1. What parts make up a story?
Literary Elements
What parts make up a story?

2. Story Grammar Setting Characters Plot Climax Theme Resolution
Denouement

3. Setting Time and place are where the action occurs
Details that describe:
Furniture
Scenery
Customs/culture
Tradition
Religion
Transportation
Dialects
Weather
Time of day and year

4. Elements of a Setting

5. The Functions of a Setting
We left the home place behind, mile by slow mile, heading for the mountains, across the prairie where the wind blew forever.
At first there were four of us with one horse wagon and its skimpy load. Pa and I walked, because I was a big boy of eleven. My two little sisters romped and trotted until they got tired and had to be boosted up to the wagon bed.
That was no covered Conestoga, like Pa’s folks came West in, but just an old farm wagon, drawn by one weary horse, creaking and rumbling westward to the mountains, toward the little woods town where Pa thought he had an old uncle who owned a little two-bit sawmill.
To create a mood or atmosphere
To create suspense
To foreshadow
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

6. Characters Protagonist: main character
Antagonist: a villain, anything that stands in opposition to the protagonist
Round character: multidimensional, revealing complexity of human nature
Flat character: a stereotype, one kind of personality trait
Dynamic character: one who changes over time
Static character: one who does not change over time.

7. When you hear the terms “round character” vs
When you hear the terms “round character” vs. “flat character,” what do you think of?

8. Here are definitions of round vs.flat characters:
Round Character
Flat Character
Who has been fully developed by the author
A character we know a lot about
A three-dimensional character
A realistic character
A complex character who has strengths and weaknesses
Who has not been fully developed
A character we know a little about
A one/two dimensional character
A simple character
A character who is too obviously all good or all bad

9. Which characters here are round or flat? Why do you think so?

10. Sergeant Morris was the cruelest drillmaster in the regiment.
Methods of Characterization: Writers use several methods to reveal characters
Direct method
1. Stating directly what the character is like
Sergeant Morris was the cruelest drillmaster in the regiment.
What kind of character is Sergeant Morris?
How do you know it?

11. Indirect Methods Jack is __________ because …
2. Describing the appearance of the character:
Jack’s coat was gathered about his thin body and fastened with a safety pin.
Jack is __________ because …

12. Indirect Method 3. Showing the character in action:
=>Jason glanced around, then tossed his gum wrapper on the grass and kept walking.
=> Jason is ____________ because …

13. Indirect Method 4. Allowing the reader to hear the character speak:
“I don’t have to do what you say,” declared Andrew, glaring at the new babysitter.
Andrew is _____________ because …

14. Indirect Method Lauren is _________ because…
5. Revealing character’s thoughts and feelings:
Lauren didn’t like the looks of the squash pudding but decided to eat some to please the cook.
Lauren is _________ because…

15. 6. Showing how others react to the character or what the others say about the character:
“Team up with Lilah?” said Anthony. “Well, OK, if you can’t get anyone else. But when she was my partner last time, I did all the work while she socialized.”
Anthony says Lilah is _________ because …

16. 7. Choices/Decisions reveal the character’s value and what s/he thinks of self and the world around him/her
If Delia decides to help volunteer at the shelter, she values … because…
=> If Greg decides to cheat on his girlfriend, he does not value … because…

17. 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.

18. Parts of a Plot
Exposition – event that gives rise to conflict (Inciting incident)
Rising Action- events that occur as result of central conflict (Development)
Climax- highest point of interest or suspense of story
Resolution- when conflict ends
Denouement- when characters go back to their life before the conflict

19. Diagram of Plot Climax Resolution Development/ Rising Action
Exposition
Denouement
Inciting incident/ Opening situation

20. Special Techniques of Plot
Suspense- tension that creates discomfort about the unknown
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

21. 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

22. Point of View
First person point of view: the narrator tells his/her own story
Third person objective POV: The narrator does not get involved in the story and tells only what he/she observes
Third person limited POV: The narrator focuses on the thoughts and feelings of only one character.
Third person omniscient POV: all-knowing narrator. S/he knows each character’s thoughts and feelings.

23. Theme
A central message or insight into life expressed through a literary work
Expressed in a statement about human beings or about life
May be stated directly or implied
Interpretation uncovers the theme
a. character traits or motivation
b. conflict
c. resolution of the conflict

24. Example of Theme
“Every man needs to feel allegiance to his native country, whether he always appreciates that country or not.”
From “A Man Without a Country” by Edward Hale pg. 185 in Prentice Hall Literature book