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from The Round House To find solid evidence, you will have to rely on your observations, AP TIP 1
®
1
find portions of the work that seem significant, and then explain why
Louise Erdrich and how you think they are meaningful. Sometimes this process Try to use language that chapter 1
conveys certainty in your
happens naturally as you reflect on a story you immediately claims. Instead of writing,
Small trees had attacked my parents’ house at convenient holes in the mortar for next year’s
the foundation. They were just seedlings with seedlings. connected with and enjoyed, but sometimes a work of literature can “I think the daughter in ‘The
First Day’ finds it ironic. . . ”
one or two rigid, healthy leaves. Nevertheless, Whenever I succeeded in working loose a tiny seem like it’s just a wall of words you have to climb. In such or even, “The daughter
the stalky shoots had managed to squeeze tree, I placed it like a trophy beside me on the situations, the basic elements of fiction are tools you can use to seems to find it ironic . . .”
through knife cracks in the decorative brown narrow sidewalk that surrounded the house. make the ascent. This approach to developing an interpretation is you might instead write,
shingles covering the cement blocks. They had There were ash shoots, elm, maple, box elder, relatively systematic, but it will always get you where you need to go. “The daughter in ‘The First
Analyzing Short Fiction
grown into the unseen wall and it was difficult to even a good-sized catalpa, which my father placed Let’s look at how you might go element by element in “The First Day” Day’ finds it ironic. . . .”
pry them loose. My father wiped his palm across in an ice cream bucket and watered, thinking that by Edward P. Jones to develop your interpretation of the story.
© Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Do not distribute.
his forehead and damned their toughness. I was he might find a place to replant it. I thought it was Let’s start with character. Who are the characters in this story? The main characters
using a rusted old dandelion fork with a a wonder the treelets had persisted through a are the mother and the daughter. All of the other characters are female — where are Section 1 / Putting It All Together: Interpreting Major Elements of Fiction
splintered handle; he wielded a long, slim iron North Dakota winter. They’d had water perhaps, the men in this story? Their absence could speak to the importance and complexity
fireplace poker that was probably doing more but only feeble light and a few crumbs of earth. Yet of women’s relationships with each other, particularly mothers and daughters.
harm than good. As my father prodded away each seed had managed to sink the hasp of a root What else do you know about the protagonist of the story, the daughter? How does
blindly at the places where he sensed roots deep and a probing tendril outward. she change or develop because of the action in the plot? Consider, for example, the
might have penetrated, he was surely making 2012 title of the text: “The First Day.” We can ask, “The first day of what?” Literally, it’s the
first day of school, but what else does this day signify? The daughter is leaving her
family and entering society as a whole. It’s the first day that her education and her
Putting It All Together: fate are being transferred from her mother to the adults at the school, who are minor DIFFERENTIATION
but important characters in this story. These observations suggest a number of
Interpreting Major Elements of Fiction interpretations, especially the importance of community in raising a child. Connections to World
The setting of the story also offers opportunities for interpretation. In our earlier
As you analyze literature, you have not only the challenge of comprehending what discussion of setting, we focused on what the neighborhood reveals about the lives of the Consider this statement: “These
observations suggest a number of
happens in the story but also of understanding how characters, plot, setting, point of narrator and her mother, as well as what significance the mother’s church holds as a symbol interpretations [about “The First Day”],
view, and perspective come together to raise questions, explore issues, and ultimately of community. But the setting also speaks to the mother’s anxiety about letting her daughter especially the importance of community
convey meaning. When you put forth your understanding of the text, you are making a go and the daughter’s readiness to have new experiences on her own. This creates a bit of in raising a child.” Brainstorm about other
claim about its deeper meaning, or theme(s). A claim must be arguable, which is tension in the story: while the mother sees the school near the church as an extension of a possible interpretations by creating a
where your interpretation will come in. If the plot, characters, and setting are the what community she trusts to protect her daughter, the fact that it’s familiar ground might research question that considers the extent
of a story, then your interpretation is the so what. Developing an interpretation is not ultimately limit the daughter’s opportunities to establish herself on her own terms. of the impact of outside factors. Instead of
a simple process, and you might even feel as though you have to make it up by using Regardless of which school the daughter attends, the general setting of schools also “Why is it important that a community help
your imagination — but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, literary critic Northrop reinforces our earlier interpretation of the roles wider communities play in raising children. raise a child?” ask “To what extent does
Frye used the term “the educated imagination” to describe the intersection of skills and The plot of the story is pretty straightforward: an illiterate mother takes her daughter to the involvement of a community positively
knowledge with creativity. In a way, this chapter so far has educated your imagination — the first day of kindergarten; they are refused admission to one school and have to go to or negatively impact a child’s confidence?”
what you’ve learned about the basic building blocks of stories such as character, pers pec- another, where another parent assists the mother in filling out the necessary forms. The Brainstorm about other possible themes,
tive, point of view, plot, and setting all give you ways to exercise your imagination as mother then leaves the daughter at school, telling her to pay close attention to the teacher. and then develop additional thematic
you think about what these stories mean. The complexity of this process of inter- That basic sequence of events is a summary of the plot, but an interpretation of it requires questions.
pretation means that while others may develop similar interpretations, yours is still a deeper exploration that moves beyond what happens and looks at how the order of
unique. That is why you will also need to provide evidence from the text to back the events and the overall structure of the story communicate meaning. Within the plot of “The
claims you make as you explain and support your interpretation. All of these pieces, First Day,” some of the events take on deeper significance as we re-examine them. For
when put together, essentially form a literary argument. instance, why would a mother who has not had the opportunity to receive a formal
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CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING
In “The First Day,” some of the events take on
deeper significance upon reexamination. You
may ask students to use a narrative structure,
such as Joseph Campbell’s archetypal hero’s
journey, fairy tale archetypal structure, or
established short story structures to suggest
further relationships between a plot point and
the narrator’s emotional attitude or motiva-
tion. For example, in Campbell’s archetype,
the home culture is connected to lack of
awareness.

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