The Short Story & Elements of
Fiction
A walk through time periods and
literary movements
The Short Story:
• Brief work of fiction.
• Resembles the novel but generally has a
simpler plot and setting.
• Tends to reveal character at a crucial moment
rather than develop it through many incidents
• Washington Irving, Edgar Allen Poe and
Nathaniel Hawthorne instrumental in creating
and developing the short story.
The Elements of the Short Story
Character
Setting
Plot
Conflict
Point of View
Theme/Symbolism
Element 1: 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
– Stock – a type of flat, stereotypical figure who has
occurred so often in fiction that his/her nature is
immediately known (villain, mad scientist)
Let’s brainstorm some specific examples of each of
these kinds of characters.
Character
• Dynamic – character undergoes a permanent
change in some aspect of his/her character,
personality or outlook. The change should be
plausible, meaning the change is believable,
given the details in the story.
• Static – There is no change in the character.
Characterization
• How the author develops the characters,
especially the main character.
• This is done through:
– what the character does
– what the character says
– what the character thinks or feels
– what others say of and to the character
– author’s word choice in descriptive passages
(direct description)
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
• Main character of the story that 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
Element 2: Setting
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The time and place of the story’s action.
To create a mood or atmosphere
To show the reader a different way of life
To make action seem more real
To be the source of conflict or struggle
To symbolize an idea
Element 3: Plot
• Plot: Series of related events that make up a
story.
Exposition
• Section that introduces characters, the setting,
and conflicts.
• Exposition or background to the story is not
always present.
Other Plot Components
• RISING ACTION: The series of conflicts and
crises in the story that lead to the climax
• CLIMAX: the turning point, the most intense
moment—either mentally or in action
• FALLING ACTION: all of the action which
follows the climax
• RESOLUTION: the conclusion, the tying
together of all the “threads”
Element 4: Conflict
• A struggle between two opposing forces
• Types
– Internal – takes place in a character’s own mind
• Man vs. Him(Her)self
– External – a character struggles against an outside force
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Man vs. Man
Man vs. Nature
Man vs. technology, progress
Man vs. Society
Man vs. Supernatural
Element 5:Point of View
• Vantage point from which the writer tells the
story. Controls the info. The reader receives.
– First person- One of the characters is actually
telling the story using the pronoun “I”
– Second Person – Places the reader in the story –
“you”)
– Third person- Centers on one character’s
thoughts and actions.
a. Omniscient- All knowing narrator. Can center on
the thoughts and actions of any and all characters.
b. Limited – knowing the thoughts and actions of one
character
c. Objective – just the facts
Element 6: Theme
• The central message or insight into life
revealed through a literary work.
• The point the author is trying to make about
the human condition.
• The theme can be expressed in one or two
sentence statements.
Element 6: 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.
Flashback
• Refers to a moment when the present scene in
the story is interrupted to flash backward and
tell what happened in an earlier time.
Foreshadowing
• Clues the writer puts in the story to give the
reader a hint of what is to come.
Irony
• A contrast between expectation and reality
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.
Imagery
• Language that appeals to the senses.
– Touch
– Taste
– Sight
– Sound
– Smell
Example:
Creating a picture in the readers mind
through description
Literary Movements & Time Periods
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Romanticism (inc. folk tales, Gothicism)
Realism (inc. Naturalism)
Modernism
Post Modernism
19th C. Historical Events
• 1800 – 1840 America increased its size. By 1837, more
than ½ the present day states are in the Union.
• War of 1812 and border conflicts with Spain
• Louisiana Purchase
• Westward expansion
• New York City becomes a cultural center
• Cherokees removed from Georgia to Oklahoma – “Trail
of Tears”
• Republic of Texas recognized by U.S. in 1837 and in
1845 admitted to the Union. Mexico defeated in war
with U.S.
Historical Events (cont.)
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Civil War 1861 – 1865
Emancipation Proclamation 1862
President Lincoln is assassinated
Immigration increases American population
Transcontinental Railroad completed
United States purchases Alaska from Russia
Last major battle between U.S. troops and Native
Americans fought at Wounded Knee in South
Dakota
Romanticism
(early 19th century)
• Reaction against the dominant attitudes and
approaches to the 18th century.
