What is a Short Story?
• A short story is a short narrative that
is written to entertain and sometimes
bring a message (theme) to the
reader.
• All stories are based on a struggle
(conflict) the author tries to resolve
(climax).
• By its nature, short stories are
concise and focus on a few elements
(character, conflict, description,
setting, plot).
Characteristics of a Short Story
A short story contains
only one major
character, plot, setting,
and theme.
A short story usually
focuses on a single
conflict, character or
emotional effect.
There are four kinds of short story, identified by
emphasis on one of the following:
1) Action
2) Character
3) Atmosphere/Mood
4) Theme
A good short story, besides being brief and imaginative,
has its incidents deliberately selected, often purposely
leaving gaps to create questions in the reader’s mind.
•It is compressed, which gives the
effect of restrained power.
•It has a simple plot skillfully spun and
often centered around a trivial incident.
•It contains suspense, developing a
curiosity and tension regarding the
outcome.
•Its movement is swift and direct
towards the climax which marks the
highest point of interest.
•Frequently, foreshadowing or hints
are deliberately dropped by the writer
to give promise of things to come.
One also finds immediacy, or that quality in a short
story which makes the reader feel he is really living the
part, not merely reading about it.
Parts of the Short Story
Introduction
• The beginning of the story.
• Its main purpose is to make the reader
continue reading through the use of
suspense, violence, excitement, action,
or by something unusual.
• Often answers the questions:
 Where is this place?
What has happened up to now?
 Who are these people?
 When does the story take place?
 What will happen next?
• By answering these questions, the
introduction establishes the setting and
introduces the main characters.
Setting
• The time and location in which a story takes
place. For some stories the setting is very
important, while for others it is not.
There are several aspects of a story’s setting to consider when
examining how setting contributes to a story (some, or all may be
present in a story).
a) Place - geographical location. Where is the action of
the story taking place?
b) Time – When is the story taking place? (historical
period, time of day, year, etc).
c) Weather conditions – Is it rainy, sunny, stormy, etc?
d) Social conditions – What is the daily life of the
character like? Does the story contain local colour
(speech, dress, customs, of a particular place)?
e) Mood or Atmosphere – What feeling is created at
the beginning of the story? Is it bright and cheerful or
dark and frightening?
What is the Plot?
• How the author arranges events to develop his basic idea;
It is the sequence of events in a story or play.
• The plot is a planned, logical series of events having a
beginning, middle, and end.
• The short story usually has one plot so it can be read in
one sitting.
There are five essential parts of plot
1) Exposition or Introduction
• The beginning of the story where the setting
and characters are introduced
Exposition
2) Rising Action
• This is where the events in the story become
complicated and the conflict in the story is
revealed (events between the introduction and
climax).
3) Climax
• This is the highest point of interest and the turning
point of the story. The reader wonders what will
happen next; will the conflict be resolved or not?
Climax
4) Falling Action
• The events and complications begin to resolve
themselves. The reader knows what has
happened next and if the conflict was resolved
or not (events between climax and resolution)
5) Resolution or Denouement
• This is the final outcome or untangling of events
in the story. The conflict is completely wrapped
up and the story ends.
Resolution
Character
There are two meanings
for the word Character:
1) The person in a work
of fiction.
2) The characteristics of
a person.
Character
• Character – a person in a story, poem or
play.
• Types of Characters:
– Round- fully developed, has many different
character traits
– Flat- stereotyped, one-dimensional, few traits
– Static – Does not change
– Dynamic – Changes as a result of the story's
events
Characterization
• How the author develops the characters,
especially the main character.
• This is done through:
–
–
–
–
the characters physical appearance
what the character does or does not do
what the character says, thinks, feels, dreams
what others say about the character and how
they react to him
– author’s word choice in descriptive passages
Characterization
• Direct characterization
– The author directly states what the character’s
personality is like. Example: cruel, kind
• Indirect characterization
– Showing a character’s personality through
his/her actions, thoughts, feelings, words,
appearance or other character’s observations
or reactions
Protagonist and Antagonist
Short stories use few
characters.
One character is clearly
central to the story with all
major events having some
importance to this character
– he/she is the Protagonist.
The opposition to the main
character is called the
Antagonist.
Protagonist
• Main character of the story who changes
– (death is not a change)
– the most important character
– changes and grows because of experiences in
the story
Antagonist
• A major character who opposes the
protagonist
– the antagonist does not change
• Types of antagonists:
– people
– nature
– society
• Conflict is essential to plot. Without conflict there is no
plot. It is the opposition of forces which ties one incident to
another and makes the plot move.
• Conflict is not limited to open arguments, rather it is any
form of opposition that faces the main character.
• Within a short story there may be only one central
struggle, or there may be one dominant struggle with many
minor ones.
