November 11, 2001

RING AROUND THE PROSE-Y
Examining the Genre of the "Heroic Quest" as Explored in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring"

Grades:  6-8,9-12

Subjects:  Language Arts, Media Studies

Related New York Times Article
"The Hero Is a Hobbit, By W. H. AUDEN",

Overview of Lesson Plan:: In this lesson, students explore the literary genre of the Heroic Quest through reading W.H. Auden's 1954 New York Times review of "The Fellowship of the Ring." They then add their own creations to the genre by writing their own Heroic Quest stories, based on heroes, settings and objects of quests developed by classmates and selected at random.

Suggested Time Allowance: 45 minutes

Objectives:
Students will:

  1. Express their understanding of the literary genre of the "Heroic Quest" by detailing heroes, quests, objects of quests and obstacles in examples of such stories.
  2. Further examine this literary genre through the example of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Ring" by reading and discussing the 1954 New York Times review "'The Fellowship of the Ring': The Hero Is a Hobbit."
  3. Develop heroes, objects of quests and settings to be randomly selected by classmates for the creation of their own Heroic Quest stories; connect the heroes, objects and settings they selected through a pre-writing exercise.
  4. Invent Heroic Quest stories.

Resources / Materials:

Activities / Procedures:

  1. WARM-UP/DO-NOW: In their journals, students respond to the following prompt, written on the board prior to class: "A common literary genre (or type of story) is that of the Heroic Quest. In this genre, a heroic figure sets out on some kind of journey (or quest) in order to obtain a special or sacred object, meeting much danger and often many enemies along the way. Think of an example of this type of story, and write the name of the story at the top of a page in your journal. Then, answer these questions about the story you selected: Who is the hero of this story, and what is he or she like? What object is he or she seeking, and why? What is involved in the quest to obtain that object? What obstacles does he or she have to overcome? What does the hero learn about himself or herself through this quest?" After about ten minutes, ask students to share their writings. What similar themes do students feel exist among all their examples? Why might this be a popular literary genre for both writers and readers?
  2. As a class, read and discuss the New York Times book review "'The Fellowship of the Ring': The Hero Is a Hobbit" (written when the first book of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy was published in 1954), focusing on the following questions:
    1. In what year was "The Hobbit" first published?
    2. What difference in audience exists, according to the writer, between "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Hobbit"?
    3. What characterizes the genre of the "Heroic Quest"?
    4. From what you know about the book from this review, what is the Object of the Quest? Who is the Hero? Who is the Enemy? What is the Quest?
    5. What is a hobbit?
    6. How does the reviewer feel people may react to the opening chapter of the book?
    7. Where do the hobbits live, and what is life like there?
    8. What other races of beings exist in the Shire?
    9. How does the author of the book, J.R.R. Tolkien, live up to his reader's expectations, according to the review?
    10. Where and when is this book set?
    11. The last paragraph states that "if one is to take a tale of this kind seriously, one must feel that, however superficially unlike the world we live in its characters and events may be, it nevertheless holds up the mirror to the only nature we know, our own." What does that sentence mean?
    12. How did this reviewer feel about this book, and how do you know?
    13. Who wrote this review? What do you know about him from the information provided (or from your study of literature)?
  3. With a clearer understanding of the genre of the Heroic Quest, given the example outlined in the review of "The Fellowship of the Ring," explain to students that they will each be developing a story to fit this genre. However, they will be basing their stories on heroes, objects of quests and settings created by their classmates and chosen randomly. Give each student three slips of paper. First, students write on one slip a brief description of a character to serve as the hero of a story. The hero can be a figure that might oftentimes be viewed as heroic (such as a knight or a leader of a country) or can be a character not typically viewed in this way (such as a fast food restaurant cashier or a gardener). Then, have students each place their "hero" papers in a hat, bag or box, and allow students to each draw a slip from it. To ensure no trading among students, students should write down their hero upon choosing their slip of paper. Continue this procedure two more times, first with students writing down an object of a quest unrelated to the hero they created or selected, and then with students writing down a similarly unrelated setting (including both place and time period).

