The Plot

1
Topic 6

• The Plot

2
Readings

• The readings for the concept of event above are
  also relevant. In addition, you may want to take
  a look at the following
• Leitch, What Stories Are, chapter 7
• Martin, Recent Theories of Narrative, pp. 71-4,
  90-115, 122-9.
• Toolan, Narrative, 2.2-2.6, 5.1-5.7, 5.11

3
Relationship to Event

• Events are the building blocks with which a plot
  is built.
• Hence the relevance of the readings on events for
  the discussion on plot
• However, events are viewed in a certain way for
  the analysis of plot only certain labels or
  classifications are relevant

4
Narrative Structure and Plot

• The term narrative structure is often taken to be
  equivalent to plot
• For example, this course
• But a concentration on plot may impoverish a
  course like this.

5
Underemphasis on Plot

• Until recently, the analysis of plot has been
  avoided by most literary critics.
• There is the related belief that plot is a
  concern of popular narratives, and not serious
  works of literature.

6
Definitions

• The sequence of incidents or events of which a
  story is composed.
• Has also been defined as an array of events, some
  of which can be described as being key moments in
  the narrative (Chatman)

7
Is Plot Necessary for the Story?

• If we follow Chatman's definition of plot, then
  it is essential to all stories he in fact views
  it as being logically necessary for all stories.
  
• To Leitch however, there can be stories without
  plot

8
Is Plot Necessary for the Story? Leitch

• Leitchs contention that there can be stories
  without plot
• Depends on his definition of plot
• Problem-solving definition plot is the series of
  actions which lead to an end, or more elegantly,
  it is the image of human experience as a series
  of rational actions with a necessitous end
  (p. 130).
• Leitch's definition thus regards plots as not
  existing in stories with irrational actions, or
  those which contain little or no action
  implications of this view

9
Story and Plot
10
Forsters Story and Plot Criticism

• Not everyone agrees with Forster's definitions
  and/or distinction (why shouldn't his definitions
  of story and plot be the other way round?).
• Among those who disagree with Forster's
  definition are Chatman and Rimmon-Kenan, who
  regard his distinction as hard to accept, as
  readers may superimpose the causal relations in a
  text even if they are not actually given in the
  text itself.

11
Chatman's Story and Discourse Revisited

• Plot is regarded by him as story-as-discoursed
• Can we reconcile the above with the following
  view by Chatman?
• story-time is equivalent to plot-time and
• discourse-time is equivalent to reading-time

12
Plot and the Ordering of Events

• The most effective order of events is not
  necessarily chronological.
• Thus attempts at anachrony may make the narrative
  more interesting
• It may also have an effect on ones conception of
  the causal connections in the plot

13
Characters and Plot

• Connection of characters to action natural
  connection to the plot
• What a character does, contribute to the plot

14
What to Look For in the Analysis of Plot ?

• The plot of a narrative is usually not difficult
  to identify
• An analysis of plot will leave out description
  and narratorial commentary and concentrate on the
  major events.
• As an analysis of plot leaves out description and
  narratorial commentary, it is thus not directly
  equivalent to the content of the work.

15
Plot Constituents One Formulation

• the following three elements
• rising action,
• climax,
• falling action, or

16
Plot Constituents Another Formulation

• the following five elements
• exposition,
• complication,
• climax,
• conflict,
• dénouement

17
Plot Constituents

• Or the following seven elements (Longacre)
• exposition,
• initiating moment,
• developing conflict,
• climax,
• dénouement
• final suspense
• conclusion

18
Longacres Exposition Initiating Moment

• exposition,
• initiating moment,
• developing conflict,
• climax,
• dénouement
• final suspense
• conclusion

19
Longacres Exposition Initiating Moment

• exposition,
• in which the narrator (Longacre uses author)
  tries to lay it out in terms of time, place,
  local colour, participants
• initiating moment,
• where the narrator gets something going

