Woods Runner Literary ElementsAIG Project by Elysia Hanson

Woods Runner: Setting▶ The setting of the novel starts out in 1776 in the woods of the British

Colony of Pennsylvania far from civilization.▶ The forest was “unimaginably vast, impenetrable, mysterious and dark.”

(Pg. 4)

▶ The story moves from the woods onto the a battle field encampment in a clearing in the woods:▶ “The clearing had been turned into a large encampment filled with

Indians, some British soldiers in red uniforms and nearly a quarter of a mile away, freight wagons hooked up to wagons.” (Pg. 49)

▶ On the road they find Abner driving his wagon to New York City.▶ “A huge freight wagon stood on the road, so stacked up with all sorts of

everything – from bundles of rags to loops of tin pots tied up like garlands, to two saddles, to barrels and buckets and a rocking chair – that it looked enormous, a junk pile on wheels being pulled by two scruffy mules.” (Pg. 97)

▶ Near the end, the characters find themselves in colonial New York City near the water front.▶ “The city was huge, with buildings three and four stories high and houses

spread out in a grid.” (Pg 124)

▶ “There were people everywhere, all along the road into the city and down the side road that let to the sugar mill, maybe hundreds of them, and it seemed that every man was wearing a red coat.” (Pg. 126-127)

Woods Runner: Characters▶ The main characters of the story include:

▶ Samuel is the main character:

▶ Samuel is 13 years old and carries with him a .40 - caliber Pennsylvania flint lock rifle. (Pg. 3)

▶ He is wearing smoked-buckskin clothing and moccasins (Pg. 3)

▶ Anne Marie Pennysworth Clark

▶ Annie is 8 or 9 years old (Pg. 76)

▶ Annie can run very fast: “Samuel was amazed at how fast she ran…” (Pg. 83)

▶ Annie becomes an orphan and decides to travel with Samuel. (Pg. 83)

▶ Abner McDowel – Scottish tinker (metal utensil mender)

▶ “He seemed to be dressed in sewn-together rags and looked as untidy as the junk he was carrying. His voice had a horrible rasping sound like a steel shovel edge hitting rocks in gravel and he was absolutely covered in unkempt grey hair.” (Pg. 97)

▶ Abner was a tinker, who also carried information to help the colonists.

▶ John Cooper

▶ Most called him Coop, he has stringy black hair. (Pg. 58 – 59)

▶ Coop saves Samuel’s life by treating his head wound with tobacco juice. (Pg. 69)

▶ Coop is in a band of fighters carrying rifles fighting the Red Coats. (Pg. 70)

▶ Ma and Pa

▶ Samule’s parents were not of the woods. They had both grown up in town and were both educated. (Pg.7)

Woods Runner: Point of View▶ Woods Runner is told from the third person point of view but is not all knowing.

The narrator only knows Samuel’s thoughts and not thoughts of the other characters.

▶ Examples:

▶ Example 1: “He was not sure exactly when he became an child of the forest.” (Pg. 3)

▶ Example 2: “He now sat by a game trail waiting for the deer he knew would come soon. He had hear it, a branch brushing a hairy side, a twig cracking, smelled it when the wind blew toward him, the musk and urine of a buck.” (Pg. 3)

▶ Example 3: “Coop spit – the men all spit, almost all the time. Samuel had once tried tobacco, first in a clay pipe, then taking a chew, and it had made him sick as a dog.” (Pg 70)

Woods Runner: Plot

Introduction Rising Action Falling Acton Resolution

Climax – Samuel finds parents and saves them.

• Meet Samuel• Samuel Hunts• Sees smoke

• Samuel finds his village in ruin

• Decides to try to save his parents

• Meets and saves Annie• Coop saves his life• Meets Abner

• Annie is adopted by Samuel’s family

• Samuel decides to continue fighting in the war

• After he was finished fighting. Samuel went back to the woods.

Conflict and Resolution

▶ Primary Conflict in the story is between Samuel, his family and friends and the British Army including the Hessians.

▶ Conflict – Samuel’s village is attacked by the British and Hessians killing or capturing everyone.

▶ Samuel’s parents are taken prisoner and he decides to try to save them.

▶ Samuel has to overcome many challenges on his quest to save his parents.

▶ Resolution

▶ Samuel finds and saves his parents with the help of Abner McDowel.

Theme

▶ One of the main themes of Woods Runner is family

▶ Family is a theme in the novel because Samuel’s love of his family gave him the courage to set out and find his parents.

▶ When Samuel sees the smoke and realizes that his village may have been attacked he runs home as fast as he can in the dark. The thought that runs through his head is:

▶ “Home. An attack on his home. An attack on his mother and father? And he had not been there to help.” (Pg. 22)

▶ Annie’s decision to follow Samuel after her parents are killed is another example.

