Janie Pemberton

Dr. Warner

November 18, 2011

Unit of Study

Anti-Hero Unit of Study

The anti-hero is in essence seemingly opposite of a traditional hero. The anti-hero will be the clumsy, incompetent, luckless, ugly or a clown; or in the case of the Byronic Anti-Hero is a wicked character that disregards authority, and becomes more liked because of his rejection of virtue. My attraction to novels with an anti-hero as a main character has always been strong. The paradox between the mysteriously good characters versus the obvious hero is more lifelike and contemporary than the super-hero that does no wrong and has no faults. Perfection is unattainable in any other form other than literature. People are imperfect, just like the anti-hero shows faults and imperfections. I found I was always able to connect with the anti-hero in stories much more than the true hero.

Being able to recognize an anti-hero is hard to tell until you are well into the depths of a novel. Heathcliff�s characteristics do not show until at least half way through Wuthering Heights, as well as Edward Cullen revealing he is actually a Vampire in Twilight. By the time we realize the depth of the characters a strong connection has already been made and we accept their faults as well as their strengths! Anyone can easily love John Smith in I am Number Four, or Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, even Harry Potter in the Harry Potter Series.

The tragic hero as first described in Aristotle's early writing in Sophocles 2500 years ago, followed by Shakespeare and his take on the tragic hero in many of his plays like Hamlet. The anti-hero was developed from the idea of the tragic hero, possessing many of the qualities of the tragic hero. The anti-hero is normally either a main character or a protagonist to the story. The anti-hero will have clean cut frailties and faults and is more like-able to the readers because the character is more raw and relatable. The character either becomes or is disillusioned with society and its values, and is misunderstood by most in society. They have qualities of a villain like amorality, greed and violent tendencies, but the qualities are more human and identifiable. The anti-heroes have increased moral imperfections and they reject the traditional values.

To begin introducing my class to the Anti-Hero curriculum I would first present the lyrics of the Linkin Park song �Leave Out All the Rest.� This song demonstrates the feeling of an anti-hero. In general they can�t help being who they are, but they still want to be loved and they love. The anti-hero has very relatable traits, which is why they are so captivating.

"Leave Out All The Rest"

I dreamed I was missing

You were so scared

But no one would listen

'Cause no one else cared

After my dreaming

I woke with this fear

What am I leaving

When I'm done here?

So if you're asking me

I want you to know

When my time comes

Forget the wrong that I've done

Help me leave behind some

Reasons to be missed

And don't resent me

And when you're feeling empty

Keep me in your memory

Leave out all the rest

Leave out all the rest

Don't be afraid

I've taken my beating

I've shared what I've made

I'm strong on the surface

Not all the way through

I've never been perfect

But neither have you

Leave out all the rest

Forgetting all the hurt inside

You've learned to hide so well

Pretending someone else can come

And save me from myself

I can't be who you are

In these lyrics by Linkin Park you have a man, the lead singer, whom is loved by a woman but no one else thinks of him fondly. He states �I�ve never been perfect, but neither have you.� These lyrics capture the essence of an anti-hero and the struggles the anti-hero goes through because he is at the core a hero but also has many faults that make him not the ideal hero. �And save me from myself, I can�t be who you are� the anti-hero is perplexed with an inner struggle between a villain and a hero.

Many novels encompass the anti-hero. Authors of the classics such as Shakespeare, Emily Bronte, Charlotte Bronte, John Milton, Miguel Cervantes, Chaucer, Mary Shelley, F. Scott Fitzgerald all incorporate anti-heroes in their well known literature! The classics are a wonderful read because they are original and imaginative for their time. In novels recently published we have Stephenie Meyer, J.R.R Tolkien, Jeff Lindsay and even comic book creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Stephenie Meyer�s Twilight has many similarities to Emily Bronte�s Wuthering Heights. I will have the students take down the similarities they notice in the novels, which will include both the structure and plot of the novels and the characters traits.

I would want the students to connect with both of the novels in my unit. The best way to accomplish this is to provide a readers theatre for both Wuthering Heights and Twilight. I chose a readers theatre from Readers Theatre for Young Adults by Kathy Howard Latrobe & Mildred Knight Laughlin. This reader�s theatre is from the 9th chapter when Catherine and Heathcliff�s love has already been well established. From this excerpt the students will be drawn in by the evidentially strong relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff. I want the students to connect with the book easily, and this way they can immediately connect with the characters to make reading this classic novel an easier read.

