Thinking about Anya's Ghost

Make a copy of this document and place it in your personal English folder. Complete the following activities.

Activity 1 - PLOT
● Key skill: summarising
● Key understanding: plot

What was the story of this graphic novel? Summarise of the story. Alternatively, complete a plot summary (using a diagram) in your notebook
(e.g. Freytag’s pyramid).

Orientation We are first introduced to Anya when she is getting ready for school and heads to the kitchen
(characters, plot, goal and where her mother is cooking a typical russian breakfast. From the way she speaks to her mother
setting are introduced) we can get the idea of a conflicting relationship between them, where Anya feels uncomprehended
and in “discomfort”. She comments about how greasy that food is and how fat she was when being
How and why are we a kid. She also makes comments and refers to the fact that American boys do not like fat girls. This
introduced to these induces us to believe that she has many issues regarding body image and with fitting in into her
aspects of the story school. These are common arguments among teens and are easy relatable topics nowadays.

Complication / rising There are various complications in the novel. First of all Anya falls in the well and meets Emily for
action the first time. She then gets saved and soon realizes that while gathering her stuff she got a piece
(we find out more about of Emiliy’s bone. This allowed Emily to always stay with Anya and for a while they got along very
the characters, the well, helping each other out. The key event arose when Anya discovered the truth about Emily’s
protagonist attempts to story and what she actually did when she was still alive. She had set fire to a house where her
solve the problem, events boyfriend was with another girl. Emily has lied to Anya the whole time and when she wanted to get
occur, problems happen) rid of her, Emily hid her bone so that she would never leave.

Climax In the novel there are two main important moments. The first one occurred in the library when Dima
 (The most tense, exciting finds the article which revealed the truth to Anya. At this point curiosity arises in the reader which
part of the story where the still doesn’t know what happens (seen in the next panels) and what Anya will do with Emily.
character tries to resolve Another tense moment happens when Anya is at the edge if the well holding in one hand Emily’s
any problems for the final bone, about to let it drop in the deepness. Emily tries to explain herself and manipulate Anya into
time) not doing it, but fails.

Resolution Anya finds the bone which was found by her brother which put it inside a box. She snatches it from
Emily and rushes to the woods where the well is. Emily tries to convince her not to let the bone fall
in it, explaining her reasons to why she killed her boyfriend. Anya doesn’t bother her and drops the
bone in the well. Emily is now “defeated” and the well will be then filled and closed.

Activity 2 - CHARACTER
● Key skill: recalling significant details
● Key understanding: characterisation

What sort of character was the protagonist of this story? Complete an indirect characterisation map for Anya in the following table. Alternatively,
use a concept map in your notebook.
Description Evidence (page and quote)

Speech She is quite defensive when speaking as if she
wants to protect herself by seeming stronger to the
eyes of others. She also uses a “sick and fed up”
tone when speaking with her mom, which she
“despises” in some way. This induces us to to think
she is very insecure about herself and has very low
self esteem. Overall she would like to be properly fit
in her school and with all of the other teens.
Page 3: “Ugh, did you see me back then? I weighted 300
pounds. And looked kinda like grandma.”
“Sure mom”
Page 4: “Sigh…Okay, mom. Geeze.”
“Uh-huh. Mom you bet.”

Thoughts From these two pages we can see that Anya is Pages 12-13: Anya frustrated by all the overwhelming thoughts.
 frustrated from all the oppressing people and
thoughts which are part of her life. They appear one
by one and accumulate driving her mad, until she
completely loses her focus and falls in the well.
These thoughts are recurring and represent the
major issues she faces. We can see her mom with
the food, siobhan, Sean and Elizabeth, her body,
her brother… She stresses over them possibly
wondering what is “wrong” with her and why she
isn’t able to be how she wants, why she couldn’t be
born pretty, and be a normal american teen.