• Stressed the examination of inner feelings and
emotions.
• Favored imagination over reason, intuition over facts.
• Interest in nature and the supernatural, a strong belief
in democracy, and a deep awareness of the past.
• Man’s relation to the natural world reestablished
• Basis of philosophy began to shift toward
transcendentalism.
• God is placed back in nature.
Romanticism in Art
The Hudson River School
Asher Durand – Kindred Spirits
1849 oil on canvas
The Walton Family Foundation
Thomas Cole - View from Mount Holyoke,
Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm
(The Oxbow)1836
Oil on Canvas
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Folk Tales:
• Handed Down Orally (“oral tradition”) among the
common people.
• Teach a lesson or express a general truth about life.
(MORAL)
• Events are unrealistic or unlikely to happen in the
real world.
• Includes stereotypes or stock characters-embodying
a single human trait, quality, or emotion
(allegorically: hatred or greed)
• Example: “The Devil and Tom Walker” talks of New
England life in 1720’s, but written much later: 1824.
Gothic:
• Use of primitive,
medieval, wild or
mysterious
elements
• Supernatural
events
• Gloomy and
mysterious settings
Edgar Allan Poe
• responsible for the emergence of the short
story as a popular and respected literary form.
• A story should be constructed to achieve “a
certain unique or single effect.” “In the whole
composition there should be no word written,
of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is
not to the one pre-established design.”
Realism
(mid to late 19th century)
• Reaction to the death and destruction of the Civil
War
• Idealism of the early century replaced
• Focus on everyday life
• Show characters and events in an objective,
almost factual way
• Use of dialect
• Objectivity of science considered a worthy goal
• Dark skepticism of the future – especially with
urbanization and industrialization
• Still present today
20th Century Events
• World War I (ushers in Modernism in Literature &
Art).
• Prohibition (1919 – 1933)
• Economic boom of 1920’s followed by Great
Depression after stock crash of 1929
• World War II (America enters after the bombing
of Pearl Harbor in 1941)
• Atomic Bombs dropped 1945 ending the war with
Japan
20th Century Events (cont.)
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Korean War
Cold War
Civil Rights Movement
Alaska and Hawaii are admitted to the Union as States
Environmental protection movement is born with Rachel
Carlson’s Silent Spring
JFK assassinated in Dallas, Texas
First human on the Moon (Neil Armstrong)
Vietnam War
Iranian Hostage crisis
Space Shuttle
Naturalism
(mid 19th century – mid 20th century)
• Reality is the inescapable working out of
natural forces.
• Destiny is determined by heredity and
environment, physical drives and economic
circumstances
• People have no control over natural events
• People are at the mercy of the brutal forces of
nature
Modernism
(early to mid 20th century)
• Devastation of WWI left people with uncertainty,
disjointedness and disillusionment
• New ideas sought, lack of trust in old ideas/world views
• Capture the essence of modern life in form and content
• World is fragmented
• Works omit plot elements of traditional literature, such as
expositions, resolutions, interpretations, transitions and
summaries used in traditional works.
• Themes are implied forcing readers to draw their own
conclusions
• Some expressed themes such as uncertainty,
bewilderment, and apparent meaninglessness of modern
life.
• America takes its place among world’s literary traditions
Hemingway’s Iceberg Theory
Hemingway has said
that his writing is like an
iceberg; that is, oneeighth of the story lies
above the surface of the
sea (what's written), and
seven-eighths lies
beneath the surface
(what's implied).
Post Modernism
• Writers continue the fragmentary approach of Modernists.
• Writers tried blending realism and fantasy in their works
(magical realism)
• Absurdity which sees the ridiculousness of fate and our ability
to control our lives
• Age of Anxiety
• Moved away from traditional forms and techniques,
composing works from dialogue alone or creating works that
blend fiction and non-fiction.
• Some used satire and black humor as they looked at
contemporary society.
• Literature self referential (meta-fiction: writing about writing)