English 10 Literature Lesson #9Mr. Rinka

The Short Story Introduction

The Short Story

What is a short story Plot?

What are key terms related to

fiction?

Short Story

A fictional story with very few characters, usually one setting and involving the solution of only one problem.

Plot Structure

Climax

Complication Falling Action

Exposition Resolution

Plot Structure

Exposition

Exposition

The early part of a story that includes the setting, characters and the conflict.

Plot Structure

Complication

Exposition

Complication

The major part of a story in which the conflict develops through the eventsAlso called the Rising Action

Plot Structure

Climax

Complication

Exposition

Climax

The most exciting or tense part of the plot, the highest emotional point.

Plot Structure

Climax

Complication Falling Action

Exposition

Falling Action

Occurs after the climax when the action leads toward the solution.

Plot Structure

Climax

Complication Falling Action

Exposition Resolution

Resolution

All the problems or mysteries of the plot are unraveled and settled.

Short Story Elements

In order to read and study a short story correctly, we need to understand some of the basic elements of a short story.

Setting

The time and place in which a story, play, or narrative takes place.Ancient Greece was the setting for the play Antigone.

Protagonist

The main character in a story often called the “hero”

Antigone, Oedipus’s daughter, is the protagonist in the play Antigone.

Antagonist

The character or force that blocks the protagonist. Can be another character, nature, society or even some quality within the protagonist.

Creon is the Antagonist in the play Antigone.

ConflictIn literature, the problem that is created between the protagonist and antagonist. The solution of this problem makes up the story.

Internal Conflict

A conflict that takes place entirely within a character’s mind

Man v Self

External Conflict

A conflict in which a character struggles against an outside force

External Conflict

Man v ManAntigone

Man v Nature

Man v Society

Moral

A lesson about life that a story teaches

Moral

The moral in the play Antigone is that Divine law takes precedence over man made law. To challenge this notion will only lead to tragedy.

Point of View (POV)

The perspective the narrator, storyteller, takes when telling the story.

1st Person POV

The narrator is a character in the story who tells the story using the pronoun “I”

1st Person POV Example

I looked out the window and saw that it was going to be a very bad day. The clouds were dark, and a storm was on the way. I wondered if I would be able to work.

Omniscient POV

The person telling the story knows everything that is going on in the story and can tell what everyone is thinking.

Uses the pronouns “he” and “she”.

Omniscient POV Example

Joe was worried about his job. Marie was thinking about her sick child. The two could barely speak to each other because of the fight they had had the night before.

Omniscient POV Example

Joe thought that Marie did not understand how important his work was. Marie, on the other hand, did not want Joe leaving for fear that the baby would need to go to the hospital.

3rd Person Limited POV

The narrator is outside the story and tells the story from the vantage point of only one character.

Uses the pronoun “he” or “she”.

3rd Person Limited POV Example

Joe was worried about his job. He looked at his wife and couldn’t understand why she did not understand. Sure the baby was sick, but she could handle it, and he had to get to work or they would not have any money at the end of the week.

Allusion

Reference to a statement, person, place, or event from history, literature, religion, mythology, politics, sports, science, or pop culture

Allusion Example

Then after the tenth year, the prisoner sat immovably at the table and read nothing but the Gospel.“The Bet” by Anton Chekov

Characterization

A description of the physical, mental, emotional and behavioral qualities of a person in a literary work.

Characterization

The banker, who was younger and more nervous in those days, was suddenly carried away by excitement;“The Bet” by Anton Chekov

Direct Characterization

The writer describes the physical, emotional and mental qualities directly to the reader.

Direct Characterization

His face was yellow with an earthy tint in it, his cheeks were hollow, his back long and narrow, and the hand on which his shaggy head was propped was so thin and delicate that it was dreadful to look at it. “The Bet” by Anton Chekov

Indirect Characterization

The reader has to use his own judgment to decide what a character is like based on the evidence that the writer gives.

Indirect Characterizationhe struck the table with his fist and shouted at the young man:  "It's not true! I'll bet you two million you wouldn't stay in solitary confinement for five years." “The Bet” by Anton Chekov

Static Character

A character who does not change much in the course of a story

Static Character Example

In Antigone, Teiresias is a static character who does not change in the play nor does he change from play to play.

http://huinee1787.blogspot.com/2009/02/teiresias-tiresias.html

Dynamic Character

A Character who changes as a result of the events of a story.

