Elements of Prose

Prosus – [L] direct or

straightforward
 Prose
 An unmetrical literary genre and is
concerned with the presentation of an
idea, concept, or point of view in a more
ordinary language and in a more leisurely
manner.
 anything that is NOT poetry or
plays
 Prose
Types
 Fiction- a series of imagined facts which illustrate
truth about human life
 Non-fiction- based on facts (oration, chronicle or
memoir, history, diary or journal, travelogue, auto-
or biography, letter or epistle, anecdote or
character sketch)
Prose is divided into 2 categories :
 short story
 novel
 Short Story
 Definition: Fictional story that can be read in
one sitting.
 Example: “A Rose for Emily,” “The Cask
of Amontillado,” or “The Most Dangerous
Game”
 Novel
 Definition: A long prose narrative that must
be read in many sittings.
 Example: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet
Letter, or The Great Gatsby
 Elements of Prose
 Plot
 Character
 Setting
 Point of View
 Theme
 Irony
 Symbol
 Plot
 The “framework” or “skeleton” of the story;
 A series of related events that are linked
together
 Arrangement may be chronological,
Causal, associative, flashback or a
combination of each
 What Makes Up Plot?
1. Basic Situation
(Exposition)
- Tells the audience
who the characters
are and introduces
the conflict
- Acquaints readers
with the setting,
time, and the
opening situation
 What Makes Up Plot?
2. Rising Action -The events that develop
- Complications the conflict; there is a
movement in space and a
that arise when
movement in time and for
the characters
each character involved,
take steps to each type of series is
resolve their involved
conflicts
 What Makes Up Plot?
3. Climax: Most It is the high point or the
exciting or big moment of a story or
suspenseful moment novel; the point where the
when something forces of the piece of
happens to determine fiction reach their moment
the outcome of the
of maximum
conflict.
concentration; this also
gives a hint of how the
conflict will be resolved.
 What Makes Up Plot?
4. Falling Action:
The conflict is in
the process of
being resolved or
“unraveled
 What Makes Up Plot?
 Resolution: (Denouement) or “Untying the
knot”
 When the story’s problem/conflict is resolved and
the story ends
 Endings may be happy or tragic
 Freytag’s Pyramid
 Gustav Freytag was a Nineteenth Century German novelist who saw common
patterns in the plots of stories and novels and developed a diagram to analyze
them. He diagrammed a story's plot using a pyramid like the one shown here:
 Character: Revealing Human
Nature
 Character- A person or
being in a story that
performs the action of
the plot.

 Characterization: The
process of revealing the
personality of a
character in a story.
 Steps to the Characterization
Process
 A writer can reveal a character in the following ways:
1. Letting up hear the character speak
2. Describing how the character looks & dresses
3. Letting us listen to the character’s inner thoughts and
feelings
4. Revealing what other characters in the story think or say
about the character
5. Showing us what the character does – how he or she acts

*These call on the reader to take the information he or she is

given to interpret for himself/herself the kind of character he
or she is reading about. This is called
INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION
 Steps to the Characterization
Process
6. Telling us directly what the character’s
personality is like: cruel, sneaky, brace, etc.
Ex. “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch…”

This is called DIRECT

CHARACTERIZATION
 Types of Characters
 Dynamic Character: The character changes
as a result of the action of the story.
(round)

 Static Character: The character does not

change much in the course of the story.
(flat)
 Types of Characters
 Protagonist: The main character of the story.
 Can be good or evil

 Antagonist: The character or force that comes

into conflict with the protagonist
 Can be another person, an animal, a force of
nature, society, the character’s own conscience,
etc.
 Types of Characters
 Archetype: a character whose traits are
similar to famous persons in history, literature
or in the bible
 Setting
 Defintion: The time and location in which
the story takes place
 Setting
 Purpose of Setting
1. Gives background information
2. Provides conflict
- Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Society
3. Can reveal a lot about someone’s character
4. Provides mood or atmosphere
- Mood- the feeling WE get when we read a story
5. Can paint images for the reader
- Images – words that call forth the 5 senses
 Theme
 Definition: The insight about human life that
is revealed in a literary work. The “golden
thread” woven throughout the story.

