Literary Criticism - The Beginning

Hmm, I finished the book just now. Erm, was only trying to assess. But that's good.
I will post my analysis tomorrow so that we atleast have a prototype of what we are trying to do here.

Don't buy/order anything solely for this thread. We can always start with a book that is more readily available.
Because we still have 2 weeks, pick your genre and any book you want to begin with.

 

Book: The Twits by Roald Dahl
Criticism: Vladimir Propp's 31 Narratemes



Characters:

Hero: Muggle-Wump, African monkey
Donor: Roly-Poly, a magnificent Bird
Villain: Mr and Mrs Twit

Analysis:

6. Trickery: Mr Twit tries to capture birds to make a pie
10. Counteraction: Muggle-Wump foils the attempt
18: Victory: Mr Twit is defeated with assistance from Roly-Poly
19: Resolution: Muggle-Wump wins his freedom
20: Return: Muggle-Wump and his family fly with Roly-Poly to Africa

Matrix:
[6,10,18,19,20]

Literary Devices: Dahl is full of alliterations.

grizzly grin
ghoulish grin
fearful frumptious freak
filthy freaks
dirty droppings
whiskery old warthog
fatty folds of a flabby neck

Call-out

Watch you like a Wombat.
I knew wombats were some kind of marsupials but I looked up the picture. ah! aren't they so koochie-poochie.



You old Grunion
This is the first time I ever heard "grunion".
pronounced: Gruhn-yuhn (rhymes with onion)

But why a grunion?

Fascinating fact about the mating ritual of the grunions:

Many people enjoy catching grunion at events called "grunion runs." Grunion are known for their unusual mating ritual wherein at very high tides, the females come up on to sandy beaches where they dig their tails into the sand to lay their eggs. The male then wraps himself around the female to deposit his sperm, and for the next 10 days the grunion eggs remain hidden in the sand. At the next set of high tides, the eggs hatch and the young grunion are washed out to sea.