Genre Characteristics

Genres of LiteratureGenreGenre refers to the various categories used to classify works based on their characteristics

Genre ClassificationsFictionFiction is a literary work based on the imagination and not necessarily on fact; fiction = fakeFictionAll good fiction has a stirring plot, vivid setting, and compelling charactersPlot: the sequence of eventsConflicts: a struggle between opposing forcesCharacter versus characterCharacter versus societyCharacter versus natureCharacter versus selfSetting: When and where the events of a story take placeThe setting of story can impact the mood, or emotional quality of the storyCharacters: Characters are like flattened people with a unique personality that the writer must develop in order for the reader to believe and enjoy the storyProtagonist: sympathetic character; the one readers want to overcome the conflictAntagonist: the person, thing or idea that protagonist fights against; the bad guyThe point of view of the narrator, or the voice telling the story, will impact the readers perception of the eventsFirst person ISecond person YouThird person He, She, TheyMost fiction stories have a theme, or underlying, reoccurring message about life6Genres of FictionSub-genres of FictionNovel: longer works that weave together many different events and charactersNovella: shorter than a novel, but longer than a short story; features a limited number of charactersShort Story: Can be read in one sitting; often focuses on a single eventMYTH concerns the origins of the world or how the world came into its present formExample: Theseus and the MinotaurFABLE a short story that imparts a moral lesson Example: The Tortoise and the HareGraphic Novel : a novel that uses many illustrations to help relay the eventsRealistic FictionExamples: Peak, The OutsidersHistorical FictionExamples: Huckleberry FinnScience FictionExamples: Hunger Games, The GiverFantasyExamples: Harry Potter, TwilightSuspenseExamples: Sherlock HolmesFictionOn the next slide is a short passage from the novel SLAM! by Walter Dean Myers.As we read, look for answers to the following questions:From whose point of view is the story told?What is the main conflict?Which other characters are introduced in the excerpt?What do we learn about the main character? How do we learn this information?

Fictionfrom SLAM! a novel by Walter Dean MyersBasketball is my thing. I can hoop. Case closed. Im six four and I got the moves, the eye,and the heart. You can take my game to the bank and wait around for the interest. With me itsnot like playing a game, its like the only time Im being for real. Bringing the ball down thecourt make me feel like a bird that just learned to fly. I see my guys moving down infront of me and everything feels and looks right. Patterns come up and a small buzz comesinto my head that starts to build up and I know it wont end until the ball swishes through thenet. If somebody starts messing with my game its like theyre getting into my head. But if Ivegot the ball its okay, because I can take care of the situation. Thats the word and I know it thesame way I know my tag, Slam. Yeah, thats it. Slam. But without the ball, without thefloorboards under my feet, without the mid-court line that takes me halfway home, you can getto me. So when Mr. Tate, the principal at me new school, started talking about me laying low forthe season until I got my grades together I was like seriously turned out. The night after hetalked to my moms I couldnt sleep. It wasnt the hissing of the radiator or my little brothertalking in his sleep in the other bed, it was the idea of not playing ball that was bouncingcrazylike through my head.NonfictionNonfiction is a type of writing in which the people, places and events are real. The author may include facts, but may include personal opinion, too.The main purposes of nonfiction are to: Argue, Persuade, Inform, EntertainArgumentative writing convinces because of the reasonableness of the claims and proofs offeredPersuasive writing evokes emotions in the audience by employing various persuasive techniques Narrative NonfictionThe true story about a persons lifeBiographyWritten by someone other than the subject3rd person point of viewA writers researched version of the eventsAutobiographyA self-written account of someones life1st person point of viewThe writers own version of the eventsMemoirA self-written account of one significant moment in the subjects life1st person point of viewTold from a reflective viewpointAnswers: How did this event impact my life? Personal NarrativeA self-written account of one, focused event in a persons life

Model 1: BiographyHow can you tell that this excerpt is from a biography rather than an autobiography?from Steve Jobs: [Thinks Different]Biography by Ann Brashares

At thirteen, Jobss interest in electronics was blossoming. One day he was building an electronic counting machine, and he needed some parts. He knew he could get them from Hewlett-Packard, a giant electronics company not far from his house. Jobs looked up the phone number of Bill Hewlett, the cofounder of Hewlett-Packard. Some kids would have been afraid to dial up one of the richest and most important men in California. Not Steve Jobs.

He boldly chatted with Bill Hewlett for twenty minutes and Hewlett was so impressed and surprised by the young man that he not only gave him the parts he needed but offered him a summer job, too. That phone call taught an early lesson: If you ask for what you want, you often get it.Model 2: Feature ArticleWhat characteristics make this article different from the biography about Steve Jobs?WIRELESS EVOLUTION:THANK YOU ENIAC

WAY BACK WHEN, ONE COMPUTERCOULD FILL AN ENTIRE MIDDLE SCHOOLCAFETERIA. TODAY, YOU CAN WEAR ONEON YOUR BELT LOOP.by David Santos

Far from a Handheld The firstcomputerized counting machine: wascalled ENIAC Electronic NumericalIntegrator and Computer. Completed in1946, covering three walls, standingeight feet high, and weighing 30 tons,ENIAC required 7,468 vacuum tubes and6,000 manual switches just to getwarmed up!ENIAC could execute thousands ofcalculations in seconds. However,reprogramming it took a team of people,three days, and lots of patience.

ENIACs advanced technology, even withits massive shortcomings, was critical inspurring on the decades of computerevolution that followed.Poetrya writers arrangement of words to achieve specific effect

Prose is normal, everyday language. (Novels are divided into chapters.) POETRYPoetryWhat specific characteristics tell you that Teenagers is a poem, rather than a work of fiction?TeenagersPoem by Pat Mora

One day they disappearinto their rooms.Doors and lips shutand we become strangersin our own home.

I pace the hall, hear whispersa code I knew but cant remembermouthed by mouths I taught to speak

Years later the door opens.I see faces I once held,open as sunflowers in my hands. I seefamiliar skin now stretched on long bodiesthat move past meglowing almost like pearls.

Drama:Any work written to be performed on stage.Has all the elements of good fiction plot, setting, characters, themeLacks narrationDialogue between characters reveals details about the setting, plot and charactersStage directions help readers imagine the performanceDivided into scenesScenes are grouped into actsDramaThe following drama takes place in Brooklyn in 1937. Fourteen-year-old Eugene has just discovered that his oldest brother, Stanley, is leaving home. Stanley is ashamed because he gambled away his paycheck, which his family relies on to make ends meet. In this excerpt, Eugene offers Stanley his life savings for train fair. How does Eugene feel about Stanley? Cite details from the dialogue and the stage directions to support your answer.from Brighton Beach MemoirsDrama by Neil Simon

Eugene: Youre leaving home?Stanley: When Im gone, you tell Aunt Blanche what happened to my salary. Then shell know why Mom was so angry. Tell her please not to leave, because it was all my fault, not Moms. Will you do that? [He takes the coins out of the cigar box.]Eugene: I have eight cents worth of stamps, if you want that too.Stanley: Thanks. [He picks up a small medal.] Whats this?Eugene: The medal you won for the hundred-yard dash two years ago.Stanley: From the Police Athletic League. I didnt know you still had this.Eugene: You gave it to me. You can have it back if you want it.Stanley: Its not worth anything.Eugene: It is to me.

MediaMedia refers to forms of communication that reaches large numbers of people.MediaMedium: the format in which ideas are conveyed. The plural of medium is media.Message: the main idea conveyed through a medium.Purpose: the reason for the creation of a media message.Target audience: the group for who a message is intended.Media