Nama: Iin A.

Tri Putri
NPM: 14620022
INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE

WHAT IS LITERATURE?
According to Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary, literature is written artistic
works especially those with a high and lasting artistic value. It can be said that literature is a
written works that used special or certain ways in producing it. Literature was made by human.
Human can express everything in their mind in order to create a good and interesting literary
works. They can re-present real human life, creating fiction story to entertain the reader, and so
on. As stated by Hardjana, in his book Kritik Sastra:
Sastra sebagai pengungkapan baku dari apa yang telah disaksikan orang tentang kehidupan,
apa yang telah dipermenungkan, dan dirasakan orang mengenai segi-segi kehidupan yang paling
menarik minat secara langsung lagi kuat. Pada hakekatnya adalah suatu pengungkapan
kehidupan lewat bentuk bahasa (Hardjana, 1991: 10).
The writer or the author have a purpose when they create literary works. It could be a
funny story, tragedy, folklore, etc. It depends on their imagination. In creating a literary work the
author or the writer should know about how to create a good literary work. They should know
about how to develop a theme into a good arrangement of story. It was supported by the choices
of words, setting, plot, point of view, background of the story, the characterization, and the
message that would be share to the reader. All of them are included in instrinsic elements of
literature. In the other hand, intrinsic elements of literature can help the reader in understanding
more about the literature works itself. Unconsciously when they read one of the literary work,
they will try to gained what is going to say by the author.
The students are asked to write a literary analysis in order to make them aware and know
well about how and why poem, drama, novel or play was written. Before analyzing a literature,
the students should remember that the author have a reason or purpose in creating a literary
works. Therefore when they make an essay related to the literary works, they should focus on
what the authors thingking, give the explanation about that idea, and gain more deeper about
that idea of creating literary works. Another way to analyze a literary works is using the students
own perspective. Rather than thinking about the authors intentions, the students can develop an
argument based on any intrinsic elements (or combination of terms) listed below.

A. INTRINSIC ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE

1. Character
According to Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary, Character is the particular
combination of qualities in a person or place that makes them different from others. That
meaning is related to the quality of someone. In a story the meaning of character according to
Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary is a person represented in a film, play, or story. Not
only in the story but also in everyday live, character development also happen to every people as
the main character in their everyday live. Character development is the change that a character
undergoes from the beginning of a story to the end. Character can be main, secondary or third. In
a literary work a character is developed by (1) action; (2) speech; (3) appearance; (4) Other
character's comments. It means that, other characters' comments help form judgment of the
characters by supporting other characters' actions speech, appearance, and author's comments;
(5) Author's comments: The wording the author uses in the narrative adds to characterization; (6)
Unity of character and action: the character must be credible. If the character changes then the
change must be shaped by events which the author is obligated to explain how they impacted to
create the character's change.
Types of characters:
a. Protagonist
Central character
Person on whom action centers
Character who pushes the action forward
Character who attempts to accomplish something
Usually seen as a good person or hero/heroine
Usually round and dynamic
b. Antagonist
Character or force that holds the action back
Character who wants something in opposition to the protagonist
Usually seen as a bad person/force or villain
c. Minor character
Often provides support and illuminates the protagonist.
Character who is a contrast or opposite to the protagonist
Character who emphasizes or highlights the traits of the protagonist
d. Characterization - The choices an author makes to reveal a characters personality, such as
appearance, actions, dialogue, and motivations.
a.

Characters are described as being round or flat.

Round Character:
Well-developed
Has many traits, both good and bad
Not easily defined because we know many details about the character
Realistic and life-like
Most major characters are round
"The test of a round character is whether it is capable of surprising in a convincing way.

b.

Flat character:
Not well-developed
Does not have many traits
Easily defined in a single sentence because we know little about the
character
Sometimes stereotyped
Most minor characters are flat

a.

Character change:
Dynamic characters are rounded characters that change.
Undergoes an important change in personality in the story
Comes to some sort of realization that permanently changes the
character
A change occurs within the character because of the events of the story
The protagonist is usually dynamic, but not always

b.

