1. Watch the Pixar short film Boundin’, and answer the following question:
What is it about?
Viewing #1:
Viewing #2: Add to, modify, or change your notes accordingly.

2. What’s it about? You might have said one or more of the following…
-It’s about a sheep who likes the way he looks.
-It’s about a sheep who likes his wool, and then his wool gets cut off and he is very sad.
-It’s about a sheep who likes to dance, and after a traumatic event a friend helps him understand that he is still cute!
-Friendship
-Self-esteem
-Bullying
-Self-discovery
-Identity
-Confidence
… if you said something like this, you would be CORRECT!

3. Literal Interpretation & Analysis
-Textual evidence is literal and identifiable.
-You can put your finger on it in the text (in this case, the film), you can describe it, and it’s indisputable.
-Usually this evidence is about characters, plot, or conflict.
-This tells us the subject matter, and it helps us get to the Meaning, but it is not the MOW.
Literal, text-specific details that you can put your finger on:
-It’s about a lamb who likes the way he looks.
-It’s about a lamb who likes his wool, and then his wool gets cut off and he is very sad.
-It’s about a lamb who likes to dance, and after a traumatic event a friend helps him understand that he is still cute!

4. Figurative Interpretation & Analysis
-Every meaningful text uses what is literal to identify, suggest, or portray something figurative.
-There are many names for the same thing - abstract concepts, big ideas, Meanings, “can’t touch this” words - these can all be used interchangeably.
-This is the WHY
-Why is the author telling us about a sheep who gets sad because he loses his wool? Because he/she wants to show us that our self-esteem shouldn’t lie in our appearances.
-This is the author’s purpose, and this is where the meaning (theme) lies.
-You can support these words with textual evidence and you can identify where the text suggests these ideas, but you can’t touch these ideas because they are abstract.
Abstract concepts:
-Friendship
-Self-esteem
-Bullying
-Self-discovery
-Identity
-Confidence

5. Now What?
Okay, so now you know...
-A text has two levels of meaning, literal and figurative
-The textual evidence suggests abstract ideas
-These ideas help us understand Meaning, or the message the author is trying to convey
How do you get from the literal to the figurative, and from the abstract ideas to Meaning of the work as a whole?

6. Here’s How:
1.Collect textual evidence. Look for things like who the characters are,
what the motivation is for their actions, what conflicts they face,
and how they handle them.
2.Brainstorm a list of thematic big ideas suggested by the text. Look for ideas that are repeated or central to the text.
3.Pick one or two thematic big ideas, study the textual evidence related to those ideas, and ask yourself this question:
what is the author trying to say about _______? [fill in the blank with your big idea(s)]

7. text + big idea/universal connection = mow
what is the author trying to say about _____?
-The answer to this question should be a complex, universal thought
that is expressed in one or more complete sentences. This is called
a Meaning statement.
-The textual evidence combined with the meaning statement is the meaning of the work as a whole.
You need BOTH parts:
text + big idea/universal connection = mow

8. For example: -What is the author trying to say about self-esteem ?
Textual evidence-summary/paraphrase:
-Lamb dancing at the beginning
-The shift that happens when the lamb is sheared
-The jackalope who becomes a friend, taking the time to explain to the lamb an important truth
-The lamb’s confident, happy self dancing at the end of the film, regardless of whether or not he has wool.
-What is the author trying to say about self-esteem ?
One can overcome the pressure of society’s expectations by finding their self-confidence in who they are as a person, not in their physical appearance or outward image. Building meaningful connections with one another through acts of kindness can facilitate the establishment of one’s self-esteem.
Textual evidence-Excerpts:
“Lived a lamb with a coat of remarkable sheen, it would glint in the sunlight all sparkly and clean, such a source of great pride, that it caused him to preen.”
“I used to be something all covered with fluff… and sheared me and dropped me back here in the buff.”
“When you find that you’re down well just look around: you still got a body, good legs and fine feet, get your head in the right place and hey, you’re complete!”
“He learned to live with it, he didn’t care, he’d just bound, bound, bound, and rebound.”
Big ideas:
-Pride
-Shame
-Friendship
-Identity
-Self-esteem

9. What is the meaning of the work as a whole in boundin’?
The creator of the Pixar film Boundin’ uses the story of a prideful lamb who goes through the trauma of losing his coat of wool and then overcomes his own insecurity because of a friendship he establishes in order to illustrate that one can overcome the pressure of society’s expectations by finding their self-confidence in who they are as a person, not in their physical appearance or outward image. Building meaningful connections with one another through acts of kindness can facilitate the establishment of one’s self-esteem.

10. Writing about MOw Keep in mind:
-Once you have your textual evidence combined with your universal connection, that becomes your thesis.
-Your developmental paragraphs should be organized around the textual evidence mentioned in your thesis.
-Your conclusion should focus on the universal connection: How does this text relate to or connect with its intended audience?
Keep in mind:
-Authors create texts because they are trying to say something to or about humanity.
-The reason why certain pieces of literature, films, songs, video games, or artwork resonate with us is because they are complex and applicable to real life.
-As a literary analysis writer, your job is to explain to your audience how and why the author created the text.

11. Cuckoo’s Nest MOW Statements:
Cuckoo’s Nest is a work of suggestion rather than that of solid statement. In the spirit of creating MOW statements, you need to be super careful not to reduce the book to a moral lesson. Consider instead Kesey's observations about the human experience, particularly in terms of:
· the ultimate nature of sanity/insanity
· man's relationship and place within institutions
· social standards and the struggle against and within them
· power/fear and its relationship to sexuality