indeed important to the
story line. The setting is the main source of Vinnie’s problem: a new town, new school,
no friends, and taking care of Mason at school.
9
Identifying Types of Characters
The questions and activities in this section help students identify four types of characters–
round, dynamic, foil, and static–and the re-relationships of these characters’ problems,
actions, thoughts, and moods. These questions can be asked about any character in
realistic fiction:
1. Who is the protagonist (main character) in this story?
2. Who are the characters that are in the main character’s life?
3. Which characters are fully developed? (round characters)
4. Which characters change as the story progresses? (dynamic characters)
5. Does the author develop a character that displays the opposite personality traits of the
main character? (foil character)
6. Who is your favorite character in the story? Why?
7. Do you know any people in your life that remind you of any of the characters in this
story?
The protagonist in Flip-Flop Girl is Vinnie, because she is the main character and the
character whose actions move the story along.
A Circle of Friends Map could be designed to illustrate the other people who are part of
the story. The Circle of Friends Map clearly illustrates that the people in the story change
as the story progresses. Therefore, it might be useful to design two Circle of Friends
Maps, one for before the story begins and one for during the story (see Figure 2).
10
Figure 2 Circle of Friends Map
Small-Group Guided Reading
Now give students the opportunity to read and explore other realistic fiction stories. The
questions and instructional activities shared during the read-aloud can be used during the
small-group guided reading of realistic fiction. At this time, you and your students should
plan the mapping strategies and questions that they will use while reading their book. The
questions and the mapping activities are general enough to use with any piece of realistic
fiction. Because students have worked through the questions and the strategies with you
as the model, they should feel comfortable using them in small groups. You and the
students might decide what strategies to repeat, and students should feel comfortable
adding some of their own questions to bring to the discussion table. Students can use any
of the maps, charts, and outlines in this chapter to answer questions about the story.
Questions for Small-Group Guided Reading
1. How did your group decide on which questions and activities to use? Were your
questions and activities effective in helping you understand realistic fiction?
2. From the book you read, identify and describe a dynamic character, a foil character,
or a static character.
11
3. Discuss the problem in the book and describe the type of conflict.
4. Give an example of how the author uses foreshadowing or flashbacks to keep your
interest in the story.
5. Identify the author’s intent for telling this story and give the reasons for your answer.
12
Reader Response
Richard T. Vacca & Jo Anne L. Vacca
Reprinted from: Richard T. Vacca & Jo Anne L. Vacca, Content Area Reading, Literacy and Learning
Across the Curriculum. Pearson Education Inc., 2005, pp. 20–21. Permission requested.
Reader response theory has evolved from a literary tradition. As early as 1938, Louise
Rosenblatt (1982) argued that thought and feeling are legitimate components of literary
interpretation. A text, whether it is literary or informational, demands affective as well as
intellectual responses from its readers. Creating an active learning environment in which
students respond personally and critically to what they are reading is an important
instructional goal in a response-centered classroom. Often in text-learning situations, a
teacher will focus on what students have learned and how much. There is value in having
what Rosenblatt calls an efferent stance as a reader. When readers assume an efferent
stance, they focus attention on the ideas and information they encounter in a text. Reader
response, however, is also likely to involve feelings, personal associations, and insights
that are unique to the reader. When students assume an aesthetic stance, they shift
attention inward to what is being created as part of the reading experience itself. An
aesthetic response to text is driven by personal feelings and attitudes that are stirred by
the reader’s transactions with the text.
One way to encourage comprehension is to take advantage of both efferent and aesthetic
stances. This works well when students actively respond to what they are reading not
only by talking but also by writing. One of the instructional strategies we explore in
Chapter 11, on writing to learn, is the use of response journals. When students combine
the use of response journals with discussion, the challenge from an instructional
perspective is to create an environment in which they feel free enough to respond openly.
Open response is necessary to evoke students’ initial feelings and thoughts. Evoking
students’ initial responses to a text is crucial to further exploration of the ideas they are
encountering. Open responses, however, are not final responses.
13
For example, a history teacher divides the class into two groups and has one group read
Bearstone (1989), by Will Hobbs, and the other read The Cage (1986), by Ruth Sender.
These trade books have protagonists who are being held against their will in situations
that are beyond their control. As the students read the books, they keep response journals
in which they react to questions such as how the protagonists feel as captives of societies
that discriminate against their race. When the class meets to discuss the books, students
offer ideas from their response journals to generate a comparison concerning the ways in
which the Jewish woman’s captivity in The Cage during World War II differs from the
contemporary Native American boy’s sense of belonging in Bearstone. From this discussion, students go on to explore the concept of slavery and how it changes across
circumstances, societies, and historical periods.