Static (stock) characters are round or flat characters that do not change during the story.
Remains the same throughout the story
Although something may happen to the character, it does not cause the
character to change
Minor characters are usually static
Allegory - narrative form in which the characters are representative of some larger humanistic
trait (i.e. greed, vanity, or bravery) and attempt to convey some larger lesson or meaning to life.
Although allegory was originally and traditionally character based, modern allegories tend to
parallel story and theme.
William Faulkners A Rose for Emily- the decline of the Old South
Robert Louis Stevensons Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- mans struggle to contain his
inner primal instincts
District 9- South African Apartheid
X Men- the evils of prejudice
Harry Potter- the dangers of seeking racial purity

2. Plot
According to Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary, a plot means the story of a film, book,
play, etc. Plot is the order in which things move and happen in a story. the plot is the
arrangement of ideas and/or incidents that make up a story. We can say that, the story have good
chronological order only if the story relates events in the order in which they happened.
Meanwhile, if the story moves back in time, it was called as Flashback. In a literary work,
whether it is short story, novel, or drama conflict occur when the protagonist was starting to have
a problem or struggling against an antagonist. The pattern of action are:
a.
Foreshadowing is when the writer clues the reader in to something that will eventually occur in
the story; it may be explicit (obvious) or implied (disguised). According to James Clark, e How
Contributor Foreshadowing is a literary tool filmmakers adapt to provide early clues about

b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
a.
b.

where the plot is headed. It is a storytelling technique that, when used skillfully, gets viewers
involved and thinking about the plot unfolding before them because they are picking up hints
about what may soon happen.
Suspense - The tension that the author uses to create a feeling of discomfort about the unknown
Conflict - Struggle between opposing forces. Conflict/Plot may be internal or external and is
best seen in (1) Man in conflict with another Man: (2) Man in conflict in Nature; (3) Man in
conflict with self.
Exposition - Background information regarding the setting, characters, plot.
Rising Action - The process the story follows as it builds to its main conflict
Crisis - A significant turning point in the story that determines how it must end
Resolution/Denouement - The way the story turns out.
Types of plots
Progressive plots: have a central climax followed by denouement.
Episodical plots: have one incident or short episode linked to another by a common character or
unifying theme (maybe through chapters). Used by authors to explore character personalities, the
nature of their existence, and the flavor of a certain time period.
Structure (fiction) - The way that the writer arranges the plot of a story.

3.

Setting
What is meant by setting is the time and the place in which the action of a book, film, play, etc.
Happen. The author will probably develop their idea in order to create a good literary work. Of
course in this process of writing, the author will seriously found the suitable setting for their
story. The setting provides the historical and cultural context for characters. It often can
symbolize the emotional state of characters. There are six kind of setting:
a. Backdrop setting is when the setting is unimportant for the story and the story could take place
in any setting. Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne is an example of a story in which could happen
in any setting.
b. Integral setting is when the action, character, or theme are influenced by the time and place,
setting. Controlling setting controls characters. If you confine a character to a certain setting it
defines the character. Characters, given these circumstances, in this time and place, behave in
this way.
c.

Functions of setting: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth Speare creates a setting of
Puritanical austerity: hand-rubbed copper, indicating hard work, the heavy fortress-like door, the
dim little mirror, the severe wooden bench, the unpainted Meeting House, the whipping post, the
pillory, and the stocks. The tasks of a typical day performed by Kit: mixing soap with a stick, the
lye fumes stinging her eyes, tiring muscles, with one of the easiest tasks: making corn pudding,
which keeps her over a smoky fire with burning and watering eyes. A frightening and
uncompromising environment compared to her carefree Barbados upbringing.
d. Setting as antagonist: Characters must resolve conflict created by the setting:.
e. Setting that illuminates character: The confining setting of the attic in Anne Frank and
Flowers in the Attic help the characters find themselves and grow as individuals.
f. Setting as symbolism: a symbol is a person, place, object, situation, or action which operates on
two levels of meaning, the literal and the figurative, or suggestive. Children will understand only
obvious symbols. Forest: unknown; garden: natural beauty; sunlight: hope, goodness; darkness:

