Interchange Conference Transcript
y:\diwe5net\CLASSES\KWestm10\CHAT\4frindle
[Message #1 07:35:26 AM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Karin Westman:
Diction -- that is, word choice -- certainly plays a leading role in _Frindle_, given Nick's experience with Mrs. Granger and his attempts to make "frindle" a word which others use. What about setting and point of view, though? What role do these elements of fiction play in our experience of the story's themes?
[Message #2 01:13:51 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Joe Geist:
The story's drama was created because of the setting of a small town. Without that element then the story really doesn't have much drama.
[Message #3 01:14:31 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Karin Westman:
What makes a small town ripe for such drama, rather than a large town?
[Message #4 01:14:52 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
Point of view is very important in Frindle. Having a child narrator creates an innocence that is very important to the story easy to relate to and sympathize with. If the narrator had been an adult, it probably would have been more of a nuisance than brilliance to have an adult walking around saying "frindle" all the time.
[Message #5 01:15:43 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
No one would have cared about what a little boy's new word was in a big city. News in on a smaller scale in small towns which gives little news a chance to grow big in its own right.
[Message #6 01:16:04 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Joe Geist:
Because...not that I lived in a small town or anything but it seems like the little things in life get more attention, like some kid making up a word. Yeah what Debbie said.
[Message #7 01:18:18 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Karin Westman:
What's the effect of not knowing Mrs. Granger's pov?
[Message #8 01:18:28 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Karin Westman:
...at least not until the end.
[Message #9 01:19:08 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
That's very important. She lets herself become the villian in the story, when we can't quite understand why. Creates a kind of suspense, until the end.
[Message #10 01:20:00 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Joe Geist:
Yeah And then when the story ends that was what made it all so warm hearted and stuff.
[Message #11 01:20:45 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
Stuff. Very nice
[Message #12 01:20:58 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Joe Geist:
Is that some sort of Dramatic Irony...right? Or do I have the wrong term
[Message #13 01:21:20 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
I think situational.
[Message #14 01:21:51 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Joe Geist:
something Irony...ok well moving on
[Message #15 01:22:30 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
I really liked the teacher though. It was obvious that she cared about her students by the description of her eyes and the "twinkle" I think is what they called it
[Message #16 01:23:22 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Karin Westman:
RE: #14: Yes, irony -- the kind where readers don't know what's going to happen (as opposed to dramatic irony, where they do, and the characters don't.)
[Message #17 01:23:28 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Joe Geist:
yeah yeah I agree...well at times she was scary but you got the sense that deep down she cared. And then it all made sense at the end and it was all happy...this book put me in a good mood today, today was sucking and then I read this book
[Message #18 01:24:43 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
I really liked it too. It's kind of inspiring. Now I want to do something drastic that changes the way people think.
[Message #19 01:24:56 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Karin Westman:
Good points about the suspense/relevation of Mrs Granger caring at the end, when it appeared she didn't earlier. To ask another version of the same question, what's the effect of being with Nick's p.o.v., and not some third party or secondary character (like his mom or dad)?
[Message #20 01:25:09 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
Which is so strange because I never used to think that children's literature could have that effect on me as an adult.
[Message #21 01:25:52 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Joe Geist:
I've never met someone with "gray eyes"...are they real? I always hear about them...yeah I agree with that point about childrens lit
[Message #22 01:27:00 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
Well, every now and then the author slips into an omniscent (I can't spell) point of view. For example, when his father went to see Bud about the money. That's something that Nick, the main narrator, never knows about. That allows us to enter other character's lives a little more than if it had just been from Nick the entire time.
[Message #23 01:27:41 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
Or is it limited om? I am so bad with remembering all the different kinds of point of view
[Message #24 01:28:54 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Joe Geist:
yeah, thats true. The pov kinda jumps around a little...I dont know...omnipresent...haha woho no thats not it...omnoanoanao I can't remember either?
[Message #25 01:29:16 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
But you know what I mean
[Message #26 01:29:31 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Joe Geist:
yeah yeah I know what your talking about
[Message #27 01:31:06 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
I loved the way Nick reacted to when his mom stuck up for him when the principal came to talk to them. I couldn't see what the big deal was either.
[Message #28 01:31:59 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
And Nick says a little cheer for his mom and all the other moms in the world. That's so funny. Kids are so fickle. You just know that later that night when she was telling him to eat his veggies he felt the opposite.
[Message #29 01:32:17 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Karin Westman:
**** As a final posting for this portion of our conversation, take a look over the conversation postings, and decide on two themes you see present in _Frindle_. In your posting, identify the two themes and include an example for each one.
[Message #30 01:32:35 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Joe Geist:
haha yeah I know...but I mean schools can be like that. Coming from a Private Catholic shoool...I would know. They can be so insane sometimes, I could totally see something happening like that at my old school.
[Message #31 01:35:21 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
Probably one theme I could think of is that while a person might not know or understand the motives of another, that does not mean that they do not have that person's best interest at heart. Like Mrs.Granger fought Nick only to inspire him to suceed and work even harder to do so.
[Message #32 01:36:40 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
Another would be one small idea can reach out to others and become a big idea. That one is pretty obvious though.
[Message #33 01:37:31 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Joe Geist:
yeah, and another theme I could see is something along the lines of the beauty of a childs innosense, because the whole story is built on Nicks innosense. Without that the story doesn't have much, it seems to be centered around that.
[Message #34 01:37:58 PM, Thursday, February 05, 2004]
Debbie Swann:
Good point.