Plot is the action or sequence of events in a literary work. It is a

series of related events that build upon one another.

Plots may be simple or complex, loosely constructed or close-

knit.

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) exposition

2) rising action

3) climax

4) falling action

5) resolution

Exposition

Climax

Resolution

(Denouement)

Often before the plot begins, a section of exposition is provided,

which is the introduction that presents the background

information to help readers understand the situation of the story.

This is the series of struggles (conflicts and complications) that

builds a story toward its climax. The conflicts and complications

within a story are what creates the rising action. (See conflict).

A conflict is the struggle between two opposing forces or

characters in a story that triggers action. Conflict can be

internal or external.

Internal Conflict = Man vs. Self

This is the conflict that takes place within

an individual (an inner battle of conscience)

External Conflict: This is an individual’s struggle against

something outside of themselves. There are

five basic types of external conflict…

1) man vs. man (or group of people)

2) man vs. society

3) man vs. nature/animal

4) man vs. supernatural

5) man vs. fate or destiny

Conflicts are also known as complications.

When you read, keep in mind that there may

be a single conflict that is uncomplicated or

easy to recognize in the story or there may be

several, more subtle conflicts involved.

This is the point of greatest intensity, interest, or suspense in a

narrative which will somehow determine the outcome of the

story. In drama, the climax is also identified with the terms

crisis and/or turning point.

It’s the point of the story that “changes everything.”

This is the part of the story that shows the “working out” of the

action that occurred during the story’s climax. (Certain issues/

happenings must be resolved (worked out) to reach a resolution).

The resolution is also called the denouement. This is the portion

of the story where the problem is somehow resolved. It follows

after the climax and falling action and is intended to bring the

story to a satisfactory end/close.

This is the time and place of the action of a story.

Setting can be of great importance in establishing not only the

physical background, but also 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, homes, stores, etc.) or any other

thing that helps set the background.

This 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…

1) by showing a character acting or speaking

2) by giving a physical description of the character

3) by revealing the character’s thoughts

4) by revealing what others think of or say about the character

Less often, a storyteller will develop a character through a direct

method of characterization (where the author directly feeds the

reader the information that (s)he wants reader to know). This is

done by…

…. making direct comments about the physical attributes,

personality, or behavior of the character

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Characters in a story can be one of two types. They can be…

1) STATIC: they remain the same throughout the entire story

or…

2) DYNAMIC: they change in some important way during the

course of the story

Also…

ROUNDED = a developed character (we get to know them)

FLAT = an undeveloped character (we never get to know them)

Stories often include a protagonist and an antagonist.

PROTAGONIST: This is the chief character in a work on

whom our interest centers. This term is

preferable over the terms hero or heroine

because a protagonist can sometimes include

characters who might be, for example,

villainous or weak (but characters whom we

are still interested in or concerned about

regardless of their flaws in character).

ANTAGONIST: This is the character or force which opposes

(literally “wrestles”) the main character;

therefore, if the protagonist is pitted against

an important opponent, that opponent is

called the antagonist.

This 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 this view, the story is told by one of

the characters in his or her own words by

using “I.”

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: Through this view, the story is told by

someone outside of the story itself by using “he” or “she.” The

third-person narrator may be working from an omniscient view

or a limited omniscient view.

OMNISCIENT

This narrator is an all-knowing observer who can describe all the

characters’ actions, thoughts, and feelings.

LIMITED OMNISCIENT

This 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).

This is the main idea or the basic meaning of a literary work. It is

a statement about life…specifically “the human condition”.

Themes are UNIVERSAL truths about life.

Because they are universal, they stand the test of time, and themes

are repeated over-and-over in books, movies, songs, etc. (and

then they become what’s called a motif).

Theme is rarely a moral/lesson (it is usually just

a statement about life that we know/accept to be

true).

Theme can be expressed directly, but more often, theme is implicit

(this is…it is implied and must be dug out and thought about).

A theme should not be expressed as a single word; rather, it

should be expressed as a thematic phrase or sentence.

In other words, never say the theme of a story is LOVE! Be sure

your thematic phrase or sentence answers…WHAT ABOUT

LOVE?

Remember, themes are commentaries on life (the “human

condition”) that we all know and accept as truth to some degree

(“universal truths”) .

Some 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…etc.

Mood is the feeling a text arouses and creates in the

reader/ audience (such as happiness, anger, sadness, depression,

joy, etc.). It is the attitude of the audience/reader toward the

subject matter he or she is reading.

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.

So…

mood is the attitude of the audience/reader toward the particular

subject matter he or she is reading AND tone is the author’s

apparent attitude toward his own subject matter and/or the audience

Suspense is the quality of a literary work that makes the

audience/reader feel tense about the outcome of events.

