General Literature
Fiction
Fiction
began as storytelling Forms of Fiction A. Short Story: a short fictional prose narrative Poe 1.Can be read in one sitting 2. Unity B. Novel: a longer more complicated form of the
short story
C.
Novella: a short novel
Fiction Usually Possesses
character plot setting point
of view theme symbols
How To Read Fiction
1.
The first time read to get to the end 2. The second time read with scientific coolness (highlighter and pen in hand)
What
you get from a story is largely a matter of what you bring to the story
Setting
Setting
Setting: The context in which the action of the story occurs. The major elements of the setting are the time, place, and social environment Atmosphere (mood): The emotional effect of the setting and events that contributes to the impact or to the meaning of the work. Usually described in terms of feeling: somber, gloomy, joyful, expectant. Foreshadowing: a suggestion of what is to come.
Theme and Subject
Subject: Theme:
The topic of the tale.
Subject: Love
The central idea or meaning of a story. It provides a unifying point around which the plot, characters, setting, point of view, symbols, and other elements of a story are organized.
Theme: The desire for true love can obsess and consume a persons life.
Theme Hints
1. Pay attention to the title of the story. 2. Look for details in the story that could have symbolic meaning. 3. Names, places, objects, minor characters, and incidents should be carefully considered. 4. Decide if the protagonist changes or develops some important insight as a result of the action. 5. When you formulate the theme of the story in your own words, write it down in a complete sentence or two that makes some point about the subject matter. 6. Be certain that your expression of the theme is a generalized statement rather than a description of particular people, places and incidents in the story. 7. Be wary of using clichs (Love conquers all) 8. Be aware that some stories emphasize theme less than others.
Common Subjects in Literature
illusion vs. reality life and death war human relations growing up initiation love change
Theme Grows Out of All the Elements of Fiction
setting structure symbols character point of view
Plot
The
authors arrangement of incidents in a story.
Actions and events are causally related, and they progress through a variety of conflicts and opposing forces to a climax and resolution.
The arrangement and interplay of elements to form plot may assume numerous patterns in fiction, but modern critics have focused on a five part sequence.
Exposition--the background information the reader needs to make sense of the situation in which the characters are placed. Rising Action--a series of events--each event causing the one that follows--which heightens the conflict. Climax--the critical or most intense moment in the narrative. Falling Action--a brief period in which there is less intensity of effect and an unraveling of the conflict. Resolution-- the end of the conflict
Plot Structure
climax
rising action
falling action
exposition
resolution
Conflict
No Conflict, no story Internal Conflict-conflict within the character External Conflict-conflict with forces outside the character
The Author May Use the Following Techniques to Develop the Plot
Flashback--creating
earlier episodes within the overall progression of action in the plot Subplots--plots that are secondary to the main plot Double plots Multiple plots Foreshadowing--suggesting or hinting at the resolution beforehand
Symbols
Symbol--something that represents something else by convention, habit, resemblance, or association. --- Something concrete that stands for or suggests more than itself (rain-rebirth)
colors names a line from a song a repeated phrase the title symbols
may be cultural, national, religious, or psychological. symbols are used to add depth to the story and theme.
Types of Symbols
Motifs--recurring
items or images that unify
a story Literary Symbol--the total context of a work gives the symbol meaning Conventional Symbol--symbols widely recognized by society Allegory an abstract idea called forth by the subject
Archetypes--universal
A.
symbols
Images
1. Water: the mystery of creation; birthdeath resurrection; purification and redemption; fertility and growth. Carl Jung said it was the most common symbol for the unconscious. a. The sea: the mother of all life; spiritual mystery and infinity; death and rebirth; timelessness and eternity; the unconscious. b. Rivers: death and rebirth [baptism]; the flowing of time into eternity; transitional phases of the life cycle; incarnations and deities.
Sun [fire and sky are closely related]: creative energy; law in nature; consciousness [thinking, enlightenment, wisdom, spiritual vision]; father principle [moon and earth tend to be associated with female or mother principle]; passage of time and life. a. Rising sun: birth; creation; enlightenment. b. Setting sun: death.
Colors
a. Red: blood, sacrifice, violent passion; disorder. b. Green: growth; sensation; hope; fertility; in negative context may be associated with death and decay . c. Blue: usually highly positive, religious feeling, security, spiritual purity. d. Black: [darkness]: chaos; mystery, the unknown; death; primal wisdom; the unconscious; evil; melancholy. e. White: signifying, in its positive aspects, light, purity, innocence, and timelessness; in its negative aspects, death, terror, the supernatural, and the blinding truth.
Numbers
a.
Three: light; spiritual awareness and unity [the Holy Trinity]; the male principle. b. Four: associated with the circle, life cycle; four seasons; female principle, earth, nature; four elements [earth, air, fire, water]. c. Seven: the most potent of all symbolic numbers-signifying the union of three and four, the completion of a cycle, perfect order.
Garden:
paradise; innocence; unspoiled beauty; fertility. Tree: inexhaustible life [immortality] Desert: death;hopelessness.
Character
.
Protagonist--The
main character in drama or fiction, sometimes called the hero or heroine. Antagonist--The character (or force such as war or poverty in a drama, poem, or work of fiction) whose actions oppose those of the protagonist (hero or heroine)
Characterization
Direct Characterization--The author literally tells us what the character is like (18th and 19th century literature) Indirect Characterization--The reader learns about the character by what the character does, what the character says, what the character thinks, and what other characters say and think about the character.
Types of Characters
Static
Character is a character that doesnt change in the course of the story Dynamic Character--a character that changes in the course of the story. Caricatures--people with a dominant trait that excludes all other traits.
Dialogue-- a conversation between two people
Point of View
the position or vantage point from which the author presents the action of the story
Omniscient--where
the author sees and knows everything, moving across space and time, commenting on character and action (an all-knowing, godlike creator) First person--I A character in the story narrates the events
epiphany-- an intense moment of selfawareness reliable unreliable
Third
person-- actions, thoughts, and perceptions are filtered in the third person (he, she, it, they) Limited third person-- the story is told through one characters mind Unlimited third person--the story is told through the minds of several characters minds Objective--the author refuses to enter the minds of any of the characters
Irony
A device that reveals a reality different from what appears to be true
Types of Irony
Dramatic--discrepancy between what a character believes or says and what the reader understands to be true Situational --an incongruity between what is expected to happen and what happens Verbal--a person saying one thing and meaning another Understatement--statement that says less than is intended Overstatement--exaggeration of issues Satire--ridiculing folly or vice in an effort to expose or correct something Paradox--a statement that initially appears to be selfcontradiction, but turns out to make sense
