Mentor, Trickster and Guardian Archetypes

Pair a device sheet with the novel your class is reading, such as foreshadowing before a mystery. Keep the literary terms reference in student folders for discussions and essays.

Label modern characters as mentor, trickster or threshold guardian and copy the phrase that proves it. An archetype is a character type that appears again and again in stories from many times and cultures. The directions on the page read: Read each sketch and decide the role of the first character named. Circle M for mentor, T for trickster, or G for threshold guardian. Then copy a short phrase from the sketch that proves your choice on the Evidence line. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 8th grade figurative language, and it works the same at home or at school. At home, a student can work through it alone and then go over it with you, which shows quickly what is solid and what needs another look. In class it works as independent practice, homework or a warm-up, and you can print one copy or a full set.

The hero's journey is a story pattern in which a hero leaves ordinary life, faces trials with help from others and returns changed. The Hero's Journey in a Modern Story lists eight stages, from the ordinary world to the return, and has students quote a story about a student named Lia for each one.

A symbolic setting is a place that stands for something larger, such as a feeling, a choice or a stage of life. In Symbolic Settings in Short Scenes, a crossroads stands for a choice and a locked greenhouse for grief. Students write what each setting symbolizes and the theme it points to.

Modern writers often reuse a myth's plot, character or lesson. Myth Figures in Modern Story Plots gives six Greek myth figures, such as Prometheus and Narcissus, and asks students to match modern stories to them. Tragic Flaw Plots Then and Now compares Icarus and King Midas with a story about a student coder.