SHORT STORIES

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SHORT STORIES
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Elements of Fiction

• Think about pieces of a puzzle All pieces of
  the puzzle come together to make a complete
  picture.
• There are many parts of a story. All of these
  parts come together to make a complete story.

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PROTAGONIST

• The leading character in a story.

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ANTAGONIST

• A character in the story that opposes and
  actively competes with another character in the
  story.
• In the Disney movie Hercules, Hercules would have
  been the PROTAGONIST. Who would have been the
  ANTAGONIST?

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PLOT

• The sequence of events or happenings in a story.
  An ordering of events in such a fashion as to
  bring them to a strongly satisfying conclusion.
• Freytags Pyramid

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EXPOSITION

• Introduction of the setting (the time and place),
  the characters, and the basic situation.

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CONFLICT

• This is a major element in the plot structure.
  It is a struggle of some kind.
• Introduced right after the exposition, at the
  beginning of the rising action
• There are 3 different types of conflict.

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EXTERNAL CONFLICT

• Man vs. Man A struggle between 2 characters.
• Man vs. Nature A struggle between a character
  and his/her environment.

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INTERNAL CONFLICT

• A struggle within a characters mind.
• Man vs. Himself

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RISING ACTION

• Events leading up to the climax of the story.

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CLIMAX

• The point at which the intensity of the action
  rises up to a very high point of interest.

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FALLING ACTION

• The events in the plot that lead to the
  resolution.

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RESOLUTION

• The moment in the plot when the conflict ends.

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FORESHADOWING

• The use of hints or clues in a story to suggest
  what action is to come. Foreshadowing helps to
  build suspense because it alerts the reader to
  what is about to happen. It also helps the
  reader savor all the details of the buildup.

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POINT OF VIEW

• The vantage point from which a story is told.
• Ask yourself, Who is telling the story?
• May be unlimited or narrow this depends on the
  author
• Point of view can be very important in some
  stories.

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THIRD-PERSON OMNISCIENT

• The author is outside of the story.
  (All-knowing)
• The author presents the thoughts of all the
  characters involved as an objective observer.
• When Jane saw Bill jogging past her house, her
  heart skipped a beat.
• When Bill saw Jane in the hallway at school, he
  fought hard to catch his breath. No doubt about
  it it was love!

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THIRD-PERSON LIMITED

• The author tells the story from the viewpoint of
  just one character.
• When Jane saw Bill jogging past her house, her
  heart skipped a beat. She thought from the way
  Bill looked at her in the hallway that he liked
  her, too.

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FIRST-PERSON POINT OF VIEW

• Tells a story from the I point of view.
• Is a limited point of view
• One character will narrate his/her own story or
  experience directly.
• When I see Bill jogging past my house, I think I
  am going to faint. I think that I have the same
  effect on him. Do you think this means we are in
  love?

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SETTING

• The time and place of the action in a story. In
  short stories and novels, the setting is
  generally established by description. Setting
  can be important in poetry and nonfiction as
  well, and the means of establishing setting is
  through description. In dramas, the setting is
  usually established by stage directions and
  reinforced in dialogue. Since a drama normally
  has sets that appear before an audience,
  elaborate descriptions of setting are unnecessary.

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SETTING con.

• In the first sentence of The Legend of Sleepy
  Hollow Washington Irving establishes the setting
  of the story

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SETTING con.

• In the bosom of one of those spacious coves
  which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at
  that broad expansion of the river named by the
  ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, there
  lies a small market town or rural port, which by
  some is called Greensburgh, but which is more
  generally and properly known by the name of
  Tarrytown.

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SETTING con.

• The setting of that passage establishes not only
  the physical locale (Tarrytown) but also
  something of historical moment as well. This
  tells us right away that history may have
  something to do with the story.

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SETTING con.

• Setting can be of great importance in
  establishing mood or building emotional
  intensity. The next passage is from The Fall of
  the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. Note how
  the underlined words help to build an atmosphere
  of gloom

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SETTING con.

• During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless
  day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds
  hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been
  passing alone, on horseback through a singularly
  dreary tract of country, and at length found
  myself, as the shades of the evening drew on,
  within view of the melancholy House of Usher.

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IRONY

• Events contrary to what is expected. Irony is
  used in literature for different effects, from
  humor to serious comments on the unpredictable
  nature of life. There are three different types
  of irony

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SITUATIONAL IRONY

• Also called IRONY OF SITUATION
• Something takes place that a character or reader
  does not expect to happen. For example, a
  student voted Most Likely to Succeed ends up
  going to prison.

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VERBAL IRONY

• When the meaning a speaker wishes to communicate
  is different fromor opposite towhat the actual
  words seem to say.
• Hyperbole exaggerated statement used to make a
  strong effect (Ill never get this fish line
  untangled in a million years.)
• Understatement the opposite of hyperbole
  involves saying less than you really feel for
  ironic effect (after almost being hit by a bus
  Now that the excitement is over, why not have
  some tea?)

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DRAMATIC IRONY

• The reader or audience knows or understands
  something that a character or speaker does not.
  For example, readers know that the apple Snow
  White is about to bite into is poisoned, but Snow
  White does not know it.

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THEME

• The main idea or the basic meaning of a literary
  work.
• Not all stories will have a theme.
• Look for a lesson about life
• Theme is stated as a general statement that is
  not directly related to the story.
• Theme is NOT a summary of the story!
• Some themes are directly stated as a moral of the
  story.

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• Some traditional short story themes
• The struggle between good and evil.
• The differences between nature and a civilized
  society.
• The conflict between the individual and the
  community.
• The differences between country and city life.

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THEME con.

• To figure out the theme of a story, you must
  think about the selection read.
• Ask yourself what you learned about life after
  reading the story.
• Look for key passages that tell you about life.
• Oftentimes a character in the story learns the
  same lesson as you learned.
• What is the theme of A Christmas Carol Scrooge
  and Marley?

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THEME con.

• In A Christmas Carol, one key passage that
  points toward the theme of the story is this
  speech by Marleys ghost, warning Scrooge to
  change his ways before it is too late

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THEME con.

• Mankind was my business. The common welfare was
  my business charity, mercy, forbearance,
  benevolence, were all my business. The dealings
  of my trade were but a drop of water in the
  comprehensive ocean of my business!

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THEME con.

• Clues to help you find the theme in a story
• The title
• Important images or symbols in a story
• General observations made by the author,
  narrator, or characters in the story
• Any moral suggested by the outcome of the
  conflict

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SUSPENSE

• Anxiety or apprehension resulting from uncertainty

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GENRE

• Kind or type of literature

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MOOD

• The emotions and atmosphere the plot creates

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FLASHBACK

• A break in the continuity of a story to introduce
  an earlier event

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TONE

• The attitude of the author toward his/her subject

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INCITING INCIDENT

• The event that begins and motivates the action of
  the story conflict is introduced

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CHARACTERIZATION

• The act of creating or developing a character
• Direct characterization the author states what
  the character is like
• Indirect characterization you, the reader, must
  infer from the details in the story what the
  character is like