THE SHORT STORY AND ITS

ELEMENTS
 OUTLINE
I. Definition of short story
II. Characteristics of the Short Story
III. Elements of the short story
A. Setting
B. Theme
C. Plot
1. Definition
2. Parts of the Plot
a. Exposition (Preliminary Incident)
b. Complication (Rising incidents)
c. Climax or crisis
d. Falling action
e. Denouement
 OUTLINE
D. Character
1. Two ways of presenting the characters
a. Direct
b. Indirect
2. Classification of Characters
 a. According to roles
1) Protagonist
2) Antagonist
b. According to traits
1) Flat or type
2) Round
c. According to the ability to change or develop as a result of their
experiences
1) Static
2) Dynamic
 OUTLINE
E. Point of View
1. Definition
2. Kinds of Point of View
a. Omniscient
1) Objective (dramatic)
2) Editorial
b. Limited Omniscient
c. First Person Point of View
F. Conflict
1. External
2. Internal
G.Other techniques and devices
1. Symbolism
2. Flashback
3. Foreshadowing
4. Irony
5. Imagery
 Definition
 A short story is a complete
dramatic action creating life
with words.
- Flannery O’Connor
 Definition
 A short story is fictional work of prose
that is shorter in length than a novel.
Edgar Allan Poe, in his essay "The
Philosophy of Composition," said that a
short story should be read in one sitting,
anywhere from a half hour to two hours.

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/Section/id-305403,articleId-
7941.html
 Characteristics of the Short Story

 Ranges from 300 to 8,000 words; other

sources cite 1,000 to 2,000 words
 May range from an anecdote (in its
briefest form) to the novelette (longest
form)
 Has a single theme (one central theme)
 Has only one or two major incidents
 Characteristics of the Short Story

 Involves only a few characters;

focuses on one main character
(with a few additional minor
characters)
 Has a simple plot; focuses on one
plot
 Has a well-defined climax
 Elements of the short story

 Its three most important

elements are the setting,
characters, and plot but only
one is usually emphasized in
the story.
 Setting

 The place or location of the

action, the setting provides
the historical and cultural
context for characters. It often
can symbolize the emotional
state of characters.
 Setting
 It establishes the place of the action
and the time of occurrence of events.
 It is the time, place, and condition in
which the story is placed.
 Time includes the year, day, or
season.
 Place includes the locale, the specific
or particular house or dwelling.
 Setting

 Condition refers to the historical

period or the social milieu.
 Sometimes, it conveys the
atmosphere (mood) or the
emotional effect of the setting and
events that contributes to the impact
or to the meaning of the work.
 Setting

 The Fall of the House of the

Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
 - remote, moldering mansion
 -atmosphere is feeling of chill
forbodding
 Setting

 The Lottery (Shirley Jackson)

-mood is deceptive feeling
of carefree summer festivity
 Haircut (Ring Lardner)
- Barbershop
 Theme
 “What does the story say
about the subject?”
 Purpose or idea that the author
wants to convey in the story
 Author’s statement about life or
about a particular subject or
issue
 Theme
 Central idea or thesis; the central
thought; the underlying meaning;
the general idea or insight revealed
by the entire story; the central
thought; the dominating idea; the
abstract concept that is made
concrete through representation in
person, action, and image
 Theme
 Eveline
 Subject/Topic – her encounter
with Frank and her failure to
go away with him
  Theme
 Eveline shows how people can be
trapped by fear and obligation.
 Some people are trapped by fear
and obligation.
 Plot


- theseries of interrelated
incidents arranged by the author
to make up what is called the
complication or problem
 - the structure within which the
narration of events arranged in
sequence, unfolds
 Parts of the Plot

