Elements of Fiction

Characterization

A character is revealed in the story by

-- Actions (what s/he does)

-- Words (what s/he says)

-- Physical Description

-- What the Author Says

-- What the Character Says About Her/Himself

-- What Other Characters Say About Her/Him

Flat Character: remains the same throughout the story; unchanging

Round Character: develops throughout the story (positively or negatively)

Points of View (i.e., the speaker/narrator of a story)

-- Limited (author/narrator knows only her/himself and what s/he sees and hears)

-- Limited Omniscient (author/narrator knows only about certain characters’ thoughts/actions)

-- Omniscient (author/narrator knows all)

*Ask yourself, can you trust this narrator?

Setting:

-- Objects

-- Time

-- Culture

– Geographical location

Plot:

-- Structure (Exposition, Complication/Conflict, Crisis, Climax, and Denouement)

-- Conflict can be either internal (Self) or external (society, God, Nature; Other)

Theme: the major, recurring ideas thoughout the work

(Ex: hunger, insanity, power structure, man against nature, God, prejudice, etc.)

Symbol (that which represents something other than itself)

n Literary symbol: that which exists as an image or action within a work while

serving to represent an abstract meaning beyond itself

(Ex.: In Moby Dick, a whale can represent God; yet, in another literary work, a whale

may represent something entirely different.)