English 10 Chu
Elements of a Short Story
Plot
Definition: series of related events that make up a story or drama
When we talk about stories, plot is the element to start with, for plot is story itself. Plot is a series of related events. A typical plot has four parts:
1. Basic Situation/Exposition
This is the opening of the story, when the characters and their conflict are introduced.
2. Complications
A series of complications arises, which causes problems (danger, hostility, fear, or even a new threatening situation), requiring the main character to take some action in order to resolve the conflict.
External conflict – conflict between the protagonist and some outside force
Internal conflict - the protagonist wrestles with his or her own fear or worry or the need to make a decision
3. Climax
The story’s most exciting or suspenseful moment, when something happens that decides the outcome of the conflict.
4. Resolution/Denouement
This is the last part of the plot when the problems are resolved and the story ends.
Setting
Definition: time and place of a story or play
Setting tells us where and when a story takes place. Setting can include the locale of a story, the weather, the time of day, and the time period (past, present, or future). Setting can even include people’s customs – how they live, dress, eat, and behave. One purpose of setting is to provide background – a place where the characters can live and act.
Aspects of Setting:
1. Mood/Atmosphere
Definition: a story’s atmosphere or the feeling it evokes
2. Tone
Definition: the writer’s attitude toward a subject or character
Character
Definition: individual in a story, poem, or play
The Protagonist
Most stories have a main character, called the protagonist, who is the focus of our attention. In a good story the protagonist is a realistic, complicated human being with just enough strengths, weaknesses, and contradictions to remind us of ourselves.
As a rule, a story’s plot gets underway when the protagonist wants something and sets out to get it. The antagonist in a story is the character or force that blocks the protagonist from achieving his or her goal.
Characters can be…
1. Dynamic
Dynamic Character – someone who changes in an important way during the course of the story
2. Static
Static Character – someone who is exactly the same at the end of the story as they are at the beginning
3. Flat
A flat character is two-dimensional, with only one or two key personality traits.
4. Round
A round character has the three-dimensional qualities of real-life people, with many traits and complexities.
5. Stock
A stock character is one who fits our preconceived notions about a “type” (for example, the mad scientist).
The revelations fiction offers lie largely in the element called character – that is, the story’s actors. When the characters in a story behave in convincing ways, then we believe in them and maybe even love or hate them.
Techniques writers use to reveal character traits and personality:
1. Telling us directly what the character is like (generous, deceitful, timid, etc.)
2. Describing how the character looks and dresses
3. Letting us hear the character speak
4. Letting us listen to the character’s inner thoughts and feelings
5. Revealing what other people think or say about the character
6. Showing the character’s actions
The first method listed above is called direct characterization. The writer tells us directly what the character is like. The other five methods are indirect characterization. We have to put clues together to figure out what a character is like, as we do in real life when we are getting to know someone.
Characterization:
The most obvious method of characterization is the character’s speech. Here are four ways writers use speech to reveal character:
1. First-Person Narration
The character(s) speak directly to the reader. They present facts – describing events in the story and perhaps even their backgrounds – but they also tell us what they think and feel.
2. Dialogue
Definition: conversation between two or more characters
We can learn about the characters not only by what they say about themselves, but by how they respond to each other.
3. Dramatic Monologue
Definition: a poem in which a speaker addresses one or more silent listeners, often reflecting on a specific problem or situation
4. Soliloquy
Definition: long speech in which a character who is alone onstage expresses private thoughts or feelings
Point of View
Definition: the vantage point from which a writer tells a story
1. First-Person Point of View
The narrator (using the first-person pronoun I) is a character in the story. When we read a story told in the first person, we hear and see only what the narrator hears and see. We must ask ourselves if the narrator is credible, or reliable. An unreliable narrator does not always know what is happening in the story, or he or she might be lying or telling us only part of the story.
2. Third-Person Limited Point of View
The narrator, who plays no part in the story, zooms in on the thoughts and feelings of one character.
3. Omniscient
In the omniscient (or “all-knowing”) point of view, the narrator plays no part in the story but can tell us what all the characters are thinking and feeling as well as what is happening in other places.
Aspects of Point of View:
1. Voice
Definition: the writer’s or speaker’s distinctive use of language in a text
2. Diction
Definition: writer’s or speaker’s choice of words
3. Tone
Definition: the attitude a writer takes toward a subject, a character, or the reader
Determining a Story’s Point of View
When you read fiction, ask the following five questions about point of view:
1. Who is telling the story?
2. How much does this narrator know and understand?
3. How much does this narrator want me to know?
4. Can I trust this narrator?
5. In what ways would the story be different if someone else were telling it?
Theme
Definition: the central idea or insight about human life revealed by a work of literature
The theme of a work of literature is really its root. Theme is unseen and usually unstated, yet it is vital. It gives meaning to the characters and events, and at the same time it reveals the writer’s personal attitude toward the world, toward how people should behave and how they actually do behave.
Theme is neither a summary of the plot nor the work’s subject. Rather, theme is what the writer means by everything he or she has set down. A theme may give us insight into some aspect of life that we have never really thought about before, or it may make us understand something we always knew but never realized we knew.
It’s often difficult for a reader to state the theme of a literary work. Yet the attempt to put a theme into words can often help us understand the work more fully. Here are some guidelines for discovering and stating a theme:
1. One of the best ways to discover the theme of a literary work is to ask how the protagonist changes during the course of the story. Often what this character learns about life is the truth the writer wants to reveal to the reader.
2. Because conflict is so central to most literature, a good clue to theme is how the conflict is resolved.
3. Another way to discover the theme is to think about the title of a work, which often – but not always – has a special significance and hints at the theme.
4. We must use at least one complete sentence to state a theme. In other words, a theme must be a statement about the subject of the work rather than a phrase such as “the rewards of old age.”
5. Remember that a theme is not the same as a moral, which is a rule of conduct. In getting at theme, we should ask ourselves, “What does this work reveal?” rather than “What does this work teach?” Thus, it is a mistake to reduce a theme to a familiar saying or cliché. A theme is usually a much more complex and original revelation about life.
6. A theme must be expressed as a generalization about life or human nature; it should not refer to specific characters or events in the work. Themes are often universal – that is, they apply to people everywhere – because people all over the world have common desires, needs, and experiences. We all know about love and loss, dreams and dashed hopes.
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