Elements

of
Literature
Mr. Ahmed Al Fiqi
 Objectives
• Identify elements of Literature

• Identify Elements of Tragedy

1- Setting
Tells the reader where and when
the story takes place. ENVIRONMENT

TIME

Weather

ATMOSPHERE
Elements of a Setting
Location Life Era

Place Time

Physical Setting History

Atmosphere Day

Mood Feelings

Wo rd
Cho ice
Use as activato r to activate prio r know ledge. Write
Weather the web on the bo ard or overhead and students
create o ne at their seats. Then as class share and fill
in.
2- Characters and
Characterization

The people, and in some stories, the

animals that take part in the story.
The description of the personalities
of the characters in the story and
the way in which an author reveals
their personalities.
Two Identifications of Characters

2. Antagonist – the villain

1. Protagonist in the story who is always
– the hero of the story opposing the protagonist

Ann and George Deever are

Which is in ‘All my the antagonists in All My
sons’ Joe Keller, Sons because their actions
consistently threaten the
situation of the Keller family.
Types of Characters

➢People or
animals
➢Major characters
➢Minor characters
➢Round characters
➢Flat characters
 Methods of Characterization
Creating Believable Characters

• Indirect • Direct
– physical appearance

– the narrator’s
– speech, thoughts,
direct comments
feelings, or actions of
the character about a character

– speech, thoughts,
feelings, or actions of
other characters
Elements of Character
Fully
Relatives Friends
Developed

Main Minor

Not Fully
Protagonist Character Developed

Flat Co-Main Antagonist

Enemy
 3- Plot
◦The chain of related events that take place in a
story.

◦Built around conflict,

which is a struggle between
opposing forces.
 Plot Climax

Exposition
Resolution
 PLOT DIAGRAM
The plot is the sequence or order of Climax
events in a story.
The point of crisis in the
The plot includes:
plot. It may be the reader’s
Exposition Statement
point of highest interest.
The part of the plot that tells how
the story begins.
Falling action
Rising Action
The action in the story leading up to
The action in the story after
the climax. the climax is revealed.
Conflict Resolution
The struggles or problems between The part of the plot that
opposing forces. reveals the final outcome.
Plot
4- Conflict
◦ Character v Character

◦ Character v Nature

◦ Character v
Supernatural

◦ Character v Society

◦ Character v Self
The conflict in the novel helps to drive the plot. It can be internal (within one
character) or external.
INTERNAL CONFLICT
• The character engages in a physical, mental or emotional struggle with
some aspect of himself/herself.
EXTERNAL CONFLICT
• The character struggles with other characters.
• The character struggles with some aspect of nature.
• The character struggles with some aspect of society, for example a local
community or a national government or institution.
5- Themes
◦The main idea of a story.
◦It is not a moral, lesson, or a rule
for living.

Ex.
GUILT
‘In All my sons’
 In brief..
➢Setting
➢Characters
➢Plot
➢Climax
➢Theme
➢Resolution
➢Conclusion
ALL MY SONS
A Tragedy
by Arthur Miller
The Elements of Tragedy
 1- Tragic Hero

He is the main character in the play.

According to Shakespeare he is:
◦ From a high rank.
◦ Has good qualities and bad qualities.
◦ A flaw (defect) in his character leads to his
downfall.
 2. Supernatural Elements

Abnormal and strange things like:

- ghosts, spirits and witches.
 3. A Conflict

A. External Conflict:
It happens between people.

B. Internal Conflict :
It happens within the character himself.
 4. A Struggle

A struggle happens between

countries and cities like wars and
battles.
 6. Comic Relief

◦ It breaks the tension while reading.

◦ It is like clowns or someone telling funny
things like jokes.
 7. Sad Ending

The downfall, death and destruction of

the hero.
Tragedy in All my Sons ..
◦ Miller was influenced by Greek tragedies.
◦ Where tragic hero or protagonist commits a
fault, often unknowingly.
◦ That fault returns to disturb the hero later.
◦ The play summarizes all the fallout from that
fault into 24-hour.
◦ At the end, the protagonist must learn his fate
and suffer as a result and perhaps even die.
◦ In this way justice & moral order is restored.
 Arthur Miller (1915-2005 )

