Literary Elements

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Literary Elements

• Mrs. Kelley
• English 9

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Plot

• The meat of the story!

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What makes a good short story?

• A short story is a brief fictional narrative that
  is intended to be read in a single setting.
• The narration and character portrayals are more
  focused and compressed in a short story than in a
  novel.
• A quality short story leaves the reader with a
  unified, strong impression- called its main
  effect.
• The literary elements of a short story contribute
  to its main effect.
• A short story will usually focus on one central
  conflict.

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What is the most important part of a story?

• The plot! Without a plot, there is no story!
• The plot of a story is the sequence of events it
  tells.

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What does the plot do?

• Plot often contributes to the main effect of a
  story by building toward a climax, or turning
  point, in which a character reaches an insight or
  undergoes a change.

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Conflict

• A story is driven by a conflict. Without a
  conflict, there is no story to tell.
• Conflict is the struggle or problem in the story.
• Internal conflict takes place within a
  characters mind or heart.
• External conflict takes place between
• a character and an outside force.

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Parts of Plot- Plot line
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1. Exposition

• The basic situation
• Introduces the characters, setting, and conflict
• Opening part of the story.

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2. Rising Action (complication)

• The events and complications that intensify the
  conflict
• The events that lead to the most intense part of
  the story (climax)
• The main character takes action to resolve the
  conflict but is met with more problems

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3. Climax

• The turning point
• The highest point of tension or suspense in a
  story
• Usually occurs near the end of the story, not in
  the middle of the story.

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4. Falling Action

• Conflict lessens and events wind down
• Leads to the resolution
• Very small part of the story

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5. Resolution (denouement)

• Outcome of the conflict
• The ending to the story
• Wraps up all loose ends and resolves the conflict
  of the story

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Plot Diagram
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Plot Structure

• Authors make decisions about the order in which
  to present information as well as the pacing of
  events.

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Openings

• Stories can open in a variety of ways
• Focus on setting
• The hospital waiting room was empty at that hour
  of the night. It was so quiet I could hear the
  second hand on the large wall clock toll each
  passing second.

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Openings

• Focus on character
• Ill never forget my grandfather. He was the
  most charming man I ever met.

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Openings

• In Medias Res (Latin for in the middle of
  things)
• Someone call for help! shouted a man at the
  side of the road.

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Chronological Order

• The order in which events occur
• What do you do to get ready in the morning in
  chronological order?

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Flashback

• Describes a time before the present
• A flashback is used to strengthen our
  understanding of the character or an event.

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Flash-forward

• When the writers shows an event in the future.
• Flash-forward is used to show what will become.

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Foreshadowing

• When a writer hints or gives clues about what is
  come in a story.
• Foreshadowing gives the readers the sense that
  something is going to happen.

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Theme

• As literary elements of a story combine to create
  a unified effect, they also suggest a theme.
• Stories can have many themes.
• So, what is a theme?

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Theme is

• The central insight into life.
• The main idea of the story.
• Stated in a complete sentence.

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Theme is NOT

• The moral of the story
• Meant to lecture or teach the reader a lesson
• Stated in ONE word

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Finding The Theme

• Most often, readers come to understand the themes
  by making inferences from key elements of a story.

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Finding Theme

• 1. What is the topic or subject of the story?
  (In one word, what is the story about?) What
  statement is the author making about that topic
  with the elements of the story?
• 2. Think about whether the characters change
  during the story or realize something he or she
  hadnt known before.
• 3. Think about how the conflict is resolved.
• 4. Look back at the title. Does it have a
  special meaning?

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Characterization

• Adding personality to a story!

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A character is...
a person in a story, poem or play
Characterization is...
the process of revealing the personality of a
character in a story
Characterization is revealed through direct
characterization and indirect characterization.
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Characterization

• Details in the story help the reader understand
  character traits and motives.
• Character traits are qualities of the character.
• Character motives are the reasons for actions.

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Characters

• In the best stories, the main characters are
  complex or well-rounded.
• Complex characters share these qualities
• They show multiple or even contradictory traits
  or qualities.
• They struggle with conflicting motivations or
  reasons for acting as they do.
• They may change by the end of the story.

