1. Literary Elements
What makes up a story?

2. Video Recap
..\Documents\Flocabulary - Five Things (Elements of a Short Story).3gp

3. What do you know?
You have 3 minutes to complete the plot diagram.

4. Story Grammar Setting Characters Plot Climax Theme Resolution
Denouement

5. Setting Time and place are where the action occurs
Details that describe:
Furniture
Scenery
Customs
Transportation
Clothing
Dialects
Weather
Time of day
Time of year

6. Elements of a Setting

7. The Functions of a Setting
We left the home place behind, mile by slow mile, heading for the mountains, across the prairie where the wind blew forever.
At first there were four of us with one horse wagon and its skimpy load. Pa and I walked, because I was a big boy of eleven. My two little sisters romped and trotted until they got tired and had to be boosted up to the wagon bed.
That was no covered Conestoga, like Pa’s folks came West in, but just an old farm wagon, drawn by one weary horse, creaking and rumbling westward to the mountains, toward the little woods town where Pa thought he had an old uncle who owned a little two-bit sawmill.
To create a mood or atmosphere
To show a reader a different way of life
To make action seem more real
To be the source of conflict or struggle
To symbolize an idea
Taken from “The Day the Sun Came Out” by D. Johnson

8. Types of Characters Dynamic character Static characters
Minor characters
Round characters
Flat characters

9. Character
Flat character- This type of character is not well- developed; NOT the main character
Round Character- This type of character CHANGE through out the story

10. Static Character- This character stays the same through out the story
Static Character- This character stays the same through out the story. (supporting character)
Dynamic Character- This is the MAIN character. He/She has a lively personality and traits are well developed.

11. Characterization
A writer reveals what a character is like and how the character changes throughout the story.
Two primary methods of characterization:
Direct- writer tells what the character is like
Indirect- writer shows what a character is like by describing what the character looks like, by telling what the character says and does, and by what other characters say about and do in response to the character.

12. Direct Characterization
…And I don’t play the dozens or believe in standing around with somebody in my face doing a lot of talking. I much rather just knock you down and take my chances even if I’m a little girl with skinny arms and a squeaky voice, which is how I got the name Squeaky.
From “Raymond’s Run” by T. Bambara

13. Indirect Characterization
The old man bowed to all of us in the room. Then he removed his hat and gloves, slowly and carefully. Chaplin once did that in a picture, in a bank--he was the janitor.
From “Gentleman of Rio en Medio” by J. Sedillo

14. Elements of Character

15. Plot
Plot is what happens and how it happens in a narrative. A narrative is any work that tells a story, such as a short story, a novel, a drama, or a narrative poem.

16. Parts of a Plot Exposition- the introduction of the story
Rising Action – event that gives rise to conflict.
Climax- highest point of interest or suspense of story
Falling action- a series of events that leads to the resolution.
Resolution- when conflict ends

17. Diagram of Plot Climax Falling Action Development/ Rising Action
Exposition
Resolution
Inciting incident/ Opening situation

18. Conflicts Man vs. Man- a struggle between to people.
Man vs. Self (internal)- a struggle with self. It could be physically, psychological, or emotional.
Man vs. Nature- a struggle with animals or weather

19. Conflict
Man vs. Fate- a struggle that occurs when a person is trying to change destiny or an outcome.
Man vs. Society- a struggle when a person has a problem with rules and/or government.

20. Special Techniques of Plot
Suspense- excitement or tension
Foreshadowing- hint or clue about what will happen in story
Flashback- interrupts the normal sequence of events to tell about something that happened in the past
Surprise Ending- conclusion that reader does not expect

21. Conflict Conflict is a struggle between opposing forces
Every plot must contain some kind of conflict
Stories can have more than one conflict
Conflicts can be external or internal
External conflict- outside force may be person, group, animal, nature, or a nonhuman obstacle
Internal conflict- takes place in a character’s mind

22. Theme
A central message, concern, or insight into life expressed through a literary work
Can be expressed by one or two sentence statement about human beings or about life
May be stated directly or implied
Interpretation uncovers the theme

23. Example of Theme
“Every man needs to feel allegiance to his native country, whether he always appreciates that country or not.”
From “A Man Without a Country” by Edward Hale pg. 185 in Prentice Hall Literature book