◦An American playwright and a controversial

figure in the twentieth-century American
theater.
◦He wrote many plays such as Playing for time
Broken Glass and Death of a Salesman.
◦ written in1947
◦ based upon a true
story.
◦ where a company had combined with army
inspection officers to approve imperfect
aircraft engines made for military use.
◦ It discusses the effects of (world war two)
on the American society through the Kellers
and their acquaintances.
Summary
▪Joe and Kate Keller had two sons, Chris and Larry.
▪ Keller was a successful businessman owned a manufacturing plant with
Steve Deever, and their families were close.
▪ During the war, Keller's and Deever's manufacturing plant had a very
profitable contract with the U.S. Army, supplying airplane parts.
▪One morning, a shipment of defective parts came in.
▪ Keller didn't want to slow business he sent a group that he knew to be
defective (not working perfectly).
▪Twenty-one pilots died as a result of Keller negligence. 1
▪Steve and Keller were arrested, but Keller claimed that
the parts went out without his knowledge and that his
partner was the one who had covered it up.
▪ Keller went home free, while Steve remained in jail.
▪Larry, Joe Keller's older son, was reported missing three
years ago in action, but his mother insisted that he was
still alive.
▪ Later we learn that he committed suicide on 2
learning of his father's arrest.
▪ Chris has asked Ann (Steve’s daughter and Larry's old girlfriend) to marry
him.
▪ Ann's brother George arrived to stop the wedding. He had gone to visit
Steve in jail to tell him that his daughter was getting married, and then he
left newly convinced that his father was innocent and convinced of Keller's
guilt,
▪ Chris's confidence in his father's innocence is shaken, however, and in a
confrontation with his parents, he is told by Mother that he must believe that
Larry is alive.
▪ If Larry is dead, Mother claims, then it means that Keller
killed him by shipping out those defective parts. 3
▪Mother told Keller that he ought to volunteer to go to jail if Chris
wanted him to.
▪She also talked to Ann and continued insisting that Larry is alive.
▪Ann was forced to show Mother the letter that Larry wrote to her
before he died, which was essentially a suicide note.
▪The note basically confirms Mother's belief that if Larry is dead,
then Keller is responsible--not because Larry's plane had the
defective parts, but because Larry killed himself in response to
the family responsibility and shame due to
the defective parts. 4
o Keller entered, and Mother was unable to prevent Chris
from reading Larry's letter aloud.
o Keller now finally understood that all the dead pilots
were his sons.
o He says that he was going into the house to get a jacket,
and then he would drive to the jail.
o But a moment later, a gunshot is heard—Keller has killed
himself.
5
In groups and in your copybook

Write as many situations as you can

Characterization
 Joe Keller - Joe, 60, was set free from the court after being charged with shipping
damaged airplane parts out of his factory during WWII, causing the deaths of 21 pilots.
he has placed the blame on his partner and former neighbour, Steve Deever. When the
truth comes out, Joe justifies his actions by claiming that he did it for his family. At the
end of the play he kills himself.
Kate Keller (Mother) - Kate knows that Joe is guilty but lives in denial while
mourning for her elder son Larry, who has disappeared for three years. She refuses to
believe that Larry is dead.
Chris Keller – Chris, 32, returned home from World War II two years
before the play begins,. He invited Ann Deever to the Keller house in order
to ask her hand in marriage, but their obstacle becomes Kate's unreasonable
faith that Larry will someday return.
Unseen characters:

Larry Keller - he has an effect in the play through his mother's

insistence that he is still alive and his brother's love for his
childhood girlfriend. At the end of the play, Ann reveals a letter
written by Larry pronouncing him committing suicide out of
shame for what his father did.

Steve Deever – (Friend and partner of Keller), and he is George

and Ann's father. Steve is sent to prison for the shipping of faulty
parts – a crime which he and the successfully exonerated Keller
committed.
Ann Deever - Ann, 26, Throughout the play, Ann is often referred
to as pretty, beautiful, and intelligent-looking. She had a
relationship with Larry Keller before his disappearance. Ann soon
finds out that the neighbours all believe that Joe is guilty, and
eventually finds out the truth after a visit from her older brother
George. finally, unable to convince Kate that Larry is gone forever,
Ann reveals a letter from Larry stating his intention to commit
suicide having heard of his father’s imprisonment.

