1. Elements of a Short Story

2. OBJECTIVES Identify elements of a short story Define elements of a short story Demonstrate mastery of short story elements

3. OVERVIEW OVERVIEW Short stories often contain structural and character elements that should be familiar to you. These elements can be used as guides to help you think about the actions, themes, and contexts of the story.

4. Theme Setting Characters Point of view Characterization Plot - exposition statement - rising action - conflict - climax - falling action - resolution

5. THEME The main idea of a literary work, usually expressed as a generalization and in sentence form. Example: “Forgiveness is the key to true happiness.” SETTING The time and place in which the story is set.

6. CHARACTERS The point of writing stories: telling us what human beings are like. Characters allow readers to “see” life from different perspectives and to “meet” new (or familiar) people. “ Characters in the plot connect us with the vastness of our secret life, which is endlessly explorable.” – Eudora Welty

7. Protagonist- The main character in the story, usually the good guy. Antagonist- The character who works against the protagonist in the story.

8. Character Types A Static Character is one who does not change or grow in the story. Scar, from The Lion King, was evil and self-serving in the beginning, and he kept those traits until he died. A Dynamic Character changes as a result of the story’s events. Ebenezer Scrooge, in A Christmas Carol by Dickens, was very stingy with his money. He worked his employees very very hard for little pay. After his experiences with the ghosts that visited him, he changed his ways, paying his employees a more than fair wage, providing days off work and actually giving gifts.

9. CHARACTERIZATION The description of the personalities of the characters in the story and the ways in which authors indirectly reveal their personality traits: -Speech -Thoughts -Effect on other characters -Action -Looks

10. PLOT The sequence or order of events in a story, each event connected to the next like a chain. Each event in a plot “hooks” our curiosity and pulls us forward to the next event. Suspense builds as the series of related events hook our curiosity. The plot includes the following (4) parts:

11. CHRONOLOGICAL PLOT DIAGRAM CHRONOLOGICAL PLOT DIAGRAM R i s i n g A c t i o n F a l l i n g A c t i o n Resolution Climax Exposition Conflict

12. 1. Basic Situation/Exposition - Exposition – This is the part of the plot that tells how the story begins. The characters, conflict, and setting are usually introduced. - Example ~ Cinderella The basic situation shows us Cinderella, a beautiful and good heroine, in a conflict with her evil stepmother and nasty stepsisters.

13. 2. Rising Action/Complication The part of the story in which the main character takes some action to resolve the conflict and meets with problems or complications: danger, fear, hostility, etc. Example ~ Cinderella Cinderella wants to go to the ball. Her stepmother says “No,” but a Fairy Godmother promises to get her to the ball if she obeys one rule: “Be home by midnight.” Cinderella goes to the ball, the Prince falls in love with her, she flees at midnight, and she loses one of her glass slippers.

14. 3. Climax 3. Climax -C-C limax: the KEY scene of the story That tense or exciting moment when we realize what the outcome of the conflict is going to be. -E-Example ~ Cinderella The Prince makes a house-to-house search for the foot that fits the slipper and finds that foot on Cinderella.

15. 4. Falling Action(s) All of the action which follows the climax Example ~ Cinderella: Cinderella and the prince make preparations for their wedding.

16. 5. Resolution/Denouement The final part of the story. (The French word, denouement, means “unraveling the knot”). All the loose ends are tied up. Example ~ Cinderella Cinderella marries the Prince and they live happily ever after. In the original Girmm story, you also learn that ravens peck out the eyes of the evil stepmother.

17. Conflict = Struggle

18. Conflict External Conflict: Conflict between a character and another person OR a character and something non-human. - Man vs. Man - Man vs. Society - Man vs. Nature

19. Conflict Internal Conflict: Conflict takes place inside a character’s mind Man vs. Himself (fears, self-doubts, etc.)

20. CONCLUSION CONCLUSION Now that we have identified and defined the elements of a short story, let us use the elements to analyze a short story. You may use your notes from the PowerPoint presentation.

21. Bibliography Dinneen, K. Elements of the Short Story. Retrieved Jun. 19, 2003, from Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1983/3/83.03.09.x.html Five Elements of a Story. Retrieved Jun. 19, 2003, http://www.teachervision.com/lesson-plans/lesson-2277.html Guevin, D. Short Story Elements. Retrieved Jun. 19, 2003, http://www.uvm.edu/~dguevin/Elements.html Anderson, Robert, Et. al. Elements of Literature. Austin: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1989.