20
Longacres Developing Conflict, Climax
Dénouement

• exposition,
• initiating moment,
• developing conflict,
• climax,
• dénouement
• final suspense
• conclusion

21
Longacres Developing Conflict, Climax
Dénouement

• developing conflict,
• where the narrator keeps the heat on
• climax,
• where he knots it all up proper or messes it
  up
• dénouement
• where he loosens it, and where a crucial event
  makes the resolution possible

22
Longacres Final Suspense Conclusion

• exposition,
• initiating moment,
• developing conflict,
• climax,
• dénouement
• final suspense
• conclusion

23
Longacres Final Suspense Conclusion

• final suspense
• where the events are kept untangled and
• conclusion
• where the narrator wraps it up.

24
Plot Constituents The Conflict Possibilities

• Between a character or characters with another
  character or other characters
• a character with himself or herself, either
• between two or more personalities found in the
  person, or
• with the characters past
• a character with the setting
• a character with the turn of events

25
Plot Constituents The Conflict Nature

• A conflict can be single, clear-cut and easily
  identifiable, or it can be multiple, various and
  subtle.
• It can also be external (actional) or internal
  (psychological), or it can be a mixture of both.

26
Plot Constituents The Complication

• The complication is usually associated with
  tension between characters.
• Although Longacre does not have this constituent
  in his list of plot constituents, we can relate
  his notion of climax, where, according to him,
  the writer / narrator knots it all up proper,
  or messes it up

27
Plot Constituents The Climax

• In the climax or what Longacre calls the peak,
  there is a concentration of participants on a
  crowded stage.
• A climax or peak may also involve a moment of
  illumination.
• According to Longacre, there is a linguistic
  change in the climax from the use of more
  conjunctions to less, and there may be an
  increase in onomatopoeia.

28
Suspense

• Questions what's going to happen next? or
  how will this turn out?.
• A retarding element.
• Suspense is regarded by Longacre as an element of
  the plot, but not everyone agrees with him on
  this.

29
Suspense to Other Scholars

• To most other scholars, suspense is a response
  created by the plot, rather than a constituent of
  the plot itself.
• It is a free-floating element, although it
  usually occurs towards the end

30
Surprise

• Created when the story departs from our
  expectations.
• More clearly an effect created by the plot, and
  not a plot constituent.
• May lead to a moment of illumination where the
  character is able to see certain things in
  clearer perspective.

31
Chance Factors

• Chance factors do seem to be a consideration in
  any discussion of the plot.
• May be found at the beginning, end or during the
  complication of the story.
• They often create surprise on the part of the
  reader.
• They can be motivated or unmotivated.
• Reliance on chance to bring about a solution to
  the story, especially if it is unmotivated, is
  often viewed negatively.

32
Fate

• Fate does not leave things to chance.
• With fate as a controlling factor, everything,
  including events which seem to be accidental, is
  predetermined by a supernatural force.
• In Latin, the word fatum means a sentence of the
  gods something which one cannot escape from.

33
Plot Endings Happy Or Sad?

• The ending of a story may be happy, in which case
  the main characters live happily ever after.
• But the issue here may very well be whether the
  ending follows from what is given earlier, or
  whether it makes sense, not whether it is happy
  or unhappy.

34
Indeterminate Endings

• Indeterminate endings are found in the open
  form in modern fiction

35
Cliffhangers

• An episode in a serial may end with a
  cliffhanger, which leads the reader, listener or
  viewer to want to know the outcome in the next
  episode.

36
Nature of Cliffhangers

• Two devices are commonly used for cliffhangers
• The episode may end with a mystery, where there
  is an unusual set of circumstances for which the
  reader/listener/viewer needs an explanation, or
• The episode may end with a dilemma, where a
  character must choose between two courses of
  action, both of which are undesirable, and the
  reader/listener/viewer is thus left wondering as
  to which course of action is to be taken, or if
  there is a third alternative which may become
  evident only after certain events have unfold.

