Grade 9 · Close Reading and Complex Characters · Complex Characters and Structure
Structure, Order and Suspense
Analyse how ordering, pacing and withheld information create tension and meaning.
Learning objectives
- Identify non-linear structural choices
- Explain how withheld information creates suspense
- Evaluate the effect of a structural choice on meaning
Common Core ELA alignment
RL.9-10.5
Analyse how a particular sentence, chapter, scene or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of theme, setting or plot. Grades 9–10 emphasis: sustain a line of analysis across complex texts, using precise evidence and a formal academic register.
RL.9-10.1
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what a literary text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 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 D — Using language
ENGAGE
Start with the ending
A story that opens with the funeral and then goes back six months does not spoil itself. It changes the question from what happens to why and how, and every scene now carries dread.
Think about it
- What question does the reader carry after such an opening?
- What does the writer lose by giving away the ending?
EXPLAIN
Structural tools
| Tool | Definition | Effect to analyse |
|---|---|---|
| In medias res | Beginning in the middle of action | Immediacy, delayed context |
| Flashback | Moving to an earlier time | Explains motive, slows present |
| Foreshadowing | Planting a hint of what is to come | Dread and later satisfaction |
| Withholding | Delaying key information | Suspense and re-reading |
| Parallel plot | Two strands intercut | Comparison and irony |
Pacing
- Short sentences and short scenes accelerate.
- Description, reflection and dialogue-free passages decelerate.
- A cliffhanger is a structural cut, not a plot event.
Answer stem
By placing X before Y, the writer makes the reader ... , which supports the theme of ...
EXPLORE
Two orderings
Order A: The brothers argue. One leaves the country. Years later a letter arrives.
Order B: A letter arrives and is left unopened for three chapters. Interleaved flashbacks show the argument and the departure.
Think about it
- What does order B gain that order A does not?
- What does order B risk?
MYP_PRACTICE
Criterion A and D task
Take a short story you know. Re-plan it in a different order, then write 200 words evaluating what your new order gains and loses, using the answer stem twice.
EXIT_TICKET
Check yourself
Think about it
- Name one structural choice you noticed in your current reading.
- How does withholding differ from foreshadowing?
Interactive practice · reorder
Reorder the scenes
Arrange the scenes into two different orders and predict the effect of each.
Scenes
Your answer
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Key vocabulary
- In medias res
- Starting a narrative in the middle of the action.
- Foreshadowing
- An early hint of a later event.
- Withholding
- Deliberately delaying information the reader wants.
- Pacing
- The speed at which a narrative moves.
Practice questions
0/2 correct
Level 1 · Criterion A
An unopened letter left for three chapters is an example of
Level 2 · Criterion A
What does interleaving flashbacks with a present-day strand most enable?
MYP criterion tasks
Level 3 · Criterion D
Evaluate what order B gains and risks.
Reflect & track
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