Introduction to Literary Genres
Senior 1 · English
Introduction to Literary Genres
Lesson 4 of 5
30 min
Let's begin
In earlier units you studied one element of a story at a time: the theme of Grandma's Bananas (Unit 2), main and minor characters (Unit 3), setting (Unit 5), how writers build a character (Unit 6) and the message of a fable (Unit 7). A good reader uses all of these tools together. This lesson gives you one short story and asks you to take it apart: who is in it, where and when it happens, what it is really about, and who is telling it.
As you read, notice every time the narrator says "I". Who is that "I"?
Written by Ganzaa for this lesson.
Every Friday evening, when prep was over, the sound of drums rolled across our school from the hall behind the dining room. I would stand at the hall window with the other S1 girls and watch the troupe practise: six boys at six drums, and in the middle a seventh drum, the big one, that nobody touched except Gatera from S3. My hands always moved by themselves. I tapped the rhythms on the window sill until my fingers ached.
"You play the window better than they play the drums," my friend Aline laughed.
In the second week of October, Madam Mukamana, our music teacher, pinned a notice on the board: AUDITIONS FOR THE END-OF-TERM SHOW. DRUMMERS AND DANCERS. ALL STUDENTS WELCOME. I read the word "all" three times.
When I wrote my name on the drummers' list, Gatera saw it and laughed out loud. "Drums are for boys," he said. "Go and join the dancers." Some of the other boys laughed too. I felt my face burn, but I did not cross my name out.
For three weeks I practised every evening behind the dormitory, on an old yellow jerrycan, with two sticks I had cut from a eucalyptus branch. Aline kept time by clapping, and when it rained, we practised under the roof of the laundry shed. My palms blistered. I wrapped them in strips of cloth and carried on. At night, in bed, I drummed the rhythms silently on my blanket.
On the day of the audition, the hall was full. The boys went first, one by one. Then Madam Mukamana read my name, and the room went quiet. Gatera stood beside the big drum with his arms folded. "Copy this," he said, and he played a long, fast rhythm, the hardest I had ever heard him play.
My hands were shaking. I closed my eyes, and instead of the hall I saw the jerrycan behind the dormitory, and Aline clapping in the rain. I lifted the sticks and played his rhythm back to him, beat for beat. Then, before I could stop myself, I added the pattern I had made up under the laundry shed roof.
When I opened my eyes, nobody was laughing. Two of the dancers had started to move their feet.
Madam Mukamana wrote something on her list. "Uwera will play the fourth drum," she said.
Gatera did not speak to me that evening. But the next Friday, at our first practice, he walked over, took my sticks and turned them round in my hands. "Hold them lower," he said. "You'll hit harder and hurt less." It was the closest thing to sorry that he knew how to say.
On the night of the show, my mother sat in the second row. She had once told me that when she was a girl, nobody had ever seen a woman play the drums. Now she watched her daughter play the fourth drum in front of the whole school, and she was the first one on her feet when the music stopped.
| Word or phrase | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| prep | (at a boarding school) the evening study time | When prep was over, the drums began. |
| troupe | a group of performers who dance, drum or act together | The school troupe practised every Friday. |
| audition | a short performance to show that you are good enough to join a group or play a part | On the day of the audition, the hall was full. |
| blister | (verb and noun) to get a painful swelling full of liquid on the skin, from rubbing | My palms blistered. |
| keep time | to mark the beat so that others play at a steady speed | Aline kept time by clapping. |
| with his arms folded | with his arms crossed over his chest; often a sign of doubt or pride | Gatera stood beside the drum with his arms folded. |
| beat for beat | exactly, with every beat the same | She played his rhythm back to him, beat for beat. |
| the closest thing to | almost, but not exactly | It was the closest thing to sorry that he knew how to say. |
| be on your feet | to stand up, for example to applaud | She was the first one on her feet. |
Definition
Protagonist: the main character, whose goal or problem drives the story. Example: Uwera, who wants to drum.
Antagonist: the character (or force) that stands in the protagonist's way. Example: Gatera, at least at first.
Character trait: a quality that a character shows through what they say, do and think, and how others react to them: brave, proud, loyal, stubborn. A trait must always be supported with evidence from the text.
Dynamic character: a character who changes during the story. A static character stays the same. Example: Gatera is dynamic; Aline is static.
Definition
Setting: where and when a story happens. It has three parts: the place, the time (hour, season, period in history) and the social setting (the customs and beliefs of the people around the characters).
Theme: the main idea or truth about life that a story explores, written as a full sentence. Example: Courage and hard work can change what people believe is possible. The topic (drumming) is only what the story is about on the surface.
