William Kenneys How to Analyze Fiction

PLOT Reveals

events, not only in their temporal, but also in their causal relationships. An authors selection and arrangement of incidents in a story to shape the action and give the story a particular focus.

THE STRUCTURE OF PLOT

Gustav Freytag (1816 - 1895), a German dramatist and novelist proposes the structure of plot of the stories told in ancient Greek and Shakespearean drama. This analysis is known as Freytag's analysis. His analysis analysis. consisted of dividing a play into FIVE parts: 1. exposition 2. rising action 3. climax 4. falling action 5. resolution/dnouement

THE STRUCTURE OF PLOT BEGINNING

EXPOSITION : early part of the story which introduces the readers to the storys character and sometimes setting. ELEMENT OF INSTABILITY : the situation with which the story begins contains within it a hidden or overt element of instability.

THE STRUCTURE OF PLOT THE

MIDDLE CONFLICT : elements tending towards instability in the exposition group themselves into what is recognized as a pattern of CONFLICT. COMPLICATION : the development (which is latent) from the initial statement of conflict to the climax.

CLIMAX : when the complication attains its highest point of intensity, from which point the outcome of the story is inevitable. : the moment of greatest emotional tension in a narrative, usually marking a turning point in the plot at which the rising action reverses to become the falling action (for better or worse) : the final and most exciting event in a series of events. In many stories, it is the last sentence, with no successive falling action or resolution.

Falling

action / anti-climax anti Sometimes, an anti-climax may occur, in antiwhich an expectedly difficult event is revealed to be incredibly easy or of small importance. Critics may also label the falling action as an anti-climax. anti-

THE STRUCTURE OF PLOT THE

END everything from the climax to the DENOUEMENT (or resolution, or falling action, or outcome of the story). is characterized by diminishing tensions and the resolution of the plots conflicts and complications.

THE LAWS OF THE PLOTPLAUSIBILITY Convincing on its own terms (true to itself) Not to be confused with realism (the demand that the story be realistic) SURPRISE / TWIST Readers want to be surprised, but the surprise must not violate the basic law of plausibility. SUSPENSE a good plot arouses suspense (an expectant uncertainty as to the outcome of the story)

THE LAWS OF THE PLOT UNITY

IN PLOT plot must have unity (has a true beginning, middle, and end and follows the laws of plausibility, surprise, and suspense)

CHARACTERSIMPLE (FLAT) CHARACTERS the character is less the representation of a human personality than the embodiment of a single attitude or obsession in a character (e.g. familiar or stereotyped character) A flat character embodies one or two qualities, ideas, or traits that can be readily described in a brief summary. They are not psychologically complex characters and therefore are readily accessible to readers. Some flat characters are recognized as stock characters; they embody stereotypes such as the "dumb blonde" or the "mean stepfather." They become types rather than individuals.

CHARACTER

COMPLEX (ROUND) CHARACTERS Readers can see all sides of the character more lifelike: in life people are not simply embodiments of a single character more complex than flat or stock characters, and often display the inconsistencies and internal conflicts found in most real people. They are more fully developed, and therefore are harder to summarize.

METHODS OF CHARACTER PORTRAYAL DISCURSIVE

(by telling): telling): directly tells the readers about the characters. May even express approval / disapproval of them Advantage : simple and economical Disadvantage : mechanical and discourages readers readers imaginative participation.

METHODS OF CHARACTER PORTRAYAL DRAMATIC

METHOD (by showing): showing): The author allows the characters to reveal themselves to the readers Advantage : more lifelike, encourages the readers active participation in the story. Disadvantage : less economical, increases the possibility of misjudgment.

Characters in short stories are usually revealed but do not develop. Characters in novels usually develop through the passage of time. Characters can be convincing whether they are presented by showing or by telling, as long as their actions are motivated. MOTIVATION of the characters is the reason why they do certain actions. Motivated action by the characters occurs when the reader or audience is offered reasons for how the characters behave, what they say, and the decisions they make. Plausible action is action by a character in a story that seems reasonable, given the motivations presented.

SETTING

The physical and social context in which the action of a story occurs. Generally means a point in time and space at which the events of the plot occur. The major elements of setting are the time, the place, and the social environment that frames the characters. Setting can be used to evoke a mood or atmosphere that will prepare the reader for what is to come. Sometimes, writers choose a particular setting because of traditional associations with that setting that are closely related to the action of a story. For example, stories filled with adventure or romance often take place in exotic locales.

TYPES OF SETTING NEUTRAL

SETTING : when the author only sketches the setting (physical) SPIRITUAL SETTING : the values embodied or implied in the physical setting DYNAMIC : when setting thrusts itself dynamically into the action, affecting events and being in turn affected by them.

