Transcript Literary Elements

Literary Elements
Story Elements
Setting
Characters
Plot
Conflict
Resolution
Point of View
Tone
Theme
Setting
When and where a story takes place. It is the time and place of a story.
Real or imaginary, concrete or symbolic, a moment or
an eternity, setting is the dramatic backdrop for a
story. As the place of fiction, setting is generally a
physical locale that shapes a story's mood, its
emotional aura or quality.
Setting is important because...
setting reveals prevailing atmosphere or mood
setting shows internal and external conflicts
setting highlights potential contrasts between
characters or ideas
setting can determine the fate of the protagonist
setting reflects character and often embodies theme.
If the time or place setting of the story changes,
consider how the changes alter the outcome of the story.
If Victor Frankenstein does all of his experiments in "a solitary chamber, or rather a
cell, at the top of the house, and separated from all the other apartments by a
staircase" we might conclude that there is something anti-social, isolated, and stale,
maybe even unnatural, about his project and his way of learning.
Roles of Setting:
• as a mirror to reflect
what is going on
inside the characters
• as a mold to shape the
characters into who
they are
Setting may also act...
• as a challenge providing a test for the character to reveal his or her true
self
• as an alien setting that creates a sense of exile and loss
The setting may be an escape
which allows more whimsical and
fantastic parts of the character to
be expressed.
The setting itself
may be an antagonist
An external force may
enter the setting and change it,
causing conflict for the
characters.
Two settings may also come into
conflict with each other, causing
conflict in the characters who
must live in them and perhaps
have to choose between them.
"Every story would be another story, and unrecognizable if it
took up its characters and plot and happened somewhere
else... Fiction depends for its life on place. Place is the
crossroads of circumstance, the proving ground of, What
happened? Who's here? Who's coming?..."
--Eudora Welty
Types of Setting
Physical Setting
Geographical Setting
Cultural Setting
Historical Setting
Physical Setting
Physical Setting:
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Time of day
Season
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Weather /
Temperature
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Type of
room/building
Indoors/Outdoors
Objects
Colors
Imagery—5 senses
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A note about time:
Clock time: this can be used to
provide suspense or create certain
moods or feelings—time is also an
important literary symbol.
Seasonal time: the seasons or a span
Geographical Setting
Location, including
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country (Japan, Mexico, Scotland)
region (north/south, upper/lower end)
state/ city
neighborhood
street
floor/level (basement, attic etc...)
urban / rural / suburban
Cultural Setting:
the values, ideals, and attitudes of a place
• The nonphysical, cultural environment
includes influences such as education,
social standing, economic class, and
religious belief.
• These may be revealed by physical
properties in the scene or through the
characters' dialogue, thoughts,
statements, and behaviors.
Historical Setting
Time period, year, reign of a leader, President,
role of government, major recent events,
transportation, crop yield, epidemics, wars,
natural disasters, etc... can establish a
psychological or sociological understanding of
behaviors and attitudes.
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
Elements of a Setting
Location
Era
Life
Place
Time
Setting
Physical
Day
Atmosphere
Mood
History
Feelings
Word
Choice
Weather
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The Functions of a Setting
 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
Mood
• Mood is the feeling that the author tries to convey
throughout the story. The atmosphere or emotional
condition created by the piece, within the setting.
Does the author want the reader to be frightened
or sad, or does the story make the reader laugh
and think happy thoughts?
• To figure out mood, examine how you feel while
reading the story. Often mood is conveyed by the
story’s setting.
Characters
• The people
the story is
about;
characters are
sometimes
animals.
Character
Character (n): the
fictional representation
of a person.
Character Development & Types
Characters can be developed through the character's actions, speech, and
appearance. Characters can also be developed by the comments of other
characters and of the author.
Certain types of characters appear in many stories.
The protagonist is the central
character (person, animal, or
personified object) in the plot's
conflict.
The antagonist is the force in conflict with the
protagonist. This force may be society, nature, or
fate, as well as another person. It can also be the
protagonist's own self, if he or she has an internal
conflict.
Characters
• Protagonist and antagonist are used to describe
characters.
• The protagonist is the main character of the
story, the one with whom the reader identifies.
This person is not necessary “good”.
• The antagonist is the force in opposition of the
protagonist; this person may not be “bad” or
“evil”, but he/she opposes the protagonist in a
significant way.
Character Foil / Stock Character
A character foil
...is a character whose traits are opposite of those of
the principal character.
The foil therefore highlights the traits of the
protagonist. The foil is usually a minor character,
although if there are two protagonists, they may be
foils of each other.
A stereotype/stock character
...is a character who possesses expected traits of a group
rather than being an individual. They are easily
predictable.
Flat vs. Round characters
• A flat character is not fully developed; readers know only
one side of the character.
• A round character is fully-developed, with many traits--bad
and good--shown in the story. Readers may feel they know
the character so well that he/she has become a real person.
Flat vs. Round
cont’d
flat
round
• Character development is a continuum with perfectly
flat characters at one end and very round ones at the other.
Every character lies somewhere on this continuum.
