ELEMENTS OF A STORY
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW!
STORY ELEMENTS
SETTING
• SETTING IS THE “WHERE AND WHEN”
OF A STORY. IT IS THE TIME AND
PLACE DURING WHICH THE STORY
TAKES PLACE.
SETTING
Time and place are where the action
occurs
THE FUNCTIONS OF A SETTING
MOOD
CHARACTERS
• THE PERSON,
ANIMALS, AND
THINGS
PARTICIPATING
IN A STORY
CHARACTERS
• PROTAGONIST AND ANTAGONIST ARE USED TO DESCRIBE
CHARACTERS.
• THE PROTAGONIST IS THE MAIN CHARACTER OF THE
STORY, THE ONE WITH WHOM THE READER IDENTIFIES. THIS
PERSON IS NOT NECESSARILY “GOOD”.
•
THE ANTAGONIST IS THE FORCE IN OPPOSITION OF THE
PROTAGONIST; THIS PERSON MAY NOT BE “BAD” OR
“EVIL”, BUT HE/SHE OPPOSES THE PROTAGONIST IN A
SIGNIFICANT WAY
EXPOSITION - INTRODUCTION; CHARACTERS,
SETTING AND CONFLICT (PROBLEM) ARE
INTRODUCED
RISING ACTION- EVENTS THAT OCCUR AS RESULT
OF CENTRAL CONFLICT
CLIMAX- HIGHEST POINT OF INTEREST OR SUSPENSE
OF A STORY
FALLING ACTION - TENSION EASES; EVENTS SHOW
THE RESULTS OF HOW THE MAIN CHARACTER BEGINS
TO RESOLVE THE CONFLICT
RESOLUTION- LOOSE ENDS ARE TIED UP; THE
CONFLICT IS SOLVED
3
2
1
4
5
1. Exposition
2. Rising Action
Beginning of
Story
Middle of Story
3. Climax
4. Falling Action
5. Resolution
End of Story
DIAGRAM OF PLOT
Climax
Introduction
/ Exposition
Setting, characters,
and conflict are
introduced
Resolution
SPECIAL TECHNIQUES USED IN A
STORY
SUSPENSE- EXCITEMENT, TENSION, CURIOSITY
FORESHADOWING- HINT OR CLUE ABOUT WHAT WILL
HAPPEN IN STORY
FLASHBACK- INTERRUPTS THE NORMAL SEQUENCE OF
EVENTS TO TELL ABOUT SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED IN
THE PAST
SYMBOLISM – USE OF SPECIFIC OBJECTS OR IMAGES TO
REPRESENT IDEAS
PERSONIFICATION – WHEN YOU MAKE A THING,
IDEA OR ANIMAL DO SOMETHING ONLY HUMANS DO
SURPRISE ENDING - CONCLUSION THAT READER
DOES NOT EXPECT
CONFLICT
TYPES OF EXTERNAL CONFLICT
Character vs Character
Character vs Nature
Character vs Society
Character vs Fate
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (U ncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see t his picture.
POINT OF VIEW
• FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW- A CHARACTER
FROM THE STORY IS TELLING THE STORY; USES
THE PRONOUNS
“I” AND “ME”
• THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW- AN OUTSIDE
NARRATOR IS TELLING THE STORY; USES THE
PRONOUNS “HE”, “SHE”, “THEY”
THEME
THE THEME IS THE
CENTRAL, GENERAL MESSAGE,
THE MAIN IDEA, THE CONTROLLING TOPIC ABOUT
LIFE OR PEOPLE THE AUTHOR WANTS TO GET
ACROSS THROUGH A LITERARY WORK
TO DISCOVER THE THEME OF A STORY, THINK BIG.
WHAT BIG MESSAGE IS THE AUTHOR TRYING TO SAY
ABOUT THE WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE?
WHAT IS THIS STORY TELLING ME ABOUT HOW LIFE
WORKS, OR HOW PEOPLE BEHAVE?
