Elements of Prose
a.k.a.- The parts of a story
Prose

There are 2 types of writing:
 prose- anything that is NOT poetry or plays
 poetry

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
What Makes Up Plot?
Basic Situation
(Exposition)
1.
-
Tells the audience
who the characters
are and introduces
the conflict
-
Example: “Every
Who
Down in Who-ville
Liked Christmas
a lot...”
What Makes Up Plot?
2. Rising Action
- Complications
that arise when
the characters
take steps to
resolve their
conflicts
“But the Grinch,
Who lived just North of
Who-ville,
Did NOT!
The Grinch hated
Christmas! The whole
Christmas season!
Now, please don't ask
why. No one quite knows
the reason.
What Makes Up Plot?
3.
Climax: Most
exciting or
suspenseful moment
when something
happens to determine
the outcome of the
conflict.
Example: “And the Grinch, with his
grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How
could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came
without tags!
"It came without packages, boxes or
bags!"
And he puzzled three hours, `till his
puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something
he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought,
"doesn't come from a store.
"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a
little bit more!"
What Makes Up Plot?
4.
Falling Action:
The conflict is in
the process of
being resolved or
“unraveled

Example:
And what happened then...?
Well...in Who-ville they say
That the Grinch's small hear
Grew three sizes that day!
What Makes Up Plot?

Resolution: (Denouement) or “Untying the
knot”
 When
the story’s problem/conflict is resolved and
the story ends
Example:
“He
whizzed
with
his load through the
 Endings
may
be happy
or tragic
bright morning light
And he brought back the toys! And the food for the
feast!
And he......HE HIMSELF...!
The Grinch carved the roast beast!”
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

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
A writer can reveal a character in the following ways:
Letting up hear the character speak
Describing how the character looks & dresses
Letting us listen to the character’s inner thoughts and
feelings
Revealing what other characters in the story think or
say about the character
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
Telling us directly what the character’s
personality is like: cruel, sneaky, brace, etc.
Ex. “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch…”
6.
This is called DIRECT
CHARACTERIZATION
Types of Characters

Dynamic Character: The character changes
as a result of the action of the story.
 Example-

Ebenezer Scrooge, the Grinch
Static Character: The character does not
change much in the course of the story.
 Example-
Brutus (Julius Caesar);
 Mama Younger (A Raisin in the Sun)
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.
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
First Person: One of the characters tells the
story; talks directly to the reader
1.
-
2.
Uses the pronoun “I,” “me,” “we,” or “us”
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)
Aside

Definition: Words that are
spoken by a character in a
play to the audience only or
to another character only.
They are not supposed to be
overheard by others on
stage. It is meant to let
someone in on a secret or
for a character to give
personal comments about
current events in the play.
Time, thou anticipatest my dread
exploits.
“The flighty purpose never is
o'ertook
Unless the deed go with it.
From this moment
The very firstlings of my
heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand.
And even now,
To crown my thoughts with
acts, be it thought and done:
The castle of Macduff I will
surprise,
Seize upon Fife, give to the
edge o' the sword
His wife, his babes, and all
unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line.
”
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”
Tone Example

“The Author To Her Book”
Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble
brain,
Who after birth did'st by my side remain,
Till snatcht from thence by friends, less
wise than true,
Who thee abroad exposed to public
view,
Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to
trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may
judge).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should
mother call.
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
The visage was so irksome in my sight,
Yet being mine own, at length affection
would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could.
I washed thy face, but more defects I
saw,
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
I stretcht thy joints to make thee even
feet,
Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is
meet.
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save home-spun cloth, i' th'
house I find.
In this array, 'mongst vulgars may'st thou
roam.
In critic's hands, beware thou dost not
come,
And take thy way where yet thou art not
known.
If for thy father askt, say, thou hadst
none;
And for thy mother, she alas is poor,
Which caused her thus to send thee out
of door.
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