Prose

Fiction
 FOCUS: What is prose?
• Discuss with your groups:
– What is prose?
– Mention and explain the elements of
fiction!
– Mention and explain the kinds of
characters in fiction!
 PROSE

DEFINITION
KINDS OF PROSE
•PROSE is the ordinary .
form of written language.
oFiction
oNon Fiction
 KINDS OF PROSE

FICTION
NON FICTION
Examples:
•Short Stories Examples:
• Legend Report
•Fairy Tales Letters Personal Narrative
•Folk Tales Memoirs
Memoirs
•Novels
Letter
•Short Stories
•Fables Article
•Myth Journal
•Etc. Biographies
Elements of prose fiction
1. Plot
2. Character and characterization
3. Setting
4. Point of View
5. Theme
6. Symbol
7. Style and tone
 Plot
the action or sequence of events in a
story. It is based on a key conflict.
There are five basic parts of plot
(Freytag’s Pyramid)
• Exposition- the first part of the story. The author
establishes the setting, introduces characters, gives
additional background information.

• Rising Action/Complications- the series of conflicts or

struggles that build a story toward its climax. Tension
rises.

• Climax- the high point, or turning point, of a story. It is

the most intense point. A decision is made that will
decide the outcome of the conflict.

• Falling Action- the action that works out the decision

arrived at during the climax. The conflict is –or begins to
be –settled.

• Resolution- the ending. It ties up loose ends and brings

the story to a close.
Character and characterization

• Character : a person or being in a story that

performs the action of the plot.
• Characterization : the process by which the
writer reveals the personality of the
character
Character Types

Protagonist- the main

character of the story that is
most central to the action of
the story.

Antagonist- the person or

thing working against the
protagonist, or hero, in the
story.
 Characters
Static Characters-
characters that stay
the same throughout
the story. Flat – very few personality
traits, do not change throughout
the story, sometimes can be
Dynamic Characters- symbols or stereotypes
characters that
change and learn
something during the Round –convincing and true to
story. life, many different personality
traits, usually undergo a change
during the story
Example:
Novel Pride & Prejudice:
Elizabeth Bennet is the
main character and
protagonist, she is
intelligent, lively, attractive,
and witty.
 Setting
-the time and place in which the action
occurs.
• Example:

– Novel Pride & Prejudice:

The story is set uniquely in the turn of
the 19th century, England.
 Point of view
Point of view is how an author tells his or
her reader about a character.
• Involving • Employing • Entering • Entering
the use of the the the
either of pronoun thought thought
the two “you” of every of one
pronouns character character
“I” and
“we Third
Third
person
First Second omnisci person
person person ent limited
 Point of view
“I have of late,—but wherefore
I know not,—lost all my mirth,
forgone all custom of exercises;
and indeed, it goes so heavily First Person
with my disposition that this
goodly frame, the earth, seems
to me a sterile promontory.”
‘Hamlet’ by Shakespeare
Harry had taken up his place at
wizard school, where he and his
scar were famous ...but now the
Third person school year was over, and he was
limited back with the Dursleys for the
summer, back to being treated
like a dog that had rolled in
something smelly.
Harry Potter and the Chamber
of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
 Theme
• A main idea or an underlying meaning of
a literary work that may be stated
directly or indirectly.
• Examples of themes:
 Symbolism
-An image/object in a story that is
used repeatedly and carries a
deeper meaning.

Universal Symbols:
water = purity
black clouds = evil approaching
 Style
In fiction writing, the writer’s style is created
by the choice of literary devices that are
used to create the story, such as diction,
syntax/sentence structure, imagery,
symbolism, allegory, personification, and
other figurative language.
Examples of Style in Literature
He was completely integrated now and he
took a good long look at everything. Then he
looked up at the sky. There were big white
clouds in it. He touched the palm of his hand
against the pine needles where he lay and he
touched the bark of the pine trunk that he
lay behind. (For Whom the Bell Tolls by
Ernest Hemingway)

Hemingway’s style was to describe scenery

 Tone

Tone refers to the author’s mood and manner

of expression in a work of literature. The tone
can be serious, didactic, humorous, satirical,
caustic/sarcastic, passionate, sensitive,
sentimental, zealous, indifferent, poignant,
warm, agitated, and so on.
Examples of Tone in Literature

“The School” by Donald Barthelme:

“And the trees all died. They were orange trees. I don’t know
why they died, they just died. Something wrong with the soil
possibly or maybe the stuff we got from the nursery wasn’t
the best. We complained about it. So we’ve got thirty kids
there, each kid had his or her own little tree to plant and
we’ve got these thirty dead trees. All these kids looking at
these little brown sticks, it was depressing.”

The use of adjectives “dead” and “depressing” sets a gloomy

tone in the passage