The Elements of Fiction

SettingThe place where the story takes place

Geographical locationTime periodSocio-economic characteristicsSpecific structures

Example:Dry September

Dry September: William Faulkner

Through the bloody September twilight, aftermath of sixty-two rainless days, it had gone like a fire in dry grass—the rumor, the story, whatever it was. Something about Miss Minnie Cooper and a Negro. Attacked, insulted, frightened: none of them, gathered in the barber shop on that Saturday evening where the ceiling fan stirred, without freshening it, the vitiated(to destroy or drastically reduce the effectiveness of something, or make it invalid or faulty; to degrade something morally) air, sending back upon them, in recurrent surges of stale pomade and lotion, their own stale breath and odors, knew exactly what had happened.

CharactersThe people (personages: animals, things etc. presented as people) appearing in the literary work.

Round - convincing, true to life. Many different and sometimes even contradictory personality traits.Flat – stereotyped, shallow and often symbolic. Have only one or two personality traits.Dynamic – undergo some type of change or development in the story, often because of something that happens to them.Static do not change in the course of the storyProtagonist – the main character in the storyAntagonist – the character who opposes the protagonist

PlotThe structure of the story; the arrangement of events and actions.

Exposition – the beginning or set-up of the situation before the action startsRising Action – the series of conflicts an crises that lead to the climaxClimax – the turning point, the most intense moment – either mentally or in the actionFalling Action – all of the action which follows the climaxResolution – the conclusion, the tying together of all of the threadsConflict – the dramatic struggle between two forces in a story. No conflict—no plot

The Plot Arc

Point of ViewThe perspective from which the story is told: who is telling the story, how do we know what is happening.

First Person – “I” The author is telling the story directly—usually as a character in the storyThird Person – “he, she, they” – the author is outside of the story.Omniscient – the author tells the story from the point of view of any character and knows all the informationLimited – the author tells the story from a point of view restricted to only one character, which restricts the information to what that character knows

Friend RequestFirst Person

To Live ForThird Person

ThemeThe meaning of the story; a distinct, recurring and unifying idea in the literary work

SymbolismThe representation of something abstract (an idea) by something concrete (a person or object)

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

eThe Forest – Natural Sin “Look, Mother,” Pearl pointed. “The sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself because of the scarlet letter.They walked together and talked until they were far enough into the forest that no casual passer-by would see them…The forest around them was centuries old, older than the Puritan doctrine and law.“Tell me about the Black Man,”…tell me how he lives here in the Deep Forest.”Pearl – The results of transgression…the Puritans of the village had begun to whisper that Pearl was a demon offspring, created through her mother’s sin, sent for some foul and wicked purpose.Pearl was obsessed with the scarlet letter. It was the very first object she seemed to become aware of. Whenever Hester would lean over the cradle, Pearl would grab at the letter. When she became old enough to pick flowers, Pearl would pinch off the stems and throw the flowers, one by one, at Hester, breaking into laughter each time one struck the letter.

ImageryThe figurative language, especially metaphors and similes, used in literary works; language that makes pictures

Figurative language – a nonliteral sense of a word or wordsSensory relating to the sense organs ie sight, touch, sound, smell, tasteConcrete - able to be seen or touched because it exists in reality, not just as an idea; definite, certain and specific rather than vagueSimile – a comparison between two different things usually containing the words “as” or “like”Metaphor- a direct comparison used to describe something not literally but in vivid representation of a distinct traitAllegory – a work in which the characters and events are to be understood as representing other things and symbolically expressing a deeper, often spiritual, moral or political meaning

VoiceThe individual writing style of an author, a combination of idiotypical usage of syntax, diction, punctuation, character development, dialogue etc.

Friend Request