Affect, as you can see, is a catalyst for students to respond to text. Bleich (1978) suggests
that response involves both the author and the reader taking active parts in the making of
meaning. Thus, the initial response of “I like this” or “I hate this” becomes the
springboard for other, more complex reactions. Why a student likes or does not like a text
becomes the genesis of discussions, drama, art, and compositions that probe the reader’s
intentions.
Reader response questions allow students to explore their personal responses and to take
those initial reactions into more analytic realms. According to Brozo (1989), the rationale
behind a reader’s response to text is this: “It is through a personal connection that a text
becomes meaningful and memorable” (p. 141). Following are some questions that evoke
student responses to informational texts:
1. What aspect of the text interested you the most? (The reader identifies an idea,
issue, event, character, place, or any other aspect of the content that aroused
strong feelings.)
2. What are your feelings and attitudes about this aspect of the text? (The reader
describes and explains feelings and attitudes.)
14
3. What experiences have you had that help others understand why you feel the way
you do? (The reader supports feelings and attitudes with personal connections.)
(Brozo 1989, p. 142)
Responses to these questions help readers consciously connect their own experiences to
the content of the text. The questions can be used well in combination with writing and
talking.
Study a student’s response to a trade book titled Atoms, Molecules, and Quarks (1986),
by Melvin Berger, presented in Figure 1.2. Students can and do become interested in
informational text when it is presented in a response-centered format.
When students are faced with challenging text, they benefit from instructional routines
and strategies that engage them in a process of responding to meaning at different levels
of understanding. Often teachers rely on a variety of question answering routines and
question generation strategies to encourage students to think about what they read at
different levels of comprehension.
15
Setting
Donna E. Norton
Reprinted from: Donna E. Norton, Through the Eyes of a Child. Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1999, pp. 123–125;
127–128; 460. Permission requested.
The setting of a story–its location in time and place–helps readers share what characters
see, smell, hear and touch, as well as makes the characters’ values, actions, conflicts
more understandable. Whether a story takes place in the past, present, or future, its
overall credibility may depend on how well the plot, characterizations, and setting
support one another. Different types of literature–picture storybooks, fantasy, historical
fiction, and contemporary realistic fiction–have their own requirements as far as setting is
concerned. When a story is set in an identifiable historical period or geographical
location, details should be accurate. Plot and characters also should be consistent with
what actually occurred or could have occurred at that time and place.
Jean Craighead George (1991), author of numerous survival stories, emphasizes the
setting for the book. To do this, George walks through the setting, smells the
environment, looks at the world to see careful details, and searches for protagonists.
During her final writing, she closes her eyes and recreates in her imagination the land, the
people, and the animals. George states:
I strive to put the reader on the scene. I want to make each child feel that he is under a hemlock
tree with Sam Gribley in My Side of the Mountain or on his hands and knees talking to the tundra
wolves in Julie of the Wolves. I want my reader to hear and see the ice on the Arctic Ocean in
Water Sky. (p. 70)
In some books, setting is such an important part of the story that the characters and plot
cannot be developed without understanding the time and place. In other stories, however,
the setting provides only a background. In fact, some settings are so well known that just
a few words place readers immediately into the expected location. “Once upon a time,”
for example, is a mythical time in days of yore when it was possible for magical spells to
16
transform princes into beasts or to change pumpkins into glittering carriages. Thirty of
the thirty-seven traditional fairy tales in Andrew Lang’s The Red Fairy Book begin with
“Once upon a time.” Magical spells cannot happen everywhere; they usually occur in “a
certain kingdom,” “deep in the forest,” in “the humble hut of a wise and good peasant,”
or “far, far away, in a warm and pleasant land.” Children become so familiar with such
phrases–and the visualizations of setting that such phrases trigger–that additional details
and descriptions are not necessary.
Even a setting that is described briefly may serve several different purposes. It may create
a mood, provide an antagonist, establish historical background, or supply symbolic
meanings.