THE THEME IS ALSO
• THE PRACTICAL LESSON ( MORAL) THAT WE LEARN
FROM A STORY AFTER WE READ IT. THE LESSON THAT
TEACHES US WHAT TO DO OR HOW TO BEHAVE
AFTER YOU HAVE LEARNED SOMETHING FROM A
STORY OR SOMETHING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO
YOU.
EXAMPLE: THE LESSON OR TEACHING OF THE STORY IS BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU’RE
OFFERED SOMETHING FOR NOTHING.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
“FIGURING IT OUT”
SIMILE
METAPHOR
PERSONIFICATION
HYPERBOLE
UNDERSTATEMENT
IDIOM
PUN
OXYMORON
QUIZ
•What is poetry?
•Poetry is not prose. Prose is the ordinary language
people use in speaking or writing.
•Poetry is a form of literary expression that captures
intense experiences or creative perceptions of the
world in a musical language.
•Basically, if prose is like talking, poetry is like singing.
•By looking at the set up of a poem, you can see the
difference between prose and poetry.
Example
But believe me, son.
I want to be what I used to be
when I was like you.
from “Once Upon a Time” by Gabriel Okara
• Poetry is also formatted differently from
prose.
– A line is a word or row of words that may or
may not form a complete sentence.
– A stanza is a group of lines forming a unit. The
stanzas in a poem are separated by a space.
Example
Open it.
Go ahead, it won’t bite.
Well…maybe a little.
from “The First Book” by Rita Dove
Example
Does it stink like rotten meat?
from “Harlem” by Langston Hughes
Example
the moon is a white sliver
from “I Am Singing Now” by Luci Tapahonso
• Personification attributes human like
characteristics to an animal, object, or idea.
Example
A Spider sewed at Night
from “A Spider sewed at Night” by Emily Dickinson
Example
“You’ve asked me a million times!”
• Imagery is descriptive language that applies
to the senses – sight, sound, touch, taste, or
smell. Some images appeal to more than one
sense.
EXAMPLE
A
A
B
B
C
C
“Penelope” by Dorothy Parker
A
B
A
B
C
D
D
E
E
C
•
IAMBIC PENTAMETER IS SIGNIFICANT TO THE STUDY OF POETRY BECAUSE
•
•
1. IT IS THE CLOSEST TO OUR EVERYDAY SPEECH
•
3. FINALLY, ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WRITERS OF OUR TIMES USES IAMBIC
PENTAMETER IN ALL THAT HE WRITES – WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.
2. IN ADDITION, IT MIMICS THE SOUND OF HEART BEAT; A SOUND COMMON TO
ALL HUMAN BEINGS.
Example #1
And death is better, as the millions know,
Than dandruff, night-starvation, or B.O
from “Letter to Lord Byron” by W.H. Auden
Example #2
When you are old and grey and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book.
W.B. Yeats
When we explore the connotation and
denotation of a poem, we are looking at the
poet’s diction.
Diction – the choice of words by an author or
poet.
Many times, a poet’s diction can help unlock the
tone or mood of the poem.
Although many times we use the words mood and tone
interchangeably, they do not necessarily mean the same
thing.
Mood – the feeling or atmosphere that a poet creates. Mood
can suggest an emotion (ex. “excited”) or the quality of a
setting (ex. “calm”, “somber”) In a poem, mood can be
established through word choice, line length, rhythm, etc.
Tone – a reflection of the poet’s attitude toward the subject
of a poem. Tone can be serious, sarcastic, humorous, etc.
Since morning glories
hold my well-bucket hostage
I beg for water
- Chiyo-ni
First autumn morning:
the mirror I stare into
shows my father’s face.
- Kijo Murakami
The lunatic is carried at last to the asylum a confirmed case,
He will never sleep any more as he did it in the cot in his mother’s bedroom;
The dour printer with gray head and gaunt jaws works at his case,
He turns is quid of tobacco, his eyes blurred with the manuscript;
The malformed limbs are tied to the anatomist’s table,
What is removed drops horribly in the pail;
The quadroon girl is sold at the stand….the drunkard nods by the barroom
stove…
Excerpt from “Song of Myself” (section 15)
Walt Whitman