Tools for Analyzing Text

Plot Structure

And

Conflict

Plot Structure Components

• Exposition – Sets the mood & conditions existing at the beginning of a story

• Includes two important story elements: Characters – the people who experience the

events of the plot Setting – tells the reader WHEN & WHERE

a story takes place.

Characters

• The people involved in a story– Protagonist:

• the main character of a story

• The character who experiences the main conflict in a story

– Antagonist:• The character who opposes the protagonist.

• May work against the main character.

Setting

• The place where a story occurs

• Setting can be:The geographical location (ex. Raleigh, NC)The time period (between 2000 & 2010)The socio-economic characteristics of the

location (ex. Campus of NC State Un.)The specific building, room, etc. (ex. The

Student Union)

Rising Action

• Introduces the conflict or problem in a story.

• Includes the series of events, conflicts, and crises in the story that leads up to the climax.

• Provides progressive intensity in a story.

Climax

• The high point of a story where the conflict changes or is resolved.

• The “Turning Point” in a story.

• A crucial event that takes place & from the climax forward, the protagonist moves toward his/her inevitable end.

Falling Action

• All action events that follow the climax (high point) in a story.

• The main character (Protagonist) may still more conflicts in this part of a story.

• Events in this part do not really change how the story will inevitably end.

Resolution

• How the story conflict is settled.

• Where loose ends are tied up.

• The hero (main character) either emerges triumphant or is defeated.

Conflict• The problem in a story.

• The struggle between two forces in a story.

• Conflict leads through a story to the climax.

• Conflict can be:– Interpersonal Conflict – Human vs. Human,

Human vs. Nature, or Human vs. Society.– Internal Conflict – Human vs. Self.