E L E M E N T S O F A S H O R T S T O R Y

Setting Character PlotConflictPoint of view Theme

SETTINGThe time and location in which a story takes place is called the setting. For some storiesthe setting is very important, while for others it is not. There are several aspects of a story's setting to consider when examining how setting contributes to a story (some, or all, may be present in a story):

· place - geographical location. · time - (historical period, time of day, year, etc)· weather conditions - rainy, sunny, stormy, etc?· social conditions - the daily life of the character, local color · mood or atmosphere - What feeling is created at the beginning of the story?Is it bright and cheerful or dark and frightening?

setting: The overall setting of a narrative or dramatic work is the general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occurs; the setting of a single episode or scene within the work is the particular physical location in which it takes place. The Greek term opsis (“scene,” or “spectacle”) is now occasionally used to denote a particular visible or picturable setting in any work of literature, including a lyric poem.

CHARACTERThere are two meanings for the word character:· The person in a work of fiction.· The characteristics of a person.

Characters are the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as possessing particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the persons say and their distinctiveways of saying it—the dialogue—and from what they do—the action.

The characters’ temperament, desires, and moral nature for their speech and actions are called their motivation.

The chief character in a plot, on whom our interest centers, is called the protagonist (or alternatively, the hero or heroine), and if the plot is such that he or she is pitted against an important opponent, that character is called the antagonist.

If the antagonist is evil, or capable of cruel and criminal actions, he or she is called the villain.

Short stories use few characters. One character is clearly central to the story with all major events having some importance to this character - he/she is the PROTAGONIST. The person (or force) that opposes the main character is called the ANTAGONIST.A character in a work who, by sharp contrast, serves to stress and highlight the distinctive temperament of the protagonist is termed a foil.

The Characteristics of a PersonIn order for a story to seem real to the reader its characters must seem real.Characterization is the information the author gives the reader about the characters themselves. The author may reveal a character in several ways:

· Through direct statements by the author/narrator (Direct Characterization)· His/her physical appearance· What he/she says, thinks, feels and dreams· What he/she does or does not do· What others say about him/her and how others react to him/her

Characters are convincing if they are: consistent, motivated, and life-like (resemble real people)the

Types of Characters1. Rounded Characters – many-sided

and complex personalities that you would expect of actual human beings. E. M. Forster, in Aspects of the Novel (1927), introduced new terms for an old distinction by discriminating between flat and round characters. A round character is complex in temperament and motivation and is represented with subtle particularity; such a character therefore is as difficult to describe with any adequacy as a person in real life, and like real persons, is capable of surprising us.

2. Flat Characters – personalities that are presented only briefly and not in depth. A flat character (also called a type, or “two-dimensional”), Forster says, is built around “a single idea or quality” and is presented without much individualizing detail, and therefore can be described adequately in a single phrase or sentence.

3. Dynamic – many-sided personalities that change, for better or worse, by the end of the story.

4. Static – These characters are often stereotypes, have one or two characteristics that never change that are emphasized e.g. brilliant detective, drunk, scrooge, cruel stepmother, etc.

PLOTThe plot is how the author arranges events to develop his or her basic idea. It is the sequence of events in a story or play. The plot is a planned, logical series of events having a beginning, middle, and end. The short story usually has one plot so it can be read in one sitting. There are five essential parts of plot:

A subplot—a second story that is complete and interesting in its own right—is introduced into the play; when skillfully invented and managed, the subplot serves to broaden our perspective on the main plot and to enhancerather than diffuse the overall effect.

The German critic Gustav Freytag, in Technique of the Drama (1863), introduced an analysis of plot that is known as Freytag’s Pyramid. He described the typical plot of a five-act play as a pyramidal shape, consisting of a rising action, climax, and falling action. Although the total pattern that Freytag described applies only to a limited number of plays, various of his terms are frequently echoed by critics of prose fiction as well as drama.

FREYTAG’S PYRAMID

IntroductionRising ActionClimax / Turning PointFalling actionResolution / Denouement

Introduction - The beginning of the story where the characters and the setting is revealed.Rising Action - This is where the events in the story become complicated and the conflict in the story is revealed (events between the introduction and climax).Climax / Turning Point - This is the highest point of interest and the turning point of the story. The reader wonders what will happen next; will the conflict be resolved or not?

