Common Core Standards

Grade 8

Reading RL.8.6

Analyze how differences in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.

The point of this Common Core Standard is to have students understand how our perception of what's going on a story can change based on what information they have (especially when the characters don't have that same information). Dramatic irony is pretty much that exact situation: when the readers know something the characters don't. For example, dramatic irony can be created in a horror movie—we know that there's a monster hiding around the corner whereas the characters don't, and so the suspense will now be seeing how the character gets out of that situation alive.

Example 1

Here's an example lesson to use when your students are reading A Raisin in the Sun.

Have students create a graphic organizer that considers and answers each of these four points about Mr. Lindner:

how Mr. Lindner appears at first
what Mr. Lindner's real motives are
one or two words to describe the character
the character's connection to the other characters.

Their responses might look something like this:

At first, Mr. Lindner seems like he genuinely wants to get to know the Youngers.
Mr. Lindner's real motives are to try to buy the house back from the Youngers to prevent them from moving into his neighborhood.
Mr. Lindner is smooth-talking and sneaky.
Mr. Lindner is on the welcoming committee in Clybourne Park, the neighborhood to which the Youngers will be moving.

Aligned Resources

Teacher Guides

Video

Aristotle

The observed gravitational effect between Common Core activities results from their warping of Shmooptime.