Elements of Fiction: Plot and Setting

1. Elements of Fiction: Plot and Setting

2. PLOT • The series of events in the narrative. Plot consists of exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, and resoution/denoument

3. Exposition- • Introduces setting, character, and conflict

4. Conflict- • External • Man vs. man • Man vs. society • Man vs. nature • Man vs. machine • Internal • Man vs. self

5. Complication- character takes some action to resolve conflict but meets with more problems or complications

6. Climax—key scene in the story when our emotional involvement is greatest. We learn what the outcome of the conflict is going to be

7. Resolution/denouement- all the struggles are over and we know what is going to happen to the characters

8. SETTING • Setting • Where and when the action takes place • May include the locale, the time, the weather, the time period, customs of the time. • Purpose:-- • to provide background for action • to establish mood or atmosphere • to establish tone, or attitude, toward a subject • How created? • Diction • Imagery

9. Time-Plots are framed by time; may cover 5 years or 5 minutes • Chronological order • Flashback • Flash-forward • Foreshadowing (brings future into the present by giving hints or clues that suggest what is to come in the story). Increases suspense.

10. Elements of Fiction: Characterization

11. Direct characterization—The author directly tells what the character is like or why he does something

12. Indirect characterization (often inference must be used) • Using a character’s speech to develop the character • First-person narration: characters tell their own story. They present facts but also tell what they think and feel. As they talk, they reveal personality traits. • Dialogue—is like listening in on a conversation. We can tell what they are like not only by what they say about themselves, but by how they respond to each other. • Dramatic monologue: a type of poem, a speaker addresses one or more silent listeners, often discussing a specific problem or situation. S the words come tumbling out, the speaker tells us a great deal about his or her life and values. We also learn about the speaker’s relationship with the listener. • Soliloquy-used in a play- delivered by a character alone onstage, addressing himself, revealing a character’s thought and feelings.

13. Appearance- • Clothes • Description • Private thoughts- • How other characters in the story feel about them • Maybe his customers love him but his family does not • Actions

14. HOMEWORK • Read “Thank You, Ma’am,” by Langston Hughes on page 87 of your textbook.

15. Point of View • Point of View is the perspective from which the story is told • Points of view refers to the narrator of the story • First person point of view-the narrator is a character in the story; pronoun I is used. • Third person limited-the narrator is outside the story and knows and gives information about the thoughts of only one character. • Third person omniscient-the narrator is all-knowing; he knows and gives information about the thoughts of many characters • Third person objective-the narrator merely observes the characters and scenes; he sees what happens, but he is not inside anyone’s head