evil, despair. A grouping of symbols may create an image called an allegory. The Narnia books
by C. S. Lewis are allegories.
4. Theme
A theme is the main point of a story. The theme is an idea, that convey what will happen in that
literary works, who is an actor, how is the condition of that actor, what will be a problems in that
literary works, how to solved it, etc. It can be said that theme is all of the thing that dealt with the
story from the beginning to end. The idea of theme usually came from human real life or fiction.
Without a theme, an author or writer cannot create or arrange good literary works. According to
Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary, a theme is the main subject of a talk, book, film,
etc. It can be said that the theme is the idea of the author that developed into a story. There are 3
kinds of theme:
a. Explicit theme is when the writer states the theme openly and clearly. Primary explicit themes
are common in children's literature, as the author wants to be sure the reader finds it.
b. Implicit themes are implied themes. If two such unlikely animals as a spider and pig can be
friends, then so can we. Even a Tempelton can be a friend to a degree. Friendship is giving of
ones self, as Wilbur did for the egg sac and devotion to the babies. Best friends can do no wrong.
Friendship is reciprocal.
c. Multiple and secondary themes: Since a story speaks to us on our own individual level of
varying experiences, many individual themes will be obtained from a good piece of literature.
Charlotte's Web secondary themes could include: People don't give credit where credit is due,
Youth and innocence have a unique value, Be what you are, There is beauty in all things, Nature
is a miracle, Life is continuous.
5. Point of view
Point of view is determined by the authors' descriptions of characters, setting, and events told to
the reader throughout the story. They are:
a. Narrator - The person telling the story who may or may not be a character in the story.
b. First-person - Narrator participates in action but sometimes has limited knowledge/vision.
c.
Second person - Narrator addresses the reader directly as though she is part of the story. (i.e.
You walk into your bedroom. You see clutter everywhere and)
d. Third Person (Objective) - Narrator is unnamed/unidentified (a detached observer). Does not
assume character's perspective and is not a character in the story. The narrator reports on events
and lets the reader supply the meaning.
e.
Omniscient - All-knowing narrator (multiple perspectives). The narrator knows what each
character is thinking and feeling, not just what they are doing throughout the story. This type of
narrator usually jumps around within the text, following one character for a few pages or
chapters, and then switching to another character for a few pages, chapters, etc. Omniscient
narrators also sometimes step out of a particular characters mind to evaluate him or her in some
meaningful way.
6. Style
Style is how the author says something, the choice of words and the use of language, sentence
construction, imagery not what the author says. It adds significance and impact to the author's
writing. In literary works, exposition is the narrator or the third person passages who provide

background information to explain story events. The choice of words and the use of language
could be seen from the dialogue between characters. Meanwhile, vocabulary words that used in
literary works are connotation and denotation. Connotation is the associative or emotional
meaning of a word. Denotation is the dictionary meaning of a word. This two kinds of words are
combined to add meaning.
Sentence structure
Literary works is created by the author in many purposes. It used imagery words to create mental
sensory impressions (sights, sounds, textures, smells, and tastes). It creates setting, establishes
mood, or describes characters. Some terms of sentence structure that used in literary works:
a. Figurative language - the use of words to express meaning beyond the literal meaning of the
words themselves
Metaphor - contrasting to seemingly unalike things to enhance the meaning of a situation or
theme without using like or as You are the sunshine of my life
Simile - contrasting to seemingly unalike things to enhance the meaning of a situation or theme
using like or as
What happens to a dream deferred, does it dry up like a raisin in the sun
Hyperbole - exaggeration
I have a million things to do today
Personification - giving non-human objects human characteristics
America has thrown her hat into the ring, and will be joining forces with the British
b. Figure of speech is an expression used in a non literal context to add intensity of meaning.
c. Understatement is the opposite of hyperbole.
d. Allusion is a figure of speech that refers to something in our common understanding, our past or
our literature. Allusion is difficult for children since it relies on background information which
they often lack.
e. Symbol is a person, object, situation, or action that operates on two levels of meaning, the literal
and the figurative or suggestive. Dove: peace, flag: nationality of a country, handshake or gift:
friendship.
f. Puns or wordplay
Foot - grouping of stressed and unstressed syllables used in line or poem

Iamb - unstressed syllable followed by stressed

o Made famous by the Shakespearian sonnet, closest to the natural rhythm of human speech
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways

Spondee - stressed stressed

o Used to add emphasis and break up monotonous rhythm
Blood boil, mind-meld, well- loved

Trochee - stressed unstressed

o Often used in childrens rhymes and to help with memorization, gives poem a hurried feeling
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

Anapest - unstressed unstressed stressed

o Often used in longer poems or rhymed stories
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house

Dactyls - stressed unstressed unstressed

o Often used in classical Greek or Latin text, later revived by the Romantics, then again by the
Beatles, often thought to create a heartbeat or pulse in a poem

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

a.
b.
c.
d.