Conflict
• A struggle between two opposing forces
• Types:
– Internal – takes place in a character’s own mind
• Man vs. Him(Her)self (psychological)
– External – a character struggles against an outside
force
•
•
•
•
•
Man vs. Man (physical)
Man vs. Nature
Man vs. Technology/Progress
Man vs. Society (social)
Man vs. Supernatural
A conflict between the forces of good, represented by the
hero (protagonist) and the forces of evil, represented by the
villain (antagonist) may occur.
Out of this conflict may
grow a trap or obstacle
which the hero must
overcome.
Theme
• The central message or insight into life
revealed through a literary work.
• The “main idea” of the story
The theme in a piece of fiction is its controlling
idea or its central insight.
- It is the author’s underlying
meaning or main idea that
he is trying to convey.
- The theme may be the author’s thoughts about a topic or
view of human nature.
- The title of the short story usually points to what the writer
is saying and he may use various figures of speech to
emphasize the theme, such as symbol, simile, metaphor,
hyperbole, or irony.
Some simple examples of common
themes from literature, TV, and film are:
•
•
•
•
Things are not always as they appear to be
Love is blind
Believe in yourself
People are afraid of change
Point of View
The vantage point or angle from which the
writer tells the story.
1) First person- The story is told by the protagonist or one
of the characters who interacts closely with the
protagonist or other characters. The reader sees the story
through this persons eyes as he/she experiences it and
only knows what he/she knows or feels.
- Use of the pronouns “I”, “me”, “we”.
Point of View
2) Third person - Centers on one character’s thoughts and
actions.
3) Innocent Eye – The story is told through the eyes of a
child (his/her judgment being different from that of an
adult).
4) Stream of Consciousness – The story is told so that the
reader feels as if they are inside the head of one
character and knows all their thoughts and reactions.
Point of View
5) Omniscient- All knowing narrator. The author can
center on the thoughts and actions of any and all
characters. He can move from character to character,
event to event, having free access to the thoughts,
feelings and motivations of his characters and he
introduces information where and when he chooses.
There are two main types of omniscient
point of view:
Two main types of omniscient
point of view:
a) Omniscient Limited – The author
tells the story in third person (using pronouns they, she,
he, it, etc). We know only what the character knows and
what the author allows him/her to tell us. We can see the
thoughts and feelings of characters if the author chooses
to reveal them to us.
a) Omniscient Objective – The author tells the story in the
third person. It appears as though a camera is following
the characters, going anywhere, and recording only what
is seen and heard. There is no comment on the characters
or their thoughts. No interpretations are offered. The
reader has to interpret events on his own.
Literary Terms
Flashback
The present scene in the story is
interrupted to flash backward
and tell what
happened in
an earlier time.
Foreshadowing
Refers to clues that hint at
what is going to happen
later in the plot. It is used
to arouse the reader’s
curiosity, build suspense,
and help prepare the
reader to accept events
that occur later in the
story.
Symbol
An object, person, or event that functions as itself,
but also stands for something more than itself.
Example: Scales function is to
weigh things, but they are also
a symbol of our justice system.
Figurative Language
• Involves some imaginative comparison
between two unlike things.
– Simile – comparing two unlike things using
like or as.
• “I wandered lonely as a cloud”
– Metaphor – comparing two unlike things (not
using like or as)
• Life is a roller coaster, it has lots of ups and downs.
Figurative Language
• Personification – Giving human qualities
to non-human things.
– “The wind howled”
Irony
• A literary device that creates a contrast or
discrepancy between expectation and
reality; between what is said and what is
meant.
Irony
• Verbal Irony – saying one thing
but meaning something completely different.
– Calling a clumsy basketball player “Michael Jordan”
• Situational Irony – A contradiction between
what we expect to happen and what really does
happen
• Dramatic Irony – occurs when the
reader knows something important
that the characters in the story do
not know.
Allusion
• Reference to a statement, person, a place,
or events from:
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–
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Literature
History
Religion
Mythology
Politics
Sports
Suspense
A feeling of tension, anxiety, or excitement
resulting from uncertainty. An author creates
suspense to keep the reader interested.
Atmosphere (Mood)
• The prevailing feeling in a literary work
created by word choice, descriptive details
and evocative imagery.
Imagery
• Creating a picture in the readers mind
through description
• Language that appeals to the senses.
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–
–
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Touch
Taste
Sight
Sound
Smell
Gothic Fiction
Originally referred to the middle ages but now
extends to a type of fiction which lacks the
medieval setting, but develops a brooding atmosphere of
gloom and terror, represents events which are uncanny or
macabre or melodramatically violent and often deals with
aberrant psychological states.
Gothic Fiction distinguishes itself through
the narrative technique of using suspense and
the development of atmosphere to enhance
the plot thereby capturing reader interest.
Poetic Justice
is a literary device in
which virtue is ultimately
rewarded or
vice punished.