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What parts make up a a story?
Literary Elements What parts make up a a story?
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Elements of a Literary work
Setting Characters Plot Action Theme Resolution Denouement
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Setting Time and place are where the action occurs
Details that describe: Furniture Scenery Customs Transportation Clothing Dialects Weather Time of day Time of year
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Elements of a Setting
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The Functions of a Setting
. To create a mood or atmosphere To show a reader a different way of life To make action seem more real To be the source of conflict or struggle To symbolize an idea Taken from “The Day the Sun Came Out” by D. Johnson
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Types of Characters People or animals Major characters
Minor characters Round characters Flat characters
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Characterization A writer reveals what a character is like and how the character changes throughout the story. Two primary methods of characterization: Direct- writer tells what the character is like Indirect- writer shows what a character is like by describing what the character looks like, by telling what the character says and does, and by what other characters say about and do in response to the character.
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Elements of Character
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Factors in Analyzing Characters
Physical appearance of character Personality Background/personal history Motivation Relationships Conflict Does character change?
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Plot Plot is what happens and how it happens in a narrative. A narrative is any work that tells a story, such as a short story, a novel, a drama, or a narrative poem.
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Parts of Action in the Conflict of the Plot
Exposition or Inciting incident – events that gives rise to conflict (opening situation)and introduce the situation Rising action or Development- events that occur as result of central conflict Climax- highest point of interest or suspense of story Falling action: when complications start to be solved Resolution- {or the end}when the conflict ends
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Diagram of Plot Climax Falling action Development/ Rising Action
The end Exposition Inciting incident/ Opening situation
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Special Techniques of Plot
Suspense- excitement or tension Foreshadowing- hint or clue about what will happen in story Flashback- interrupts the normal sequence of events to tell about something that happened in the past Surprise Ending- conclusion that reader does not expect
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Conflict Conflict is a struggle between opposing forces
Every plot must contain some kind of conflict Stories can have more than one conflict Conflicts can be external or internal External conflict- outside force may be person, group, animal, nature, or a nonhuman obstacle Internal conflict- takes place in a character’s mind
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Theme A central message, concern, or insight into life expressed through a literary work Can be expressed by one or two sentence statement about human beings or about life May be stated directly or implied Interpretation uncovers the theme
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Example of Theme “This is the function of a storyteller” Spencer Holst
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Can you find these elements in the coming short story?
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Spencer Holst: The Zebra Storyteller
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Once upon a time there was a Siamese cat who pretended to be a lion and spoke inappropriate Zebraic. That language is whinnied by the race of striped horses in Africa. Here now: An innocent zebra is walking in a jungle, and approaching from another direction is the little cat; they meet.
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“Hello there. ” says the Siamese cat in perfectly pronounced Zebraic
“Hello there!” says the Siamese cat in perfectly pronounced Zebraic. “It certainly is a pleasant day, isn’t it? The sun is shining, the birds are singing, isn’t the world a lovely place to live today!” The zebra is so astonished at hearing a Siamese cat speaking like a zebra, why, he’s just fit to be tied.
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The Zebra storyteller:Continued
So the little cat quickly ties him up, kills him, and drags the better parts of the carcass back to his den. The cat successfully hunted zebras many months in this manner, dining on filet mignon of zebra every night, and from the better hides he made bow neckties and wide belts after the fashionof the decadent princes of the Old Siamese court. He began boasting to his friends he was a lion, and he gave them as proof the fact that he hunted zebras.
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The Zebra storyteller:Continued
The delicate noses of the zebras told them there was really no lion in the neighborhood. The zebra deaths caused many to avoid the region. Superstitious, they decided the woods were haunted by the ghost of a lion
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The Zebra storyteller:Continued
One day the storyteller of the zebras was ambling, and through his mind ran plots for stories to amuse the other zebras, when suddenly his eyes brightened, and he said, “That’s it! I’ll tell a story about a Siamese cat who learns to speak our language! What an idea! That’ll make ’em laugh!”
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The Zebra storyteller:Continued
Just then the Siamese cat appeared before him, and said, “Hello there! Pleasant day today, isn’t it!” The zebra storyteller wasn’t fit to be tied at hearing a cat speaking his language, because he’d been thinking about that very thing.
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The Zebra storyteller:Continued
He took a good look at the cat, and he didn’t know why, but there was something about his looks he didn’t like, so he kicked him with a hoof and killed him That is the function of the storyteller
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