This school year, a creative way of analyzing text has been implemented throughout select English classes. Teachers have been using body biographies as a way of understanding the deeper meanings located in the assigned books for this year.   

You are probably asking yourself, what in the world is a body biography? They may sound a tad kooky but they are remarkably effective when used to analyze books. To start your body biography, you should lay down on a very large sheet of paper and trace your body to construct the base of the project. After building your base you can add whatever information and analysis you please.  

The body biographies include abundant aspects of character analysis including components of a tragic hero, character foils and most importantly a solid connection of the character’s inner feelings to parts of the body. An example of one of these connections could be a nurturing character and the human heart which embodies love.  

For English 10, I have Mr. Alford. His classes have been employing this technique for two years, while Ms. Nash’s classes have adopted this method of analysis for numerous years. Mr. Alford along with students enjoy the change of pace for novel analysis. When I asked Mr. Alford about his feelings towards the engaging, unconventional project, he claims he finds the project interesting because “the creative side appeals to some students” and “it gives students an alternative way to express their understanding of a character.”  

The students appreciate the contemporary approach when discovering deeper feelings in a character. Junior Alyssa Sabellano recognizes that the project “prepares the students for the analysis of the entire novel.” She relishes the fact that body bios “follow the journey of the characters from start to finish.” 

Sophomore Madeline Roberge concludes that body bios “are effective because it really helps analyze specific characters.” As you can probably tell, the body biographies are student approved. 

Generally speaking, the body biographies seem like a favorable approach to looking at the text with a fresh pair of eyes. Now that you know how a body biography works, go out and make your own!