Tips for Teaching Literary Analysis - Plot and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Tips for Teaching Literary Analysis - Plot and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

All of C.S. Lewis' seven books in The Chronicles of Narnia series and studied in a Narnia unit study have a well developed, mature plot. What, in its simplest form, is plot? Plot is the sequence of events in a literary work, the main points of action or decision in a story.

An author organizes his story so that the actions of the characters are planned and logical for the reader to follow. But a logical plot isn't always predictable, as exemplified by The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. As you'll find out by using a Narnia unit study, great authors like C.S. Lewis always have surprises and turns in the plot to keep readers expectant.

Usually the plot - the events in a story - is organized into a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Another way of stating the organization of the plot is to speak of the introduction, the climax, and the conclusion.

To think about the plot in a story like The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, we can ask ourselves:

1. What happens first? (beginning or introduction reveals the characters and the setting)

2. What happens next? (middle or climax describes the characters' "problem")

3. What happens last? (ending or conclusion resolves the characters' problem; in other words, how does the problem get fixed?)

Think of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. If it were a short story, the plot might have been very simple. But like all Narnia unit study books, it is a longer book. Therefore the plot can be much more complicated so to study its plot, you must just focus on the major events and not all the small details of the action.

Thinking about Edmund and Lucy Pevensie and their cousin, Eustace, what major event(s) happens in the beginning? What happens to them during their perilous journey to find the seven lords who were ousted during Miraz's rebellious reign? What happens to show the characters their "problem?" How does The Voyage of the Dawn Treader conclude and their conflict get resolved?

Hopefully by now you've read far enough in a Narnia unit study and in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to answer these sorts of questions in terms of plot. As you write down your answers to these questions in some reasonable order, you will have summarized the plot of one of the well-known books from The Chronicles of Narnia.

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Melanie Hexter is the author of The Chronicles of Narnia unit study, a LEMILOE Publishing "Winning at Literature" comprehensive literature-based unit study that provides teachers and home school parents with a step-by-step guide for teaching literary analysis while exploring the wonders of Narnia. To learn more about this study, visit www.NarniaUnitStudy.com.

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