Elements of the Short Story

SHORT STORY: a prose narrative, briefer than the short novel, more restricted in characters and situations, usually concerned with a single effect; does not develop character fully; generally a single aspect of personality undergoes change or is revealed as the result of conflict.

PLOT: the organization of incidents or events in a narrative.

EXPOSITION: the information needed to understand a story.

COMPLICATION: the catalyst that begins the major conflict.

CLIMAX: the turning point in the story that occurs when characters try to resolve the complication.

DENOUEMENT/RESOLUTION: “unraveling” of the mystery at the end of the story; the set of events that bring the story to a close.

CONFLICT: a clash of ideas, actions, desires, or wills; the opposition of two forces or wills. There are four types of conflict:  a. Man vs Man    b. Man vs Self     c. Man vs the Environment     d. Man vs Society

POINT OF VIEW:  

1. OBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW:  With the objective point of view, the writer tells what happens without stating more than can be inferred from the story’s action and dialogue. The narrator never discloses anything about what the characters think or feel, remaining a detached observer. 
2. THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW: Here the narrator does not participate in the action of the story as one of the characters, but lets us know exactly how the characters feel. We learn about the characters through this outside voice.  
3. FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW: In the first person point of view, the narrator does participate in the action of  the story. When reading stories in the first person, we need to realize that what the narrator is recounting might not be the objective truth. We should question the trustworthiness of the accounting. 
4. OMNISCIENT AND LIMITED OMNISCIENT POINTS OF VIEW: A narrator who knows everything about all the characters is all knowing, or omniscient. 

SETTING: Time and place where the story takes place.  

a) How setting functions in a short story: Provides a backdrop for the action. First, setting provides a physical background for the action of the story – such as an ocean liner at sea, a remote jungle village, or on a prairie farm. 

1. Establishes atmosphere. Setting often sets a mood for the story- such as the romantic mood created by a full moon and sparkling stars or  the alienation of a busy city. 
2. Shapes character and action. Setting can also provide a background environment that shapes the attitudes and actions of characters in the  story — such as the country boy seeing the “big city” for the first time, or the rich character who suddenly finds himself lost in a tough neighborhood. 
3. Reflects character psychology. In some cases, the setting even symbolically reflects the inner feelings of the characters or the working of the story conflict– such as the thunderstorm that parallels a character’s inner turmoil, or the constant wind and blowing that parallels a marriage in trouble. 

b) How authors create setting: 

1. Through details. By building their description of settings with realistic details, authors make their story seem more believable – such as using actual street names, or choosing authentic details to depict a setting in a foreign country.
2. Through sensory images. By describing settings in images that appeal to the reader’s senses, the author creates a vivid atmosphere that readers can associate with settings in their own experiences – such as the smell of fresh roses in the bride’s bouquet, the feel of swimming in cool lake water, or the musty smell in an old home.

PROTAGONIST: the central character in the conflict whether he be a sympathetic or an unsympathetic person; the central character, the one whose struggles we follow with interest, whether he or she be good or bad, sympathetic or repulsive.

ANTAGONIST: the forces arrayed against the protagonist, whether persons, things, conventions of society, or traits of his own character.

CHARACTERS:  

1. FLAT: characterized by one or two character traits; can be summed up in one sentence  
2. ROUND: complex and many-sided; we know a lot about this character  
3. STATIC: the character remains the same person at the end as the beginning of the story  
4. DYNAMIC: undergoes a permanent change in some aspect of his character, personality, or outlook  
5. STOCK: stereotypes that writers keep in stock to reuse, globalized characteristics  
6. CARICATURE: an exaggeration of a person’s characteristics to an absurd degree. Are often used to spoof or satirize the stock characters that some writers and readers take seriously.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 

a. DIRECT PRESENTATION:

1. what is said by the writer    
2. what is said or thought by other characters    
3. what characters do  

b. INDIRECT PRESENTATION  

1. what they say  
2. what they think and feel

THEME: central idea or thesis of a work; the underlying idea.

SYMBOLISM: something within the narrative that stands for or represents something else. Characters, objects, events, conflicts, and settings can all be symbolic. For example, in the movie of “The Outsiders,” a bunny represents innocence.

IRONY: when the writer states a meaning that is contrary to the stated or ostensible one. There are three kinds of irony:   

1. VERBAL IRONY: when what the character says is the opposite of what he or she means 
2. DRAMATIC IRONY: when what a character says or believes contrasts with what the reader or other characters know to be true   
3. SITUATIONAL IRONY: a set of circumstances turns out to be the reverse of those anticipated or considered appropriate

FORESHADOWING: an indication early in the narrative that indicate what will later occur.

DILEMMA: a position in which the hero or heroine of a story must choose between two courses of action, both of them undesirable.

TONE: the atmosphere or mood of the narrative; the feeling the writer wants to evoke in the story.  (eg. melancholy, claustrophobic, gentle…)