Literary Elements Mr. Witts Haycock Elementary

Literary Elements Setting Characters Plot Conflict Point of View Theme Style

Setting (Coombs) Setting helps the reader develop a sense of time and place Provides the backdrop for your story Can affect the mood of the story Sometimes shows a particular characteristic of a character

Characters (Combs) Authors reveal their characters through description and dialogue Through the interactions of the characters authors create plot There are different types of characters “Round” characters are well known by the reader “Flat” characters we know little about

Plot Gives structure to the story Organizes events in the story chronologically The interactions (actions and reactions) of characters provide conflict, tensions which lead to resolution

Helps us think about important aspects of life: loyalty, friendship, courage, cleverness … Explicit – easy to see and know the theme Implicit – not easy to see, the reader must infer Theme / Moral

Conflict (Kemper, et.al.) Conflict is the “problem” in a story Person vs. Person Person vs. Society Person vs. Himself Person vs. Nature Person vs. Fate

Point of View (Kemper, et. al.) Narrator … Who is telling the story? When the narrator tells the story about himself or herself, this is called first- person point of view. When the narrator tells the story about others, this is called third-person point of view.

Style The way authors put words, phrases and sentences together Sentence structure Sentence patterns Imagery Figurative language