EXPRESSIVE ELEMENTS OF FICTION A short story contains many elements which we will be studying in this unit.

Here is a list of the elements that we will be looking at: 1. Character A character is a person who is responsible for the thoughts and actions within a story, poem, or other literature. Characters are extremely important because they are the medium through which a reader interacts with a piece of literature. Every character has his or her own personality, which a creative author uses to assist in forming the plot of a story or creating a mood. The different attitudes, mannerisms, and even appearances of characters can greatly influence the other major elements in a literary work, such as theme, setting, and tone. With this understanding of the character, a reader can become more aware of other aspects of literature, such as symbolism, giving the reader a more complete understanding of the work. The character is one of the most important tools available to the author. KINDS OF CHARACTER 1. A protagonist is considered to be the main character or lead figure in a novel, play, story, or poem. It may also be referred to as the "hero" of a work. 2. An antagonist is a character in a story or poem who deceives, frustrates, or works again the main character, or protagonist, in some way. The antagonist doesnt necessarily have to be a person. It could be death, the devil, an illness, or any challenge that prevents the main character from living "happily ever after." 3. An antihero is a protagonist who has the opposite of most of the traditional attributes of a hero. 4. A flat character is a character who is the same sort of person at the end of a story as s/he was at the beginning. 5. A type character is a stereotyped character: one whose nature is familiar from prototypes in previous fiction. He/She has only one outstanding trait or feature, or at the most a few distinguishing marks. 6. A dynamic character is a character who, during the course of a story, undergoes a permanent change in some aspect of his/her personality or outlook. 7. A round character is a character who is complex, multi-dimensional, and convincing. 2. Setting Setting is the background against which action takes place. The elements making up a setting are: the geographical location, its topography, scenery, and such physical arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room; 1. the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters; 2. the time or period in which the action takes place, for example, epoch in history or season of the year; 3. the general environment of the characters, for example, religious, mental, moral, social, and emotional conditions. 3. Point of view Point of view is the vantage point from which an author presents a story. It is the position or the standpoint from which something is observed or considered. KINDS OF POINTS OF VIEW 1. First-person narrator stands out as a character and refers to himself or herself, using "I." 2. Second-person narrator addresses the reader and/or the Main Character as "you". 3. Third-person narrator is not a character in the story and refers to the story's characters as "he", "she" and "it".

KINDS OF THIRD-PERSON POINTS OF VIEW 1. The Limited Narrator can only tell what one person is thinking or feeling. 2. The Omniscient Narrator is not a character in the story and can tell what any or all characters are thinking and feeling. 3. If the author never speaks in his or her own person and does not obviously intrude, the author is said to be objective. 4. If the author butts in or throws his weight around or makes comments or tells his characters what to do in the story and obviously intrudes, the author is said to be subjective.

