With a little help from Alice Walker Analyzing Fiction With a little help from Alice Walker Let’s figure it all out!

Every fictional story has some basic formal elements; Point of view (POV): Setting: Character: Conflict: Style: Theme: $$$ or

“Indian Camp” by Ernest Hemmingway The POV of this story is 3rd person, meaning a narrator tells the story using nouns and pronouns like “Nick,” “he,” “she,” and “they.” The narrator also has access to Nick’s thoughts and feelings, but not those of his father, uncle, or anyone else. This is called “third-person limited.”

“Indian Camp” by Ernest Hemmingway The setting: a Native American reservation in the early morning, during Nick’s childhood, probably the early 1900s. The characters: Nick, Nick’s father the doctor, and Nick’s uncle George, the pregnant woman, her husband, her child, and several unnamed “Indians.”

“Indian Camp” by Ernest Hemmingway The conflict could be described in several ways: expectations vs reality, the dangers children face in an adult world, or the uncaring attitude of the dominant culture towards an oppressed people group. Any of these ideas present an obstacle that a character must try to overcome.

“Indian Camp” by Ernest Hemmingway Most of the story is written using short, simple, descriptive sentences. This could represent how Nick, a child, is experiencing the events. This matter-of-fact style is also used to describe more dramatic things, like the suicide of the baby’s father. This could reflect Nick’s father’s attitude toward the Native Americans he was working with.

“Indian Camp” by Ernest Hemmingway The theme is often related to the conflict, so we could stick with something like: innocence vs. knowledge, dominant vs. subordinate people groups, or the perils of fatherhood.

With a little help from Alice Walker Analyzing Fiction With a little help from Alice Walker Using these elements along with evidence (quotes) is how you’ll start analyzing any fiction we read in this class.