Effect on others Anya is not a very popular girl in her school and is Page 72: “Hey Anya I heard about your nice moves in gym
considered a bit of a fool. She believes she is not today?”
enough and does not reach the beauty standards of
the majority of people, making it impossible for her
crush to notice and bother her. In reality though she
is seen in a normal way and no one pays much
attention to her body, contrarily she is seen as a
nice and pretty girl

Actions Overall Anya is a normal teenager and just tries to Page 201: Emily tries to stop Anya from letting go of the bone
live her life trying to fit in. She is decisive on her but she does it either way.
ideas and actions, strongly defending them.

Looks Since coming from a very normal family she does Page 115: Anya getting ready to go to the party
not wear anything too fancy. As the majority of the
scenes are set in school, she wears primarily the
uniform, but even when going to the party she
wears simple clothing. From this we can affirm that
she is very normal and humble, not trying to stand
out.
Activity 4 - CONFLICT
● Key skill: identity prevailing types of conflict in a narrative
● Key understanding: literary conflict

Conflict is an integral part to any story. There are various types of literary conflict, including ‘human vs. human’, ‘human vs. environment or
society’ and ‘human vs. self’. What types are used in Anya’s Ghost? Can you provide some specific examples?
There is one prominent conflict within the novel: Anya vs. Herself. She struggles with her body image, goes on a diet, restrains
her food, and isn’t confident with herself. It’s an inner conflict which brings her to feel fat and in discomfort within her own body.
Within the book there are various direct references to this conflict, for instance at page 113 where she says she needs to put
industrial tape around her stomach in order to “keep it in”, or also at page 3 where she complains with her mother about the food
she was cooking and how fat she was when being a kid.

Activity 3 - THEME
● Key skill: crafting a thematic statement
● Key understanding: theme

What do you think is the major theme of this story? What is it really about? Craft a statement of theme.
There are few different messages within this graphic novel, yet the one I’ve perceived as being the strongest is never to rely on
someone, especially as we do not know them so well. Anya trusted Emily and thought she was very similar to her, as if she could
comprehend what she was going through, and that's why they got along well. Anya though did not know the deep and macabre
story of Emily. She believed her version, but quickly discovered the reality. People often say lies in order not to lose people as
they feel appreciated for once, but lies have a very short end and are often discovered.
Activity 5 - SETTING
● Key skill: describing a narrative setting and explaining its function
● Key understanding: setting
How does setting play a part in this story? Name at least three different settings and describe the effect that the setting has on the reader.
Setting Role it plays in the story
Anya’s room Anya’s room ais a personal space to her, where
she is free from sights, opinions of others, and
where she can simply be her true self. It’s her
comfort zone and safe place, where nobody can
interfere.
The Library Even if a short scene is set within the library it does
play an important role. Anya finds herself there
with Dima and actually become “friendly” to him.
This is due to the fact that nobody she knows is
there and saw her with him. The library is a no-risk
space where she knows there is no one observing
here. This means that no one would be able to
judge her for hanging with the “nerdy and foolish”
foreign kid.
The woods The woods are the only place where anya can be
alone and rest without being disturbed. She is able
to deeply think and write her poems, focusing only
on herself and on nature. It’s a personal and
Describe how it is ‘shown’ to the reader
The room is a typical teenager’s room. Posters
are hung up the walls, various object are placed
on top of the desk and drawers, there is a bed
and the closet. Even if being a normal room it is
her space where she can feel safe and
unobserved by others.
The library is a silent big building, filled with
shelves and books, without too many people. We
can also imagine the smell of paper pages and
the old wood. It is an occasional setting where a
brief scene is set, yet it allows the characters to
freely speck without being judged by other as they
are alone.
The woods seem like a parallel world, detached
from the confusion of the city, where only birds
and nature reside. There is a creek, a wooden
bridge, and all of the trees. It’s a place which
intimate place which gives her an inner peace. makes Anya feel safe which allows her to be
herself without feeling observed and judged by
others.