Wuthering Heights Readers Theatre

Emily Bronte

The script is taken from Chapter 9

Characters:

Narrator

Catherine Earnshaw

Nelly Dean

Narrator: This scene takes place in the kitchen of the Earnshaw home. Unknown to Catherine and Nelly, a third character slumps in the corner. That unseen individual is Heathcliff, a moody and sulky young man who as an orphan had been taken into the Earnshaw household. Catherine has been his friend and his love in this hostile family, dominated by Catherine�s jealous and vindictive brother Hindley. Recently Catherine has been courted by Edgar Linton, and she is no longer Heathcliff�s loyal and supportive friend. As the scene begins, Catherine has entered the kitchen where Nelly sits rocking Hindley's baby boy.

Catherine: Are you alone, Nelly?

Nelly: Yes, Miss.

Catherine: (disturbed and anxious) Where�s Heathcliff?

Nelly: About his work in the stable.

Catherine: Oh, dear! I�m very unhappy!

Nelly: (somewhat sarcastically because of her unhappiness at Catherine�s recent treatment of Heathcliff) A pity. You�re hard to please: so many friends and so few cares, and can�t make yourself content!

Catherine: Will you keep a secret for me?

Nelly: (sulkily) Is it worth keeping?

Catherine: Yes, and it worries me, and I must let it out! I want to know what I should do. Today, Edgar Linton has asked to marry him, and I�ve given him an answer. Now, before I tell you whether it was a consent or denial, you tell me which it ought to have been.

Nelly: Really, Miss Catherine, how can I know? To be sure, considering the exhibition you performed in his presence this afternoon, I might say it would be wise to refuse him: since he asked after that, he must be either hopelessly stupid or a venturesome fool.

Catherine: (peevishly) If you talk so, I won�t tell you any more. I accepted him, Nelly. Be quick, and say whether I was wrong.

Nelly: You accepted him! Then what good is it discussing the matter? You have pledged you word, and cannot retract.

Catherine: (irritated and frowning) But, say whether I should have done so-do!

Nelly: (moralizing) There are many things to be considered before that question can be answered properly. First and foremost, do you love Mr. Edgar?

Catherine: Who can help it? Of course I do.

Nelly: Why do you love him, Miss Catherine?

Catherine: Nonsense, I do- that�s sufficient.

Nelly: By no means; you must say why?

Catherine: Well, because he is handsome, and pleasant to be with.

Nelly: Bad!

Catherine: And because he is young and cheerful.

Nelly: Bad, still.

Catherine: And because he loves me.

Nelly: Indifferent, coming there.

Catherine: And he will be rich, and I shall like to be the greatest woman of the neighborhood, and I shall be proud of having such a husband.

Nelly: Worst of all. And now say how you love him?

Catherine: As everybody loves- You�re silly, Nelly.

Nelly: Not at all- Answer.

Catherine: I love the ground under his feet, and the air over his head, and everything he touches, and every word he say. I love all his looks, and all his actions, and him entirely and altogether. There now!

Nelly: And why?

Catherine: (frowning) Nay, you are making a jest of it: it is exceedingly ill-natured! It�s no jest to me!

Nelly: (seriously) I�m very far from jesting, Miss Catherine. You love Mr. Edgar, because he is handsome, and young, and cheerful, and rich, and he loves you. The last, however, goes for nothing: you would love him without that, probably; and with it you wouldn�t, unless he possessed the four former attractions.

Catherine: No, to be sure not: I should only pity him- hate him perhaps, if he were ugly, and a clown.

Nelly: But there are several other handsome, rich young men in the world: handsomer, possibly, and richer than he is. What should hinder you from loving them?

Catherine: If there be any, they are out of my way: I�ve seen none like Edgar.

Nelly: You may see some: and he won�t always be handsome, and young, and may not always be rich.

Catherine: He is now; and I have only to do with the present. I wish you would speak rationally.

Nelly: Wells that settles it; if you have only to do with the present, marry Mr. Linton.

Catherine: I don�t want your permission for that- I shall marry him; and yet you have not told me whether I�m right.

Nelly: Perfectly right, if people be right to marry only for the present. And now, let us hear what you are unhappy about. Your brother will be please... The old lady and gentleman will not object, I think; you will escape from a disorderly, comfortless home into a wealthy, respectable one; and you love Edgar, and Edgar loves you. All seems smooth and easy; where is the obstacle?

Catherine: (striking one hand on her forehead and then on her breast) Here! and here! In whichever place the soul lives. In my soul and my heart, I�m convinced I�m wrong!

Nelly: That�s very strange! I cannot make it out.

Catherine: It�s my secret. But if you will not mock at me, I�ll explain it: I can�t do it distinctly but I�ll give you a feeling of how I feel. (sadly) Nelly, do you never dream?

Nelly: Yes, now and then.