 Exposition (Preliminary Incident) is the

part where the author introduces the
characters, sets the scene, give some
background information, creates a
situation and possibilities for a conflict. It
is the background information regarding
the setting, characters, and plot.
 Complication (Rising incidents) is the part
wherein the conflict develops and
intensifies.
 Parts of the Plot
 Climax or crisis is the turning point of
the story. It is the highest emotional or
dramatic interest in the story. It is the
moment of great tension that fixes the
action.
 Falling action is the part wherein the
plot moves toward its conclusion.
 Denouement is a French word meaning
“unknotting” or “untying”. It reveals
the final resolution.
 The plot develops when characters and situations
oppose each other, creating conflicts that grow and
eventually reach a climax, the point of highest
intensity of the story. After this climactic turning
point, the action of the story finally declines,
moving toward a resolution of the conflict. Edgar
Allan Poe prescribed that there must be a “single
effect” as the action of the story moves toward a
resolution of the conflict.
 The typical or traditional fictional plot follows the
chronological development in which the events
unfold in the order in which they took place.
 To vary the patterns of narration, some authors use
fictional devices such as flashback (writer’s
recollection of past events or reporting past events
that illustrate the position of the character) and
foreshadowing (suggestion of what is going to
happen next by providing details and hints about
it).
 Example
 In the story “Another Evening at the Club”, the plot
is centered on a conflict between Samia and her
husband.
 The action starts to rise in dramatic intensity (the
rising action) when Samia’s loss of her emerald ring
destabilizes her relationship with her husband.
 After this initial exposition, or narrative
introduction of characters and situation, the action
reaches its crisis (the climax of the action) when
Samia’s husband refuses to exonerate the maid,
even though he knows she is innocent.
 Notice that the external conflict parallels with
the internal conflict of the protagonist when
she recognizes the degree of the husband’s
control over her and her inability to oppose
him.
 The action of the story moves toward the
resolution of its conflict (the falling action)
when Samia yields to her husband’s authority.
 Character
 “any person who acts and
manifests the moral, emotional,
and intellectual qualities
endowed to them by the author.
The character can be
understood by what he does,
says, thinks, and decides to do.”
 Two ways of presenting the characters

 Direct presentation – wherein

the author describes what the
character looks like
 Indirect presentation – where in
the character is shown by his
action and how he thinks,
moves, and talks
 Classification of Characters

 According to roles
 Protagonist – major or focal
character
 Antagonist – the character
against whom the
protagonist clashes
 Classification of Characters

 According to traits
 Flat or type – manifests only one
dominant trait throughout the
story; those with very limited
characteristics
 Round – those that are fully
developed, displaying complex
qualities and traits
 Classification of Characters

According to the ability to change

or develop as a result of their
experiences
 Static – those who do not change

or grow in the story

 Dynamic – those who change

and grow in the story

 Example:
 In “Another Evening at the Club”, Samia is the
protagonist who is in conflict with her
husband, the antagonist, because of her
inability to liberate herself from his
dominating character.
 Point of View
 Point of view is the angle of
vision from which the reader
follows the development of the
story.
 Point of View

“Who tells the story? Whose

thoughts and feelings does the
reader have access to?”
 Kinds of Point of View

Omniscient – “all knowing” – many or

all of the characters’ thoughts,
feelings, and actions are revealed

 Objective (dramatic) – recording of

actions, speech, and gestures leaving
us to infer the thoughts and feelings
behind them
 Objective (dramatic
 Athena drove through the thick
white California fog, frowning
as she followed the orange center
marks on the winding road. In
the back seat, Bob slumped,
mumbling to himself.
 Omniscient
 Editorial – freely exposes the
characters’ inner lives and
comments on the story as it
progresses
 Editorial
Athena worried vaguely as she peered
through the menacing white California fog,
trying to stay on the winding road by
following the orange center markers. Bob, in
the back seat, drunkenly reviewed the
afternoon’s confrontation with Marianne. His
confusion about the scene was not only the
product of cheap wine – the mysterious
relationship between the sexes baffles even the
soberest drinker.
 Editorial
 In this narrative, the reader has
access to Athena’s and Bob’s minds.
 The reader gets a personified
description of the fog.
 The reader is given an outside
narrative remark about the
situation.
 Limited Omniscient

“wherein one character can be

identified as a storyteller”

- wherein the story is followed

through the consciousness of a
particular character
 First Person Point of View –
uses “I”; the narrator or
storyteller is a character in the
story
 Conflict

Conflict – the clash or struggle

between two opposing
characters
 External Conflict
 External – the main character is pitted against a
human adversary or against society

The main character struggles with another

person, other people, or nature.
 Internal
 Internal – opposing forces are
factors contesting within the
focal character’s being
 STYLE AND TONE

Style refers to the way writers express

themselves. It depends on diction, syntax,
voice, and rhythm. It reveals the writer’s
linguistic choices or preferences and therefore
is a private and unique as their personalities
and identities.
 Symbol

