1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
Elements of Fiction

2. Characters
Static Character: one who does not change much in the course of a story
Dynamic Character: changes as a result of the story’s events
Flat Character: has only one or two traits and no depth
Round Character: is like a real person, has many different character traits, which sometimes contradict one another.

3. With Your Partner List the characters you meet in The Curious Incident
Are they a static or dynamic character?
Are they a round or flat character?
Be prepared to prove your point by having one quote per character.

4. Characterization
Indirect Characterization- the reader has to use his/her own judgment to decide what a character is like, based on the evidence given to you by the writer
Direct Characterization- the reader is told directly what the character is like by the writer

5. With Your Partner
Give an example of direct characterization for Christopher. Find the quote to prove your point.
What is an example of indirect characterization for Christopher? Find a quote that shows this.

6. Setting
The setting of a story is the time and place in which the action occurs.
Past, Present, or Future
Day or Night
Place may be Real or Imaginary Etc.

7. With Your Partner - List the settings Christopher journeys to.
- What time period does this story take place in?
- How do you know?

8. Conflict
Struggle or clash between opposing characters or opposing forces.
External Conflict: a character struggles against an outside force (another character/ society/ nature)
Internal Conflict: takes place entirely within the character’s mind. It’s a struggle between opposing needs or desires or emotions within a single person.

9. Theme
Is the message of the story the writer presents through the characters and the plot. The theme is not usually stated.

10. Plot Is the series of events in a story
Often follows a pattern of development made up of as many as five specific stages.
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution

11. Exposition
It is at the beginning of a story. It gives background information that the reader needs to know.
It introduces the setting, the characters, and the conflict.
Sometimes it tells what happened in the past.

12. Exposition Ask yourself: Who are the characters? What is the setting?
What is the conflict?

13. Rising Action During this part of the story, the conflict is obvious.
Complications arise and suspense begins to build as the main characters struggle to resolve their problems.

14. Rising Action
Ask yourself:
What makes the conflict obvious?

15. Climax
It is the turning point of the story, that point at which the conflict is resolved.
Moment of great emotional intensity or suspense in the plot.

16. Climax
Ask yourself:
How was the conflict resolved?

17. Falling Action
The effects of the climax are shown. The suspense is over, but the results of the decision or action that caused the climax are worked out.

18. Falling Action
Ask yourself:
How are the effects of the climax shown?

19. Resolution
The resolution tells how the struggle ends. It ties up any loose ends of the plot.

20. Resolution Ask yourself: How does the story end?
How does it tie up loose ends?

21. Genres
Mystery: involves several predictable elements – a “closed setting” (isolated place), a corpse, a small circle of people who are all subjects, an investigating detective with extraordinary reasoning powers.
How is The Curious Incident a mystery?

22. Bildungsroman: A novel chronicling the intellectual, spiritual, or moral development of a young protagonist.
How is The Curious Incident a bildungsroman?

23. Literary Devices
Protagonist: The central or main character in a story around whom the plot centers.
Who is the protagonist of The Curious Incident?

24. Point of View
Omniscient Point of View: The person telling the story knows everything there is to know about the characters and their problems.

25. First Person Point of View: One of the characters is actually the narrator telling the story, using the pronoun I.

26. Third Person Limited Point of View: The narrator, who plays no part in the story, zooms in on the thoughts and feelings of just one character.
What point of view The Curious Incident told in?

27. Character motivation: The fears or conflicts or needs that drive a character’s actions.
What is Christopher’s motivation?

28. Foreshadowing: The use of hints or clues in a story to suggest what action is to come.
Give an example of foreshadowing in The Curious Incident.

29. Tone: Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character. Tone is conveyed through the writer’s choice of words and details.
What is the tone of The Curious Incident?

30. Symbol- A concrete object, person, or place that has a meaning in itself and also stands for something larger than itself.
Give an example of a symbol in The Curious Incident.

31. Irony: Contrast between
What is said and what is really meant (Verbal Irony)
What is expected to happen and what really happens (Situational Irony)
What appears to be true and what is really true [the audience know but the character doesn’t] (Dramatic Irony)
What is ironic about The Curious Incident?
What type of irony is it?