Setting as Mood. Authors of children’s literature and adult literature alike use settings to
create moods that add credibility to characters and plot. Readers would probably be a bit
skeptical if a vampire appeared in a sunny American kitchen on a weekday morning
while a family was preparing to leave for school and work. The same vampire would
seem more believable in a moldy castle in Transylvania at midnight. The illustrations and
text can create the mood of a location. Readers can infer the author’s and illustrator’s
feelings about the setting. For example, Cynthia Rylant’s text and Barry Moser’s
illustrations for Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds provide a setting that radiates
warm feelings about the varied people, their strengths, and their way of life.
The epic story of Attila the Hun, a famous invader of Eastern Europe in the fifth century
A.D., can be told as historical fiction, with a setting that emphasizes accuracy of
geographical and biographical detail. In The White Stag, Kate Seredy takes a mythical
approach to telling how a migratory Asiatic people reached their new homeland in what
became Hungary. Gods, moonmaidens, and a supernatural animal are among the
characters in this story, and Seredy uses setting to create a mood in which such beings
seem natural. The leader of the tribe stands before sacrificial altar in a cold, rocky, and
barren territory, waiting to hear the voice of the god Hadur, who will lead his starving
people to the promised land.
17
At this time, the white stag miraculously appears to guide the Huns in their
travels–through “ghost hours” onto grassy hills covered with white birch trees, where
they hear a brook tinkling like silver bells and a breeze that sounds like the flutes of
minstrels. Readers expect magic in such a place, and they are not disappointed to see:
Moonmaidens, those strange changeling fairies who lived in white birch trees and were never
seen in the daylight; Moonmaidens who, if caught by the gray-hour of dawn, could never go back
to fairyland again; Moonmaidens who brought good luck … (p. 34)
The setting becomes less magically gentle when Attila is born. Attila’s father has just
challenged his god, and the result is terrifying:
Suddenly, without warning it [the storm] was upon them with lightning and thunder that roared
and howled like an army of furious demons. Trees groaned and crashed to the ground to be
picked up again and sucked into the spinning dark funnel of the whirlwind. (p. 64)
This setting introduces Attila, the “Scourge of God,” who in the future will lead his
people home, with the help of the white stag.
In the preceding quotes, notice how Seredy uses descriptive words that create the mood.
Through word choice and ability to paint pictures with words, authors of excellent
literature create moods that range from happy and nostalgic to frightening and
forbidding.
In The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner also goes back to a time of the old legends in a
country that resembles Greece. As the thief searches for an ancient treasure, readers are
introduced to a setting complete with ancient temples, gods and goddesses, and objects of
power that set the mythical mood.
Setting as Antagonist. Setting can be an antagonist in plots based on person-againstsociety or person-against-nature conflict. The descriptions of the Arctic in Jean Craighead
George’s Julie of the Wolves are essential. Without them, readers would have difficulty
18
understanding the life-and-death peril facing Miyax. These descriptions make it possible
to comprehend Miyax’s love for the Arctic, her admiration of and dependence on the
wolves, and her preference for the old Eskimo ways.
In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare, a Puritan colony in New
England is the setting as well as the antagonist of newcomer Kit Tyler, whose colorful
clothing and carefree ways immediately conflict with the standards of an austere society.
Careful depiction of the colony’s strict standards of dress and behavior helps readers
understand why the Puritans accuse Kit of being a witch.
The setting in Ida Vos’s Hide and Seek provides the antagonist, the Netherlands during
German occupation. In the foreword to the text, Vos introduces the setting for the story
and helps readers understand that the setting is the antagonist. For example, she states,
Come with me to a smal1 country in Western Europe. To the Netherlands, a land also known as
Holland. Come with me, back to the year 1940. I am eight years old. German soldiers are
parading through the Dutch streets. They have helmets on their heads and they are wearing black
boots. They are marching and singing songs that have words I don’t understand. “They’re going
to kill all the Jews!” shouts my mother. I am afraid, I have a stomachache. I am Jewish. (p. vii)
The reactions of the characters and the description of the occupation in the remainder of
the book leave no doubt that this setting is an antagonist. Vos based Hide and Seek on her
family’s life during World War II.
Setting as Historical Background. Accuracy in a setting is extremely important in
historical fiction and in biography. Conflict in the story and the actions of the characters
may be influenced by the time period and the geographical location. Unless authors
describe settings carefully, children cannot comprehend unfamiliar historical periods or
the stories that unfold in them. A Gathering of Days, by Joan W. Blos, is an example of
historical fiction that carefully depicts setting–in this case, a small New Hampshire farm
19
in the 1830s. Blos brings rural nineteenth century America to life through descriptions of
little things, such as home remedies, country pleasures, and country hardships.
