Ok, I'm cheating a tiny bit here because in a sense, this is a guest entry. But only because it was written by me, over 16 years ago! Back in 8th grade, my English teacher was big on using book reports as an educational tool. But ours were not standard reports – oh no!
We wrote "Literary Letters" to the teacher, with 2-3 "letters" written per book. Each letter was on a different literary aspect, such as the use of foreshadowing, characterization, setting, etc. in the novel. We'd type up the letter, paste it into a composition book, and turn in the book for the teacher to grade. We'd get it back a few days later, in time to see what we did wrong and prepare for the letter writing for the following week. This was a completely novel approach to all of us students at the time, and a welcome change from the standard book-report format.
The letter below was written on Watership Down by Richard Adams shortly after I read the novel the first out of what has become many many times. I'm re-typing the letter exactly as I wrote it back then, including all typos, spelling, and grammar mistakes.
In Watership Down by Richard Adams a group of rabbits leave the main warren to seek safety because a rabbit has prophetic dreams. The book is about their struggle to survive in a strange world, a world of men, predators, and militias evil rabbits.
There are many aspects of realism in a novel. Some of these include setting, characters, and conflicts in the book. Watership Down uses many of these aspects.
The setting of Watership Down is very realistic. It mainly centers on the group of rabbits' new home in a patch of beech trees on the down. Other settings include the warren of the Efrafa, the fields at Cowslip's Warren, and the farm in which three rabbits are rescued from hutches. These settings are all described so realistically that they could be just over the hill past my house.
Even though the characters are rabbits, their could be real. the speech, however, is not very real. It is english mixed with the rabbit language. A glossary of the language of the rabbits is in the back of the book. I think the author used the rabbit language in the story to keep the animals from becoming too human-like, among other reasons. This language reminds the reader the personalities he/she is reading about are animals and not humans. However, the behavior is very realistic. The book explains what kinds of running paces the rabbits use – headlong run for the bushes when chased by enemies and easy lope around the warren – and how they eat. Using these explanations with the not-so-obvious reactions of rabbits such as jumping at every sound and sniffing for enemies, the author makes the rabbits seem like rabbits that live in the wild today. I know this because I did some research on rabbits.
My next topic for criticism is conflict. Most of the conflicts in the book are not realistic. These include leaving the warren because one rabbit says so, rescuing rabbits and getting shot by a rifle, and getting captured by evil rabbits. Judging by what I know of rabbits, I would say none of these conflicts were really happen to rabbis. On the other hand, these conflicts could happen to people. This is because the rabbits are personified, as are their conflicts. We find these sort of books interesting because they show how human life is and other people are very interesting. If one was to just write about rabbits as they truly are, the book would be very boring.
Therefore, this story is interesting because it compares humans with rabbits; making what the rabbits do and what is done to them human-like. But, these conflicts are a little far-fetched and exciting for regular life, and I think this story has "a little too much juice"; there are too many adventures than rabbits can handle. In The Hobbit; Bilbo got tired of the adventures after a few exciting things happened to him. On the other hand, the rabbits never seem to tire from their many adventures, so the book is not as realistic as I would like it to be.
Ross Goldberg
Just so you know, I got an A- on this letter. Note my overzealous use of punctuation and my mixture of tenses; I struggled with these a good deal even in my high school years. It's definitely fun to go back and see how I have improved in my writing over the years, though. One of these days I'll actually try to work up something showing my progression of writing from elementary school through college. I'm so happy my parents loved to save all my papers and reports from when I was in school. I'll definitely be doing that for my kids as well.
[NaBloPoMo 2008 - #7/30]
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November 7th, 2008 on 12:56 PM
This is a great post — what a window back. Seems to me like you were concerned (perhaps even a little obsessed?) with the realism/lack-of-realism there…
November 7th, 2008 on 1:44 PM
Haha, I have a feeling that this particular assignment had to do with evaluating the realism of the novel via aspects of setting, character, and conflict. I believe that two-sentence second paragraph of the letter was sort of a "thesis statement" for the letter. I doubt I really would have gone on-and-on about the realism of the novel throughout the letter if it hadn't been required.As for the date thing, I know I started using it that way that year (and ever since), but I can't be sure that I just impulsively started doing it. It may very well have been another requirement that I then adopted.
November 7th, 2008 on 1:56 PM
My favorite part is "I know this because I did some research on rabbits." That has to be the best sentence of a book report ever, though I'm kind of disappointed you didn't cite your source… ;-)
November 7th, 2008 on 2:21 PM
I like the fact that you used the word "militias," even though you forgot to follow it with "of." I also really like this part… " There are many aspects of realism in a novel. Some of these include setting, characters, and conflicts in the book. Watership Down uses many of these aspects." My daughter writes obvious sentences like this in her papers all the time (she's in 9th grade). You were a pretty good writer for your age, Ross!
November 7th, 2008 on 3:16 PM
I know, I cracked up when I re-read that, typing up the report. Actually, I got dinged quite a few times that year for not quoting or citing sources…
November 7th, 2008 on 3:18 PM
Ah, thanks :-) I remember writing "by the book" and I think a lot of those obvious sentences were a result of trying to stick to a specific essay format.
November 7th, 2008 on 5:01 PM
I
think the author used the rabbit language in the story to keep the
animals from becoming too human-like, among other reasons. This
language reminds the reader the personalities he/she is reading about
are animals and not humans.very perceptive, 8th-grade-ross.