-The theme is what the author is saying through the

story (it’s a deeper truth about reality)
- The plot how he says it : it is the story he uses to
get this point across
 Point of View
 Definition: The direction from which the
writer has chosen to tell the story
 There are 3 Points of View
1. First Person: One of the characters tells the
story; talks directly to the reader
- Uses the pronoun “I,” “me,” “we,” or “us”

2. Third Person Limited: The narrator will

focus on the thoughts & feelings of just one
character
- Reader experiences the events of the story through
the memory and senses of only one character
 There are 3 Points of View
3. Third-Person Omniscient- “All-knowing”
- An all-knowing narrator who refers to all
the characters as “he” and “she.” Knows the
thoughts and feelings of ALL of the
characters.

*The narrator is not necessarily the story’s

author*
 Conflict
 Definition- It exists when a character is struggling
with something or someone
- Could be a number of things:
- Another person, an animal,
- an inanimate object- a rock, the weather
- The character’s own personality
 External Conflict
External Conflict- Caused by something OUTSIDE
the character
- Example: an another character, a river,
weather, society
- Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man vs.
Society
 Internal Conflict
Internal Conflict- Character struggles with some
personal quality that is causing trouble
- Example: vanity, pride, selfishness, grief
- Man vs. Self
 Foreshadowing
 Definition:Clues about what is going to
happen as the story unfolds
 Suspense
 Definition: Anxiety WE feel about what
is going to happen next in the story
 Parody
 Definition: The imitation of a work of
literature, art, or music for amusement or
instruction
 Satire
 Definition: A kind of writing that ridicules
human weakness, vice, or folly in order to
bring about social reform.
 Example: Political cartoons, “A Modest Proposal”
 Irony
 Definition: An “unexpected twist” in a story
- 3 Types of Irony:
1. Verbal: Someone says one thing but
means another
- also known as sarcasm

-Example: If a woman walks into a job interview

and she is sloppily dressed with only two
teeth in her head and the interview says, “You
have a beautiful smile!”
 Irony
2. Situational: When a reader expects one
thing to happen and the opposite occurs
- Example- Everyone knows the sad irony in “Richard
Cory.” Why would someone so successful and rich
be so unhappy as to kill himself? In a wonderfully
ironic letter, George Bernard Shaw celebrates his
mother’s death and cremation. Charles Dickens’
character Mr. McChoakumchild is
anything but a teacher.
 Irony
3. Dramatic: When the character in a
play thinks one thing is true, but the
audience knows better. The audience
has inside information that a character
does not.
- This information usually comes in the
form of an aside or a soliloquy.

- Example: In Romeo and Juliet,

Romeo says that his “grave is like to be
his wedding bed.” Little does he know
that his marriage will be the cause of
his untimely death. We as an audience
knows because we heard the prologue
at the beginning of the play.
 Soliloquy
 Definition: A character stands alone on stage
and addresses the world (audience), giving
voice to his innermost thoughts and feelings.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
- Example: To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing." — Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines
17-28)
 More Elements of Prose
 Tone: The attitude the writer takes toward the
subject of a work, the characters in it, or the
audience.

 “I am getting married”
 Denotation/Connotation
 Denotation: Dictionary
definition of a word
- Example: Mom-Female
individual who gives
birth and physical care to
her offspring.

 Connotation: Feelings
people get from hearing or
reading a particular word
- Example: Mom-Hug,
loving, caring, dries tears,
role model
 Denotation/Connotation
 Dog-
 Denotation: Domesticated, 4-legged canine
 Connotation: Smelly, fluffy, man’s best friend
playful, loyal, protective
 Denotation/Connotation
 Fair-
 Denotation: Amusement park
which travels; also includes
agricultural exhibits
 Connotation: fun, food,
crowded, smelly, carnies