Point of view: the position from which a story is told: who the narrator is, and how much the narrator knows. The narrator is not the same as the author.
| Character | Role | Traits | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uwera (narrator) | protagonist; dynamic | determined, hard-working, brave, creative | "I did not cross my name out." · "My palms blistered. I wrapped them in strips of cloth and carried on." · She adds her own pattern at the audition. |
| Gatera | antagonist at first; dynamic | proud and dismissive at first; later fair | "Drums are for boys." · He stands "with his arms folded". · Later: "Hold them lower. You'll hit harder and hurt less." |
| Aline | minor; static | loyal, cheerful | She jokes about the window sill, and keeps time for Uwera every evening, even in the rain. |
| Madam Mukamana | minor; static | fair, open-minded | Her notice welcomes "ALL STUDENTS", and she judges Uwera by her playing. |
| Uwera's mother | minor | proud of her daughter | "She was the first one on her feet when the music stopped." |
| Part | In The Seventh Drum | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Place | a boarding school: the hall, the window, the space behind the dormitory, the laundry shed | Uwera starts outside the hall, at the window, and ends inside it, on a drum: the places show her journey. |
| Time | Friday evenings, from October to the end-of-term show, in the rainy season | Three weeks of practice in the rain show how much she wants it. |
| Social setting | a tradition that drums are for boys and men | This belief creates the conflict. Without it, there would be no story. |
In fact, the story has three conflicts at once: Uwera against Gatera (a character against another character), Uwera against the belief that drums are for boys (a character against society), and Uwera against her own fear at the audition (a character against herself).
| Point of view | Pronouns (outside speech) | What the narrator knows | The audition, told this way |
|---|---|---|---|
| First person | I, me, my, we | only the narrator's own thoughts and feelings | My hands were shaking. I closed my eyes. |
| Third person limited | he, she, they | the thoughts of one character only | Uwera's hands were shaking. She closed her eyes and thought of the jerrycan behind the dormitory. |
| Third person omniscient | he, she, they | everything, including every character's thoughts | Uwera's hands were shaking. By the big drum, Gatera was sure she would fail, and part of him hoped she would not. |
First-person narrators can be wrong about other people. When Uwera says Gatera's advice was "the closest thing to sorry that he knew how to say", that is her guess: in the first person, we never see inside Gatera's head.
| Pattern | Example |
|---|---|
| … is + trait. We know this because … | Uwera is determined. We know this because she refuses to cross her name out. |
| … seems (or appears) + trait when … | Gatera seems proud when he laughs at her name. |
| … turns out to be + trait. | In the end, Gatera turns out to be fair. |
| … shows that … is + trait. | Clapping in the rain shows that Aline is loyal. |
| Positive | Negative |
|---|---|
| determined, brave, patient, loyal, fair, generous, creative, hard-working, humble | proud, rude, dismissive, stubborn, jealous, greedy, lazy, boastful, unkind |
Some traits can be good or bad: stubborn Uwera refuses to give up (good), but a stubborn person may also refuse to listen (bad). The evidence decides.
Worked example
1. Is Gatera a static or a dynamic character? Support your answer
2. State the theme of the story.
Warning
Tip
Follow the change. To find a theme, compare the beginning and the end: what has the main character learned, and what has changed in the people around her? The theme is usually hiding in that difference.
A story's point of view, from Khan Academy (4 minutes). The presenter explains first-, second- and third-person narration with short examples. Second person ("you") is rare in stories, so focus on the other two, and after the video decide which point of view The Seventh Drum and The Elves each use.
Work in pairs. One of you is Gatera. Retell the audition in the first person, as Gatera, for about one minute: what did he think when he saw Uwera's name, what did he feel while she played, and why did he help her the next Friday? Your partner then asks Gatera two questions. Afterwards, discuss: how does changing the narrator change the story?
When I saw a girl's name on the drummers' list, I laughed. I thought she wanted attention. At the audition I played the hardest rhythm I know, because I was sure she would fail. Then she played it back to me, every beat, and added something I had never heard. I felt the room change. I didn't know what to say to her that evening, so I said nothing. But I couldn't stop thinking about her pattern. The next Friday I showed her how to hold the sticks, because a drummer that good shouldn't hurt her hands.
Write one paragraph (90 to 120 words) that answers: What is the theme of The Seventh Drum, and how does the writer show it? State the theme in your first sentence, support it with two quotations, and explain each one.
The theme of The Seventh Drum is that courage and hard work can change what people believe is possible. At the start, the narrator's wish to drum is laughed at: Gatera says, "Drums are for boys." Instead of giving up, she practises for three weeks until "my palms blistered", which shows that her courage is backed by effort. At the audition, her skill silences the room: "nobody was laughing". The clearest evidence comes at the end. Her mother, who as a girl had never seen "a woman play the drums", is "the first one on her feet". In one generation, a belief has changed, because one girl refused to cross her name out.
Practice
Sources and credits