Catherine: And so do I. I�ve dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they�ve gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind. And this is one: I�m going to tell it - but take care not to smile at any part of it.

Nelly: Oh! don�t, Miss Catherine! We�re dismal enough without conjuring up ghosts and visions to perplex us.

Catherine: (determined) Nelly, I shall oblige you to listen. It�s not lone, and I�ve no power to merry tonight.

Nelly: I won�t hear it, I won�t hear it!

Catherine: If I were in heaven, Nelly, I should be extremely miserable.

Nelly: (with sarcasm) Because you are not fit to go there. All sinners would be miserable in heaven.

Catherine: But it is not for that. I dreamt once I was there.

Nelly: I tell you I won�t harken to your dreams, Miss Catherine! I�ll go to bed!

Catherine: (laughing) This nothing. I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth. The angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I broke sobbing for joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other. I�ve no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven. If that wicked man, my brother, had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn�t have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now, so he shall never know how I love him. And, I love him not because he�s handsome, Nelly, but because he�s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton�s is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire. If all else perished, and Heathcliff remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and if Heathcliff were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger and I should not seem a part of it. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He�s always, always in my mind- not a pleasure, any more than I always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being.

Narrator: As Catherine proclaims her love for him, Heathcliff slips quietly out the door. Only Nelly sees him. Catherine�s decision to wed Edgar Linton may have been based on the present, but with each passing year the future intrudes. Catherine does not escape from the Earnshaw household into the Linton, but rather brings the Linton into the Earnshaw; and the driving force behind the events that unfold is Heathcliff and his consuming desire for revenge.

This is one of the turning points in the book and you can tell the tension that is building in this reader�s theatre. Heathcliff is a mysterious anti-hero that is not easy to connect with. I would have the students each take turns being each character and they would have at least thirty minutes to practice their parts. I will have everything off their desk for this exercise to make sure all of the students are truly paying attention. After the reader�s theatre is over I would have the students write a one page paper to write what they took out of the reader�s theatre and their impression on the book. Each student will read their paper out at the next course period.

I would then proceed to having assigned reading at home as well as readings in class. I will have the students keep journal of their reading that will be collected every Monday after a week of reading, along with their journal the students will write a diary entry each week either in the perspective of Heathcliff, Catherine, or Nelly. I will have the students each work in groups to share their work and ideas. As the book comes to a close the students will put their diary entries together in a diary format, including an aged cover so they can get creative. I would collect these diaries before we start reading Twilight, and hold them until the end of the semester.

To introduce Twilight, the final novel of the semester I have created a reader�s theatre of Chapter Four when Edward and Bella have their first real conversation. The anti-hero really comes out in Edward. You can tell he is a monster, but he is still trying to protect Bella even from himself. This excerpt from the novel should really draw the students in that have not read the book already.

Reader�s Theatre Twilight

by Stephanie Meyer

From Chapter Four: Invitations

Characters:

Edward

Bella

Narrator

Narrator: After a tumultuous couple of weeks of Edward speaking to Bella somedays nicely and others with disdain Edward is sitting at a table alone at lunch. Bella is sitting with her friends when Edward waves her over to sit with him unexpectedly.

Edward: "Why don't you sit with me today?" he asked, smiling.

Narrator: Bella sat down automatically, watching him with caution. He was still smiling, waiting for her to say something.

Bella: "This is different," finally managed.

Edward: "Well..." He paused, and then the rest of the words followed in a rush. "I decided as long as I was going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly."

Bella: "You know I don't have any idea what you mean,"

Edward: "I know, I think your friends are angry with me for stealing you."

Bella: "They'll survive."

Edward: "I may not give you back, though," he said with a wicked glint in his eyes.

Narrator: Bella gulped.

Edward: (laughing) "You look worried."

Bella: "No, surprised, actually... what brought all this on?"

Edward: "I told you -- I got tired of trying to stay away from you. So I'm giving up."

Bella: (confused) "Giving up?"

Edward: "Yes -- giving up trying to be good. I'm just going to do what I want now, and let the chips fall where they may."

Bella: "You lost me again."

Edward: "I always say too much when I'm talking to you -- that's one of the problems."

Bella: "Don't worry -- I don't understand any of it."

Edward: "I'm counting on that."

Bella: "So, in plain English, are we friends now?"

Edward: (dubiously)"Friends..."

Bella:(muttering) "Or not."

Edward: (grinning) "Well, we can try, I suppose. But I'm warning you now that I'm not a good friend for you."

Narrator: Behind his smile, the warning was real.

Bella: "You say that a lot,"

Narrator: She spoke trying to ignore the sudden trembling in her stomach and

keep her voice even.

