Grade 10 · Context, Allusion and Interpretation · Interpretation and Intertextuality
Allusion and Transformed Source Material
Trace how a writer draws on myth, scripture or an earlier text, and analyse what the transformation argues.
Learning objectives
- Identify an allusion and its source
- Explain what the writer changes and why
- Evaluate the effect of the transformation on meaning
Common Core ELA alignment
RL.9-10.9
Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres, or a fictional portrayal and a historical account of the same period, in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics. Grades 9–10 emphasis: sustain a line of analysis across complex texts, using precise evidence and a formal academic register.
RL.9-10.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyse its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary. Grades 9–10 emphasis: sustain a line of analysis across complex texts, using precise evidence and a formal academic register.
RL.9-10.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings, and analyse the impact of word choice on meaning and tone. Grades 9–10 emphasis: sustain a line of analysis across complex texts, using precise evidence and a formal academic register.
MYP criteria
- Criterion A — Analysing
- Criterion C — Producing text
- Criterion D — Using language
ENGAGE
A borrowed name
A modern novel names its runaway sister Antigone. Before she speaks, readers who know the myth expect her to defy a law and pay for it. The allusion has already made an argument.
Think about it
- What does an allusion do before any plot happens?
- What happens if the character then obeys the law?
EXPLAIN
Reading a transformation
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| What is the source? | Fixes the expectation the writer is using |
| What is kept? | Shows what the writer treats as universal |
| What is changed? | This is where the argument lives |
| Who benefits from the change? | Reveals whose perspective is being restored or displaced |
Kinds of transformation
- Retelling from a silenced character point of view.
- Relocating in time or place so the conflict reads differently.
- Inverting the ending to refuse the original moral.
- Fragmenting the source so no single version holds authority.
Careful
Spotting the allusion is the beginning. The mark comes from explaining what the difference between source and new text argues.
EXPLORE
Analyse a transformation
In the myth, the sister buries her brother and is sealed in a tomb by the king. In the novel, the sister is a hospital cleaner who returns a dead man belongings to his family against policy; she is not punished but quietly moved to night shifts, and the policy is never revised.
Think about it
- What is kept, and what is changed?
- What does the absence of dramatic punishment argue about modern institutions?
MYP_PRACTICE
Criterion C and D task
Choose a text that reworks an older story, or write your own 200-word reworking. Then write 250 words analysing what your version keeps, changes, and argues, and evaluate whether the allusion helps or constrains the new text.
EXIT_TICKET
Check yourself
Think about it
- Name one allusion in something you have read or watched recently.
- What did its transformation argue?
Interactive practice · compare
Source and transformation
For each element, record what the source did, what the new text does, and what the change argues.
Columns
Your answer
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Key vocabulary
- Allusion
- An indirect reference to another text, person or event.
- Intertextuality
- The relationship between a text and other texts it draws on.
- Transformation
- The deliberate change a writer makes to source material.
- Context
- The historical and cultural situation shaping a text and its reading.
Practice questions
0/2 correct
Level 1 · Criterion A
What is kept from the myth in the novel version?
Level 2 · Criterion D
What does replacing execution with reassignment to night shifts most suggest?
MYP criterion tasks
Level 3 · Criterion C
Analyse what the transformation argues.
Reflect & track
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