Grade and Subject: 12th grade English
Objectives: Do a character analysis on Silvio, the lead character to The Mad Toy. Explain how he changes throughout the novel and the motives to his actions.
Opening: Instruct the students on the history of Argentina at the time of the novel (1926) and discuss various political issues at the time. Portray how the rich took advantage of the poor, the working conditions for the poor, and crime rates.
Direct Instruction: Explain to the class what a character analysis is. Explain that students must carefully critique the character from the beginning, in the middle, and at the very end of the story. Explain how the character is changing (if they do change), and why this change is occurring. Instruct that the students are to observe details about the character; their personality traits, their life goals, their ambition, family life, etc.
Guided Practice: Do a short, contained character analysis on a secondary character. Use all of the criteria explained above, and show how this relates to Silvio’s progression throughout the novel. Does this character help or hurt Silvio? What influences does that character have?
Example of a character to analyze: Enrique. Explore his influence on Silvio at the beginning of the novel and show how he helped sway Silvio into a life of crime.
Assessment: The students will begin their character analysis of Silvio. They will use the guidelines above, plus several that they will come up with themselves. Due to how much Silvio changes throughout the novel and the events that he experiences, the students should be able to gather at least a page worth of information for this character analysis.
Closing: allow the students to talk about what new thing they learned about Silvio. Allow them to discuss how their thoughts on the novel and the characters changed, and what new ideas they came up with when analyzing his character.