Introduction to Short Story

Jonathan M. Dillera, MAEd

 Short Story VS Novel
• Short story is a fictional work depicting one character’s
inner conflict or conflict with others, usually having one
thematic focus. Short stories generally produce a single,
focused emotional and intellectual response in the reader.
• Novels, by contrast, usually depict conflicts among many
characters developed through a variety of episodes,
stimulating a complexity of responses in the reader.
 Major Components of Fiction
• Theme is the generalized meaning of a literary work. It
answers the question “what?” What is the idea that is
being projected in the story? What is the meaning
conveyed in the text? What is the point in the story?
• Form is the design of a thing as a whole, the configuration
of all its parts. It answers the question “how?” How well it
is written? How well it is made? How well it is done?
Expressive Elements of Fiction
 Character

A person who is responsible for the thoughts and

actions within a story, poem, or other literature Characters
are extremely important because they are the medium
through which a reader interacts with a piece of literature.
 Kinds of Character
• Protagonist
• Antagonist
• Antihero
• Flat character
• Type character
• Dynamic character
• Round character
 Setting
The background against which action takes place. The elements
making up a setting are:

• the geographical location, its topography, scenery , and such physical

arrangements as the location of the windows and doors in a room;
• the occupations and daily manner of living of the characters;
• the time or period in which the action takes place, for example, epoch
in history or season of the year;
• the general environment of the characters, for example, religious,
mental, moral, social, and emotional conditions.
 Point of View

The vantage point from within an author presents a

story. It is the position or the standpoint from which
something is observed or considered.
 Kinds of Point of View
• First-person narrator stands out as a character and refers to
himself or herself using “I”
• Second-person narrator addresses the reader and/or the
main character as “you”
• Third-person narrator is not a character in the story and
refers to the story’s characters as “he”, “she”, and “it”
 Kinds of Third-Person POV
• The Limited Narrator can only tell what one person is
thinking or feeling.
• The Omniscient Narrator is not a character in the story and
can tell what any or all characters are thinking and feeling.
• If the author never speaks in his or her own person and
does not obviously intrude, the author is said to be
objective.
• If the author butts in or throws his weight around or makes
comments or tells his characters what to do in the story and
obviously intrudes, the author is said to be subjective.
 Plot

The structure of a story or the sequence or the pattern

in which the author arranges events in the story. The plot is
built around a series of events that take place within a
definite period. It is what happens to the characters. No
rules exist for the order in which the events are presented. A
unified plot has a beginning, middle and an end.
 Plot
• Exposition is the introductory material that creates the tone,
gives the setting, introduces the characters and supplies
other facts necessary to understanding a work of literature.
• Rising Action is the second section of the typical plot, in
which the main character begins to struggle with the story’s
main conflict; the rising action contains several events
which usually are arranged in an order of increasing
importance.
 Plot
• Climax is the rhetorical term for a rising order of
importance in the ideas expressed. In short story, the
climax is the point of highest interest, whereat the reader
makes the greatest emotional response. In dramatic
structure climax designates the turning point in the action,
the crisis at which the rising action reverses and becomes
the falling action.
• Falling Action is the part of the plot after the climax,
containing events caused by the climax and contributing to
the resolution.
 Plot

• Denouement or Resolution is the final unraveling of a plot;

the solution of a mystery; an explanation or outcome.
Denouement implies an ingenious untying of the knot of an
intrigue, involving not only a satisfactory outcome of the
main situation but an explanation of all the secrets and
misunderstandings connected with the plot complication.
 Tone

The writer’s attitude toward his readers and his subject;

his mood or moral view. A writer can be formal, informal,
playful, ironic, and especially, optimistic or pessimistic.
 Style

The manner of expression of a particular writer,

produced by the choice of words, grammatical structures,
use of literary devices, and all the possible parts of the
language use. Style is the way a writer uses words to create
literature. It is difficult to enjoy a story’s characters or plot
without enjoying the author’s style. The style of an author is
important as what he is trying to say.
 Irony

A literary term referring to how a person, situation,

statement, or circumstance is not as it would actually seem.
Many times it is the exact opposite of what it appears to be.
 Kinds of Irony

• Verbal irony is when an author says one thing and means

something else
• Dramatic irony is when an audience perceives something
that a character in the literature does not know.
• Irony of situation is a discrepancy between the expected
result and actual results.
 Symbol

A word or an object that stands for another word or

object. The object or word can be seen with the eye or not
visible.
 Foreshadowing

The presentation of material in a work in such a way

that later events are prepared for. The purpose of
foreshadowing is to prepare the reader or viewer for action
to come.
 Flashback

A literary device in which an earlier pr past event is

inserted into the present or the normal chronological order
of a narrative. Various methods may be used to present this
literary device. Among them are recollections of characters,
narration by the characters, dream sequences and reveries.
 Conflict
The struggle that grows out of the interplay of two
opposing forces. Conflict provides interest, suspense, and
tension. At least one of the opposing forces is customarily a
person. This person, usually the protagonist, may be involve
in the conflict of four different kinds:
• A struggle against nature
• A struggle against another person, usually the antagonist
• A struggle against society
• A struggle for mastery by two element within the person
 Theme

The central idea or statement that unifies and controls

the entire work. Id develops from the interplay of character
and plot. The theme can take the form of a brief and
meaningful insight or a comprehensive vision of life. A
theme may contain morals to warn the reader to lead a better
life or a different kind of life. A theme is the author’s way of
communicating and sharing ideas, perceptions, and feelings
with readers, and it may be directly stated in the book, or it
may only be implied.