Picture
yourself
in
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies.

boat

on

river,

Devices of sound
Devices of sounds consists of:
Onomatopoeia is when a word sounds like what it represents.
Alliteration is repetition of initial consonants
Assonance is repetition of similar vowel sounds.
Consonance is the close repetition of consonant sounds.
Rhythm or in music meter, in prose cadence. Rhythm in Greek means flow.
Rhythm - often thought of as a poems timing. Rhythm is the juxtaposition of stressed and
unstressed beats in a poem, and is often used to give the reader a lens through which to move
through the work. (See meter and foot)
Meter - measure or structuring of rhythm in a poem
Speaker - the person delivering the poem. Remember, a poem does not have to have a speaker,
and the speaker and the poet are not necessarily one in the same.
Structure (poetry) - The pattern of organization of a poem. For example, a Shakespearean
sonnet is a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter. Because the sonnet is strictly constrained,
it is considered a closed or fixed form. An open or free form poem has looser form, or perhaps
one of the authors invention, but it is important to remember that these poems are not
necessarily formless.
Symbolism - when an object is meant to be representative of something or an idea greater than
the object itself.
Cross - representative of Christ or Christianity
Bald Eagle - America or Patriotism
Owl - wisdom or knowledge
Yellow - implies cowardice or rot
Tone - the implied attitude towards the subject of the poem. Is it hopeful, pessimistic, dreary,
worried? A poet conveys tone by combining all of the elements listed above to create a precise
impression on the reader.

READING A POEM
(The following is presented as a general map or checklist of things to think about while
analyzing a poem. The order is approximate; as you become more used to reading poetry, you
will discover that many of these "steps" become conflated--run together. Also, remember that
some aspects of analysis are more relevant or more important to a particular poem than others.
Syntax is always important, but only some poems exhibit syntactical irregularities or ambiguities
that need to be discussed in an analysis. A consideration of rhythm, meter, rhyme, and
conventional poetic forms may or may not illuminate your understanding of a particular poem.
Tone and tonal shift are of central importance to some analyses, while following a narrative line
is more important in others. Nevertheless, whenever you read a poem for the first time (and for
the first few times; most poems require at least several readings) you should count on going
through all these steps. You don't know that rhythm isn't
important until you have looked at it and understood how it works in relationship to the rest of
the poem.)
I.

Language -- the Literal Level

The first step in figuring out any poem is to untangle and sort out the syntax of the poem. Almost
all poems are written with reference to normative rules of grammar; there is always a
relationship between the apparently messed-up grammar of the poem and the grammar of an
ordinary English sentence. So, you must be sure, first of all, that you understand the relationships
between the various words which make up each sentence of the poem: which verbs go with
which subjects and objects, what modifies what, what antecedents go with which pronouns.
Oftentimes poetry does utilize syntactical shifts:
Ambiguity: a word being used as two different parts of speech at the same time
Inversions: places where normal English sentence order is turned around for emphasis; the
subject put after the verb, for instance
Ellipses: places where words seem to have been left out
You should note anyplace where the language becomes difficult to understand or seems to
deviate from normal English usage; try to create atemporary paraphrase of these sections of the
poem into ordinary English so that you can sure that you know what is going on.
Oftentimes, trying to read the poem out loud to yourself until it moves smoothly will help you to
figure out the syntax. Also remember that poets do things for a reason. If the grammar of a poem
is all screwed up, it is generally because the poet is trying to emphasize something. You should,
therefore, always be thinking about why the syntax is abnormal.
At the same time that you are sorting out the syntax, you also need to be figuring out the
denotations of the words used. This means using the dictionary to look up words you don't know.
At this point you also need to look for ambiguities and puns: places where a given word may
mean two or more things at once. Again, you must be asking yourself why: why did the poet
choose this word.

II.

Language -- the Imagistic and Figurative Level

You need to pay attention to the connotations of specific wordsthe atmosphere, or aura, or
mood which surrounds them and suggests wider associations and significances. Always be
asking what does this particular word make me think of?
At the same time, you need to be sensitive to the sensory imagesof sight, smell, touch, taste,
sound--which the poem evokes. This means sitting back and letting the poem work in your head;
reading a poem can be like watching a movie if you really let the images unroll in your mind.
While you are doing this, you should still be thinking of the connotations--of the moods the
images are creating. You also need to start grouping the images into clusters, noticing how they
fit together, or contrast and play off one another with one cluster creating a kind of ironic
commentary or tension with another.
Sometimes imagery is literal; oftentimes, though, it is associated with figurative language, etc.
Everything said about images applies to experiencing the figurative language in a poem. You also
need to identify what figures of speech are used in a poem and should, as always, think about
why the poet might have chosen them. Why a metaphor instead of a simile?

