[in Classroom Notes Plus. October 1995. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, pp. 6-7.]

Masking Intents

The following mask project encourages students to take an analytical approach to a character in a book, while also expressing themselves creatively.

Ask students to select a recently read story, poem, or book and to write up a brief analysis of a character or of the narrator. Then ask them to design a mask for the character that conveys some of the significant ideas from their analysis. The mask could be in the form of a drawing, a painting, a collage of pictures or objects, or in another form chosen by the student. The next step is to write a description of the mask and an explanation of how it relates to the chosen character.

After students have finished, the class gathers together and students present and explain their masks. For example, one student's interpretation of M. Meursault in The Stranger resulted in a mask that was all black with irregular holes cut in it. She explained that the character is hiding himself and the holes represent his façade falling apart because people are beginning to see who he really is.

Another student's interpretation of the same character was to make the mask with one side a tree, showing how he feels he could live in the stump of a tree and just look up and see the sky, and the other side the ocean with a tear drop for the eyehole. This was to represent his love for the sea, the tear drop because he misses the times that he once had at the beach.

Still another mask depicted three objects on a blue background. On one side was a pack of cigarettes, in the middle was a woman standing in a black dress, and on the other side was a cup and a pot of coffee. These objects show Meursault's appreciation for simple things such as smoking, drinking coffee and making love with Marie. The background was blue because he loved the ocean.

This project inspires student's creativity. It also gives students a better understanding of the work as they create their own interpretations of characters and they discuss other students' interpretations.

I have found that students enjoy this assignment and benefit from it more than from a book report that no one but the teacher will read. This type of activity furthers the students' understanding and ability to express their thoughts not only through creating the masks, but also in the analytical writing that follows.

Nora Sanson
Canajoharie High School
Canajoharie, New York