Blos describes in detail the preparation of a cold remedy. The character goes to the pump
for water, blows up the fire, heats a kettle of water over the flames, wrings out a flannel
in hot water, sprinkles the flannel with turpentine, and places it on the patient’s chest.
Blos describes discipline and school life in the 1830s. Disobedience can result in a
thrashing. Because of their sex, girls are excused from all but the simplest arithmetic.
Readers vicariously join the characters in breaking out of the snow with a team of oxen,
tapping the maple sugar trees, and collecting nuts. Of this last experience, the narrator
says, “O, I do think, as has been said, that if getting in the corn and potatoes are the prose
of a farm child’s life, then nutting’s the poetry” (p. 131).
In Number the Stars, set in Copenhagen during the 1940s, Lois Lowry develops a
fictional story around the actions of the Danish Resistance. Actions of King Christian add
to the historical accuracy of the time period. In addition to developing historically
accurate backgrounds. Lowry develops the attitudes of the Danish people. Consequently,
readers understand why many Danes risked their lives to relocate the Jewish residents of
Denmark.
Both the illustrations and the text develop the World War II background in Michael
Foreman’s War Boy: A Country Childhood. Detailed illustrations show life in England as
characters build shelters, put on gas masks, watch bombs falling, work, and relax. The
illustrations add much information and help readers understand the time period.
The settings in Graham Salisbury’s Under the Blood-Red Sun develop the historical time
period associated with the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The author
describes the sights and sounds of the bombing.
The authors of historical fiction and biography must not only depict the time and location
but also be aware of values, vocabulary, and other speech patterns consistent with the
20
time and location. To do this, the authors must be immersed in the past and do extensive
research. Joan Bios researched her subject at the New York Public Library, libraries on
the University of Michigan campus, and the town library of Holderness, New Hampshire.
She also consulted town and county records in New Hampshire and discussed the story
with professional historians. Lois Lowry visited Copenhagen and researched documents
about the leaders of the Danish Resistance.
Setting as Symbolism. Settings often have symbolic meanings that underscore what is
happening in the story. Symbolism is common in traditional folktales, where frightening
adventures and magical transformations occur in the deep, dark woods, and splendid
castles are the sites of “happily ever after.”
An In-Depth Analysis of Setting in One Book
The settings in Philip Pullman’s award-winning fantasy from England, The Golden
Compass, reveal several purposes for setting that may be found in the same book. For
example, in the beginning of the book notice how author creates a suspenseful setting
through the following quote showing the characters’ actions: “ ‘Behind chair–quick!’
whispered Pantalaimon, and in a flash Lyra was out of the armchair and crouching behind
it. It wasn’t the best one for hiding behind: she’d chose one the very center of the room,
and unless she kept very quiet …” (p. 4).
On the following pages readers discover how dangerous this setting might be for Lyra:
“What she saw next, however, changed things completely. The Master took from his
pocket a folded paper and laid it on the table beside the wine. He took the stopper out of
the mouth of a decanter containing a rich golden wine, unfolded the paper, and poured a
thin stream of white powder into the decanter before crumpling the paper and throwing it
into the fire. Then he took a pencil from his pocket, stirred the wine until the powder had
dissolved, and replaced the stopper” (p. 6).
21
As the story moves from England to the far north, the setting frequently becomes an
antagonist as Lyra faces both the cold and the fear found in the wilderness. Pullman
creates both of these moods in quotes such as the following: “The other girls went on
talking, but Lyra and Pantalaimon nestled down deep in the bed and tried to get warm,
knowing that for hundreds of miles all around her little bed there was nothing but fear”
(p. 246).
Pullman’s settings create both a realistic background and suggest the fantasy settings of
other worlds. For example, the following quote provides realistic background for a small
town in the far north. It also allows readers to visualize, hear, and even smell the setting:
“Directly ahead of the ship a mountain rose, green flanked and snowcapped, and a little
town and harbor lay below it: wooden houses with steep roofs, an oratory spire, cranes in
the harbor, and clouds of gulls wheeling and crying. The smell was of fish, but mixed
with it came land smells too: pine resin and earth and something animal and musky, and
something else that was cold and blank and wild: it might have been snow. It was the
smell of the North” (p. 168).
