Transcript The Literary Elements

The Literary Elements
Why Interpret?
• Never forget that an
author begins with
a blank page
• Everything put into
the text makes a
contribution to the
author’s
vision/perspective
Setting
• Includes WHERE a
story takes place and
WHEN a story takes
place
• Can affect mood/tone
Plot
• Sequence of RELATED
events that happen in the
story
• Clearly build toward
something ahead
• CONFLICT (a struggle of
some kind) is the most
important element in the
plot
• Series of complications
contribute to rising action
Plot (cont.)
• Plot Diagram on board/paper
– Exposition
– Rising Action
• Character in series of
complications under a
larger conflict
– Climax
• Point where the character
faces most significant
obstacle and responds
– Falling Action
– Denouement/Resolution
(“unknotting”)
Conflict
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Person vs. Nature
Person vs. Person
Person vs. Self
Person vs. Society
Foreshadowing
• Hints in the text that clue
us in to a significant plot
event to come
– Violent storms indicate
violence to come in plot
Flashback
• Interruption that takes us
back to a previous event
or experience in the plot
or character’s life
– Shift from president in
oval office to a scene
from his high school
experience
Characterization
• How a writer reveals a character’s
personality
• Direct Characterization:
» Author tells us what the character is like
(e.g. deceitful, honest, evil, kind)
• Indirect Characterization:
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Physical description
Words & thoughts
Other characters’ thoughts & comments
Character’s actions
Characterization
• Dynamic vs. Static
– Change or not
• Round vs. Flat
– Complex personality
w/different traits, or
easily summed up
personality?
Characterization
• Examine the character’s
“journey”
• Evolve/Devolve?
• Grow or become
diminished?
• Better off or worse off
beginning to end?
• Much movement but same
place?
• What contributed to
shaping character?
Symbolism
• When the author uses objects,
events, or characters to represent
THE BIG PICTURE
• Something in the story stands for
something else
- white hat/black hat
• In the Bible, seeds eaten by birds
stand for those who hear and
don’t believe
Allusion
• Reference to a wellknown literary work
or character
- Bob and Sarah sure are a
couple of star-crossed
lovers
- As Tiger Woods strolled
through the crowd, it was
like he was parting the
white sea
Irony
• Discrepancy between
expectations & reality
– Verbal Irony
– Situational Irony
– Dramatic Irony
Verbal Irony
• Speaker says one thing
but means another
– “That Michael Jackson
tattoo is really cool.
It’s still sort of subtle
and understated even
though it covers your
whole back.”
Situational Irony
• What happens is the
opposite of what’s
expected
– A woman is assaulted
by a man, waits 35
years to get revenge,
then falls in love with
him the next time they
meet
Dramatic Irony
• Audience knows what
the characters don’t
– Character asks what
punishment for her
crime will be, thinking
it will be a fine;
audience knows the
punishment will be
death
Point of View
• The angle from which the
story is told
• 1st person (I, we)
– More intimate w/narrator
– Tough to judge narrator?
(Consider naïve &
unreliable narrator)
• 3rd person (he, she, they)
– limited (1 character’s POV)
– or omniscient (all-knowing)
Style
• How it is said influences what
it means
• Diction (word choice) &
syntax (word arrangement)
influence mood/tone
• Does it change the pace?
• Does it suggest something
about characters?
• How’s it make the reader feel?
Exhausted? Exhilarated?
Theme
• The Author’s vision
• What’s s/he saying
about human nature,
the way the world
works, our relations to
others?
• It’s just one view &
it’s up for
interpretation
• Death of the Author
Some Themes…
• Justice prevails
• Love conquers all
• Society will always
overwhelm the
individual
• Children often see
more clearly than
adults
• There’s no place for
the artist in the jungle