Dynamic Character Example

In Antigone, Haemon was a dynamic character who changed from the obedient son to one who went against his father’s (Creon’s) wishes.

Flat Character

A character who has only one or two traits that can be described in a few words.

Flat Character Example

In Antigone, Eurydice, Creon’s wife was a flat character about whom we knew very little.

Round Character

A character who has many different traits that may even contradict one another.

Round Character Example

In Antigone, Antigone was a very complex figure about whom we knew a great deal.

http://www.auburnschools.org/ahs/kmock/English%2010/English%2010%20Main%20Page.htm

Epiphany

The moment of awakening or realization for a character.

Epiphany Example

In Antigone, Creon has an epiphany after he talks with Teiresias and learns of the god’s disfavor with his actions.

Flashback

A scene in a movie, short story, novel, or narrative poem that interrupts the present action of the plot to go backward and tell what happened earlier.

Flashback ExampleChorus from AntgoneSeven captains at our seven gatesThundered; for each a champion waits,Each left behind his armor bright,Trophy for Zeus who turns the fight;Save two alone, that ill-starred pairOne mother to one father bare,Who lance in rest, one 'gainst the otherDrave, and both perished, brother slain by brother.

Imagery

Language that appeals to the senses to create a mental picture.

Imagery ExampleGuard to Creon from AntigoneI cannot tell, for there was ne'er a traceOf pick or mattock—hard unbroken

ground,Without a scratch or rut of chariot

wheels,No sign that human hands had been at

work.When the first sentry of the morning

watchGave the alarm, we all were terror-

stricken.The corpse had vanished, not interred

in earth,But strewn with dust,

Irony

A contrast or significant difference between expectations and reality

Irony Example

Guard to Creon from AntigoneI sware thou wouldst not see me here again;But the wild rapture of a glad surpriseIntoxicates, and so I'm here forsworn.And here's my prisoner, caught in the very act,Decking the grave. No lottery this time;This prize is mine by right of treasure-trove.

Verbal Irony

A writer or speaker says one thing but really means something completely different.

Verbal Irony ExampleHaemon to Creon from AntigoneFather, the gods implant in mortal menReason, the choicest gift bestowed by heaven.'Tis not for me to say thou errest, norWould I arraign thy wisdom, if I could;And yet wise thoughts may come to other menAnd, as thy son, it falls to me to markThe acts, the words, the comments of the crowd.

Situational Irony

Both the audience and the characters experience a surprise or shock at what occurs because they expected something else.

Situational Irony Example

MESSENGER (from Antigone)Both dead, and they who live deserve to die.CHORUSWho is the slayer, who the victim? speak.MESSENGERHaemon; his blood shed by no stranger hand.CHORUSWhat mean ye? by his father's or his own?MESSENGERHis own; in anger for his father's crime.

Dramatic Irony

Occurs when the audience or reader knows something important that a character does not know.

Dramatic Irony

Chorus from AntigoneOf happiness the chiefest part Is a wise heart: And to defraud the gods in aught With peril's fraught. Swelling words of high-flown might Mightily the gods do smite. Chastisement for errors past Wisdom brings to age at last.

Simile

A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things by using a connective word such as “like,” “as,” “than,” “resembles.”

Simile

He was a skeleton with the skin drawn tight over his bones, with long curls like a woman's and a shaggy beard.“The Bet” by Anton Chekov

Metaphor

A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things in which one thing becomes another thing without using words such as “like,” “as,” “than,” “resembles.”

Metaphor

His reading suggested a man swimming in the sea among the wreckage of his ship, and trying to save his life by greedily clutching first at one spar and then at another. “The Bet” by Anton Chekov

Mood

The feelings a work stimulates in a reader.

Mood Example

While reading Antigone, I felt a sense of inevitable doom and pity as Creon defied the moral law and held fast to his edict stubbornly.

Tone

The attitude a writer takes toward the reader, a subject or a character

Tone Example

in Antigone Sophocles seems to sympathize with Antigone and Haemon, and he holds Creon responsible for what eventually happens.

English 10 Literature Lesson #9Mr. Rinka

The Short Story Introduction