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Direct Characterization tells the audience what
the personality of the character is. EXAMPLE
The patient boy and quiet girl were both well
mannered and did not disobey their mother.
Explanation The author is directly telling the
audience the personality of these two children.
The boy is patient and the girl is quiet.
How do we know the boy is patient and the girl is
quiet?
The author tells us so!
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Indirect Characterization is when the reader
learns what the character is like by what they
say and do. The author shows things that reveal
the personality of a character. Show me! Dont
tell me! There are FIVE different methods of
indirect characterization
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1. Speech
The things that the character says in the story.
a. first person narration b. dialogue c.
monologue
When a story is told by the main character. (We
get to see their point of view on things which
tells us about them as a person.)
The conversation the character has with other
characters. (We can see the interactions that
the character has with others.)
A long speech by a character.
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2. Appearance
The way that a character looks. This can
describe them as a person (brown hair, brown eye,
etc.) or describe the way they look at the moment
(his clothes were torn, blood around his mouth,
etc.)
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3. Private Thoughts
The inner thoughts of a character. Being in
someones mind tells you a lot about that person.
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4. How other characters feel about them/what they
say about them
The things they say to the character or the way
they treat them, etc. The way that people react
to a person tells you about their outward
appearance.
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5. Actions a. conflict resolution b.
motivations
The things that the character does.
The way the character goes about solving problems.
The reasons for the characters actions.
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Importance of the characters

• Characters advance the plot
• As characters interact with one another and
  struggle to overcome problems, their choices move
  the story along.
• Characters develop the theme
• As a character faces conflict, the character can
  change and realize things they did not know
  before. These interactions will point toward the
  theme of the story.

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Setting

• Where and when a story takes place

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Setting

• Setting includes
• Locale (where)
• The weather
• The time of day
• The time period
• Cultural customs

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Purpose of Setting

• Reveals information about the characters
• Reveals the theme and meaning of the story
• Sets the mood or atmosphere

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Mood or atmosphere

• Gives the reader the feeling that the writer
  wants to portray.
• How are scary movies different from comedies?
• The mood that is set!

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Images

• Words or phrases that call forth a response from
  our senses.
• Appealing to our sense of sight, smell, touch,
  hearing and taste helps us create an image in our
  mind.

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Imagery

• Providing the right VIVID images can help the
  reader fill in the rest with their imagination.

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Narrator Voice

• English 9
• Mrs. Kelley

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Narrator

• A narrator is the person telling the story.

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Point of View

• Point of view is the narrative perspective from
  which a story is told.
• From my point of view, I could not see who
  started the fight
• The POV determines the information in the story.
• There are 3 points of view that stories are
  typically told in
• 3rd person limited
• 3rd person omniscient (om-ni-schent)
• 1st person

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1. 3rd Person Omniscient

• 3rd person omniscient is outside the events of
  the story and tells the thoughts and feelings of
  all the characters.
• Benefits of this point of view
• You get to see different sides to the story and
  how other characters feel and think
• The word omniscient means all knowing
• In the Third Person point-of-view, the narrator
  refers to the characters in the story as he and
  she.

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2. 3rd Person Limited

• 3rd Person Limited is when the narrator is
  outside of the story but tells the thoughts and
  feelings of only one character.
• Benefits of this point of view
• You get to see how one character views the events
  of a story and how that character feels.
• In the Third Person point-of-view, the narrator
  refers to the characters in the story as he and
  she.

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3. First Person

• First person is when the narrator is a character
  in
• the story and uses the pronouns I and me.
• Benefits of this point of view
• You get to see the story from one characters
  point of view and you learn a lot about that
  character.
• A reliable narrator is a narrator that is being
  truthful about the events of the story.
• If a narrator is unreliable, you cant trust that
  their version of events is the truth.

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Tone

• Tone is the attitude that the narrator takes when
  telling the story.
• Tone can be described in one or two words. Words
  that describe attitude.
• The tone of a story will change if you change the
  point of view because everyone has their own
  attitude.

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Irony Ambiguity

• Mrs. Kelley

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What is IRONY?

• Oh thats so ironic!
• Irony is a contradiction between appearance and
  reality.
• It is the difference between
• what we expect and what
• actually happens.

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Types of Irony

• There are 3 types of irony
• Verbal
• Situational
• Dramatic

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Verbal Irony

• When someone says one thing but means another
• Wow! Cool story, bro.
• Or What a nice day were having! while its
  storming outside
• Also known as sarcasm
• Verbal Irony

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Situational Irony

• An event that is contrary (opposite) to what you
  expected
• Example
• A firehouse catches on fire
• Irony
• Situational Irony

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Dramatic Irony

• When the audience knows what the characters in
  the story dont know

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Dramatic Irony (continued)

• In a story, the wife plans a surprise party for
  her husband. The husband comes home to a dark
  house and says, All I want is a quiet evening.
  We know that there is a surprise coming and the
  husband does not.

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Why include irony in stories?

• The best stories are not the easiest ones to
  understand.
• The best stories are the ones that present life
  the way they are complicated, unpredictable,
  mysterious.

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Lets read

• And watch all of these literary elements come
  together.