Reading the Story Notes Review

Fiction  Primary aim of fiction has always been simple enjoyment  Fiction whose only purpose is to entertain requires no intensive study  Fiction that challenges our thinking is valuable

Types of Fiction  Commercial fiction  Intended solely for entertainment  Requires no serious or intensive study  Published to make money, to help people escape, to take one away from the world

Types of Fiction  Literary fiction  Written by one who hopes to broaden, deepen, sharpen, the reader’s awareness of life  Enables us to understand life’s difficulties and to empathize with others  Offers authentic insight into some important aspect of life

Types of Fiction  The two categories are not clean cut  Not every story can be placed into one of the two categories Commercial Literary  Terms commercial and literary should apply to novels, not authors

Types of Fiction  The absence or presence of a moral does not determine what category a story falls into  Commercial writers are like inventors  Literary writers are like explorers  Approaches to each type of fiction differs in expectations

Plot and Structure Notes Review

Plot  The sequence of incidents or events through which an author constructs a story  Events and information are presented in a significant order  Focuses primarily on major events  It is the way the author arranges the action toward a specific end

Plot  In commercial fiction  Plot may include surprising twist with a climatic ending  Conventional structure is usually used  In literary fiction  A complex structure is required to create complex meaning

Plot  Both commercial and literary fiction must have a conflict  A clash of action, ideas, desires, or wills  Person against person  Person against environment  Person against self

Plot  Central character in conflict (sympathetic or unsympathetic)- protagonist  Sometimes there may be one than more protagonist  Any force arranged against the protagonist (person, things, conventions of society, or the protagonist’s own character trait) – antagonist  Conflict may be easy to identify in some stories; in other stories it may be multiple, various, and subtle

Plot  Conflict in CF is more simplistic – “good guy” vs. “bad guy”  Conflict in LF is more complex – there may be difficulty in determining what is good and bad

Plot  Suspense is the quality in a story that makes the readers ask “What’s going to happen next?”  Suspense increases when a reader’s curiosity is combined with anxiety about the fate of a likable, sympathetic character  In LF the suspense deals with the “why” not the “what”

Plot  Two devices writers use to create suspense: mystery and dilemma  Suspense is the most important factor in CF, not as important in LF  Closely connected to suspense is surprise.  Surprise ending – one that features a sudden, unexpected turn or twist; often used in CF

Plot  CF will more than likely have a happy ending  LF will most likely have an unhappy ending  Reasons for the unhappy ending  Must reflect real life  Forces us to consider the complexities of life

Plot  Readers of LF evaluate endings by  whether or not it is logical within the story  whether it is fully believable  Some stories will have indeterminate ending – no definite conclusion is reached (no resolved conflict)

Plot and Structure  Artistic unity is essential to a good plot  Nothing can be irrelevant  Everything is to help advance the central meaning of the text  Plot manipulation – when an author includes a turn in the plot that is unjustified by the situation or the characters

Plot  Deus ex machina – when the plot relies to heavily on chance or coincidence to provide a resolution to the story  Resolution should grow organically out of the plot  In a story, the sequence must be plausible in order to convince and hold the reader

Plot  It is important to understand the function of the plot in connection to the larger meaning of the text  Evaluate a story’s quality by looking at they way incidents and scenes are connected as a way of testing a story’s plausibility and unity

Quiz  Give two examples of conflict in found in “Hunters in the Snow.”  Identify the type of ending “Hunters in the Snow” has. Provide evidence for your choice.  What use does the story, “Hunters in the Snow,” make of surprise? Are the surprises achieved fairly? Do they serve a specific purpose?

Discussion  Initial reactions  Importance of setting  Importance of names- Frank, Tub, Kenny  Allusion to the north star – How can people “take a wrong turn” in life and end up like Kenny, Frank, or Tub.

Close Reading  Choose a name  Re-read the text focusing on the character  Create a t-chart – left side specific details of characterization with page numbers; right side what these details reveal about the character  Ex. Unrepaired window and heater in Kenny’s car

Homework  Complete the close reading activity  College Essay Draft