III.

Poetic Form
Check out meter, rhyme, and rhythm. Look for patterns of expectations which are built up and
then destroyed or changed. What is usually most important in poetic form are the irregularities.
Notice what such irregularities emphasize.
Look for sound effects in the poem--alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia. Try to figure out how
these effects work with the imagery, connotations, etc.
Try to identify whether the poem uses any traditional forms. Is it a sonnet? Is it written in heroic
couplets? What does the choice of form say about what the poet is trying to do?

IV.

Tone
Who is the speaker of the poem? What kind of person does he or she seem to be? What does the
speaker's attitude towards his or her subject matter seem to be? What do you think is the poet's
motive for writing the poem?
Who is the speaker's implied audience? What is his or her attitude toward the audience? What is
he or she trying to do to the reader? How close is the speaker to the reader?
Does the tone change from stanza to stanza throughout the poem? Oftentimes a poem will not
have a plot or narrative line; instead, the movement of the poem may be from one emotion to
another or from one idea to another.

V.

Narration
What happens in the poem? If it is a series of events, be sure you understand their sequence from
stanza to stanza. Does the poem follow a chronological order? Are there flashbacks? Is there
foreshadowing? Distinguish the order of the plot from the order of the poem.

VI.

Allusions, Archetypes, and Symbols -- External References

Allusions are references to anything outside the poem an event, another work of art, a place, a
person which may not be specifically identified by the author but which he or she expects you to
know. Oftentimes footnotes explain these in a poem. Otherwise, note places where there are
allusions which you don't understand and ask about them. It is also possible to figure out

allusions by consulting reference books in the library such as encyclopedias, biographical

dictionaries, etc. (Or you can search for such things on the World Wide Web.)
Myths and Archetypes are allusions to plots or patterns of association common to a given culture
or religion. These may take the form of references to gods or goddesses; there are mythological
dictionaries in which you can look up references to Greek, Roman, Norse, and other myths.
Symbols are objects or actions which both represent themselves and at the same time have a
larger meaning a meaning which can be multiple or ambiguous. They are even more suggestive
than figures of speech or images and usually a good deal more complex. An image can be a
symbol, but not all images are. (Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.)
VII.

The Big Picture

Now that you've gone through the whole poem identifying this stuff comes the really hard part-making it all make sense. By the time you've read the poem for the sixth or tenth time, you
should be coming to some basic conclusions as to what it is about. Oftentimes the point will be a
complex thing--a tension of forces between potentially opposed moods or images or ideas. You
know that you are coming to an adequate explanation of a poem which you find that each aspect
of the analysis fits the general purpose you have discovered. A really good analysis covers the
whole poem, uniting all its parts.

Literature
Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artists metaphysical value-judgments.
Mans profound need of art lies in the fact that his cognitive faculty is conceptual, i.e., that he
acquires knowledge by means of abstractions, and needs the power to bring his widest
metaphysical abstractions into his immediate, perceptual awareness . . .
Literature re-creates reality by means of language . . . The relation of literature to mans
cognitive faculty is obvious: literature re-creates reality by means of words, i.e., concepts. But in
order to re-create reality, it is the sensory-perceptual level of mans awareness that literature has
to convey conceptually: the reality of concrete, individual men and events, of specific sights,
sounds, textures, etc.
All these arts are conceptual in essence, all are products of and addressed to the conceptual level
of mans consciousness, and they differ only in their means. Literature starts with concepts and
integrates them to perceptspainting, sculpture and architecture start with percepts and integrate
them to concepts. The ultimate psycho-epistemological function is the same: a process that
integrates mans forms of cognition, unifies his consciousness and clarifies his grasp of reality.
The most important principle of the esthetics of literature was formulated by Aristotle, who said
that fiction is of greater philosophical importance than history, because history represents things
as they are, while fiction represents them as they might be and ought to be.
This applies to all forms of literature and most particularly to a form that did not come into
existence until twenty-three centuries later: the novel.
A novel is a long, fictional story about human beings and the events of their lives. The four
essential attributes of a novel are: ThemePlotCharacterizationStyle.
These are attributes, not separable parts. They can be isolated conceptually for purposes of study,
but one must always remember that they are interrelated and that a novel is their sum. (If it is a
good novel, it is an indivisible sum.)
These four attributes pertain to all forms of literature, i.e., of fiction, with one exception. They
pertain to novels, plays, scenarios, librettos, short stories. The single exception is poems. A poem
does not have to tell a story; its basic attributes are theme and style.
A novel is the major literary formin respect to its scope, its inexhaustible potentiality, its
almost unlimited freedom (including the freedom from physical limitations of the kind that
restrict a stage play) and, most importantly, in respect to the fact that a novel is a purely literary
form of art which does not require the intermediary of the performing arts to achieve its ultimate
effect.
An artist recreates those aspects of reality which represent his fundamental view of man and of
existence. In forming a view of mans nature, a fundamental question one must answer is
whether man possesses the faculty of volitionbecause ones conclusions and evaluations in
regard to all the characteristics, requirements and actions of man depend on the answer.
Their opposite answers to this question constitute the respective basic premises of two broad
categories of art: Romanticism, which recognizes the existence of mans volitionand
Naturalism, which denies it.
Prior to the nineteenth century, literature presented man as a helpless being whose life and
actions were determined by forces beyond his control: either by fate and the gods, as in the
Greek tragedies, or by an innate weakness, a tragic flaw, as in the plays of Shakespeare.
Writers regarded man as metaphysically impotent; their basic premise was determinism. On that

