Elements of the Short Story

Elements of the Short Story NINTH GRADE ENGLISH

Six Elements • Plot • Setting • Characterization • Point of View • Theme • Irony

First Element---Plot

Plot---Exposition • Includes three basic elements… • Characters • Setting • Main conflict is revealed • Usually lasts for the several paragraphs in a short story… • Hooks you into a story, book, or a movie

Second Element---Rising Action • Characters try to resolve main conflict only to be met with more conflicts • Types of conflict… • Internal Conflict---a conflict that occurs within a character’s own self…usually a decision the person is trying to make • Examples: man vs. self • External Conflict---a conflict between a character and anything or anyone else • Examples: man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. machine, man vs. society, man vs. supernatural

Third Element---Climax • Highest point in the story • Most exciting point in the story • Shortest part of the story

Fourth Element---Resolution • Ties up all loose ends of the story • Is shorter than the other parts of the story

Resolution (Denouement) • This is added to a mystery • Reveals the outcome of the mystery

Setting • Where and when a story takes place • Created by using images…words that appeal to your fives senses

Setting • Provides the story with background…a place for the characters to live and act in • A good setting makes the story real and believable • Reveals a lot about the characters themselves • A good setting lets you know what kind of characters you have • Supplies atmosphere or mood (which affects our feelings) • Midnight in a lonely house vs. noon in a crowded house changes how we feel about a story

Characterization---Direct • Two types of characterization… • Direct characterization---the author tells the reader exactly what a character is like • “He was a tall man past middle age, for his hair was a vivid white; but his thick eyebrows and pointed military moustache were as black as the night from which Rainsford had come. His eyes, too, were black and very bright. He had high cheekbones, a sharp-cut nose, a spare, dark face, the face of a man used to giving orders, the face of an aristocrat.”

Characterization---Indirect • Indirect Characterization---author shows us what a character is like and allows us to interpret for ourselves the kind of person we are meeting • Authors use five ways to indirectly characterize

Characterization---Indirect • 1. Character’s own speech • 2. Character’s appearance • 3. Character’s private thoughts • 4. Character’s actions • 5. How others feel about them

Point of View • The person the author has chosen to tell the story • Narrator is NOT the author • Three types of Point of View • Very important in how a story is told

Point of View---Omniscient POV • an “all knowing” narrator • is able to tell us everything about every character in the story • narrator is NOT a character in the story • will refer to characters in the story as “he” and “she”

Point of View---Third Person Limited • is able to tell us everything about ONE character in the story • narrator is NOT a character in the story • will refer to characters in the story as “he” and “she”

Point of View---First Person • Is only able to tell us what he or she sees or hears about events in the story • narrator is a character in the story • will refer to him or herself as “I”

Theme • Theme…the central idea of the story • Subject…simply the topic of the story (can be stated in one or two words) • Examples…love, war, growing up

Five Things to Know about THEME… • 1. It usually REVEALS A TRUTH about human nature. • 2. It is usually NOT DIRECTLY STATED in the story. • 3. It is NOT a MORAL. • 4. It shows INSIGHT INTO HUMAN BEHAVIOR. • 5. It must be stated in at least ONE COMPLETE SENTENCE.

Three Ways to Find a Theme…etc. • Check the TITLE…Does it hold a special meaning for the story? • Does the main character CHANGE from the beginning to the end of the story? • Are any IMPORTANT STATEMENTS made about LIFE within the story? • And then…TEST YOUR STATEMENT and be sure it applies to the ENTIRE story and not just PARTS of it.

Irony • Irony is surprise • The difference between what we expect to happen and what actually happens • There are three types of irony in literature. • Verbal • Situational • Dramatic

Verbal Irony • Say one thing and mean something else • Doing it with a bitter tone---sarcasm

Situational Irony • A situation that we expect to happen actually happens oppositely • Example: a preacher is supposed to be a good guy but turns out to be a murder • Example: Movie and play Arsenic and Old Lace

Dramatic Irony • The audience knows something that the characters on stage or in the book/story do not know

Elements of the Short Story