George Deever – George, 31, is Ann’s older brother: a successful New York
lawyer and a childhood friend of Chris. He believed in his father’s guilt, but
upon visiting Steve in jail, realizes his innocence and becomes enraged at the
Kellers for deceiving him. He returns to save his sister from her marriage to
Chris.
Frank Lubey – Frank, 32, he never served in World War II, instead
staying home to marry George's former girlfriend, Lydia. He tells
Kate that Larry must still be alive, because the day he died was
meant to be his 'favourable day.' This strengthens Kate's faith and
makes it much harder for Ann to reveal the letter to her.
Lydia Lubey - Lydia, 27, was George's love interest before the war;
after he went away, she married Frank and they quickly had three
children.
Jim Bayliss – Jim is a successful doctor. He wants to become a
medical researcher, but continues in his job as it pays the bills. He is
a close friend to the Keller family and spends a lot of time in their
backyard.
Sue Bayliss - Sue is Jim's wife, she too is a friend of the Keller family.
She revealed to Ann that the neighbours all think Joe is guilty.
Bert – Bert is a little boy who lives in the neighbourhood; he is friend
with the Bayliss' son Tommy and frequently visits the Kellers' yard to
play "jail" with Joe.
In groups and in your copybook
Draw simply

the characters’ Family Tree

Now .. In groups and in your copybooks..

Choose a Character
And write three lines about it
 The Main Themes of Tragedy

◦ 1- Materialism.
Criticizing the so called American Dream.
2- Duty and Choices.
The conflict between the protagonist and the
antagonist.
 The Main Themes

3- Self-deception and lies.

Self-deception is a part of the human condition. Tragedy is not
just terrible luck, but our capacity to knowingly/unknowingly
deceive ourselves into doing the very things we wanted to
avoid
4- Justice:
In Greek tragedies, The hero faces a form of heavenly justice and fate
that strikes him as strange. Even he may punish himself for his
unintentional sin.
Themes of the Play
 The Main Themes

1- FAMILY AND FAMILIAL OBLIGATION:

The play centres on the Keller family and
their neighbours. Joe Keller cares primarily about
the happiness of his wife Kate and his son Chris.
However, Miller presents a paradox of family
obligation in how Joe’s attempt in caring for his
family ends up harming them, threatening their
future and leading to fatal consequences.
 The Main Themes

2- PERSONAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: (Conflict)

◦ An ongoing conflict between personal and social responsibility slowly boils

to the surface throughout the play.
◦ Joe is a practical businessman who believes his sole duty is to protect and
provide for his family.
◦ Joe believes his criminal actions are justified because he did it all for his
sons.
◦ Chris and Larry however believe they have a greater responsibility to
society, an opinion shaped by their experiences during the War.
◦ Larry’s faith is so strong that he takes his own life as a result of his father’s
crimes.
 The Main Themes
3- WEALTH:
◦ There was a belief in American society after the Second World
War that wealth and material possession were a source of
power.
◦ Jim is trapped in a job he hates but feels he must perform in
order to make enough money for his family.
◦ Joe is a ‘self-made’ man who was uneducated but worked hard
for the benefit of his family.
◦ Chris is ashamed of his family’s money because it is tied up
with the death of the pilots, but never-the-less he still lives off
it.
 The Main Themes
4- GUILT:

◦Joe is guilty of the death of 21 airmen because of his

negligence.
◦He shifts responsibility onto his business partner
Steve and defends his innocence.
◦In the end however, confronted with what he has
done, Joe’s guilt causes him to commit suicide.
 The Main Themes
5- LOSS AND MEMORY:
◦ Characters in All My Sons struggle to suppress memories of the
past. The death of Larry is inseparably linked to a terrible crime
that no one, except George, wants to acknowledge.
◦ The memory and death of Larry also threatens Chris’ pursuit of
happiness with Ann.
◦ Kate, the sentimental mother, keeps an ideal image of her dead
son and plants a tree to signify her son’s life.
◦ She has retreated into a world of delusion and horoscopes.
 The Main Themes
6- CRITICISM OF THE AMERICAN DREAM:

◦ Chris Keller criticises the capitalist system that

emphasises profit and greed and which does not
acknowledge the sacrifice made by soldiers to defend
those values.
◦ The pursuit of wealth leads Keller to lie to the military
in fear of having his factory shut down, resulting in the
death of 21 pilots and the arresting of his business partner
and neighbour.
A- Realism : Style\Techniques
1- Characters
2- The three unities of place, time and action.

B- Symbolism :
1- The apple tree.
2- The jail in the basement.
3- The dry socks.
4- Names.
End of session
Best Wishes