This year I read lots of stories, some of them I will tell you about. Within each of the stories I will talk about the theme, the conflict, how the character developed, about the protagonist/Antagonist , and finally the author’s style. These stories are The Dragon and the Raven by G. A. Henty, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, and The Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle. The theme is the major idea in the story. The conflict is defined as the primary struggle between the protagonist and the antagonist. The protagonist is the main character in a story. They are sometimes the ‘hero’ to the reader. The antagonist is the character who stands in opposition to the protagonist. Character development is the way the character develops throughout the story. Style is the distinctive way in which an author uses language.
The Dragon and the Raven by G. A. Henty. Some themes in this story are bravery and courage. When the Saxons invaded, the people of England showed bravery and courage when fighting them. When the Saxons attacked, they fought them until the Saxons sailed away back to their country. That is very brave, because the saxones are very strong and hard to fight.
The conflict in the story is that the Saxons invaded England. They tried to kill the saxon King so their king could rule them. The people didn’t want the saxon’s King because that king was very barbaric. The Saxons also would pirate the islands nearby with their ship Raven. They would plunder homes and take the people as slaves.
In the story commander Edmund started out as a bad war strategist. He would send his men into a fight without a plan, but by the end he has his own ship called The Dragon. He uses it to run into, smash, and sink the other enemy pirate ships. Using this tactic he sunk many ships. Edmund is the protagonist. He tries to stop the antagonist/ the saxon king from taking over England.
The style the author writes in is old english. His style sounds like this: “‘tell him that every lay brother and monk who can bear arms shall march hence to join him under the command of lay brother Toley, whose deeds of arms against the Danes in Mercia are well known to him.’”
The second story I will talk about is Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain. It starts with a man named Hank who wakes up in the time and place of King Arthur.
The first theme is helping others. When Hank visits the prison he questions the king on why some of the people are there. The king said that some of the prisoners are there because the king didn’t know what to do with them. Hank orders the guards to let the prisoners go. Why would the guards listen to Hank? Another theme is modernizing England. When Hank sees that England doesn’t have modern technology he installed phones, electricity lines, and even gave the knights bikes instead of horses. He does this because he doesn’t want to live without technology.
The conflict in the story is that Merlin the magician wants the title Magician back after Hank blew up the tower with magic but Hank actually did it with a bomb and took the title. Merlin tries to kill Hank throughout the story through magic.
Hank really develops in this story. He goes from a factory worker to the king but they call him the Boss. Using bombs and an eclipse he frightens the people into making him king because he said he made the eclipse
The protagonist is Hank and the antagonist is Merlin. But Hank could be considered the antagonist because he kicks Merlin out of the country and lies to the king. In the end the king learns from Merlin that Hank has been lying and sends an army to get him. Hank holds the whole army back with an electric fence. In the end Merlin puts Hank to sleep forever by sneaking into the camp disguised as an old lady with magic.
The third book I will talk about is Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. A theme for this story is survival. When the ship Robinson Crusoe was on sank, he swam and tried to not sink. He made it to an island and he found berries. He also found goats to eat. These are all ways he survived.
The conflict is that he is stranded on an island with cannibals who come in their boats every month to eat a slave. When the cannibals come he hides in his cave he found on a hill. Eventually he saves a slave from the cannibals and he uses him as a slave for himself.
In the beginning Robinson Crusoe didn’t have food or shelter. He finds a cave and a washed up gun. Later he finds a flock of goats. He eats and breads them. He also made a “fortress” out of trees and rocks.
The protagonist in this story is Robinson Crusoe. One antagonist is nature. He has to try to survive in nature without technology. cannibals are another antagonist. When they find out that Robinson Crusoe is on the island they try to hunt him, but he scares them with his gun.
The author’s style is adventure. The author likes to write adventure stories. He also writes a lot of pirate themed books.
Next book is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. A very important theme is caring. On Christmas you need to care for others. The poor asked Mr. Scrooge for money but he refused. Bob Cratchit was the only one brave enough to ask Mr. Scrooge for a day off on Christmas for the workers that he cared about. The ghosts were caring because they tried to help Mr. Scrooge see his greediness so he would not die alone
The conflict is greed vs caring. In the beginning Scrooge is very greedy, he only lets his workers have one off day and only because one of them asked. He also wouldn’t donate his money to charity. After three ghosts visited him, he realised he was too greedy and he started to care a lot.
Scrooge really changes, he goes from being mean, grumpy, and greedy to caring. First the ghost of the past visits him, he remembers the fun times he had on Christmas. Then the ghost of the present comes to him. He sees his workers at home wishing they had more money and more free days. He also sees one worker’s son dying. Then he sees the final ghost, the ghost of the future. He sees himself dead. When he wakes up he is really nice and caring.
This might sound strange but the protagonist is scrooge, and the antagonists are the ghosts. The ghosts are trying to stop Scrooge from being greedy. Note, the definition of antagonist in the beginning of this paper.
Charles Dickens writes books that teach moral lessons. For example, in this book, the lesson is to care for others. In another one of his stories, A Tale of Two Cities, the lesson is compassion.
In The Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle, two themes that go together are ‘don’t be greedy’ and ‘share your money with the poor’. When Robin Hood comes across a person with a lot of money who doesn’t give to the needy, he takes them to his camp in the woods, feeds them, and has an archery competition with them. Then he takes half of their gold and sends them on their way. He then gives the gold to the poor.
The conflict in the story is that the sheriff is trying to kill Robin Hood. The sheriff wants to kill Robin Hood because he killed the sheriff’s nephew and the king’s deer. The nephew was drunk and bet Robin Hood to kill the deer but then attacked him. Robin Hood killed him in self-defense. The Sheriff first hires Little John to hunt Robin Hood, but when he meets up with Robin Hood, he sees the good Robin Hood is doing and joins his band. Later, the Sheriff hires someone else to find Robin Hood but Robin Hood ends up killing him.
In the story, Robin Hood starts out as an ordinary person. However, when he kills one of the king’s deer the sheriff declares him an outlaw. Therefore, he started to live in the woods. Other out-laws joined him and created a ‘band’. Robin Hood was made the leader of the group. He was a fair, just, and forgiving leader.
The protagonist in the story is Robin Hood. He is the main character and also the hero of the story. He tries to fight against the antagonist; the sheriff. The sheriff overtaxed the people and gave to the rich.
The author, Howard Pyle, also writes in Old English. He likes to write action and adventure stories. Some other examples of his writings are Men of Iron and Otto of the Silver Hand.
These are some of the stories I read this year. I also used some very important vocabulary to describe them. Theas vocabulary words are very important because they help you visualise and understand the books.
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