premise, one could not project what might happen to men; one could only record what did
happenand chronicles were the appropriate literary form of such recording.
Man as a being who possesses the faculty of volition did not appear in literature until the
nineteenth century. The novel was his proper literary formand Romanticism was the great new
movement in art. Romanticism saw man as a being able to choose his values, to achieve his
goals, to control his own existence. The Romantic writers did not record the events that had
happened, but projected the events that should happen; they did not record the choices men had
made, but projected the choices men ought to make.
With the resurgence of mysticism and collectivism, in the later part of the nineteenth century, the
Romantic novel and the Romantic movement vanished gradually from the cultural scene.
Mans new enemy, in art, was Naturalism. Naturalism rejected the concept of volition and went
back to a view of man as a helpless creature determined by forces beyond his control; only now
the new ruler of mans destiny was held to be society. The Naturalists proclaimed that values
have no power and no place, neither in human life nor in literature, that writers must present men
as they are, which meant: must record whatever they happen to see around themthat they
must not pronounce value judgments nor project abstractions, but must content themselves with a
faithful transcription, a carbon copy, of any existing concretes.
[The] basic premises of Romanticism and Naturalism (the volition or anti-volition premise)
affect all the other aspects of a literary work, such as the choice of theme and the quality of the
style, but it is the nature of the story structurethe attribute of plot or plotlessnessthat
represents the most important difference between them and serves as the main distinguishing
characteristic for classifying a given work in one category or the other.
The theme of a novel can be conveyed only through the events of the plot, the events of the plot
depend on the characterization of the men who enact themand the characterization cannot be
achieved except through the events of the plot, and the plot cannot be constructed without a
theme.
This is the kind of integration required by the nature of a novel. And this is why a good novel is
an indivisible sum: every scene, sequence and passage of a good novel has to involve, contribute
to and advance all three of its major attributes: theme, plot, characterization.
A cardinal principle of good fiction [is]: the theme and the plot of a novel must be integratedas
thoroughly integrated as mind and body or thought and action in a rational view of man.
In art, and in literature, the end and the means, or the subject and the style, must be worthy of
each other. That which is not worth contemplating in life, is not worth re-creating in art.
The writer who develops a beautiful style, but has nothing to say, represents a kind of arrested
esthetic development; he is like a pianist who acquires a brilliant technique by playing fingerexercises, but never gives a concert.
The typical literary product of such writersand of their imitators, who possess no styleare
so-called mood-studies, popular among todays literati, which are little pieces conveying
nothing but a certain mood. Such pieces are not an art-form, they are merely finger-exercises that
never develop into art.
Now take a look at modern literature.
Manthe nature of man, the metaphysically significant, important, essential in manis now
represented by dipsomaniacs, drug addicts, sexual perverts, homicidal maniacs and psychotics.
The subjects of modern literature are such themes as: the hopeless love of a bearded lady for a
mongoloid pinhead in a circus side showor: the problem of a married couple whose child was