• Round characters are usually considered an indication
of literary quality. However, characters in folktales are
almost always flat, and flatness is appropriate for minor characters in
modern literature for children.
• A character foil is often flat,
even if the protagonist is round.
Static vs. Dynamic Characters
The amount of change in a character over the course of the story affects its quality:
• A static character is one who does
not change during the course of the
story.
• A dynamic character is one who
changes significantly through the
events of the story. This change is
internal and may be sudden, but the events of
the plot should make it seem inevitable.
Static vs. Dynamic Characters cont’d
very static
very dynamic
• There is also a continuum of character change in a story, with very
static characters at one end, and very dynamic ones at the other.
• Every character lies somewhere on this continuum.
• Dynamism in the protagonist is usually considered an indication of quality,
but many characters, especially in stories for younger children, have only the
mild amount of change which can be expected from growing and maturing
from day to day.
A character may thus be
• round and dynamic
• round and static
• flat and static
• A flat character cannot usually be dynamic,
because readers do not know enough about the
flat character to notice a change.
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.
Factors in Analyzing Characters
Physical appearance of character
Personality
Background/personal history
Motivation
Relationships
Conflict
Does character change?
Plot: More than just “what happens”
A roller coaster designer plans
how riders will react to each hill,
turn, and loop.
Plot
is how the author
guides the reader’s
reaction to the text, how
the author presents ideas
for the reader.
The author guides readers’ reactions via:
• Arrangement of events
• Cause & Effect
• Character interaction
• Conflict
Plot - like a game...
The game provides the framework, but each time it is played, each player has a different experience.
Stages of plot
• Exposition – reveals facts and setup, introduces
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characters
Crisis – peak in action; moment of tension or
importance
Climax – point of greatest tension or importance
• Resolution – outcome, consequences
(deus ex machina-- "god from the machine.“) In some ancient
Greek drama, an apparently insoluble crisis was solved by the
intervention of a god, often brought on stage by an elaborate
piece of equipment. This was literally a deus ex machina.
Plot contains conflict!
Conflict
• Protagonist – main character
• Antagonist – opposing
character or force; anyone or
anything that causes conflict
• Not “good guy vs. bad guy”—sometimes
the protagonist can be the “bad guy”
Authors build plot with
Flashback & Foreshadowing
Flashback
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Examines situation occurring before the time of story
Substitutes for formal in-depth explanation
Interruption in storyline
Can help build suspense
Foreshadowing
• Hint or bit of evidence about what is to happen
• Helps create suspense
• Deepens character development
WHAT YOU CAN LEAVE OUT OF
STORIES
when you write...
1. CLICHES!!! (if you’ve heard it before or it’s “an
expression,” don’t use it!)
2. any explanations or background  embed this
information with flashback/foreshadowing.
3. what characters do when they’re not in the scene
4. elapsed time  Orient the reader to the new time, but don't
have the clock ticking in the background.
5. long descriptions  write concisely!
6. traveling how characters get from one place to another, unless
the travel is important .
Plot
Plot is what happens and how it
happens in a narrative. The events
that make the action; includes
conflict and resolution. A narrative
is any work that tells a story, such
as a short story, a novel, a drama,
or a narrative poem.
Parts of a Plot
Exposition - introduction
Inciting incident – event that gives rise to
conflict
Rising Action- events that occur as result of
central conflict
Climax- highest point of interest or
suspense of story
Resolution- when conflict ends
Special Techniques used in a Story
 Suspense- excitement, tension, curiosity
 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
 Symbolism – use of specific objects or images to
represent ideas
 Personification – when you make a thing,
idea or animal do something only humans do
 Surprise Ending - conclusion that reader
does not expect
Conflict
Conflict is a problem that must be solved; an
issue between the protagonist and antagonist
forces. It forms the basis of the plot.
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
Resolution
• How the character resolves the
problem
Diagram of Plot
Climax
Introduction
/ Exposition
Inciting incident/
Opening situation
Resolution
Point of View
• The storyteller as a participant in
the action (first-person point of
view); the storyteller outside of the
action (third-person point of view)
Point of View
• Who is the storyteller? In First-person
point of view, the author uses the words I
and me, and the story is told as though the
author was a participant in the events. In
Third-person point of view, the pronouns
used are he, she, they, and the author is a
storyteller who is outside of the events.
Tone
• Manner of expression or
language the speaker/narrator uses
to reveal attitudes ( opinions and
feelings) about characters, places,
or events. Tone only refers to the
narrative voice, not to the author or
character.
Theme
The theme is the central, general
message, the main idea, the controlling
topic about life or people the author wants
to get across through a literary work
To discover the theme of a story, think big.
What big message is the author trying to say
about the world in which we live?
What is this story telling me about how life
works, or how people behave?
The Theme is also
• the practical lesson ( moral) that we learn
from a story after we read it. The lesson that
teaches us what to do or how to behave after
you have learned something from a story or
something that has happened to you.
Example: The lesson or teaching of the story
is be careful when you’re offered something
for nothing.
Any questions?