ELEMENTS OF SETTING1.

2. 3. 4.

The actual geographical location (including topography, scenery, the details of a rooms interior) The time in which the action takes place (historical period, season of the year) The occupation and modes of day-to-day day-toexistence of the characters The religious, moral, intellectual, social, and emotional environment of the character. (social environment)

POINT OF VIEW

FIRST PERSON NARRATOR (or PARTICIPANT): a story is told by one of the participants or characters in the story (uses the personal pronoun I, is told from the inside). The narrator may be the protagonist or any minor character in the story. THIRD PERSON NARRATOR (or NONPARTICIPANT): a story is told by a usually nameless narrator who may be more or less closely identified with the author. The narrator is not a character in the tale

THIRDTHIRD-PERSON P.O.V. THE

OMNISCIENT NARRATOR : the story is told by Godlike narrator who knows everything. The narrator can enter the mind of any or all of the characters. Example: Jones was inwardly angry but gave no sign; Smith continued chatting, but he sensed Joness anger. SELECTIVE OMNISCIENT : the narrator limits his omniscience to the minds of only a few of the characters. Example Eveline

THIRDTHIRD-PERSON P.O.V. THE

OMNISCIENT NARRATOR : the story is told by Godlike narrator who knows everything. The narrator can enter the mind of any or all of the characters. Advantage : most natural and comfortable (for authors) of all narrative techniques, and highly flexible Disadvantage : less lifelike (unnatural in the sense that in real life, there are no omniscient people.

POINT OF VIEW LIMITED

NARRATOR : a narrator who doesnt know everything. It may embody in a first person narrator or a third person narrator. Unlike omniscient narrator who is not personally involved in the story and thus disinterestedly views the action from above, a limited narrator may not be trustworthy as he/she tries to give accounts on the actions from his/her understanding or interest.

LIMITED NARRATOR The

protagonist as the narrator has the advantage of immediacy and the sense of life Minor character viewpoint allows the readers to see the facets of the situation that readers would otherwise miss. Combination of the omniscient and the limited narrator Multiple viewpoint the readers see the action from the point of view of many characters in the story.

STYLE

A writers characteristic way of using language. A writers style can reveal to us his way of perceiving experience and of organizing his perceptions. Style consists of diction, imagery and syntax The distinctive and unique manner in which a writer arranges words to achieve particular effects. Style essentially combines the idea to be expressed with the individuality of the author. These arrangements include individual word choices as well as matters such as the length of sentences, their structure, tone, and use of irony.

DICTION DICTION

: the authors choice of words.

We may undertake the same kind of investigation of the diction in the total body of a writers work, seeking to discover what kind of choices the writer habitually makes and for what reasons.

IMAGERY Recurrent

images : contribute to the total design of a story if they recur frequently in the story. By their frequent recurrence, the images take on suggestive power, arousing associations with some ideas which are supposedly to be relevant to the storys meaning.

SYNTAX The

way in which the writer constructs his/her sentences. Consider : length of sentences : proportion of simple to complex sentences E.g.:

Henry James , Ernest Hemingway

SYMBOLA

symbol is a sign which has further layers of meaning. In other words, a symbol means more than it literally says. (Signs are literal; symbols are not). Something that is itself and yet stands for/suggests or means something else. An image that evokes an objective, concrete reality and has that reality suggest another level of meaning.

SYMBOL Signifies

a specific combination of attitude, a sustained constancy of meaning, and the potential for wide-ranging application. wide Consistently refers beyond itself to a significant idea, emotion, or quality. Appears to be of major importance. A person, object, image, word, or event that evokes a range of additional meaning beyond and usually more abstract than its literal significance.

TONE

Expression of attitudes. In written language, it is the quality of style, that reveals the attitudes of the author toward his subject and toward his audience. The authors implicit attitude toward the reader or the people, places, and events in a work as revealed by the elements of the authors style. Tone may be characterized as serious or ironic, sad or happy, private or public, angry or affectionate, bitter or nostalgic, or any other attitudes and feelings that human beings experience.

THEME

The meaning of the story. Theme is the central and unifying concept of the story. The central meaning or dominant idea in a literary work. A theme provides a unifying point around which the plot, characters, setting, point of view, symbols, and other elements of a work are organized. It is important not to mistake the theme for the actual subject of the work; the theme refers to the abstract concept that is made concrete through the images, characterization, and action of the text. There is no one way of stating the theme of a story.

Theme must be expressible in the form of a statement with a subject and a predicate. The theme must be stated as a generalization about life. Be careful not to make the generalization larger than is justified by the terms of the story.