Exploring theme and genre through different contexts… ORAL TRADITION

Oral tradition: the sharing of stories, cultures, and ideas by word of mouth. Stories told in oral tradition were created before the first people who told them knew how to write. The stories expressed the values of these people.

Common elements of oral traditions are themes or morals.

Theme: a message about life that is at the center of the story. Some themes are universal…they apply to every time and place and are part of many cultures.

Moral: a lesson about life taught in a story.

Heroes & Heroines men and women who do great and often seemingly impossible deeds.

MYTH a tale that explains the actions of gods, goddesses, and the heroes who interact with them.

MYTHOLOGY: the group or collection of all of the myths by culture or as a whole

Legends: traditional stories based on real-life events. Often fact changes to fiction and the individual (character/s) often become larger than life

Folk tales: stories about ordinary people that reveal a culture’s traditions and values – and often they teach a lesson.

Fairy tale: a story in which improbable events lead to a happy ending. Also, they often include "legendary deeds."

Tall tales: often focus on a hero who does impossible feats. These tales often use hyperboles, or exaggeration, for comic effect.

Fables: a story (with animals as the characters) that illustrates a moral (usually a short, simple moral or lesson)

EPIC: a long poem about a larger- that-life hero who goes on a quest or dangerous journey. Epics are often important to the history of a culture or nation.

Can you label these: The Odyssey The Lion and The Mouse Johnny Appleseed Popocatepetl and Ixtacihuatl The Lochness Monster King Midas and the Minotaur Jack and the Beanstalk

Epic Fable Tall Tale Folk Tale Legend Myth Fairy Tale