37
Sub-plots and Side-sequences

• Some stories may contain side-sequences or
  full-fledged sub-plots.
• Sub-plots may function as part of the main plot,
  and cannot be separated from it, or
• It can act as a reflector on the plot.

38
The Plot and Aesthetic Unity

• Aesthetic unity, to some literary critics, is
  essential to a good plot, in the sense that
  everything in the plot
• must be relevant, and
• must contribute to the meaning of the whole
  story.

39
The Plot and Aesthetic Unity

• Aesthetic unity may involve the logical
  connection of events which are linked together in
  a chain of cause and effect a sense of
  inevitability.
• Judgments of probability connected to fatalism
  and chance factors
• We demand some kind of probable sequence when it
  comes to stories, although in real life, events
  may follow one another in a haphazard or
  incoherent sequence

40
Plot and Audience Response

• The relationship of the plot to audience response
  is not new (with reader-response criticism)
• Arguably, it was already there in Aristotle his
  notion of catharsis

41
Vladimir Propp Significance

• Among the most important analysts of plot is
  Vladimir Propp, especially in his book Morphology
  of the Folktale.
• Propp's work can be described as an attempt to
  show, in O.B. Hardison's words, that a great
  many plots can be made from the same story. Or
  should it be, reversing Hardison's key words, an
  attempt to show that a great many stories can be
  made from the same plot?.

42
Vladimir Propp Criticisms

• Propp's analysis is corpus specific limited to
  the Russian fairy tale.
• He and his followers have been accused of
  disregarding content for form, which is a common
  criticism of approaches to plot which do not
  consider other aspects of narrative.

43
The Universal Plot

• A single plot which lies at the heart of all the
  world's stories
• The search for the universal plot or the
  universal structure of stories was once seriously
  considered by the French structuralists, some of
  whose work has been inspired by Propp.
• There was also the belief that finding this
  universal plot will lead to an understanding of
  the human mind

44
Plot and the Human Mind

• The attempt to relate the analysis of plot
  structure to the understanding of the human mind
  is also found in anthropological studies of plot

45
Quality of Plot as an Evaluative Criterion

• The quality of the writer's plot construction,
  has been used as an evaluative criterion by some
  writers.
• Aristotle prefers drama to epic because drama has
  a more tightly knit plot
• Poe prefers the short story to the novel

46
Plot Importance for Serious Fiction?

• The analysis of plot is usually considered to be
  less important in the study of serious fiction
• Belief that plot is usually more obvious in
  popular works and less evident in serious
  fiction.
• However, some adventure novels (including those
  which can be classified as popular) also have
  plots which cannot be described as tightly
  constructed.

47
Plot in the Picaresque Novel

• One way to look at the problem of the so-called
  rambling plot in picaresque fiction the whole
  novel consists of a string of micro-plots, some
  of which are well-constructed by themselves, and
  that these micro-plots are strung together
  (usually but not always in chronological
  sequence) mainly because they occur to the picaro
  (the hero of the picaresque work).

48
Plot in the Television Series

• The same principle as in the picaresque novel may
  be at work in the television series.
• Each episode of a television series may be quite
  well-constructed with regard to its plot, but the
  overall story from the first to the last
  episodes of the series may not add up to a
  coherently constructed plot.

49
The Loose Baggy Monster

• The novel as a genre has been described as a
  loose, baggy monster whose plot is not tightly
  knit.

50
Rejection of Well-Made Plot in Modern Works

• In modern fiction, Virginia Woolf and Katherine
  Mansfield are well-known for what has been
  described as the rejection of the well made,
  strongly-plotted story...
• In general, the importance of plot seems to be
  further reduced once we reach the modern era.

51
ROGUE MEETS ROGUE

• (a tale from Nigeria) adapted by Amy Friedman
• Once upon a time a rogue who lived in Kano
  wanted to make his fortune, but he owned little
  and had no special skills. And so he peeled the
  bark from the branch of a tree. This he dyed
  blue, and then he beat it until it was smooth as
  silk. He wrapped this in a bundle and set off for
  the market.

