Plot

1. Plot is the action or sequence of events in a literary work. It is a series of related events that build upon one another.

2. A plot may be simple or complex, loosely constructed or close-knit.

3. Plot includes the following:• whatever the characters do• whatever the characters say• whatever the characters think• whatever happens to the characters• whatever the characters cause to happen to others

There are five basic elements to the plot:1. exposition2. rising action3. climax4. falling action5. resolution

Exposition

Climax

Resolution(Denouement)

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Falling

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Five Elements of a Story

• Exposition is the introduction that presents the background information to help readers understand the situation of the story.

• Rising Action is the series of struggles, conflicts, and complications which builds a story toward its climax.

• Climax is the point of greatest intensity or suspense in a narrative which will determine the outcome of the story. The climax is also known as the turning point, or the point that “changes everything”.

• Falling Action is the part of the story that shows the events that happen after the climax, which lead up to a resolution at the end.

• Resolution is how the story ends. It is how all the conflict is resolved.

Conflict

•External Conflict is an individual’s struggle against something outside of themselves. There are five basic types of external conflict:

1) man vs. man2) man vs. society3) man vs. nature4) man vs. supernatural5) man vs. fate or destiny

• Conflicts are also known as complications. Typically, there is more than one conflict in a story.

Imagery

•Imagery is the use of words to create a picture in the reader’s mind.

•Imagery is description that appeals to the five senses (sight, taste, touch, sound, smell).

•IE: “The summer heat weighed heavily on me as I tossed and turned in the sheets that clung to me. I angrily pondered how I would never be able to fall asleep due to the incessant trill of the crickets in the night.”

Mood

•Mood is the feeling a text arouses and creates in the reader (such as happiness, anger, sadness, etc.). It is the attitude the reader has toward the subject matter he or she is reading.

•Mood is the attitude of the audience/reader toward the particular subject matter he or she is reading.

Tone

•Tone is the overall feeling, or effect, created by a writer’s use of words. Tone reveals the author’s attitude toward his own subject matter and the audience.

•Tone is the author’s apparent attitude toward his own subject matter and/or the audience.

Setting

•Setting is the time and place of the action of a story.

•Setting can be of great importance in establishing the:• physical background and • in creating the atmosphere/mood of the story

(tension, suspense, peacefulness, etc.)

•Setting can include:• time (minute/hour, year, month, decade, etc.)• weather (season, literal weather, etc.)• places (planets, countries, cities, buildings, etc.)• or any other thing that helps set the background.

Characterization

• Characterization is the personality a character displays, as well as the means by which an author reveals that personality.

• A storyteller generally develops a character through indirect methods of characterization (the author allows reader to draw his or her own conclusions). Storyteller/Author does this by:

• showing a character acting or speaking• giving a physical description of the character• revealing the character’s thoughts• revealing what others think of or say about the

character

• When the author directly feeds the reader information about the character’s physical attributes, personality, or behavior that he or she wants the reader to know, the author is using a direct method of characterization.

• Static characters remain the same throughout the entire story.

• Dynamic characters change in some important way during the course of the story

• A round character is developed, meaning the audience gets to know the character.

• A flat character is undeveloped, meaning the audience does not get to know the character.

Protagonist vs. Antagonist

•The protagonist is the main character in a work. A protagonist can sometimes include characters who might be villainous or weak.

•The protagonist is a character whom we are still interested in or concerned about regardless of their flaws in character.

• The antagonist is the character or force which opposes or causes conflict for the main character.

•If the protagonist is pitted against an important opponent, that opponent is called the antagonist.

Point of View

•Point of view is the angle or position from which the story is told.

•There are two basic points of view for storytelling:

• the first-person point of view, and

• the third-person point of view.

First-person

•Through the first-person point of view, the story is told by one of the characters in his or her own words, using pronouns (words like “I” and “you”).

•First-person point of view is always considered to be a limited point of view since the reader is told only what one specific character knows and observes.

Third-person

•Third-person view presents the story from someone outside of the story itself by using “he” or “she.” The third-person narrator may be an omniscient view or a limited omniscient view.

•Omniscient is an all-knowing observer who can describe all the characters’ actions, thoughts, and feelings.

•Limited omniscient is a storyteller who shares the thoughts and feelings of only one particular character or a select group of characters (clearly lacking or failing to share information about other characters).

