Literary Elements

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Literary Elements

• What parts make up a story?
• http//members.tripod.com/dscorpio/images/literary
  _elements.ppt

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5 most important elements of Literature

• Setting
• Characters
• Plot
• Conflict
• Theme

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Setting
Time and plSeeedfgdflace where the action occurs

• Details that describe
• Furniture
• Scenery
• Customs
• Transportation
• Clothing
• Dialects
• Weather
• Time of day
• Time of year

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What makes up Setting
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Example

• Glee
• Where and when does this take place?
• City of Ember
• Where and when does this take place?
• Twilight
• Where and when does this take place?

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Why is it important?

• We left the home place behind, mile by slow
  mile, heading for the mountains, across the
  prairie where the wind blew forever.
• At first there were four of us with one
  horse wagon and its skimpy load. Pa and I
  walked, because I was a big boy of eleven. My
  two little sisters romped and trotted until they
  got tired and had to be boosted up to the wagon
  bed.
• That was no covered Conestoga, like Pas folks
  came West in, but just an old farm wagon, drawn
  by one weary horse, creaking and rumbling
  westward to the mountains, toward the little
  woods town where Pa thought he had an old uncle
  who owned a little two-bit sawmill.

• To create a mood or atmosphere
• To show a reader a different way of life
• To make action seem more real
• To be the source of conflict or struggle
• To symbolize an idea

Taken from The Day the Sun Came Out by D.
Johnson
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Characters

• People or animals
• Major characters
• Minor characters
• Round characters (Dynamic)
• Flat characters (Static)

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Types of Characters

• A Dynamic Character changes as a result of the
  events of the story.
• A Static Character changes very little or not at
  all through the literary work.
• A characters motivation is any force (i.e.
  love, fear, jealousy) that drives the character
  to behave in a particular way.

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Types Cont.

• A character can be a protagonist/antagonist -
  the main character or the person who creates a
  problem for the main character
• Never think of it as being the good guy/ bad guy.

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Characters Cont.

• A writer reveals what a character is like and how
  the character changes throughout the story.
• Two primary methods of characterization
• Direct- writer tells what the character is like
• Indirect- writer shows what a character is like
  by describing what the character looks like, by
  telling what the character says and does, and by
  what other characters say about and do in
  response to the character.

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Example
And I dont play the dozens or believe in
standing around with somebody in my face doing a
lot of talking. I much rather just knock you down
and take my chances even if Im a little girl
with skinny arms and a squeaky voice, which is
how I got the name Squeaky. From Raymonds
Run by T. Bambara
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Indirect Characterization
That Ed Johnson, said Anderson, watching the
old mechanic scratch his head in confusion as the
sales rep explained Dralcos newest engine
performance diagnostic computer. He hasnt got a
clue about modern electronics. Give him a good
set of tools and a stack of yellowing manuals
with a carburetor needing repair, and hed be
happy as a hungry frog in a fly-field.
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Types of Characters
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Character Makeup

• Physical appearance of character
• Personality
• Background/personal history
• Motivation
• Relationships
• Conflict
• Does character change?

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Plot

• Plot is a series of events in a story.
• An event is any conflict that has a resolution
  in a story.

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Disneys CinderellaExample
Whats the first conflict?
Cinderellas father dies.
Whats the resolution?
Her step mother becomes her guardian
Whats the second conflict?
Her step mother and step sisters are mean.
Whats the resolution?
She makes friends with mice.
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Plot Chart
Climax
Falling action
Development/Rising Action
Exposition
Resolution
Denouement If you are lucky
Inciting incident/Opening situation
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Parts of a Plot

• Exposition Introduction of characters and
  setting of a story.
• Inciting incident event that gives rise to
  conflict (opening situation)
• Rising Action- events that occur as result of
  central conflict
• Climax- highest point of interest or suspense of
  story
• Resolution- when conflict ends
• Denouement- To wrap up all loose ends. All
  problems are solved or at least you know the
  result.

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Wait theres more

• Suspense- excitement or tension
• Foreshadowing- hint or clue about what will
  happen in story
• Flashback- interrupts the normal sequence of
  events to tell about something that happened in
  the past
• Surprise Ending- conclusion that reader does not
  expect

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Conflict

• Conflict is a struggle between opposing forces
• Every plot must contain some kind of conflict
• Stories can have more than one conflict
• Conflicts can be external or internal
• External conflict- outside force may be person,
  group, animal, nature, or a nonhuman obstacle
• Internal conflict- takes place in a characters
  mind

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Theme

• A central message, concern, or insight into life
  expressed through a literary work
• Can be expressed by one or two sentence statement
  about human beings or about life
• May be stated directly or implied
• Interpretation uncovers the theme

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EXAMPLE

• What are some of the themes of The Pirates of the
  Caribbean?

Good will always triumph over evil.
Dont judge a person before you get to know him
or her.
Love motivates some people to take risks.