Many of Pullman’s settings also reflect a universe inhabited by witches, supernatural
beings, and parallel worlds. Pullman describes this parallel world in this way: “The city
hanging there so empty and silent looked new-made, waiting to be occupied; or asleep,
waiting to be woken. The sun of that world was shining into this, making Lyra’s hands
golden, melting the ice on Roger’s wolf-skin hood, making his pale cheeks transparent,
glistening in his open sightless eyes” (p. 397).
Pullman concludes his fantasy in a way that prepares readers for the next book in the
series by summarizing some of the moods found in the previous settings and
foreshadowing the fantasy to come: “She turned away. Behind them lay pain and death
and fear; ahead of them lay doubt, and danger, and fathomless mysteries. But they
weren’t alone. So Lyra and her deamon turned away from the world they were born in,
and looked toward the sun, and walked into the sky” (p. 399). To continue analyzing
Pullman’s fantasy setting, read The Subtle Knife, the sequel to The Golden Compass.
22
Theme
The theme of a story is the underlying idea that ties the plot, characters, and setting
together into a meaningful whole. When evaluating themes in children’s books, consider
what the author wanted to convey about life or society and whether that theme is
worthwhile for children. A memorable book has a theme–or several themes–that children
can understand because of their own needs. Laurence Perrine (1983) states:
There is no prescribed method for discovering theme. Sometimes we can best get at it by asking
in what way the main character has changed in the course of story and what, if anything, the
character has learned before its end. Sometimes the best approach is to explore the nature of the
central conflict and its outcome. Sometimes the title will provide an important clue. (p. 110)
Authors of children’s books often directly state the theme of a book, rather than imply it,
as authors commonly do in books for adults. Theme may be stated by characters or
through the author’s narrative. The characters’ actions and the outcome of the story
usually develop and support the theme in children’s literature. Picture storybooks, with
their shorter texts and fewer themes, allow readers to analyze, trace, and discuss evidence
of theme in a briefer, whole story. For example, many readers identify the theme in
Patricia Polacco’s Applemando’s Dreams as “It is important to dream.” The following
evidence from the book supports this theme:
1. The boy who does not have anything to do in a drab village makes his life interesting
by dreaming about magic chariots pulled by galloping hues of color.
2. Applemando shares his beautiful colored dreams with his friends and makes them
happy.
3. The friends try to capture Appelemando’s dreams on paper so that they can keep the
dreams forever.
4. The children fear that they will lose Appelemando’s dreams after the villagers angrily
make them wash the dreams off the village walls.
5. The dreams allow the children to be found after they lose their way in the forest.
23
6. The villagers weep for joy after they follow Appelemando’s vision and find the
children.
7. The villagers conclude, “Never again would they question the importance of dreams”
(p. 28, unnumbered).
8. The village becomes a colorful and dreamy place that people enjoy visiting.
Theme Revealed by Changes in Characters. In The Whipping Boy, Sid Fleischman
develops the theme that friendship is important. Fleischman shows how the main
characters change in their attitudes toward each other. For example, the names that the
main characters call each other progress from hostility to comradeship. At the beginning
of the story, Jemmy thinks of the prince as “Your Royal Awfulness.” Likewise, the
prince refers to Jemmy as “Jemmy-from-the-Street” and “contrary rascal.” As the story
develops and the two characters learn to respect and admire each other, Jemmy refers to
the prince as “friend” and the Prince calls himself “Friend-o-Jemmy’s.”
In Darkness and the Butterfly, Ann Grifalconi develops the theme that we can, and must,
overcome our fears. Grifalconi reveals the theme by describing Osa’s actions as she
moves from fearing the dark to seeing beauty in the night. In this book for younger
children, the theme is stated by Osa when she excitedly exclaims, “I can be as brave as
the butterfly. ... SEE? I’m not afraid of the dark anymore” (unnumbered).
Theme and the Nature of Conflict. Stories set in other time periods frequently develop
themes by revealing how the main characters respond to conflicts caused by society. For
example, Rudolf Frank’s No Hero for the Kaiser, set in World War I, develops several
antiwar themes. Frank develops the harsh nature of war by exploring the actions and
responses of a boy who is unwittingly drawn into battle. Through the viewpoint of the
boy, Frank reveals that it takes more courage not to fight than to fight, that it is important
to respect oneself, and that “guns never go off by themselves” (p. 13). Frank reinforces
these themes through symbolism, similes, and contrasts. The contrasts are especially
effective as Frank compares the same soldiers at home and on the battlefield and
contrasts peacetime and wartime meanings for terms such as bull’s-eye, shot, and field.