    To outline their thoughts about the stories that they will be writing, in which they will be incorporating the heroes, objects of quests and settings that they have randomly selected, students should respond to the pre-writing questions below before they begin to write. Read each question aloud, allowing students two minutes to jot down their responses to each one before reading the next question.
    • Why does your hero want or need to go on a quest to obtain the object of the quest?
    • How might the setting (both place and time period) affect the hero?
    • How might the setting affect the quest?
    • What enemies or other dangers might your hero encounter during his or her quest?
    • What do you hope your hero will learn through this quest?
  4. WRAP-UP/HOMEWORK: Students write their Heroic Quest stories, fitting together as best as they can their heroes, settings and objects of their quests. For extra credit, students might also illustrate and bind their stories into books. In a future class, encourage students to share their stories.

Further Questions for Discussion:

Evaluation / Assessment:
Students will be evaluated based on initial journal responses, participation in class discussions, participation in pre-writing exercises, and thoughtfully developed Heroic Quest stories based on randomly selected heroes, settings and objects of quests.

Vocabulary:
fanfare, volume, trilogy, imaginative, genre, quest, numinous, corrupted, providentially, demonic, lordship, unmaking, sensibility, arcadian, rustics, inhabit, archness, fertile, latter, sinister, incarnation, horrid, reminiscent, unflagging, primitive, realism, superficially

Extension Activities:

  1. Read one or all of the books in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and write your own review, or film a review of the novel in the style of a television reviewer.
  2. The review alludes to several other literary works and genres. Hobbits are compared to the "arcadian rustics who inhabit so many British detective stories." The realism of the book is "much stricter than in the time, say, of Malory." The "landscape, climate and atmosphere" of the book "are northern, reminiscent of the Icelandic sagas." And the suspense of the book is said to be "at least as good as 'The Thirty-Nine Steps.'" Read a British detective novel from the 1940's or 1950's, a work by Malory, an Icelandic saga or "The Thirty-Nine Steps." Based on what you know about "The Fellowship of the Rings" from this review (or from reading the book), why are these comparisons drawn? How accurate are they? Write a brief comparison paper or create a chart expressing your views.
  3. W.H. Auden, who wrote this review, is a famous author. Learn about Auden's life and read some of his works. Then, create a short W.H. Auden anthology that offers a brief biography, some excerpts or full versions of some of his works, and an analysis of each of your selections, connecting his writings to his life and to the world around him.
  4. Learn more about the works of J.R.R. Tolkien by visiting the New York Times on the Web's Tolkien Archives (http://www.nytimes.com/tolkien) Read reviews of his works, and choose one of them to read. Alternately, read the New York Times reviews of "The Hobbit" and of the other two novels in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy in the order in which they were published. How do these books fit together, given what you know about them from these reviews?There are many types (or archetypes) of heroes in literature, such as tragic heroes, mythic heroes and folk heroes. With the help of your language arts teacher, identify as many of these archetypal heroes as you can, and identify one example of each (such as Hamlet or Oedipus as tragic heroes, Hercules as a mythic hero, and Robin Hood as a folk hero.) Read one piece of literature that centers around each type of hero, and create a graph comparing and contrasting their characteristics as heroes, their quests and their obstacles. Alternately, write a short story in which these heroes interact in some way in a real-life setting, illustrating their characteristics and quests. (Settings might include a driving accident, a high school reunion or an annual heroes convention.)

Interdisciplinary Connections:
Current Events/Journalism- Write a news article about the quest of a real-life hero, either from modern times or from the past. Alternately, create a collage of news photographs and articles that you feel represent your definition of heroism.

Media Studies- A "Lord of the Rings" movie will be in movie theaters at the end of 2001. Visit Web sites and read news articles about this movie. How accurately does it seem this movie will represent the trilogy? What past movies based on Tolkien's works exist, and in what ways were they successful or not successful? When "The Lord of the Rings" enters theaters (or is available on video), watch the film and write a critical review. You may also want to read the trilogy and compare it to the film.

Technology- Learn more about the world of J.R.R. Tolkien and his works through The Learning Network's J.R.R. Tolkien Web Exploration (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/explorer/tolkien/_tourlaunch1.htm).

Copyright 2001
The New York Times Company

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