The Literary Elements
Why Interpret?• Never forget that an
author begins with a blank page
• Everything put into the text makes a contribution to the author’s vision/perspective
Setting
• Includes WHERE a story takes place and WHEN a story takes place
• Can affect mood/tone
Plot• Sequence of RELATED
events that happen in the story
• Clearly build toward something ahead
• CONFLICT (a struggle of some kind) is the most important element in the plot
• Series of complications contribute to rising action
Plot (cont.)• Plot Diagram on board/paper
– Exposition
– Rising Action• Character in series of
complications under a larger conflict
– Climax• Point where the character
faces most significant obstacle and responds
– Falling Action
– Denouement/Resolution
(“unknotting”)
Conflict
• Person vs. Nature• Person vs. Person• Person vs. Self• Person vs. Society
Foreshadowing
• Hints in the text that clue us in to a significant plot event to come
– Violent storms indicate violence to come in plot
Flashback
• Interruption that takes us back to a previous event or experience in the plot or character’s life
– Shift from president in oval office to a scene from his high school experience
Characterization• How a writer reveals a character’s
personality• Direct Characterization:
» Author tells us what the character is like (e.g. deceitful, honest, evil, kind)
• Indirect Characterization:» Physical description
» Words & thoughts
» Other characters’ thoughts & comments
» Character’s actions
Characterization• Dynamic vs. Static
– Change or not
• Round vs. Flat– Complex personality
w/different traits, or easily summed up personality?
Characterization• Examine the character’s
“journey”
• Evolve/Devolve?
• Grow or become diminished?
• Better off or worse off beginning to end?
• Much movement but same place?
• What contributed to shaping character?
Symbolism
• When the author uses objects, events, or characters to represent THE BIG PICTURE
• Something in the story stands for something else
- white hat/black hat
• In the Bible, seeds eaten by birds stand for those who hear and don’t believe
Allusion
• Reference to a well-known literary work or character
- Bob and Sarah sure are a couple of star-crossed lovers
- As Tiger Woods strolled through the crowd, it was like he was parting the white sea
Irony• Discrepancy between
expectations & reality– Verbal Irony
– Situational Irony
– Dramatic Irony
Verbal Irony• Speaker says one thing
but means another– “That Michael Jackson
tattoo is really cool. It’s still sort of subtle and understated even though it covers your whole back.”
Situational Irony• What happens is the
opposite of what’s expected– A woman is assaulted
by a man, waits 35 years to get revenge, then falls in love with him the next time they meet
Dramatic Irony• Audience knows what
the characters don’t– Character asks what
punishment for her crime will be, thinking it will be a fine; audience knows the punishment will be death
Point of View• The angle from which the
story is told• 1st person (I, we)
– More intimate w/narrator– Tough to judge narrator?
(Consider naïve & unreliable narrator)
• 3rd person (he, she, they)– limited (1 character’s POV)– or omniscient (all-knowing)
Style• How it is said influences what
it means• Diction (word choice) &
syntax (word arrangement) influence mood/tone
• Does it change the pace?• Does it suggest something
about characters?• How’s it make the reader feel?
Exhausted? Exhilarated?
Theme• The Author’s vision• What’s s/he saying
about human nature, the way the world works, our relations to others?
• It’s just one view & it’s up for interpretation
• Death of the Author
Some Themes…• Justice prevails• Love conquers all• Society will always
overwhelm the individual
• Children often see more clearly than adults
• There’s no place for the artist in the jungle
