Elements of the Short Story

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Elements of the Short Story
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The Short Story

• Short stories have been with us since the
  beginning of history we have short stories in
  the Old Testament of the Bible mythology
  (Ancient Greek and Roman) parables epic and
  fable (from the Middle Ages)
• Not one person created the short story, nor did
  one nation develop the short story. A group of
  19th century writers in America developed it as a
  literary form. Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel
  Hawthorne. After this the short story developed
  and became popular in America.

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SHORT STORY

• A literary form which narrates a series of events
  or a single incident involving individuals in
  mental or physical activity.
• The short story is different from the novel it
  focuses on a single aspect of many elements of
  the novel. A short story may range from 500 to
  20,000 words in length.

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ELEMENTS OF A SHORT STORY

• Setting The time, place, and background of the
  action (background refers to the cultural,
  religious, and moral attitudes of the time and
  place).
• Mood The emotional atmosphere which hangs over
  the story when the mood is able to penetrate
  the reader, he is better able to enjoy the story.

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• Characterization The way an author reveals his
  characters there are three methods of
  characterization
• 1. what the author tells us
• 2. What the character himself tells us through
  his own actions
• 3. What other characters tell us about a
  character.
• NOTE THESE TWO TYPES OF CHARACTERS Protagonist
  and Antagonist.

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• Protagonist the central character with whom we
  are supposed to sympathize.
• Antagonist a person or force that opposes the
  protagonist.
• Plot a series of events which introduce,
  develop, and finally resolve problem(s) and which
  convey a message.

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• Two techniques sometimes used in developing plot
  are flashback and foreshadowing.
• A flashback is a scene that interrupts the
  present action (chronological order) of a story
  to tell something that happened in the past.
• Foreshadowing is the use of clues that hint at
  coming plot developments.

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Conflict

• Problems in a story. Conflict provides the
  interest and suspense in a story.
• Four main kinds of Conflict
• 1. Man against Nature
• 2. Man against Man
• 3. Man against Society
• 4. Man against Himself
• The plot is made up of a series of conflicts
  seldom do we find a single conflict in a plot.
  Often we find two or even all of the kinds of
  conflict in a single story.

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EXPOSITION

• The part of a play that provides the background
  information needed to understand the characters
  and the action.

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RISING ACTION

• The sections in narrations during which the
  tension between opposing characters or forces
  builds toward a climax

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Climax

• The technical climax is the decisive point in a
  series of happenings the point of most intense
  excitement in a narrative specifically, when the
  heros/heroines fate is in the balance.

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Falling Action

• The action in a narrative which represents the
  working out of the decisive action of the climax.

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DENOUEMENT

• The final resolution or clarification of a
  dramatic or narrative plot.
• The events following the climax of a drama or
  novel in which such a resolution or clarification
  takes place.
• The outcome of a sequence of events the end
  result.

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THEME

• The central idea of a story it is the message
  behind the story

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DIAGRAM OF A SHORT STORY
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Diagram of a Short Story
CLIMAX
RISING ACTION
FALLING ACTION
EXPOSITION
RESOLUTION, DENOUMENT
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Point of View

• The perspective or view from which the author
  presents the story it is the authors identity
  to the story. If the author, or narrator, is an
  onlooker who refers to all the characters as he,
  she, or it (third person), the point of view is
  omniscient. The author and the reader are both
  observers of the action.

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First Person

• If the author, or narrator, is a character within
  the story or another character telling the story,
  the point of view is the first-person narrator.
  The author is giving the reader a look from
  inside of the action.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Point of View

• There are advantages and disadvantages to both
  views. The first-person narrator has the obvious
  advantage of intimacy. By experiencing the story
  through the eyes of a character, we can see not
  only the actions but also his/her thoughts..

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• However, if we can only see the action of the
  story through the eyes of one character, we will
  probably miss parts of the total story. Using the
  third-person, the omniscient point of view,
  permits us to observe the whole story places
  where the character-narrator cant see.
  Sometimes to tell the story the author needs the
  all-knowing, all-seeing eye of the omniscient
  point of view. Other times being able to see
  from within a character better suits the authors
  purpose.

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Tone

• The attitude an author takes toward his subject
  or reader in some cases, the tone is
  straightforward and serious while other times it
  may be humorous or satirical. It is important to
  recognize the tone because a misunderstanding of
  tone can distort the entire meaning of a work.

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IRONY

• A difference, or discrepancy, between what
  appears to be and what really is between
  appearance and reality.
• One kind of irony is verbal irony, in which a
  writer or speaker says one thing but means
  something entirely different. Verbal irony is
  common in everyday conversation. When someone
  describes a ten-course meal as a light snack,
  he is being ironic.

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Dramatic Irony

• A second kind of irony is dramatic irony, in
  which the discrepancy is between what a character
  says, or thinks, and what the reader knows is
  true. In dramatic irony a character is not aware
  of something the reader is aware of.

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Irony of Situation

• A third kind of irony is Irony of Situation in
  which a situation turns out to be different from
  what we had expected.
• Irony is an important element because it shows
  us that life itself is unpredictable. Our words
  and our actions dont always have the meanings or
  results we expect them to have.

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NARRATOR

• THE TELLER OF THE STORY USUALLY EITHER A
  CHARACTER OR AN ANONYMOUS VOICE USED BY THE
  AUTHOR.

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ACTION

• THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN OPPOSING FORCES

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SCENE

• The setting for a given event in a narrative or
  the shortest major division in a play.
• DIALOGUE
• The direct presentation of conversation between
  two or more characters

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CHARACTER

• A fictional personality created by the author.
• SIMILE
• A figure of speech involving comparisons made
  explicit by the use of the words like or as.

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UNITY

• The quality achieved by an artistic work when all
  its elements are so interrelated as to form a
  complete whole.
• MOTIF
• A character or incident, or idea that recurs
  frequently in variouds eorks in variouds parts of
  the same work.

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Characteristics of the Short Story

• Although the short story is a very old form, some
  true ones being found in the Bible, it was not
  really distinguished as a special literary type
  until Edgar Allan Poe laid down the principles
  for it. Since then writers of short stories have
  deliberately worked along the lines pointed out
  by Poe, and all work is judged now by these
  standards.

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A True example of the short story shows the
following characteristics

• There is no character introduced that is not
  absolutely necessary for the most artistic
  results.
• The action is given in the shortest possible time
  without sacrificing the highest effect.
• There is little or no change of scenery.
• There is but one impression , or strong emotion,
  produced in the course of the story.

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• Dialogue the direct presentation of
  conversation between two or more characters.
• Metaphor a figure of speech involving an implied
  comparison.
• Unity the quality achieved by an artistic work
  when all its elements are so interrelated as to
  form a complete whole.
• Motif a character, incident, or idea that
  recurs frequently in various parts of the same
  work.

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• Simile a figure of speech involving a
  comparison made explicit by the use of the work
  like or as.
• Symbol A symbol is something that has its own
  meaning while, at the same time, also stands for
  something else. Symbols have double meanings

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• Denoument Conflict
• Climax Action
• Antagonist
• Foreshadowing
• Falling Action
• Narrator
• Protagonist
• Theme
• Symbol
• Scene