Plot Map “All Summer in a Day” Tip: Plot is driven by the conflict!

Freytag’s Piramid All story lines (plots) generally follow the same steps and these steps are driven by the main conflict in a story.

Exposition Background information: Who? What? When? Where? Characters: Protagonist(s) and Antagonist(s) Setting: When and where Conflict: What problem is the character facing?

Exposition in “All Summer”

Exposition in “All Summer” Characters: Margot, William, Teacher, Children Setting: Venus where sun comes out every 7 years Conflict: The other students view Margot as “different” and they are jealous that she came to Venus only 4 years ago and thus has recollection of the sun. Margot misses the sun and is devastated by the loss of it.

Rising Action What events occur that make the conflict WORSE and increase the SUSPENSE?

Rising Action in “All Summer”

Rising Action in “All Summer” Event 1: William bullies Margot for her poem about the sun. Event 2: William pushes Margot and she turns to face him for the first time. He sees the hope and longing in her eyes. Event 3: William gets the other kids to agree that “nothing” is going to happen that day and that the sun coming out was all a joke.

Climax Where does the conflict come to its peak? This is the MOST suspenseful moment of the story. Everything after this is a “winding down” and a step/attempt to “solve” the conflict.

Climax in “All Summer”

Climax in “All Summer” Following William’s lead, the children all lock Margot in the closet.

Falling Action After the turning point, these events lead to the resolution. The suspense winds down and the characters make an effort to deal with the consequences that resulted from the climax and solve/come to terms with the repercussions.

Falling Action in “All Summer”

Falling Action in “All Summer” Event 1: Margot is locked in the closet while the other students enjoy the sun and have a real summer day. Event 2: The sun vanishes and the rain starts pouring. Someone realizes that Margot is still locked in the closet and become upset and feel guilty.

Resolution (Denoument) This is the end of the story. At this point the characters have learned something and the conflict is resolved to some degree or characters are left in tragedy and must accept that there is no true resolution (tradegies/horror stories).

Resolution in “All Summer”

Resolution in “All Summer” The students slowly open the door and Margot is now out of the closet, but she never got to see the sun.

Questions???