Extending Literary Symbols Beyond the ELA Classroom

As a high school English language arts teacher, I know that my students don’t always see how the texts we read connect to their daily lives. I wanted to find a way to help my students see and feel a human connection to what we were reading, helping them more deeply engage with the content. We were reading Homer’s The Odyssey at the time, and I decided to try out a new kind of activity, one that encouraged my students to make their own connections to the text.

The activity I came up with was seemingly pretty simple, but it still offered students the opportunity to deeply engage with the material. I decided to ask students to find an object of their choice and identify a way to connect it to the plot of our text, The Odyssey. I wanted to focus on finding an object specifically because I thought it would give a tangibility to our often abstract subject, English.

Finding and Presenting Objects as Symbols

For this activity, I told students that the goal would be to find an object that they could connect to the plot of The Odyssey in some way—through themes, literary devices, figurative language, quotations, plot, and characterization. I then put students in groups and gave them about 10 minutes to go outside and look for their objects. They foraged around, and as they walked here and there, it was like I could see their thought process, or at least I could see that they were thinking, as their heads were facing the sidewalks, pavilions, and fields in search of a connection.

For situations where teachers might not be able to venture outside, I would recommend assigning finding the object itself as a take-home assignment. Then the object can be brought to class, and the rest of the activity can take place.

After spending about 10 minutes searching, students returned to the classroom with their chosen objects. Each group was then asked to write an explanation of why they chose the particular object and how it related to the text. Teachers could have students write their explanations as a group or first provide time for individual reflection.

After completing a written reflection, each group was then asked to come to the front of the classroom and present their object and explanation to the class. I set some additional requirements for the presentation to help my students address their communication skills. These included that every student in the group had to speak and work to use their voice level and eye contact appropriately.

When my students completed this activity, I was surprised and impressed by the objects they chose. From ripped pieces of foil, to twigs and branches, to a deflated soccer ball, it was fascinating to see how these students connected objects to Homer’s work. One group of students turned the piece of foil into the shape of a heart, stating that this could represent either the suitors pursuing Penelope or Penelope’s love for Odysseus—just a tattered piece of foil, found randomly in the real world, connected to a fictional one through plot and characterization.

Another group crossed a twig and branch together, relating it to the mast that Odysseus was tied to when passing the Sirens, and identifying how it represented both the arrogance of Odysseus and the loyalty of his crew as they didn’t untie him. Additionally, a simple green acorn, as described by another group of students, represented the eye of Polyphemus being poked out, which in turn symbolizes the eventual curse of Odysseus caused by his arrogance.

After all the groups had presented, we engaged in a whole class discussion to review the connections and viewpoints presented. I wanted to help my students home in on the idea that we are constantly surrounded, in one way or another, by the literary world—that in fact, regardless of time, setting, and all other fictional elements, fiction is all about the human experience.

Extending the Activity

To dive deeper into this activity, a teacher may decide to pose one or any combination of the following questions to their students individually or in groups.

1. Was this the first object you picked up? If so, why did you feel comfortable sticking with this one instead of continuing to find another item, or if you found other objects, what made you choose this one instead? What were the alternative items and their connections?
2. Was there an object you were specifically looking for but couldn’t find, and what was it? Why did you want that particular item?
3. If you had to add one more part to this activity, what would it be? What would be its purpose?
4. How could you create a new, unique narrative using the objects we found as a class? 
5. Can you see any connections between the objects you found and any other topics you are learning about in other classes?

This activity helped my students see how what we learn in the classroom can directly relate to our surroundings and environments, providing a way for them to think critically, make connections, and hold up a mirror between literature and the world we live in.