Esther Forbes writes Johnny Tremain with careful attention to period appropriate language and detail, from the vocabulary of a colonial silversmith's workshop to the formal speech patterns of eighteenth century Boston, and this attention to voice is worth a dedicated writing assignment in its own right. Essays that ask students to analyze how this specific language choice shapes their reading experience push students to think about craft at the sentence level, not just at the level of plot or character. Grading this kind of essay well requires understanding what makes an observation about voice and vocabulary genuinely analytical, rather than just a list of unfamiliar words the student noticed while reading.

A common weak approach to this assignment is a student simply listing unfamiliar vocabulary words from the novel, such as terms related to silversmithing or period specific clothing and social customs, without ever explaining what effect that vocabulary has on the reading experience. A stronger approach connects specific word choices to a larger effect, arguing for example that the technical vocabulary of Johnny's trade immerses readers in his world and makes his eventual loss of that craft, after his accident, feel more significant because readers have come to understand exactly what skill he is losing. This kind of connection between specific language and larger meaning is what separates genuine voice analysis from simple vocabulary spotting.

It also helps for students to consider how the formal, somewhat old fashioned quality of the novel's dialogue and narration creates a sense of historical authenticity, even though the actual language of eighteenth century Boston would have differed in many ways from Forbes's stylized version of it. This observation invites students to think about historical fiction as a craft choice rather than a literal transcription of the past, recognizing that an author makes deliberate decisions about how to represent historical speech in a way that feels convincing to modern readers without being an exact reproduction of how people actually spoke at the time.

What a Strong Voice Analysis Essay Includes

A strong essay on this topic identifies at least one specific pattern in Forbes's language choices, whether that is trade specific vocabulary, formal dialogue, or particular kinds of descriptive detail, and then explains the effect that pattern has on how readers understand the story or its characters. General claims that the novel "sounds old fashioned" or "uses historical language" are accurate but insufficiently specific to earn top marks, since they do not demonstrate the kind of close, deliberate attention to craft the assignment is designed to build. Rubrics for this essay should explicitly reward specificity of pattern identification alongside clarity of the explained effect.

• Essay identifies a specific pattern in the novel's language, such as trade vocabulary or formal dialogue
• Essay explains a clear effect this language pattern has on the reader's experience or understanding
• Essay uses direct examples of specific words or phrases rather than general descriptions of the language
• Essay considers the language as a deliberate craft choice rather than a literal transcription of history
• Essay connects voice and vocabulary analysis to a broader point about character or theme where relevant

Scaffolding This Skill Before the Essay

This kind of close attention to language does not always come naturally to middle school readers, who are often more focused on tracking plot and character than on noticing sentence level word choices, so it benefits from explicit modeling before the essay is assigned. A useful class exercise involves selecting a short passage from the novel, highlighting three or four specific word choices together as a class, and discussing what effect each one has on the reader before students attempt this kind of analysis independently on a passage of their own choosing.

It also helps to give students a short glossary of key trade and period specific terms from the novel early in the unit, both to support general comprehension and to give students a ready bank of specific vocabulary they can draw on when writing this particular essay. Students who already have a working list of terms related to Johnny's silversmithing trade, for example, will find it much easier to write specifically about that vocabulary's effect than students who need to hunt back through the novel to relocate unfamiliar words from scratch during the writing process itself.

Grading With an Eye Toward Genuine Insight

Because this assignment asks for a genuinely close reading skill, it is worth grading generously for effort and specificity even when a student's stated effect is somewhat underdeveloped, since the act of noticing and articulating a language pattern at all represents meaningful growth for many middle school writers. An essay that correctly identifies a specific pattern but explains its effect only briefly should still score reasonably well, since the identification itself demonstrates the close reading skill the assignment is primarily designed to build and assess.

For students ready for a greater challenge, feedback can push toward connecting their voice analysis to the novel's larger themes, such as how the formal, respectful language surrounding adult characters early in the novel contrasts with how Johnny is spoken to once he becomes involved with the Sons of Liberty and is treated more as an equal. This kind of extension feedback, offered selectively to students whose initial analysis is already solid, helps differentiate instruction without requiring every student to reach the same level of sophistication on their first attempt at this genuinely challenging analytical skill.