SHORT STORY AND THE ELEMENTS OF A SHORT STORY

SHORT STORY
 A brief work of fiction where, usually, the main character faces a conflict that is worked out in the plot of
the story.
 Examples:
 Cinderella
 A Cheerful Dog
ELEMENTS OF A SHORT STORY
ELEMENTS OF A SHORT STORY
1. Character 4. Plot 7. Symbol
2. Conflict 5. Point of View
3. Setting 6. Theme
CHARACTER
CHARACTER
 A person in a story, poem, or play.
 The story will not make sense if there are no characters; it will not be a story then.

TYPES OF CHARACTER
1) Round
 Fully developed, has many different character traits.
2) Flat
 Stereotyped, one-dimensional, few traits character.
3) Static
 Does not change.

4) Dynamic
 Changes as a result of the story’s events.
5) Protagonist
 Main character of the story that changes.
 Death is not a change.
 The most important character.
 Changes and grows because of experiences in the story.
6) Antagonist
 A major character who opposes the protagonist.
 Types of Antagonist
1. People
2. Nature
3. Society
7) Primary Character
 The main character in literature.
 There can be one or even a couple of primary characters in a novel.
8) Secondary Character
 Play a role in the development of the story and have a purpose, but its role is smaller than the major
characters.
Purposes of Secondary Character
1. Give background information.
2. Showcase the main character’s personality through their interactions.
3. Help the character solve the conflict.
CHARACTERIZATION
 How the author develops the characters, especially the main character.
 This is done through:
 What the character does or says.
 What others say of to the characters.
 Author’s word choice in descriptive passages.
 Attitude or how the character is performing.
 How a specific character acts in the short story.
Direct Characterization
 The author directly states what the character’s personality is like.

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  Example: Cruel, Kind
Indirect Characterization
 Showing a character’s personality through his/her actions, thoughts, feelings, words, appearance, or
other character’s observations or reactions.

CONFLICT
CONFLICT
 A struggle between two opposing forces.

Types of Conflict
1) Internal
 Takes place in a character’s own mind.
 Man Vs. Himself/Herself

2) External
 A character struggles against an outside force.
 Under External Conflict are the following:
 Man vs. Man
 Man vs. Nature
 Man vs. Technology, Progress
 Man vs. Society
 Man vs. Supernatural
 Example: The main character has a conflict with the antagonist.

SETTING
SETTING
 The time and place of the story’s action.

PLOT
PLOT
 Series of related events that make up a story

Exposition
 Section that introduces characters, the setting, and conflicts.

Rising Action
 Consists of a series of complications.
 These occur when the main characters take action to resolve their problems and are met with further
problems such as:
 Fear
 Hostility
 Threatening Situation

Climax
 The turning point in the story: the high point of interest and suspense.
 Does not include the death of the main character.

Falling Action
 All events following the climax or turning point in the story.
 These events are a result of the action taken at the climax.

Resolution
 Denouement

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  The end of the central conflict: it shows how the situation turns out and ties up loose ends.
POINT OF VIEW
POINT OF VIEW
 Vantage point from which the writer tells the story.

ANGLES OF NARRATION
1) First Person
 One of the characters is actually telling the story using the pronoun “I”

2) Third Person
 Centers on one character’s thoughts and actions.

3) Omniscient
 All-knowing Narrator
 Can focus on the thoughts of any actions of any and all characters.

THEME
THEME
 The central message or insight into life revealed through a literary work.
 The “main idea” of the story.

SYMBOL
SYMBOL
 An object, person, or event that functions as itself, but also stands for something more than itself.
 Example:
 Scales function is to weigh things, but they are also a symbol of our justice system.

FLASHBACK AND FORESHADOWING

Flashback
 The present scene in the story is interrupted to flash backward and tell what happened in an earlier
time.
 Past

Foreshadowing
 Clues the writer puts in the story to give the reader a hint of what is to come.
 Future
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
 It includes the following:
1. Simile
2. Metaphor
3. Personification
4. Irony
5. Allusion
6. Hyperbole
7. Imagery
1) Simile
 Comparing two unlike things using:
 “Like”
 “Or
 “As”
 Ex. “I wandered lonely as a cloud.”

2) Metaphor
 Comparing two unlike things.
 However, it does not use “Like” or “As”
 Ex. “Life is a roller coaster; it has lots of ups and downs.”

3) Personification
 Giving human qualities to non-human things.
 Ex. “The wind howled.”

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4) Irony
 A contrast between expectation and reality.

TYPES OF IRONY
1. Verbal Irony
 Saying one thing but meaning something completely different.
 Ex. Calling a clumsy basketball player “Michael Jordan”

2. Situational Irony
 A contradiction between what we expect to happen and what really does happen.

3. Dramatic Irony
 Occurs when the reader knows something important that the characters in the story do not
know.

5) Allusion
 Reference to a statement, person, a place, or events from:
 Literature
 History
 Religion
 Mythology
 Politics
 Sports

6) Hyperbole
 Exaggerated statement used for emphasis.

7) Imagery
 Language that appeals to the senses.
 Senses are:
 Touch
 Taste
 Sight
 Sound
 Smell
 Ex. Creating a picture in the readers mind through description

SUSPENSE
 Uncertainty or anxiety the reader feels about what is going to happen next in a story.

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