Falling action - The events and complications begin to resolve themselves. The reader knows what has happened next and if the conflict was resolved or not (events between climax and denouement).Resolution / Denouement - This is the final outcome or untangling of events in the story. (French for “unknotting”): the action or intrigue ends in success or failure for the protagonist, the conflicts are settled, the mystery is solved, or themisunderstanding cleared away.

In many plots the denouement involves a reversal, or in Aristotle’s Greek term, peripety, in the protagonist’s fortunes, whether to the protagonist’s failure or destruction, as in tragedy, or success, as in comic plots. The reversal frequently depends on a discovery (in Aristotle’s term, anagnorisis). This is the recognition by the protagonist of something of great importance hitherto unknown to him or to her.

It is helpful to consider climax as a three-fold phenomenon:1) The main character receives new information2) Accepts this information (realizes it but does not necessarily agree with it)3) Acts on this information (makes a choice that will determine whether or not he/she gains his objective).

CONFLICT

Conflict is essential to plot. Without conflict there is no plot. It is the opposition of forces which ties one incident to another and makes the plot move. Conflict is not merely limited to open arguments, rather it is any form of opposition that faces the main character. Within a short story there may be only one central struggle, or there may be one dominant struggle with many minor ones.

There are two types of conflict:External - A struggle with a force outside one's self.Internal - A struggle within one's self; a person must make some decision, overcome pain, quiet their temper, resist an urge, etc.

There are four kinds of conflict:· Human vs. Human (physical) - The leading character struggles with his physical strength against other men.· Human vs. Nature - The leading character struggles the forces of nature.· Human vs. Society (social) - The leading character struggles against ideas, practices, or customs of other people.· Human vs. Self (psychological) - The leading character struggles with himself/herself; with his/her own soul, ideas of right or wrong, physical limitations, choices, etc.

POINT OF VIEWPoint of view, or P.O.V., is defined as the angle or perspective from which the story is told.point of view: Point of view signifies the way a story gets told—the mode (or modes) established by an author by means of which the reader is presented with the characters, dialogue, actions, setting, and events which constitute the narrativein a work of fiction.First PersonSecond PersonThird Person

First Person: The story is told by the protagonist or another character that interacts closely with the protagonist or other characters (using first person pronouns “I”, “me”, “we”, etc). The reader sees the story through this person's eyes as he/she experiences it and only knows what he/she knows or feels.

This mode, insofar as it is consistently carried out, limits the matter of the narrative to what the first-person narrator knows, experiences, infers, or finds out by talking to other characters. We distinguish between the narrative “I” who is only a fortuitous witness and auditor of the matters he relates; or who is a participant, but only a minor or peripheral one, in the story; or who is himself or herself thecentral character in the story.

Second Person: (not used very often) The main character in the story is referred to using the second person pronoun “you”. Second Person is most often used in training manuals, role-playing games and Choose Your Own Adventure novels.

Third Person: The story is told using a narrator who is located outside of the action of the story and uses third person pronouns such as “he”, “she”, “his”, “her”, “they” etc.The third person point of view can be broken up into three different types:OmniscientLimited OmniscientObjective

Omniscient – Omniscient literally means, “all knowing”. Using the third person omniscient point of view the narrator can move from character to character, event to event, having free access to the thoughts, feelings and motivations of any character and can introduce information where and when he or she chooses.

Within this mode, the intrusive narrator is one who not only reports, but also comments on and evaluates the actions and motives of the characters,and sometimes expresses personal views about human life.

Limited Omniscient – The story is told by a third person narrator but from the viewpoint of a character in the story, usually the main character or protagonist. The reader has access to the thoughts and feelings of only one character.

Objective –(alternative terms are impersonal or unintrusive). The author tells the story in the third person. It appears as though a camera is following the characters, going anywhere, and recording only what is seen and heard. There is no comment on the characters or their thoughts. No interpretations are offered. The reader is placed in the position of spectator without the author there to explain. The reader has to interpret events on his or her own.

THEMEThe theme in a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central insight. It is the author's underlying meaning or main idea that he is trying to convey. The theme may be the author's thoughts about a topic or view of human nature. The title of the short story usually points to what the writer is saying and he may use various figures of speech to emphasize his theme, such as: symbol, allusion, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, or irony.

Theme is sometimes used interchangeably with “motif,” but the term is more usefully applied to a general concept or doctrine, whether implicit or asserted, which an imaginative work is designed to involve and make persuasive to the reader.