Elements Of A Short Story Flashcards
Elements of a short story
SeChaPloConPoThe Setting Characters Plot Conflict Point of view Theme
Geographical location
Where is the action of the story taking place?
Place
When is the story taking place?
Historical period, time of day, year, etc
Time
Is it rainy sunny stormy etc?
Weather conditions
What is the daily life of the characters like?
Social conditions
What feeling is created at the beggining of the story?
Mood or atmosphere
Is a person or sometimes even an animal, who takes part in the action of a short story or a piece of literary work
Character
Those who are most important in the story
Main characters
Usually static or unchanging
Minor characters
Character with whom the reader empathizes
Protagonist (according to principality)
Character that goes against the protagonist
Antagonist ( according to principality)
Character that exhibits noticeable decelopment
Dynamic ( according to development)
Character that exhibits no chsnges or development
Static (according to development)
Character thay displays different/multiple personalities throughout the story
Round (according to personality)
Character that reveals conventional traits, who remains the same throughout the story
Flat (according to personality)
Method used by the writer/author to reveal the personality of the character/s
Characterization
It is the sequence of events in a story or play
Plot
Moves with the natural sequence of events where actions are arramged sequentially
Linear plot
Where the linear development of the storybmerges with an interruption in the chronological order to show an event that happened in the past
Circular plot
Plot where the story commemces in the middle part of the action
En medias res
The beginning of the story where the characters and the settimg is reveales
Introduction/ exposition
Where events in the story become complicated and the conflict is revealed
Rising action
Highest point of interest and the turning point of the story
Climax
The events and complications begin to resolve themselves
Falling action
This is the final outcome or untangling of events in the story
Denouement
Is the opposition of forces which ties one incident to another amd makes the plot move
Conflict
2 major types of conflict
External
Internal
A struggle with a force outside one’s self
External
Stryggle within one’s self, a person must make decision, overcome pain, quiet their temper, resist an urge etc
Internal
Conflict where one character in the story has a problem with one or more of the other characters
Man vs. Man (external)
Conflict wjere a character has a conflict or problem with some element of society-the school, the law, the accepted way of doing things, and so on
Man vs society (external)
Conflict where a character has a problem with some natural happening: typhoon etc
Man vs. Nature ( external)
Comflict where a character has trouble deciding what to do in a particular situation
Man vs self (internal)
The angle from which the story is told
Point of view
The story is told by the protagonist or one of the characters who interacts closely with the protagonist or other characters
First-Person POT
The story is told so that the reader feels a s if they are inside the head of one character and knows all their thoughts and reactions
Stream of conciousness
The narrator tells the story from all knowing point of view.
Third-Person Omniscent POT (third person)
Is the controlling idea or the central insight
Theme
Aurhor’s underlying meaning or maind idea that he is trying to convey
Theme
