Discussion Questions for April 1

Continuing with the discussion model we've been using since spring break, I'll give you some time to think of topics you'd like to bring up in class. That said, I do want to be sure to address these ideas.

Discussion Questions: “Fantasy, Realism, and Genre Fiction” and Un Lun Dun

Small Group Work/Class Discussion

1.     What are the distinguishing attributes of fantasy? Of realism?

2.     What is high fantasy? What are some examples of it?

3.     Literary critic Sophie Mills distinguishes between fantasy and realism by stating, “Either we are given a fantastic vision of the world in which we may escape change and pain, or we are shown that the change and the pain are necessary and beneficial for our development” (qtd. in Hintz and Tribunella 313). Choose at least three of our texts and discuss the ways in which they engage with and resolve this tension.

Remember, our texts include Anne of Green Gables, A Maze Me, American Born Chinese, Number the Stars, “The Little Mermaid,” “The Snow Queen,” Coraline, Boy Meets Boy, The Giver, and Un Lun Dun. You may also use The Snowy Day and And Tango Makes Three if you wish.

4.     Literary critic Eric Rabkin suggests that literature for young adults provides possible “means by which […] escape may be made possible” and that the pressures “escaped” by protagonists reveal insight into adult anxieties (qtd. in Hintz and Tribunella 316). For example, Peter Pan’s refusal to grow up signals the emphasis Victorian culture placed on maturing into responsible adulthood.

a.     Do you agree or disagree with Rabkin’s analysis? Why?

b.     Identify at least one protagonist, out of the texts we’ve read this semester, who seems to escape a specific pressure of the adult world and how he or she achieves this. Is the escape seen as sustainable, or inherently temporary?

5.     Hintz and Tribunella state that there have been debates over which genre children “need” more: fantasy or realism (325-326). What are the arguments for each side of this debate? Do you agree with one side more than the other? What genre of books were you drawn to as a child? Which would you be most likely to assign?

6.     Literary critic Don Latham says that fantasy can cause child protagonists to “question the values and assumptions of the dominant society” (qtd. in Hintz and Tribunella 328). How might fantasy accomplish this? Do you see this happening in any of our texts so far?

7.     Un Lun Dun engages with the common trope of “the chosen one.” What are some other examples of stories that use this trope? What might it suggest about power?