Literary Elements

Literary Elements • What parts make up a a story? • http://members.tripod.com/dscorpio/images/literary_elements.ppt 1

Story “Grammar”(the parts of stories and how they’re put together) • Setting • Characters • Plot • Climax • Theme • Resolution • Denouement 2

Setting Time and place are where the action occurs • Details that describe: • Furniture • Scenery • Customs • Transportation • Clothing • Dialects • Weather • Time of day • Time of year 3

Elements of a Setting 4

The Functions of a Setting Once upon a time there lived in a certain village a little country girl, the prettiest creature who was ever seen. Her mother was excessively fond of her; and her grandmother doted on her still more. This good woman had a little red riding hood made for her. It suited the girl so extremely well that everybody called her Little Red Riding Hood. One day her mother, having made some cakes, said to her, "Go, my dear, and see how your grandmother is doing, for I hear she has been very ill. Take her a cake, and this little pot of butter." Little Red Riding Hood set out immediately to go to her grandmother, who lived in another village. As she was going through the wood, she met with a wolf… • 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 5 Taken from “Little Red Riding Hood” by Charles Perrault

Types of Characters • People or animals • Major characters • Minor characters • Round characters • Flat characters 6

Characterization • 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. 7

Direct Characterization She suffered intensely, feeling herself born for every delicacy and every luxury. She suffered from the poverty of her dwelling, from the worn walls, the abraded chairs, the ugliness of the stuffs. All these things, which another woman of her caste would not even have noticed, tortured her and made her indignant. From “The Necklace” by Guy de Montpassant 8

Indirect Characterization The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. AT LENGTH I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled -- but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. From “Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe 9

Elements of Character 10

Factors in Analyzing Characters • Physical appearance of character • Personality • Background/personal history • Motivation • Relationships • Conflict • Does character change? 11

Plot • Plot is what happens and how it happens in a narrative. A narrative is any work that tells a story, such as a short story, a novel, a drama, or a narrative poem. 12

Parts of a Plot • Inciting incident– event that gives rise to conflict (opening situation) • Development- events that occur as result of central conflict (rising action) • Climax- highest point of interest or suspense of story • Resolution- when conflict ends • Denouement- when characters go back to their life before the conflict 13

Diagram of Plot Climax Resolution Development/Rising Action Introduction Denouement Inciting incident/Opening situation 14

Special Techniques of Plot • 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 15

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 character’s mind 16

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 17

Example of Theme “The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.” From “Gift of the Magi,” by O. Henry 18

Literary Elements