Theme

•Theme is the main idea or the basic meaning of a literary work.

•Theme is a universal statement about life and the human condition that we accept to be true.

•Theme is not the moral or lesson, and is not directly stated in the story.

•Themes stand the test of time, and is repeated in books, movies, etc.

Expectations of Theme

•A theme should not be expressed as a single word; it should be expressed as a thematic phrase or sentence.

•For example: • all children will experience a loss of

innocence• death will come to us all• greed often guides human desires• evil exists in the word without explanation • the bond of the family is a strong one • all people have prejudices

Suspense

•Suspense is the quality of a literary work that makes the audience or reader feel tense about the outcome of events.

•Suspense makes the audience/reader wonder, “What will happen next?”…and it compels them reader to read on.

•Suspense is greatest when it is focused on a sympathetic character that the reader cares about.

I don’t always leave people in suspense,

But when I do

Flashback

•Flashback is a method of returning to an earlier time in the story for the purpose of making something in the present more clear.

•Flashback is a literary device by which an author presents material that occurred prior to the opening scene of the work.

•Various methods are used for this including:• recollections of characters, • direct narration by the characters, • dream sequences, and • daydreams

Figurative Language

•Figurative language is any language (whether in poetry, literature, creative writing, etc.) used to create a special effect or feeling in writing. In writing, there are many types of figurative language.

•Figurative language is meant to be taken figuratively (figured out) not literally.

Dialogue

•Dialogue is the conversation carried on by the characters in a literary work. It is usually set off by quotations marks.

Types of Figurative Language

•A simile is a comparison of two unlike things using the comparison words of “like” or “as” to build a clearer understanding/ meaning. IE: “My love is like a burning inferno.”

•A metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things without the use of like or as. IE: “Variety is the spice of life!”

•Personification is when the author speaks of or describes an animal, object, or idea as if it were a person. IE: “The moon smiled down at me.”

•An oxymoron is the combination of contradictory terms put into a single term. IE: The term “jumbo shrimp”

Irony

• Irony is a contrast or discrepancy between what is stated and what is really meant (reality and appearance), or between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen. There are three kinds of irony:

(1) verbal irony (2) dramatic irony (3) situational irony

• Verbal Irony is when a writer/speaker says one thing and means something entirely different. IE: After walking out into the rainstorm a girl says, “Well, isn’t this a beautiful day.”

• Dramatic Irony is when a reader/audience perceives something that a character in the story or play does not know. The character is unaware of something that the reader knows. IE: The audience knows that the Queen poisoned the apple, but Snow White eats it without knowing it is poisoned.

• Situational Irony is when a writer shows a discrepancy or difference between the expected result and the actual result of a particular action. IE: A butcher retires, only to have a heart attack. He has a lifesaving open-heart surgery procedure where cow arteries are used in place of his own. He lives for many years.

Poetic Justice

•Poetic justice is irony that describes a character “getting what he or she deserved” in the end.

•Poetic justice rewards virtue and punishes vice.

•IE: Dahmer, a murderer, was ironically and violently killed in jail by other murderers.

Symbolism

•A symbol is an object, person, situation, or action in a literary work which both maintains its own meaning and represents something broader than itself.

•When a symbol is used in writing, its “double nature” can make it very complex and sometimes difficult to recognize.

• There are many symbols that are used over and over again. • A rose can symbolize love• The seasons can symbolize human “seasons” of

birth (such as youth, maturity, and old age) • A dove symbolizes peace• A flag can symbolize patriotism

Diction

•Diction is the word choice that the author chooses to use in his/her writing.

•The role of diction in literature is to convey a certain mood, tone, and atmosphere through the author's choice of words.

•Selections of descriptive terms can significantly alter the readers' attitudes towards the subject matter in literature.

•This use of vocabulary can also convey a great deal about the writer's overall feelings towards his finished work.

Diction

Old Major’s Speech in Animal Farm

"Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty. No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth.

Syntax

•In literature, syntax refers to the way in which words and sentences are placed together in the writing.

•Syntax is the arrangement of words to form phrases, clauses and sentences; sentence construction.

•In the English language, the syntax should follow a pattern of subject-verb-object agreement. Occasionally authors will play around with this to achieve a lyrical, rhythmic, rhetoric, or questioning effect.

Syntax

EX. Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.… It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.