Storyboarding is an excellent way to focus on types of literary conflicts.
Having students create storyboards that show the cause and effect of different types of conflicts strengthens analytical thinking about literary concepts. Have your students choose an example of each literary conflict and depict them using the storyboard creator. In the storyboard, an example of each conflict should be visually represented, along with an explanation of the scene, and how it fits the particular category of conflict.
Amanda is constantly nitpicking at Tom: he eats too fast, he smokes too much, he doesn’t care about his appearance enough. After Amanda throws out some of Tom’s books that she finds questionable, Tom finally flips out on his mother. She claims that she thinks his “going to the movies” excuses are lies; Tom knows he does plenty for the family and he feels stuck, so he calls Amanda an “ugly witch” and storms out.
Tom feels trapped with his sister and his mother. He is 21, but he is the sole income for their family, and his sister does not seem able to get out of her own mind enough to make a life for herself. He wants to become a merchant sailor, to travel and see the world, but he knows that if he leaves, he will be abandoning them like their father did.
Amanda has many ideas about where a young woman should be at a certain stage in her life. By this point, Laura should be married and starting a family; however, Laura is very shy and quiet. She enjoys her glass animal collection and playing the phonograph. She has no real interest in following a career path because she is too scared. She is not living up to her mother’s or society’s expectations for a woman her age.
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Student Instructions
Create a storyboard that shows at least three forms of literary conflict in The Glass Menagerie.