24
Janet Lunn’s main character in Shadow in Hawthorn Bay, a historical novel set in 1800s
Canada, discovers that prejudice is a harmful force and that respecting one’s own beliefs
is important. The impact of prejudice is explored when the main character, a girl with
second sight, leaves Scotland and arrives in a community where her abilities are feared,
not honored. Prejudice is a harmful force in other historical fiction, such as Elizabeth
George Speare’s The Witch of the Blackbird Pond, Paula Fox’s The Slave Dancer, Mary
Stolz’s Cezanne Pinto: A Memoir, Uri Orlev’s The Island on Bird Street, and Mildred D.
Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
The Theme of Personal Development.
Literature offers children opportunities to
identify with other people’s experiences and thus better understand their own growing up.
Consequently, the themes many children’s books deal with developing selfunderstanding. In an earlier study, Gretchen Purtell Hayden (1969) concluded that the
following themes related to personal development are predominant in children’s books
that have received the Newbery Medal: difficulties in establishing good relationships
between adults and children, the need for morality to guide one’s actions, the importance
of support from other people, an acceptance of oneself and others, a respect for authority,
the ability to handle problems, and the necessity of cooperation. As you read more
current books, search to see if these themes are still found in the literature.
25
How Realistic Fiction has Changed
Synonyms for realistic include other adjectives, such as lifelike, genuine, and authentic.
Of course, what people consider lifelike depends upon the social context. What seems
realistic to us might seem fantastic to people in different societies or other eras.
In the Victorian era of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, realistic fiction
emphasized traditional family roles and ties in warm, close, and stable family units that
lived in one place for generations; strict roles for males and females, stressing higher
education careers for males and wifehood and motherhood for females; respect for law
and adult authority; strong religious commitment; duty to educate, Christianize, or care
for the poor; and problems related to overcoming sinfulness and becoming good.
Realistic fiction continued to emphasize many of these values well into the second half of
the twentieth century, although the literature began to depict both female and male
children gaining more independence. The characters in realistic children’s fiction were
usually white, middle-class, and members of stable families consisting of a father, a
mother, and their children. Nontraditional families and family disturbances were virtually
unrepresented in this literature.
Beginning roughly in the 1960s, however, the content of contemporary realistic fiction
became more diverse–no doubt reflecting the increasingly diverse and complex social life
in the United States and elsewhere. Contemporary realistic stories for children depict
some unhappy and unstable families, single-parent families, and families in which both
parents work outside the home. Career ambitions are not as confined to traditional gender
roles as they were in the past. Children often have much responsibility and independence.
Fear of or disrespect for law and authority is more common. Education and religion
receive less stress. Ethnic and racial minorities are more in evidence, and in general,
people’s economic, emotional, and social problems receive more emphasis.
26
John Rowe Townsend (1974) is among the researchers who have pointed out the striking
contrasts between children’s realistic fiction of the 1950s and the late 1960s. The 1950s
was one of the quietest decades in children’s literature: In keeping with traditional values,
children were pictured as part of a stable community–grandparents were wise, parents
were staunch and respected, and childhood was happy and secure. In contrast, children’s
literature of the late 1960s implied an erosion of adult authority and an apparent widening
of the generation gap. It was no longer self-evident that parents knew best and that
children could be guide into accepting the established codes and behavior.
Author Betsy Byars (1993), who has been writing for thirty years, states that children’s
publishing has changed a great deal. She says,
I think there’s been a great evolution. When I first started writing, children’s books had to be
nice. I can remember some editor writing in the margin, “Don’t have him lie” or something like
that. And now you’re very free. You don’t feel any pressure, you don’t find yourself thinking
things like, “I can’t say this” or “This will be too tough a subject for kids.” (p. 906)
In a study of themes found in contemporary realistic fiction published in the late 1970s,
Jane M. Madsen and Elaine B. Wickersham (1980) found that popular themes for young
children were over coming fear and meeting responsibility and that stories about
problems related to adoption, divorce, disabilities, and minority social status were more
common than in the past. In the 1980s, contemporary realistic fiction for older children
often depicted children overcoming family and personal problems. Children confronted
quarreling or divorcing parents deserting or noncaring parents, cruel foster families
conflicts between personal ambitions and parental desires, and death of loved ones.
Discovery of self and development of maturity as children face and overcome their fears
were other popular themes in stories written for older children. Such stories often stressed
the importance of self-esteem and being true to oneself.
27