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Conflict, Plot and Structure

Conflict, Plot and Structure. Plot. The sequence of incidents or events through which an author constructs a story not the action itself, but the way the author arranges the action toward a specific end. Conflict. A clash of actions, ideas, desires, or wills. Types of Conflicts.

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Conflict, Plot and Structure

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  1. Conflict, Plot and Structure

  2. Plot • The sequence of incidents or events through which an author constructs a story • not the action itself, but the way the author arranges the action toward a specific end.

  3. Conflict • A clash of actions, ideas, desires, or wills

  4. Types of Conflicts

  5. Person vs Person

  6. Person vs Self

  7. Person vs Society

  8. Person vs Nature

  9. Person vs Fate

  10. Types of Conflicts • Person vs. Person • Person against himself or herself • Person against Society • Person against nature • Person against fate • Note: this is different from the book, which combines the last three in “environment”

  11. Protagonist • The central character in a conflict, whether sympathetic or unsympathetic as a person • Not necessarily the hero (Raskolnikov)

  12. Antagonist • Any force arranged against the protagonist– whether persons, things, conventions of society, or the protagonist’s own character traits– is the antagonist

  13. In some stories the conflict is single, clear-cut, and easily identifiable. In others it is multiple, various, and subtle. • Commercial fiction mostly person vs. person (good guy vs. bad guy)

  14. Suspense • The quality in a story that makes readers ask “What’s going to happen next?” or “How will this turn out?” • Suspense increases with a likable, sympathetic character (Are we more concerned when Raskolnikov contemplates suicide or Svidrigailov)

  15. How does suspense differ in commercial fiction versus literary fiction? Is there more emphasis on it in one or the other?

  16. Literary fiction is not so much “What will happen next?” as “Why is the protagonist acting this way” or “How is the protagonist’s behavior to be explained?” • Suspense is more important in commercial fiction

  17. Mystery • an unusual set of circumstances for which the reader craves an explanation • the work may be of the mystery genre or not

  18. Dilemma • The protagonist is in a position in which he or she must choose between two courses of action, both undesirable (Raskolnikov: Living with his guilt or confession)

  19. Element of surprise • The surprise is proportional to the unexpectedness of what happens– consider Nickolay confessing versus Raskolnikov confessing

  20. Surprise Ending • An ending that features a sudden, unexpected turn or twist • Are they more frequent in literary fiction or commercial fiction?

  21. more frequent in commercial fiction

  22. Ways by Which the legitimacy and value of a surprise ending may be judged • 1. By the fairness with which the surprise is achieved • no contrived coincidences –GE, Vegas Vacation • no arbitrary withholding of info • - sniper

  23. If the surprise ending comes to be seen, the more we think about it and look back over the story, perfectly logical and natural, we will feel the surprise was achieved fairly. – 6th Sense

  24. 2. by the purpose it serves • not just to shock or titillate • should furnish meaningful illumination, not just a reversal of expectation. – short happy life

  25. Unhappy Endings • Do not avoid because they are depressing • Many situations in life do have unpleasant outcomes • Has value in forcing us to ponder the complexities of life.

  26. Which reverberates longer in our minds, Shakespeare’s comedies or his tragedies?

  27. Indeterminate Ending • One in which no definitive conclusion is reached - The Birds • In real life some problems are never solved and some battles are not permanently won • By having the plot unresolved, the moral ramifications may also be kept ambiguous

  28. Artistic Unity • Nothing in a story that is irrelevant, that does not contribute to the meaning • (at first, you may think there is no reason why Dickens begins GE with the convict, but it later becomes apparent) • Nothing there for its own sake or its own excitement • (movie with a fight scene, chase scene, or sex scene that doesn’t seem to fit naturally– fight scene at end of Lethal Weapon) • Nothing that doesn’t advance the central intention of the story

  29. Plot Manipulation • A turn in the plot that is unjustified by the situation or the characters (Linton’s dying off) • Example: too much of an element of chance or coincidence to resolve a story • deus ex machina (god from a machine)

  30. Chance • The occurrence of an event that has no apparent cause in previous events or in predisposition of character • –O Brother, where art thou

  31. Coincidence • The chance occurrence of two events that may have a peculiar correspondence.

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