Short Story Study Session A BRIEF Review

What to Study  Literary Elements (Short Story Notes)  Raymond’s Run  A Retrieved Reformation (HONORS ONLY)  Thank you M’am  Gentleman of Rio en Medio  Charles  The Story of An Hour  The Tell Tale Heart

Plot  Definition: Plot is the sequence of events in a story –Exposition – introduces the setting, the characters, and the basic situation –Rising Action – introduces the conflict –Climax – highest point of action; the turning point – it has the MOST tension!!! You don’t have a solution yet! –Falling action – conflict is resolved – problems are being worked on –Resolution – the conclusion –the exact ending of the story, not the conflict a b c d e

Characters  Protagonist – hero/main character; he or she learns a lesson  Antagonist – causes problems for the protagonist  Round – multi-dimensional; have faults  Flat – stereotypes

Conflict  Internal – (man vs. self) – it’s all in your head  External – (man vs. man; man vs. nature) – outside forces are at work

Theme  Stated – the author tells you the theme in the text “The moral of the story is…”  implied – can be derived (figured out) from what happens to the characters  universal – can be derived from pretty much any story; they apply to all of life

Setting  Time  Place

Literary Devices

Point of View  Point of View is the perspective from which the story is told (who is telling the story?) –First Person – The narrator is DIRECTLY involved in the action of the story (Written with “I/me”) –Second Person – Written as a command/directions – “You do this/You do that” (“Choose Your Own Adventure” stories) –Third Person – A narrator that is not involved in the story, can let you know the thoughts of multiple characters (we call this an omniscient narrator) (omniscient means all-knowing)

Foreshadowing  the author gives you hints about future events

Flashback  the author refers back to events that already happened (usually before the story began)

Irony  The outcome of the story is different from what the reader expected would happen

Literature  Raymond’s Run  A Retrieved Reformation (HONORS ONLY)  Thank you M’am  Gentleman of Rio en Medio  Charles  The Story of An Hour  The Tell Tale Heart