ELEMENTS OF SHORT STORY

As mentioned earlier, literature can be classified as escape and interpretative literature. A story
becomes interpretative as it illuminates some aspects of human life or behavior. An
interpretative story presents us with an insight- large or small- into the nature and condition of
our existence. It gives us a keener awareness of what it is to be a human being in a universe that
is sometimes friendly, sometimes hostile. It helps us understand our neighbors and ourselves. A
story has certain elements:

Plot - it is the sequence of incidents or events of which a story is composed. The Life of Cardo
by Amador T. Daguio is in example of a short story with related incidents or events. Plot in a
short story means arrangement of action. The action refers to an imagined event or happening
or to a series of such events.

Character reading for character is more difficult than reading for a ploy, for character in much
more complex, varied, and ambiguous. Most short stories are focused on or evolves in just one
character.

Theme it is the controlling idea or the central insight in a literary work. It is the unifying
generalization about life stated or implied by the story. In many stories, the theme may be the
equivalent to the revelation of human character. In stating the theme in the sentence, we must
pick the central insight, the one that explains the greatest number of elements in the story and
relates them to each other. The theme gives a story its unity. The equivalent of the theme in the
literature and combined arts is the subject in painting, sculpture, and music.

Symbol and Irony literary symbol is something that means more than what it is. It is an object,
a person, a situation, an action or some other item that has a literal meaning in the story but
suggests or represents other meanings as well. Irony is a term with a range of meanings, all of
them involving some sort of discrepancy or incongruity. It is a contrast in which one term of the
contrast in some way mocks the other term.

Language and Style language refers to the idiom used and how it is used. Style, on the other
hand, is a term which may refer to the precise use of language, both literary and figuratively; it
may refer to the total working out of the short story, taking all the other elements (character,
plot, theme , setting) into consideration. ( Edilberto Dagot ; et al., 1974)