Short Story Elements and

Terms

A short story is … a brief fictional narrative in prose

Very brief story—it’s only a few pages!

The essence of the short story is “ the plot ” …….

Parts of the plot are: ➢ Exposition

➢ Conflict

➢ Rising Action

➢ Climax

➢ Falling Action

➢ Resolution / Denouement

A plot is the sequence of events in a narrative work.

PLOT CHART / DIAGRAM

Exposition Conflict

Rising

Acti

on

Falling Action

Resolution / Denouement

Climax

Definitions for parts of the plot:

➢Resolution / Denouement: the final outcome

➢Exposition: introduction of characters, setting, & situation

➢ Conflict: a struggle between opposing forces

➢Rising action: complications that occur in trying to resolve the conflict

➢Climax: the emotional high point of the story

➢Falling action: the logical consequences of the climax

Conflict can be internal or external.

Internal – a character’s struggle within himself; torn between opposing feelings or different courses of action (psychological)

External – a character’s struggle with an outside force

Types of external conflict:

➢ character vs. another character

➢ character vs. society

➢ character vs. nature

➢ character vs. machine

➢ character vs. supernatural being

social

metaphysical

physical

What Do We Mean by the Theme of a Story?

The theme is the author’s message about his/her perception about life or human nature.

The theme of a literary work can be stated or implied.

Protagonist – the main character

Antagonist – the character/force in conflict with the protagonist.

CharactersCharacters are the actors in a

story’s plot.

Types of Characters

➢Stock or Stereotyped – flat character that is “typical” and often repeated.

➢ Dynamic – changes attitude in the course of the story; gains new understanding or insight

➢Static – remains the same throughout the story

➢Flat – has only one personality trait

➢Round – has varied & different personality traits

Characterization

Direct characterization – when the author tells the reader about the character’s traits directly

Indirect characterization – when the author reveals a character’s personality through the character’s words, thoughts, actions, appearance, and reaction of other characters.

…. is the method the author uses to reveal a character’s personality

Point of View is the voice the author uses to tell his story.

➢Third-person objective (he/she) – narrator is outside the story; reveals only actions & speech; no thoughts or feelings

➢ First-person (I, me, my) – narrator is a character in the story; reader sees everything through the character

➢Third-person limited (he/she) – narrator outside the story; reveals thoughts and feelings of just one character

➢Third-person omniscient (he/she) – narrator outside the story; reveals thoughts and feelings of all characters; “all-knowing”

Foreshadowing

…is the use of clues that give hints so that the reader can predict what will happen.

Irony is the difference between what appears to be real and

what is actually real in a story.

➢ Dramatic Irony – difference between what the reader knows and what the character knows. The reader has more or better information than the character.

➢Verbal Irony – difference between what a speaker says and what he means

➢Situational Irony – difference between what the reader expects to happen and what actually happens

Other definitions ….

➢Tone – the author’s attitude about the subject of the literary work.

➢ Symbolism – when an object, person, place or experience represents something else that is abstract

➢Diction – the author’s choice of words

➢Denotation – a word’s literal or dictionary definition

➢ Connotation – a word’s implied / emotional meaning

Other definitions …

Other examples:- Keep an eye out. - Right on the money

- Flat broke - Dodge a bullet

Idiom – an accepted expression having a meaning different from the literal.

Examples: I was so angry I was beside myself. (“Beside myself” is idiomatic because it is physically impossible to be next to oneself).

Other Definitions …

❖Allusion – a reference to a literary, mythological, or historical person place or thing.

❖Oxymoron – a form of paradox that combines a pair of opposite terms into a single unusual expression; a seeming contradiction.

Examples: a wise fool, definitely maybe, precise estimate, genuine imitation, honest politician

❖Alliteration – occurs when several neighboring words begin with the same consonant sound.

Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers…

Other Definitions …

Inversion is a sentence where the predicate comes before the subject.Example: Long did the hours seem while I waited for her knock at the door.

Natural order of a sentence: the subject comes before the predicate.

Other Definitions …

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Parallel Structure (parallelism) – a grammatical or structural similarity between sentences or parts of a sentence.

Example: The burden must be carried, the want provided for, the suffering endured, the responsibility fulfilled.

Archetype – a character, action, or situation that is a prototype or pattern of human life occurring over and over again in literature.

Example: the damsel in distress, the rags-to-riches plot, the quest.

Other Definitions …

Motif – a pattern of imagery or symbolism in a work of literature.

Epiphany – the sudden understanding in which a character proceeds from ignorance and innocence to knowledge and experience.

Suspense – the quality that makes the reader uncertain or tense about the outcome of events.

Keep these

Short Story Elements

and Terms