1. Short Story Unit

2. Fiction – not true; based on imaginary people, places, and events
Short Story - Brief work of fiction
Fiction – not true; based on imaginary people, places, and events

3. 8 Elements of the Short Story
Plot
Character
Setting
Point of View
Theme
Tone
Symbol
Irony

4. Plot Sequence of events Exposition – introduction, beginning
Rising action – events between introduction and climax
Climax – highest point in a selection
Falling action – events between climax and resolution
Resolution – outcome or conclusion (denouement)

5. Climax
Rising Action
Falling Action
Plot Diagram
Resolution
Exposition

6. Plot Conflict – opposition between forces
External conflict
Man vs. Man
Man vs. Society
Internal conflict
Man vs. Himself
Suspense – uncertainty or anxiety about what’ll happen next
Flashback – interrupts action to tell what happened earlier
Foreshadowing – hints at what’ll occur later in the selection
Dialect – regional variety of language
Dialogue - conversation

7. Character Person or animal in a literary work
Characterization – reveals character’s personality and physical traits
Direct Characterization – author directly states a character’s traits
Indirect Characterization – author provides clues about a character but the reader has to draw conclusions
Motivation – reason that explains why a character thinks, feels, acts, or behaves in a certain way

8. Setting When and where the story takes place
Atmosphere / Mood = reader’s feelings

9. Point of View Angle or perspective from which the story is told
1st person point of view – character in the story tells the story (I – Me)
3rd person point of view – a voice outside the story narrates (He – she – it – they)
3rd person limited – reveals thoughts and feelings of one character
3rd person omniscient – all-seeing, all-knowing
Narrator – speaker or character who tells a story

10. Theme Central message or main idea
Moral – lesson taught by a literary work, especially a fable

11. Tone
Author’s attitude

12. Symbol
Something that stands for or represents something else; has a larger meaning

13. Irony
Difference between appearance and reality; something unexpected happens
Types of Irony:
Verbal Irony – words are used to suggest the opposite of what is meant
Situational Irony – situations turn out opposite from expected
Dramatic Irony – reader knows something that the characters on stage do not know

14. Short Story Quiz

15. North Carolina Prentice Hall Literature: Penguin Edition
North Carolina Prentice Hall Literature: Penguin Edition. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007.