Transcript Document 7464718

Elements of Short Stories
November 2010
Characters
• Are the people or animals who take part
in a story’s action. Characters are
directed by motivation – the reason or
reasons that explain why characters act
as they do.
Characters
• Antagonist: character or a force in
conflict with a main character, or a
protagonist.
• Protagonist: is the main character in a
literary work. Often, the protagonist is
the person, but sometimes it can be an
animal.
Characterization
• Is the way a writer reveals a character’s
personality and qualities.
– Direct Characterization: the writer
describes the character.
– Indirect Characterization: the writer
reveals the character through speech and
actions.
Theme
• Central message expressed in a story.
– Universal Theme: recurring theme that
expresses a message about life in different
cultures and time periods.
– Example: Hard work always pays off in the
end.
Plot Triangle (Freytag’s
Pyramid)
Climax:
Falling Action:
Rising Action:
Conflict
Exposition:
Resolution:
Literary Devices
• Tools writers often use to enhance their
writing.
Foreshadowing
• Is the use of clues early in a story to hint
at events that are going to occur later.
Flashback
• Is the placement of a scene within a
story that interrupts the sequence of
events to reveal past occurences.
Irony
• Is the general name given to literary
techniques that involve surprising,
interesting, or amusing contradictions.
When a story includes irony, something
unexpected happens.
Dialect
• Is the form of a language spoken by
people in a particular region or group.
The use of dialect gives a short story a
more authentic feel and helps a
character’s words sound more realistic.
Ticket out the Door
• 3 New things you learned about short
stories
• 2 Things you learned about Flashback
and Foreshadowing
• 1 thing you learned about irony
Check Your Understanding
• 1. A deserted beach at dawn
– A. Setting
B. Plot
• 2. A student struggles to pass an exam
– A. dialect
B. Conflict
• 3. A wisecracking grandmother
– A. character
B. Setting
• 4. An unlikely hero saves another person
– A. plot
B. Flashback
• 5. An airplane bound for Hawaii
– A. conflict
B. setting
Freytag’s Pyramid/Plot Triangle
Freytag’s Pyramid uses a five-part system to
describe a story’s plot.
This graphic organizer matches the way stories
are constructed: The climax is the high point, and
it’s surrounded by rising and falling action.
Plot: Plot is the literary element that describes
the structure of a story.
Climax: The turning point. The
most intense moment, either
mentally or in action.
Rising Action: the series of
conflicts and crisis in the story
that lead to the climax.
Falling Action: all of the
action which follows the
Climax.
Exposition: The start of the
story. The way things are
before the action starts.
(characters and setting)
Resolution: The conclusion,
the tying together of all of
the threads.
Plot: Conflict
Conflict is the dramatic struggle
between two forces in a story. Without
conflict, there is no plot.
Plot: Types of
Conflict
Man vs Man
Man vs Nature
Man vs Society
Man vs Self
Plot: Character vs. Character
Conflict
This type of conflict finds the main character in
conflict with another character, human or not human.
“The new one is the most beautiful of all; he is so young
and pretty.” And the old swans bowed their heads before
him.
Then he felt quite ashamed, and hid his head under his
wing; for he did not know what to do, he was so happy,
and yet not at all proud. He had been persecuted and
despised for his ugliness, and now he heard them say he
was the most beautiful of all the birds.
The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson
Plot: Character vs. Nature Conflict
This type of conflict finds the main character in conflict
with the forces of nature, which serve as the antagonist.
It´s a Truffula Seed.
It´s the last one of all!
You´re in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds.
And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs.
Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care.
Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air.
Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack.
Then the Lorax
and all of his friends
may come back.
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
Plot: Character vs. Society
Conflict
This type of conflict has the main character in conflict
with a larger group: a community, society, culture, etc.
“I’m tired of living in a hole,” said Jenny.
“Let’s fight for freedom!” cried Bouncer. “We’ll be soldiers!
Rough-riding Rowdies! I’ll be the general and
commander-in-chief!”
The Island of the Skog by Steven Kellogg
Plot: Character vs. Self Conflict
In this type of conflict, the main character experiences
some kind of inner conflict.
Finally, Sam’s father said, “Go to bed now. But before you
go to sleep, Sam, tell yourself the difference between REAL
and MOONSHINE.”
Sam, Bangs & Moonshine by Evaline Ness