4. Plot Plot is the structure of a story or the sequence or the pattern in which the author arranges events in a story. The plot is built around a series of events that take place within a definite period. It is what happens to the characters. No rules exist for the order in which the events are presented. A unified plot has a beginning, middle, and an end. In literary terms, a unified plot includes an exposition, a rising action, a climax, a falling action and a dnouement or resolution or conclusion. 1. Exposition is the introductory material that creates the tone, gives the setting, introduces the characters, and supplies other facts necessary to understanding a work of literature. 2. Rising Action is the second section of the typical Plot, in which the Main Character begins to grapple with the story's main conflict; the rising action contains several events which usually are arranged in an order of increasing importance. 3. Climax is a rhetorical term for a rising order of importance in the ideas expressedIn large compositionsthe essay, the short story, the drama, or the novelthe climax is the point of highest interest, where the reader makes the greatest emotional response. In dramatic structure climax designates the turning point in the action, the crisis at which the rising action reverses and becomes the falling action. 4. Falling Action is the part of the Plot after the Climax, containing events caused by the climax and contributing to the Resolution. 5. Dnouement or Resolution is the final unraveling of a plot; the solution of a mystery; an explanation or outcome. Dnouement implies an ingenious untying of the knot of an intrigue, involving not only a satisfactory outcome of the main situation but an explanation of all the secrets and misunderstandings connected with the plot complication. 5. Tone Tone is the writer's attitude toward his readers and his subject; his mood or moral view. A writer can be formal, informal, playful, ironic, and especially, optimistic or pessimistic. Students and critics who wish to know and discuss tone in their essays should be able to point to specific diction, description, setting, and characterization to illustrate what sets the tone. 6. Style Style is the manner of expression of a particular writer, produced by choice of words, grammatical structures, use of literary devices, and all the possible parts of language use. Style is the way a writer uses words to create literature. It is difficult to enjoy a story's characters or plot without enjoying the author's style. The style of an author is as important as what he is trying to say. 7. Irony An irony is a literary term referring to how a person, situation, statement, or circumstance is not as it would actually seem. Many times it is the exact opposite of what it appears to be. KINDS OF IRONY 1. Verbal irony is when an author says one thing and means something else. 2. Dramatic irony is when an audience perceives something that a character in the literature does not know. 3. Situational irony is a discrepancy between the expected result and actual results. 8. Symbol Symbol comes from the Greek word symbolom. It is a word or an object that stands for another word or object. The object or word can be seen with the eye or not visible. For example: a dove stands for Peace. The dove can be seen and peace cannot. All language is symbolizing one thing or another. However, when we read the book of Genesis, it talked about a few symbols. In the story of Adam and Eve when Eve ate the apple, the apple stood for sin. Another example is Cain and Abel. The two brothers stood for good and evil, humility and pride. Cain pulled Abel to the fields and killed him. In this it is a hidden symbol. It is showing that Cain stands for the bad and Abel stands for the good. 9. Foreshadowing

A foreshadowing is the presentation of material in a work in such a way that later events are prepared for. The purpose of foreshadowing is to prepare the reader or viewer for action to come. 10. Flashback A flashback is a literary device in which an earlier or past event is inserted into the present or the normal chronological order of a narrative. Various methods may be used to present this literary device. Among them are: recollections of characters, narration by the characters, dream sequences, and reveries. 11. Conflict Conflict is the struggle that grows out of the interplay of two opposing forces. Conflict provides interest, suspense, and tension. At least one of the opposing forces is customarily a person. This person, usually the protagonist, may be involved in conflicts of four different kinds: 1. a struggle against nature 2. a struggle against another person, usually the antagonist 3. a struggle against society 4. a struggle for mastery by two elements within the person Seldom do we find a simple, single conflict, but rather a complex one partaking of two or even all of the preceding elements. Conflict implies not only the struggle of a protagonist against someone or something, but also the existence of some motivation for the conflict or some goal to be achieved thereby. Conflict is the raw material out of which plot is constructed. 12. Movement A movement is a quality in a literary work or work of art of representing or suggesting motion. It is the progression of events in the development of a literary plot. 13. Pace Pace is the speed of flow of the story. It is the rate of speed at which an action or movement proceeds. 14. Dialogue A dialogue is the conversation between characters in a drama or narrative. It is the lines or passages in the story which are intended to be spoken. FUNCTIONS OF DIALOGUE 1. It moves the action along in a work and it also helps to characterize the personality of the speakers, which vary depending on their nationalities, jobs, social classes and educations. 2. It also gives literature a more natural, conversational flow, which makes it more readable and enjoyable. 3. By showcasing human interaction, dialogue prevents literature from being nothing more than a list of descriptions and actions. 4. Dialogue varies in structure and tone depending on the people participating in the conversation and the mood that the author is trying to maintain in his or her writing. 15. Theme or Insight Theme or insight is the central idea or statement that unifies and controls the entire work. It develops from the interplay of character and plot. The theme can take the form of a brief and meaningful insight or a comprehensive vision of life. A theme may contain morals to warn the reader to lead a better life or a different kind of life. A theme is the author's way of communicating and sharing ideas, perceptions, and feelings with readers, and it may be directly stated in the book, or it may only be implied.