Symbolism – the use of concrete things to

represent abstract ideas
A symbol is a sign which has further layers
of meaning. In other words, a symbol means
more than it literally says. (Signs are literal;
symbols are not).
 Symbols
 Symbols can have three kinds of
association; often a symbol will
have all three. The associations
are:
Personal
Cultural
Universal
 Symbols
 Personal: We all have
associations with things in our
experience. One person may
have strong affection for dogs
while another person may fear
them intensely.
 Symbols
 Cultural: Different symbols may have
quite different meanings in different
cultures. A lion can represent Christ in
Christian culture; in Sumerian culture,
the sun represents the god Marduk. In
Chinese culture, dogs represent
devotion and faithfulness; in Islamic
culture, they represent impurity.
 Symbols
 Universal: Jungian psychology,
along with other theories, argues
that some symbols have universal
meaning. Lions suggest deity in a
variety of cultures, for instance.
Trying to discern and express the
universal meaning of a symbol is
tricky.
 Other devices and techniques
 Flashback – writer’s recollection
of past events
 Foreshadowing - A suggestion of
what is going to happen.
 Imagery
 Imagery - A concrete
representation of a sense
impression, a feeling, or an
idea which appeals to one or
more of our senses. 
 Imagery
 a. Tactile imagery - sense of touch.
 b. Aural imagery - sense of hearing.
 c. Olfactory imagery - sense of smell.
 d. Visual imagery - sense of sight.
 e. Gustatory imagery - sense of taste.
 IRONY
 Irony – a contrast in which one term of contrast
is in some ways mocking the other term; a
contrast or discrepancy between one thing and
another.
 a. Verbal irony - We understand the opposite
of what the speaker says.
 b. Irony of Circumstance or Situational Irony
- When one event is expected to occur but the
opposite happens. A discrepancy between
what seems to be and what is.
 c. Dramatic Irony - Discrepancy between what
characters know and what readers know.
 d. Ironic Vision - An overall tone of irony that
pervades a work, suggesting how the writer
views the characters.
HOW TO READ SHORT FICTION

1. Read initially for pleasure.

2. Then, reread for careful and
deliberate study of all the
elements. Notice the structure of
the story . Study the plot and the
sub-plots.
3. Consider the point of view and
the setting.
 HOW TO READ SHORT FICTION

4.Study the characters. As you reread the

dialogue, pay attention to those passages in
quotation marks that characters speak to each
other.
5. Look for specialized literary techniques such as
irony, foreshadowing, imagery and symbolism.
6. Continue questioning to discover the theme or
the meaningful observation about human
behavior or the conduct of the society.
  
 CRITICAL QUESTIONS FOR READING THE SHORT
STORY

1. Who is the main character? Does this

person’s character change during the course
of the story? Do you feel sympathetic toward
the main character? What sort of person is
she or he?
2. What pattern or structure is there to the
development of the plot? Can you describe
the way the events are organized?
3. Does surprise play an important role in the
plot? Is there foreshadowing? Does the author
use flashback?
4. Is anything about the story ironic?
5. Is there any symbolism in the story? How
does the author make you aware of symbolic
actions, people, or objects?
6. What is the setting – the time and location?
How important are these elements in the
story? Could it be set in another time or place
just as well?
7. Describe the atmosphere of the story, if it is
important. How does the author create this
atmosphere?
8. Who narrates the story? Is the narrator
reliable? What effect does the point of view
have on your understanding of the story?
What would be gained or lost if the story
were told from a different point of view (for
example, by another character)?
9 How does the title relate to the other elements
of the story and to the overall meaning?
10. What is the theme of the story? Can you state
it in a single sentence? How is this theme
carried out?
11. Does the author’s style of writing affect your
reading (i.e. interpretation) of the story? If so,
how would you describe the style? For
example, is it conversational or formal?
Familiar or unfamiliar? Simple or ornate?
Ironic or satiric?
 References
 What is a definition of short story? (19 Apr 2011)
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/Section/id-305403,articleId-7941.ht
ml
 Definition of Symbols
http://web.mst.edu/~gdoty/classes/concepts-practices/def-sym
bols.html
 “Literary Analysis Terms” The Online Writing Lab (OWL), Roane
State Community College
http://www.roanestate.edu/owl/ElementsLit.html
 Dr. Geoffrey A. Grimes, The Genres of Literature: The Short Story 
http://www.distancelearningassociates.com/eng2327/Genre-
SS.htm
 Madden, Frank. (2007). Exploring Literature: Writing and Arguing about
Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Essay (3rd edition). USA: Pearson Longman.
 Di Yanni, Robert. (2008). Literature: Approaches to fiction, Poetry, and
Drama. USA: Mcgraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
 Booth, Alison, Paul Hunter and Kelly Mays. (2006) The Norton Introduction
to Literature. New York: WW Norton & Company.
 Gonong, Ferdilyn C. and Linda L. Libunao. (2003) The Literatures of the
World. Manila, Philippine: Rex Bookstore.
 Alcantara, Rebecca D., Josefina O. Cabanilla, and Alejandro J. Casambre.
(2000). World Literature: An Adventure in Human Experience. Quezon city,
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