Elements of Fiction

1. Elements of Fiction • Setting • Character • Plot • Point of View • Theme • Symbolism • Other

2. the time, place and period in which the action takes place. Setting: The Bean Trees: Arizona/Oklahoma 1980s. Lord of the Flies: deserted island, the future. The Catcher in the Rye:New York, 1940s

3. Setting:can help in the portrayal of character. “…it was so quiet and lonesome out, even though it was Saturday night. I didn’t see hardly anybody on the street. Now and then you just saw a man and a girl crossing the street with their arms around each other’s waists and all, or a bunch of hoodlumy-looking guys and their dates, all of them laughing like hyenas at something you could bet wasn’t funny. New York’s terrible when somebody laughs on the street very late at night. You can hear it for miles. It makes you feel so lonesome and depressed.” The Catcher in the Rye (81)

4. Setting:in some works of fiction action is so closely related to setting that the plot is directed by it. “The new manstands, looking a minute, to get the set-up of the day room. One side of the room younger patients, known as Acutes because the doctors figure them still sick enough to be fixed, practice arm wrestling and card tricks…Across the room from the Acutes are the culls of the Combine’s product, the Chronics. Not in the hospital, these to get fixed, but just to keep them from walking around the street giving the product a bad name. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (19)

5. Setting:can establish the atmosphere of a work. “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country.” “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe

6. Character The people (or animals, things, etc. presented as people) appearing in a literary work. • Types of Characters: • Major: significant to the plot • Minor: part of the story, but not necessarily significant • Round Character: convincing, true to life. • Dynamic Character: undergoes some type of transformation in story. • Flat Character: stereotyped, shallow, often symbolic. • Static Character: does not change in the course of the story.

7. Methods of Characterization • Direct: “he was an old man..” (TheOld Man and the Sea) • Own Words and Actions • Reaction of other Characters • Physical appearance • Own thoughts

8. Plot The series of events and actions that takes place in a story.

9. Elements of Plot • Conflict: the problems that the character/s face in the story. • Man VS Man • Man VS Nature • Man VS Society • Man VS Himself

10. Plot Line Climax: The turning point. The most intense moment (either mentally or in action). Rising Action: the series of conflicts and crisis in the story that lead to the climax. Falling Action: all of the action which follows the Climax. Resolution: The conclusion, the tying together of all of the threads. Exposition: The start of the story. The way things are before the action starts.

11. Point of View First Person: Story is told from point of view of one of the characters who uses the first person pronoun “I.” “I have been afraid of putting air in a tire ever since I saw a tractor tire blow up and throw Newt Hardbine’s father over the top of the Standard Oil sign. I’m not lying. He got stuck up there. About nineteen people congregated during the time it took for Norman Strick to walk up to the Courthouse and blow the whistle for the volunteer fire department.” The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver

12. Point of View Third Person: Story is told about someone or something who is not usually directly involved in the story. “And now for all the people of Africa, the beloved country. Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika, God save Africa. But he would not see that salvation. It lay afar off, because men were afraid of it. Because, to tell the truth, they were afraid of him, and his wife, and Msimangu, and the young demonstrator. And what was there evil in their desires, in their hunger? That man should walk upright in the land where they were born, and be free to use the fruits of the earth, what was there evil in it? . . . They were afraid because they were so few. And such fear could not be cast out, but by love.” Cry, The Beloved Country – Alan Paton

13. Point of View: Who is telling the story? Omniscient Point of View: omniscient literally means “all knowing”. This is the perspective in which the reader gets the thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc. about multiple characters. “In the pearl he saw Coyotito sitting at a little desk in a school, just as Kino had once seen it through an open door. And Coyotito was dressed in a jacket, and he had on a white collar and a broad silken tie. Moreover, Coyotito was writing on a big piece of paper. Kino looked at his neighbors fiercely. “My son will go to school,” he said, and the neighbors were hushed. “ The Pearl – John Steinbeck

14. Point of View Limited Omniscient: This is the point of view in which the reader gets all the information about a portion of the characters. “When they finally saw him, why he hadn't done any of those things . . . Atticus, he was real nice. . . .” His hands were under my chin, pulling up the cover, tucking it around me. “Most people are, Scout, when you finally see them.” He turned out the light and went into Jem's room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.” To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

15. Theme • The theme of a piece of fiction is its central idea. It usually contains some insight into the human condition. • In most short stories, the theme can be expressed in a single sentence. • In longer works of fiction, the central theme is often accompanied by a number of lesser, related themes, or there may be two or more central themes. • Themes should be stated as a generalization.

16. Symbolism A symbol represents an idea, quality, or concept larger than itself. A Journey can symbolize life. Water may represent a new beginning. Black can represent evil or death. A lion could be a symbol of courage.

17. Other Fiction Elements • Allusion: a reference to a person, place or literary, historical, artistic, mythological source or event. • “It was in St. Louis, Missouri, where they have that giant McDonald’s thing towering over the city…”(Bean Trees 15) • Atmosphere: the prevailing emotional and mental climate of a piece of fiction. • Protagonist: The leading character in a literary work. Kino in The Pearl, Stephen Kumalo in Cry, The Beloved Country • Antagonist: The character who opposes the protagonist. • Dialogue: the reproduction of a conversation between characters.

18. Other Elements Continued • Foreshadowing: early clues about what will happen later in a piece of fiction. • Irony: a difference between what is expected and reality. • Style: a writer’s individual and distinct way of writing. The total of the qualities that distinguish one author’s writing from another’s. • Structure: the way time moves through a novel. • Chronological: starts at the beginning and moves through time. • Flashback: starts in the present and then goes back to the past. • Circular or Anticipatory: starts in the present, flashes back to the past, and returns to the present at the conclusion. • Panel: same story told from different viewpoints. (Kino and Juana in The Pearl).