Edward: "Yes, because you're not listening to me. I'm still waiting for you to believe it. If you're smart, you'll avoid me."

Bella: (eyes narrowing) "I think you've made your opinion on the subject of my intellect clear, too. So, as long as I'm being... not smart, we'll try to be friends?"

Edward: "That sounds about right. What are you thinking?"

Bella: "I'm trying to figure out what you are."

Narrator: Edward�s jaw tightened, but he kept his smile in place with some effort.

Edward: "Are you having any luck with that?"

Bella: "Not too much,"

Edward: (chuckling) "What are your theories? Won't you tell me?"

Bella: (shaking her head) "Too embarrassing."

Edward: "That's really frustrating, you know,"

Bella: "No,"(her eyes narrowing) "I can't imagine why that would be frustrating at all -- just because someone refuses to tell you what they're thinking, even if all the while they're making cryptic little remarks specifically designed to keep you up at night wondering what they could possibly mean... now, why would that be frustrating?"

Narrator: Edward grimaced.

Bella: "Or better, say that person also did a wide range of bizarre things -- from saving your life under impossible circumstances one day to treating you like a pariah the next, and he never explained any of that, either, even after he promised. That, also, would be very non-frustrating."

Edward: "You've got a bit of a temper, don't you?"

Bella: "I don't like double standards."

Narrator: They stared at each other, unsmiling.

Edward: "Aren't you hungry?" he asked, distracted.

Bella: "No. You?"

Narrator: The table was empty in front of Edward.

Edward: "No, I'm not hungry."

Bella: "Can you do me a favor?"

Edward: "That depends on what you want."

Bella: (assuredly) "It's not much. I just wondered... if you could warn me beforehand the next

time you decide to ignore me for my own good. Just so I'm prepared."

Narrator: Bella evaded Edward�s stare, unable to look up.

Edward: "That sounds fair."

Bella: "Thanks."

Edward: (demanding) "Then can I have one answer in return?"

Bella: "One."

Edward: "Tell me one theory."

Bella: "Not that one."

Edward: "You didn't qualify, you just promised one answer.�

Bella: "And you've broken promises yourself.�

Edward: "Just one theory -- I won't laugh."

Bella: "Yes, you will."

Narrator: Edward looked down, and then glanced up at Bella through his long black lashes, his ocher eyes scorching, leaning towards her.

Edward: "Please?"

Bella: (dazed) "Er, what?"

Edward: "Please tell me just one little theory."

Narrator: Edward's eyes were still smoldering.

Bella: "Um, well, bitten by a radioactive spider?"

Edward: "That's not very creative.�

Bella: "I'm sorry, that's all I've got.�

Edward: (teasing) "You're not even close."

Bella: "No spiders?"

Edward: "Nope."

Bella:"And no radioactivity?"

Edward: "None."

Bella: (sighing) "Dang."

Edward: (chuckling) "Kryptonite doesn't bother me, either."

Bella: "You're not supposed to laugh, remember?"

Narrator: Edward struggled to compose his face.

Bella: (warning) "I'll figure it out eventually."

Edward: (seriously) "I wish you wouldn't try."

Bella: "Because... ?"

Edward: "What if I'm not a superhero? What if I'm the bad guy?"

Bella: "Oh, I see."

Edward: "Do you?"

Narrator: His face was abruptly severe, as if he were afraid that he'd accidentally said

too much.

Bella: "You're dangerous?"

Narrator: He was dangerous. He'd been trying to tell her that all along. He just looked at her,

eyes full of some emotion incomprehensible.

Bella: "But not bad," (shaking her head) "No, I don't believe that you're bad."

Edward: "You're wrong."

Narrator: The silence lasted until the cafeteria was almost empty. Bella goes to class; wondering

farther into the meaning of the conversation with Edward. Edward leaves the table, ditching his next class.

The same assignments will be included with this novel. The students will have to have their own journal entries on the writing each week and also have a diary entry. At the end of the novel the student will put together a diary for Twilight. Each student will present both diaries at the end of the semester with an analysis on which anti-hero they connected more with in the novels. These assignments will be a good for the students to make sure they continue to read both novels and pay close attention to the characters.

I think that it will be much easier for the students to connect with novels that they can relate more with than any other novel. The anti-hero�s flaws make their character much more relatable. This focus would last a semester and each student would hopefully come out of the semester with a well rounded knowledge of the anti-hero.

There are many other novels I would recommend. First Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, sister to Emily Bronte and Batman the comic by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, The Great Gatsby by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I would also recommend the rest of the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien. There are many anti-heroes in young adult literature! I would ask that the students also recommend any anti-hero novels that they have read.