52

• On his way he came upon a rogue from Katsina
  who was seeking his fortune as well.
• What's that in your sack? the man from Kano
  asked the man from Katsina as they passed each
  other on the road.

53

• Oh, this is my money, answered the rogue from
  Katsina. In fact, his sack was filled with
  stones, but on the top he had placed coins. And
  you, friend, what do you carry there?
• This! replied the rogue from Kano. This is
  the finest blue broadcloth. It's worth a fortune
  in the market.

54

• After a little more conversation, the men
  agreed to exchange their goods. Each one thought
  he had tricked the other. They smiled and waved
  farewell, and each set off for his home.

55

• When they were some distance apart, each
  stopped to examine his goods. When they realized
  that they had been tricked, they ran back toward
  each other.
• So we are both clever fellows, the rogue from
  Kano said. We would do well to join forces and
  seek our fortune together. The rogue from
  Katsina agreed.

56

• Together they walked to the market. There they
  bought some staffs and begging bowls. Pretending
  to be blind beggars, they walked to a camp of
  traders who werejust settling down for the night.
  
• May we stay with you tonight? they asked. We
  are poor and tired.
• The traders welcomed them.

57

• As soon as the traders were fast asleep, the
  two rogues stole all their goods and moved these
  to the bottom of a dry well nearby. Then they
  returned to the camp and fell fast asleep.

58

• At dawn the traders discovered they had been
  robbed. The two rogues woke and cried, And the
  thieves have stolen our water bottles!

59

• The traders were distraught. Without a thought
  for the two beggars, they packed up their camp
  and set off to chase the thieves. When they were
  gone, the rogues hurried to the well.

60

• Down you go, said the man from Kano, and the
  man from Katsina climbed down the well. He tied
  the goods to a rope that the rogue from Kano
  lowered to him. Load by load the man from Katsina
  sent the goods to the top of the well, and the
  man from Kano quickly moved these behind a bush
  some distance away.

61

• When they had been working for a long time, the
  man from Katsina called, The next load will be
  heavy, but after that you have only me to haul
  up. With that he crawled into a crate and hid
  himself inside.

62

• The man from Kano laughed to himself as he
  hauled up the last crate and carried it to his
  pile of goods. He had no intention of hauling up
  the man from Katsina. Instead, he put a load upon
  his head and started to run away.

63

• The rogue from Katsina crept out of his crate,
  and when the man from Kano saw him, he began to
  laugh. You are a clever fellow, he said. No
  wonder we're such wonderful rogues.

64

• And so they collected their goods and set off.
  When they arrived in Kano, the man from Katsina
  said I must visit my family. I will leave my
  things here with you and return in a month. Then
  we shall divide our goods.

65

• Well, the man from Katsina had not been gone
  long when the man from Kano figured out how to
  trick his old partner. He dug a deep grave behind
  his home and this he covered with calabashes to
  enable him to breathe.

66

• When the month was nearly through, he climbed
  down into the grave and his family heaped dirt
  over the calabashes.
• The next day the man from Katsina returned.
  Haven't you heard? the family said. Our
  beloved father and husband died yesterday.

67

• Oh my, said the man from Katsina. Please
  take me to his grave.
• When he saw the grave, the man from Katsina
  said You ought to cover this grave with thorns.
  If you do not, the hyenas will come and dig up
  the poor soul. Oh, my poor beloved friend.

68

• We'll do it tomorrow, the family said. Then
  they took the man from Katsina to his resting
  place for the night.
• At midnight, the rogue from Katsina sneaked out
  of the house and went to the grave. He began to
  growl like a hyena, all the while scratching at
  the dirt above the grave.

69

• When the rogue from Kano heard the growls, he
  shrieked and climbed quickly out of the grave.
• All right, the rogue from Katsina said, we
  have each played fine tricks.

70

• The two rogues divided the goods. And from that
  day on, they gave up trickery, for they had
  learned that one rogue will always attract
  another.

71
End of Lecture