born with six fingers on her left handor: the tragedy of a gentle young man who just cant help
murdering strangers in the park, for kicks.
All this is still presented to us under the Naturalistic heading of a slice of life or real life
but the old slogans have worn thin. The obvious question, to which the heirs of statistical
Naturalism have no answer, is: if heroes and geniuses are not to be regarded as representative of
mankind, by reason of their numerical rarity, why are freaks and monsters to be regarded as
representative? Why are the problems of a bearded lady of greater universal significance than the
problems of a genius? Why is the soul of a murderer worth studying, but not the soul of a hero?
If you wonder what is the ultimate destination toward which modern philosophy and modern art
are leading you, you may observe its advance symptoms all around us. Observe that literature is
returning to the art form of the pre-industrial ages, to the chroniclethat fictionalized
biographies of real people, of politicians, baseball players or Chicago gangsters, are given
preference over works of imaginative fiction, in the theater, in the
Except for the exceptions, there is no literature (and no art) todayin the sense of a broad, vital
cultural movement and influence. There are only bewildered imitators with nothing to imitate
and charlatans who rise to split-second notoriety, as they always did in periods of cultural
collapse.
Some remnants of Romanticism may still be found in the popular mediabut in such a mangled,
disfigured form that they achieve the opposite of Romanticisms original purpose.

A SHORT STORY
A short story is a relatively brief fictional prose narrative, which may vary widely in length.
Edgar Allan Poe wrote that the short story should have unity, brevity, and singleness of effect. A
short story also could be read in one sitting, but that depends upon the reading ability of the
reader and the length and complexity of the short story.
As in a novel, the elements of plot, character, theme, and setting are interwoven. But, unlike the
novel, which may well ramble on for hundreds of pages, mixing plots, introducing and
eliminating characters, developing several themes, and roaming from one setting to another, the
short story does not have the space for doing so. Usually, the short story has one plot, one theme,
possibly one setting, and one major character.
Types of short story:
a. The plot of story: the plot story is a narration a telling of a series of events that has a
traditional pattern of structure. A conflict is identified at the beginning, the action builds until it
reaches a climax, and then the story either ends gradually tapers off to the end.
b. The action story: a type of plot story, the action story is dependent primarily upon what the
characters do, not upon deep development of characters or theme. Most of the action is physical,
and so typical examples are the television mystery or detective stories, cowboy or frontier
stories, and some types of science fiction.
c. The plotless story: in this type, there apparently is no action or very little action. The story
appears to be mostly the description of a character or the creation of a mood. While this may
seem like a useless type of story, in fact the author may have wanted to frustate the reader or
wanted not to come to a firm conclusion. The plotless story may well be more realistic than
any other type, for life cannot always be said to be organized according to a tight structure.

d. The episodic story: this type of short story, also referred to as the slic-of-life type, consists of
one main incident. What has happens before the incident may be told, hinted at, or not told at all.
What happens after the incident is left up to the reader, although sometimes the author make taht
clear. While the incident may not appear to be important, it may capture some aspect of life quite
well, and as an example, may reveal even more.
e. The character story: the character story has as its main purpose the revealing of something about
one main character. For that reason, there may be very little plot. The character may be involved
in only one episode, and the character may be the only character in the tale. At the end of the
story, the reader usually knows a good deal about that character.
f. The thematic story: in this type, the authors main purpose is to develop one particular theme.
One type of theme my attempt to reveal a great truth about life, such as humanity is innately
corrupt, or a simple statement about life. To develop the themes, there may be a heavy plot line
or there may be little. In any event the reader, leaves the story feeling that the author had
something meaningful to say.
g. The psychological story: sometimes the character story fits this categorywell. Typically, any
action in the story takes place within the character changes in feeling, states of mind, beliefs,
desires, drives, attitudes. One leaves such a story knowing a great deal about what the character
is like internally.
Sources:
http://petcaretips.net/peter-rabbit.html
http://www.just-pooh.com/story1.html
http://www.penguinreaders.com/pdf/downloads/par/level3/TN-TheIncredibleJourney.pdf
Elements of Fiction http://www.huntel.net/rsweetland/literature/genre/fiction/ficelmnts.html
http://en.situsbahasa.info/2011/11/intrinsic-elements-of-literary-prose.html
http://www.roanestate.edu/owl/ElementsLit.html
http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/conflict.html
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/courses/w
Prepared for English 200, Section 8, at the University of Mississippi
Copyright 1986 by Harry Binswanger. Introduction copyright 1986 by Leonard Peikoff. All
rights reserved. For information address New American Library.