A Wizard of Earthsea

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What kinds of stories do you envision within the fantasy genre? How do the setting and characters in fantasy differ from other genres? What are some common themes and storylines? What, if anything, can fantasy fiction do that realistic fiction cannot?

Teaching Suggestion: These questions could give individuals the opportunity to reflect in writing before entering a small- or large-group discussion. Students may benefit from brainstorming or listing popular examples of fantasy stories from literature, films, games, and other media before considering common tropes and themes. Graphic organizers facilitating comparisons between familiar fantasy stories may enable students to activate deeper knowledge, while English Language Learners or emerging readers may benefit from pre-highlighted or annotated versions of the texts below with supporting audio.

• This article from the New York Public Library outlines the qualities and history of the fantasy genre of literature and may be used to help clarify related characteristics.
• This podcast from the National Endowment for the Arts, accompanied by a transcript, provides background information on Le Guin’s vision for Earthsea and contextualizes its groundbreaking impact on the fantasy genre.

Short Activity

When you think of the word “hero,” what comes to mind? Reflect on your experience with heroic stories and imagine your own story centered around a hero of your creation. When you are ready, create a brief outline and share it with your classmates. What similarities do you see between your story and your classmates’ stories? In what ways do they differ? Consider such aspects as plot, setting, conflict, protagonist, antagonist, secondary characters, theme, and message. Are they generally more alike or different? Why? Do hero stories follow a similar pattern?

Teaching Suggestion: This activity may work best if students outline stories in small groups and designate a single group member to share with the class. Students may also respond more efficiently if the writing portion is timed or if a page limit or word count is imposed. If students are struggling, you might reassure them that the prompt is deliberately open-ended and that the completed work is meant to be rough so it can be quickly shared. The following resources may be used as a guide for teaching the concept of the monomyth and character archetypes within the hero’s journey.

• This website from UC Berkley provides outlines, examples, and multimedia resources for guided research or direct teaching of the monomyth/hero’s journey.
• This webpage from Teach With Movies details the stages of the monomyth/hero’s journey and the character archetypes within the myth cycle.
• This 10-minute video from Crash Course offers a concise exploration of the stages in Joseph Campbell’s monomyth/hero’s journey and includes criticisms of his approach.

Differentiation Suggestion: English learners and students in need of organizational supports may benefit from a premade plot outline or other graphic organizer when writing their hero’s story. Students who are nonverbal, socially anxious, or independent may benefit from writing an individual story and recording their answers to the discussion questions in notes in place of sharing aloud. Though it may require additional time, this activity can be modified to incorporate more learning styles by allowing for visual storyboarding, performative storytelling, or lyrical storytelling in place of prose.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Who is your favorite hero, and what is their story? This could be from a book, comic, graphic novel, film, television series, video game, or other media. Write a brief description of the hero, the major characters, and the overall plotline. Then, respond to the following questions:

• In what ways does this story adhere to or break away from the archetypes and stages of the classic monomyth/hero’s journey?
• What makes this version of the familiar hero tale your favorite?
• Which parts of the cycle are kept, removed, or modified in other hero stories?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may be more prepared to respond to this prompt after direct teaching and/or independent exploration of related resources, such as in the previous activity and below. References for the stages and archetypes may help students develop ideas and use correct terms, particularly if this is their first encounter with the concept of the monomyth and archetypes.

• This 5-minute video describes and provides examples of the stages in the monomyth/hero’s journey.
• This 13-minute video describes and provides pop culture examples of the various character archetypes found in the monomyth/hero’s journey.

Differentiation Suggestion: This activity can be modified to include more learning styles by allowing for visual mapping through storyboarding or other visual mediums in place of written summary or character descriptions. The questions may also be used in a class debate or Socratic seminar to determine the best iteration of the monomyth available.