Suspense makes the audience/reader wonder, “What will

happen next?”…and it impels them to read on.

Suspense is greatest when it is focused on a sympathetic

character that the reader cares about.

Foreshadowing is the method of building suspense where the

storyteller plants clues and hints at what is to come later in the

story.

Foreshadowing helps to establish interest early in a narrative and

also prepares the reader for the outcome.

Flashback is a device by which a work presents material that

occurred prior to the opening scene of the work.

Flashback is a method of returning to an earlier time in the story

for the purpose of making something in the present more clear.

Various methods are used for this including…recollections of

characters, direct narration by the characters, dream sequences,

daydreams, etc.

An allusion is an indirect reference to a familiar person, place, or

event (particularly from literature, history, the Bible, or a famous

movie, etc.) that the writer expects the reader to recognize.

When used effectively, it helps the reader call up certain

associations that clarify or enrich the writer’s meaning.

Examples:

Don’t be such a Scrooge!

Looking at his schedule, he realized he had English with Hitler.

The new boss was our savior.

Our relationship is clearly like the Titanic.

An allegory is a story in which people, things, and actions

represent an idea or generalization about life.

An allegory often has a strong moral lesson. (OGT!!!)

Examples

The story of the tortoise and the hare

=

slow and steady wins the race

The story of David and Goliath

=

size/power does not always win

This is simply the conversation carried on by the characters in a

literary work. It is usually set off by quotations marks.

Empathy is putting yourself in someone else’s place and

imagining and/or understanding how that person must feel.

It is the act of identifying ourselves with an object or person and

participating in its physical and emotional sensations.

Sympathy is the act of feeling compassion for someone or

something. It is “feeling sorry for” or “feeling bad about”

someone or something.

Unlike empathy, it does not involve the individual relating to or

understanding the experience.

An epiphany is a sudden perception (a moment of clear

understanding) that causes a character to somehow change.

It is the a sudden grasp of reality achieved in a quick flash of

recognition in which something (usually simple and

commonplace) is seen in a new light.

At an early point in your

young lives, you probably

came to really realize that…

life is not always fair!

One specific moment may have made you realize that fact…

and that’s an epiphany!

This is any language (whether in poetry, literature, creative

writing, etc.) that is 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.

Here are just some examples of figurative language…

A) SIMILE:

a comparison of two unlike things using the comparison

words of “like” or “as” to build a clearer understanding/

meaning

(Ex. “My love is like a burning inferno.”)

B) METAPHOR:

a comparison of two unlike things without the use of a

comparison words to build a clearer understanding/meaning

(Ex. “Variety is the spice of life!”)

C) PERSONIFICATION:

when the author speaks of or describes an animal, object, or

idea as if it were a person

(Ex. “The moon smiled down at me.”)

D) OXYMORON:

the combination of contradictory terms put into a single term

(Ex. the term “jumbo shrimp”)

Imagery is the use of words to create a certain picture in the

reader’s mind (usually based on sensory detail). If imagery is

effective, the reader can actually experience the sensation through

his or her imagination.

There is imagery of… sight taste

sound touch

smell

Look at the imagery in this student written line from a short story.

The summer heat weighed heavily upon me as I tossed and turned

in the sheets that clung to me,

while I angrily pondered how I would never be able to fall asleep

due to the incessant trill of the crickets in the night.

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:

A writer/speaker says one thing and means something

entirely different. (Ex. After walking out into the rainstorm

without her umbrella, the girl says, “Well isn’t this just a

beautiful day!?”)

Dramatic Irony:

A reader or an audience perceives something that a

character in the story or play does not know. The character

is completely unaware of something that the reader is aware

of. The audience is aware of the character’s mistakes. (Ex:

As an audience, we all know that Snow White should not let

any strangers in at all let alone accepting and eating an

apple from one!)

This is a term usually linked to irony that describes a character

ironically “getting what he or she deserved” in the end. (It is the odd

occurrence that rewards virtue and punishes vice).

How ironic that Dahmer, a murderer, was violently killed in jail by

other murderers. Poetic justice? Most would say “yes!”

Irony of Situation:

A writer shows a discrepancy (great difference) between

the expected result of a particular action and the actual

result. (Ex: A man who worked as a butcher all his life

retires only to have a heart attack. His life is saved

because he has an open-heart surgery procedure where

cow arteries are used in place of his own. He lived for

many years after that. How ironic!)

A symbol is something (such as an object, person,

situation, or action), in a literary work which maintains its

own meaning while at the same time representing

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.

the rose = love

seasons = human “seasons” of birth (such as

youth, maturity, and old age)

spring = rebirth

dove = peace

flag = patriotism

NOTE: These terms will either appear as a part of your first short story exam OR they will be tested on a separate mini-exam, so be prepared.