Short Story Elements and Terms
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Transcript of Short Story Elements and Terms
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Short Story Elements and
Terms
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A short story is … a brief fictional narrative in prose
Very brief story—it’s only a few pages!
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The essence of the short story is “ the plot ” …….
Parts of the plot are: Exposition
Conflict
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution / Denouement
A plot is the sequence of events in a narrative work.
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PLOT CHART / DIAGRAM
Exposition Conflict
Rising
Acti
on
Falling Action
Resolution / Denouement
Climax
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Definitions for parts of the plot:
Resolution / Denouement: the final outcome
Exposition: introduction of characters, setting, & situation
Conflict: a struggle between opposing forces
Rising action: complications that occur in trying to resolve the conflict
Climax: the emotional high point of the story
Falling action: the logical consequences of the climax
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Conflict can be internal or external.
Internal – a character’s struggle within himself; torn between opposing feelings or different courses of action (psychological)
External – a character’s
struggle with an outside force
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Types of external conflict:
character vs. another character
character vs. society
character vs. nature
character vs. machine
character vs. supernatural being
social
metaphysical
physical
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What Do We Mean by the Theme of a Story?
The theme is the author’s message about his/her perception about life or human nature.
The theme of a literary work can be stated or implied.
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Protagonist – the main character
Antagonist – the character/force in conflict with the protagonist.
CharactersCharacters are the actors in a
story’s plot.
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Types of Characters
Stock or Stereotyped – flat character that is “typical” and often repeated.
Dynamic – changes attitude in the course of the story; gains new understanding or insight
Static – remains the same throughout the story
Flat – has only one personality trait
Round – has varied & different personality traits
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Characterization
Direct characterization – when the author tells the reader about the character’s traits directly
Indirect characterization – when the author reveals a character’s personality through the character’s words, thoughts, actions, appearance, and reaction of other characters.
…. is the method the author uses to reveal a character’s personality
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Point of View is the voice the author uses to tell his story.
Third-person objective (he/she) – narrator is outside the story; reveals only actions & speech; no thoughts or feelings
First-person (I, me, my) – narrator is a character in the story; reader sees everything through the character
Third-person limited (he/she) – narrator outside the story; reveals thoughts and feelings of just one character
Third-person omniscient (he/she) – narrator outside the story; reveals thoughts and feelings of all characters; “all-knowing”
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Foreshadowing
…is the use of clues that give hints so that the reader can predict what will happen.
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Irony is the difference between what appears to be real and
what is actually real in a story.
Dramatic Irony – difference between what the reader knows and what the character knows. The reader has more or better information than the character.
Verbal Irony – difference between what a speaker says and what he means
Situational Irony – difference between what the reader expects to happen and what actually happens
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Other definitions ….
Tone – the author’s attitude about the subject of the literary work.
Symbolism – when an object, person, place or experience represents something else that is abstract
Diction – the author’s choice of words
Denotation – a word’s literal or dictionary definition
Connotation – a word’s implied / emotional meaning
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Other definitions …
Other examples:- Keep an eye out. - Right on the money
- Flat broke - Dodge a bullet
Idiom – an accepted expression having a meaning different from the literal.
Examples: I was so angry I was beside myself. (“Beside myself” is idiomatic because it is physically impossible to be next to oneself).
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Other Definitions …
Allusion – a reference to a literary, mythological, or historical person place or thing.
Oxymoron – a form of paradox that combines a pair of opposite terms into a single unusual expression; a seeming contradiction.
Examples: a wise fool, definitely maybe, precise estimate, genuine imitation, honest politician
Alliteration – occurs when several neighboring words begin with the same consonant sound.
Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers…
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Other Definitions …
Inversion is a sentence where the predicate comes before the subject.Example: Long did the hours seem while I waited for her knock at the door.
Natural order of a sentence: the subject comes before the predicate.
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Other Definitions …
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Parallel Structure (parallelism) – a grammatical or structural similarity between sentences or parts of a sentence.
Example: The burden must be carried, the want provided for, the suffering endured, the responsibility fulfilled.
Archetype – a character, action, or situation that is a prototype or pattern of human life occurring over and over again in literature.
Example: the damsel in distress, the rags-to-riches plot, the quest.
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Other Definitions …
Motif – a pattern of imagery or symbolism in a work of literature.
Epiphany – the sudden understanding in which a character proceeds from ignorance and innocence to knowledge and experience.
Suspense – the quality that makes the reader uncertain or tense about the outcome of events.
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