The House in the Cerulean Sea

What elements of allegory do you see in The House in the Cerulean Sea? Are there individual people who stand in for real-world individuals, or do groups or types of people in the novel stand in for real-world groups of people? What about settings and plot events—do any of these strike you as being allegories for things that happen in the real world?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may find it easier to explain how characters and settings function allegorically than to explain how plot events work as allegories. It may be helpful to explain that some plots are representational—they are entirely plausible within the context of reality and demonstrate actions, choices, and so on that people really make in our own world—while some plots are figurative—they are actually happening in the story, but they are not things that could happen in the real world, and instead they are indirectly making a point about some roughly parallel situation that exists in our world. You might offer an example for discussion, such as, “There are no magical children being discriminated against in our world, so what real-world situation does this parallel allegorically?”

Differentiation Suggestion: Responding to this prompt requires significant abstract thinking, and students who struggle with abstractions may benefit from support.