Journal Article

Language At the Heart of the Matter: Symbolic Language and Ideology in The Heart of a Chief

Bickmore, Steven Tueller

2005

Overview

Keeping in mind this dual consideration, one side of this approach suggests that critics and teacher educators prepare novice teachers with the ability to recognize literary elements, metaphors, symbols, and figurative language. Through a careful analysis of the books that are published and available for teachers and librarians to choose from, critics of adolescent literature, teacher educators, and teachers themselves should employ the tools of literary analysis to mediate the variety of ideologies that any given text either presents or neglects. Bruchac's expert use of these literary tools draws the reader into the narrative of an engaging and compelling text. Because a Native American writes the novel, it avoids the issue of representation that often haunts even well crafted novels, but that are written by authors outside the ethnic community the novel attempts to portray (Yolen, 1992; Woodson, 2003). [...]I had to sort of tell stories for my kids. Because they needed stories and I told traditional stories.

• Publisher: Assembly on Literature for Adolescents -- National Council of Teachers of English
• Subject: Adolescents / Beginning Teachers / Children & youth / Childrens literature / Childrens picture books / Encyclopedias / Ideology / Language / Motion pictures / Native North Americans / Novels / Stereotypes / Students / Teacher Educators / Teachers / Teenagers / Yolen, Jane / Young adult literature