▶ “No. I ain’t going to leave you. It wont help to leave me someplace because I will just run and follow you. No matter what you say. We’re going to find our folks.” (Pg. 95)

▶ A final example of family being a theme is when Annie is taken into Samuel’s family:

▶ “’This is our Annie’ he said. His mother reached out and stroked her hair. ‘Annie. I always wanted a little girl.’” (Pg 141)

Flashback and Foreshadowing

▶ Flashback can be used to provide the reader more information about the story. An example of flashback in Woods Runner is on pages 13 through 16 when Samuel thinks about the night Isaac comes with news about battles in Boston and Massachusetts.

▶ “But his mind was still on the man that had brought the sheet of paper the night before.” (Pg.11)

▶ This news informed the reader that conflict was possible.

▶ Foreshadowing can be used to create suspense in a story.

▶ The news that Isaac brings, foreshadows the attack in his village:

▶ “ Not a single person in that cabin could have known what was coming. And if they had seen the future, they would not have been able to imagine the horror.” (Pg. 16)

Tone and Mood

▶ The tone of Woods Runner is dark.

▶ The story starts out in the dark deep woods, setting the tone for a dark story.

▶ “The forest was unimaginably vast, impenetrable, mysterious and dark.” (Pg 4)

▶ “Nothing dies of old age in the forest. Not bugs, not deer, not bear nor panthers nor man. Live long enough, be slow enough, get old enough and something eats you. Everything kills.” (Pg. 5)

▶ The mood of Woods Runner is sad.

▶ It is very sad when Samuel looses his family. It was also very sad when Annie’s parents were killed. Even when Samuel’s family is reunited, they realize they have lost everything and have to start over.

Figurative Language

▶ There are many examples of figurative language in Woods Runner. Using figurative language helps us to better know the characters. Living in the woods, the characters in the story use sayings that they can relate to.

▶ “ Well, I think we should do nothing but wait and see how the wind blows.” (Pg.16)

▶ To wait and see how the wind blows means to wait and see how events happen. The wind can be unpredictable so this is a good way to say we have no idea what is going to happen.

▶ Another example of the author using figurative language was when Samuel flashed back and remembered using tobacco:

▶ “ …then taking a chew, and it had made him sick as a dog.” (Pg. 70)

▶ Samuel was not really sick as a dog. This just means that he was really sick. People who live in the woods usually have dogs and can relate to how sick they can get when they get into something bad.

Woods Runner: Dialog

▶ Samuel meets many characters during his adventure to save his parents. It is only through dialog that we meet the other characters since the story is from Samuel’s point of view only.

▶ In this example we learn more about Coop and where he is going.

▶ Samuel says, “Why did you come along? Where are you going?”. Coop replies, “ ‘ We’re going to jine up’, Coop said, pointing east with his chin, ‘and fight them redcoats.’” (Pg. 70)

▶ In this example we learn more about Annie’s family.

▶ Samuel asks if there is anyone else at the house and Annie responds: “They’s all up the house eating. They’s eating squash and it makes me puke, so I came to the loft to play with my dolls.” (Pg. 77)

▶ Samuel also learns from Annie that his parents came by the house as well when she says:

▶ “You look just like the man who was here, ‘cept he was older and head wasn’t all cut up.” (Pg.77)

How Samuel Changes During the Novel

▶ From the beginning of the novel to the end, Samuel changes in his ability to endure the horrors of war. This results in him “growing up”.

▶ On page 41 Samuel tells us how he begins to deal with the shock of the attack: “The shock Samuel had felt since he’d come upon the devastation in the settlement and dealt with the bodies had left him numb. Now it turned to anger, coming into rage, and that was worse because he had to remain calm.”

▶ Before the attack Samuel was unaware of the war and it’s affects. On page 71 he says: “ Thing is, I didn’t even know there was anybody to fight. Who was food or bad, which side to be on.”

▶ By the end of the book, on page 160, Samuel is well aware of the impact of war and decides to join Morgan’s rifles in stead of going home with his family. He joins, not to fight, but to help out the best he can with the wounded, hunt for meat and fix equipment.

▶ His mother says it best on page 149: “You’re so different. Grown.” She goes on to say, “You…know things. See differently. Think differently. If I didn’t know you, I don’t think I would recognize you. It’s like you’ve gone to some far off place and come back a different person.”

Novel Review

▶ This book was exciting yet scary. It was very suspenseful and had a lot of adventure. The best part of this book was when Samuel first saw his mother on the street in New York and they recognized each other. My favorite character was Annie because she is very fast and likes to play in the woods just like me.

▶ I liked the plot of the story as there was suspense at every turn and the climax did not happen until the very end. Though the story was mostly sad and dark I liked that Annie gets adopted and Samuel is able to find his parents.