Preparing to Read the Novel

  Preparing to Read Your Novel

The novel is similar to the short story, except that if you think of the McDonald's© fast food chain, the novel is the "supersized" McDonald's© meal of the short story. There will be more of everything...more characters, more conflict, more rising action, more themes, etc. The novel is an extended piece of literature, and so it makes sense that it would include more literary devices than a shorter work. You have already completed the necessary terminology short notes in earlier units so short notes of terminology will not be required here. Instead, you will be asked to annotate or create short notes of important information from the novel itself.

You have covered the elements of plot within Unit One, and you worked with symbolism for the graphic novel in Unit 2. Following is some review for symbolism, and an introduction to situational irony. Both terms can be found within your course glossary located under the Resources tab.

Symbolism - Don't be afraid of this word. It just means that something concrete, such as an object of some sort, reflects a larger more abstract idea. In order for something to be identified as a symbol, the idea of it will be repeated and come up a few times within a text. A simple example of this is that parents buy their child a personal diary book. As the child ages, so does the diary. The diary is described or viewed throughout the text. This is a sign that the writer intends for the diary to symbolize the life of the owner. Both have aged, and both have knowledge of the life experiences.


Situational Irony - There are many different types of irony, but for our purposes, we will focus on situational irony. Just think of it as being a "strange twist" of the expected. When it stands to reason that something will happen, but then, rather strangely, the unexpected or peculiar happens instead, then we say that this is ironic. An example might be something like a person who continually states how much they do not like children, and then the person marries a person who has five children and the person becomes the most effective and loving parent ever! Now, isn't that ironic??!!

Don't make either symbolism or irony difficult concepts, as they really are not as "deep," as some may fear! Both of these concepts are most often present within extended texts such as novels or films. Remember that while some scripts are written only for films, most times film scripts are created from popular novels!