Plot

1
Plot

• Notes on August 31, 2006

2
Plot Line
3
Elements of a Plot Line

• Exposition/Beginning
• Background information that establishes the
  setting and describes the situation in which the
  main characters find themselves.
• Once upon a time there was a young girl named
  Cinderella. She lived with her mean step-mother
  and her two ugly step-sisters. Ever since her
  father died, Cinderella did all of the housework
  and slept by the fire in the kitchen . . . .

4

• Rising Action
• Narrative hook the first problem faced by the
  main character. It is the beginning of suspense,
  of wondering what happens next
• Until one day, it was announced that the Prince
  wanted to marry. In order to choose his wife, he
  would hold a great ball, and everyone throughout
  the country should come . . . .

5
Rising Action Continued

• Complications
• a series of obstacles the main characters have to
  solve. Each complication is a step on the way to
  solving the overall problem of the story
• Cinderella had nothing to wear to the ball. She
  had no way to get there. When the Fairy Godmother
  provided her with a beautiful gown and shoes, a
  coach and servants, there was a catch Cinderella
  had to be home by midnight. She and the Prince
  met, danced, and fell in love. The clock struck,
  Cinderella fled, the glass slipper was left, and
  the Prince traveled the country trying the
  slipper on everyones foot to find her . . . .

6
Rising Action Continued

• Conflict the overall problem
• Internal Conflict
• This is a conflict between a character and his or
  herself
• External Conflict
• Man vs. Man A conflict between two characters
• Man vs. Nature
• No one expected Cinderella, the dirty girl by
  the kitchen fire, to be the one to marry the
  Prince. The mean step-mother made sure that no
  one would know that she was even there . . . .

7
Climax

• The most exciting moment in the story, when the
  outcome is decided one way or another
• When the Prince came to the house where
  Cinderella lived, the glass slipper did not fit
  the ugly step-sisters, even though they took a
  big knife and cut off their toes and their heels.
  (The original fairy tales were harsh and gory
  before Disney got hold of them.) Someone told the
  Prince that there was another young woman in the
  house Cinderella. Of course, the slipper fit
  her perfectly . . .

8
Falling Action

• all of the events that are a direct result of the
  climax
• these events happened because the climax happened
• Cinderella and the Prince were married, and she
  went to live with him in the palace . . . .

9
Resolution

• The conflict is resolved and the story is brought
  to a close
• And they lived happily ever after . . . .