ELEMENTS OF SHORT STORY

Short story is the shortest form of novel which comes before novelette. A short story can be written in a few
words. It may be written in a few or a few paragraphs. It can be written in less than 20,000 words. It has a
compact structure with a few characters. Like novels, the story is imaginary, but real in the actual life of
people.

PLOT
Plot is defined in literature as a sequence of events that takes place in a short story, novel, novelette, drama
and narrative poem. Plot discusses what the characters do, say, or how they feel about what takes place in a
story. Plot may describe a character, place, a thing or explain an idea, plot is the happening of action in a
story. It is a series of incidents that are related to one another in a story. It is a step-by-step working out of
events or happening in which each step takes us through perception close to unrevealing of action. Plot is the
arrangement of incidents. In short, plot is the story telling. It is the framework of fiction upon which the
story is built.

A plot must be developed to bear a relationship with the character. It must be developed to make sure to fit
the needs of the character. The conflicts and characters are introduced, and they perform respectively
through the plot. Plot is the story itself. For example, the step-by-step explanation in The Murder in the
Cassava Patch by Bia T. Moore is the plot because the events in this story explain what Moore sees in his
mind that are happening in the story from beginning to end to describe places, things, events and persons in
the story. At times the characters speak while at another time the writer explains about the characters.

Plot creates some curiosity in the reader’s mind as to what is going to happen to the character, place or the
concept discussed in the story. Sometimes curiosity makes the reader wonder about why the events are
unfolding, and the way they are considering the situation of the characters, places and ideas in the story. The
curiosity keeps the reader going through the story in an attempt to try to know how situations or
complications are resolved, and what happens to the character that these situations are resolved.

Plot may be very simple or very complicated. At times there are more than one plot in one story. Whether
the story is simple or complicated, the reader must not only identify events, their order, and their importance.

Time clues in the story such as before, after, until, next, during, finally,or usually help the reader to follow
the action of the story. Sometimes the reader may not only identify events and actions that are directly stated
in the story; also it must be able to interpret an event that is suggested.

There are four elements of the plot as they are stated in the following passages:

a. EXPOSITION: It gives the audience or reader information about earlier events, the present
situation, or the characters. Exposition tells who the characters are, and it introduces the conflicts of
the characters. It introduces the action generally and the information that is essential to the
understanding of the situation.
b. COMPLICATION: At this point, the characters in the story seek to resolve their conflicts.
Complications arise as the characters employ different approaches and steps in solving their
conflicts. It is at this point that the main character takes some actions to resolve the conflict but
meets more problems. For instance, Gortokai loves Tene, but Tene listens to her sister Karma until
she doesn't like to love him. He decides to murder Tene in the cassava patch. He hides in the farm
 where Tene goes to harvest cassava roots. There he murders Tene; this does not end the conflict.
Gortor Kai goes to jail at the South Beach Prison Camp. This is what happens in Murder in the
Cassava Patch. The action in this story includes hostility, fear, or new action with a new decision.
c. CLIMAX: This is the time the intensity of the action rises to a higher point. This is the acting or
suspenseful event when the outcome of the conflict is imminent. The conflict has reached a higher
point while it cannot pass there any longer. All the activities have taken place. The characters and
setting are known. The major plot has been told. At this time the reader wants to know what is next
in the story.
d. RESOLUTION /DENOUNCEMENT: At this point in the story, the conflict ends, and the
outcome of the action becomes clear to know. The problems are also resolved, and the story ends.
The plot of the story takes the following patterns:

1. Introduction: This is the beginning of the story where the characters are introduced.

2. Rising Action: It becomes clear at this time that the characters face problems. The conflict unfolds.
3. The Highest Turning Point in the Story: this stage involves discovery, decision, or events. Here
the major conflicts are revealed.
4. Falling Action: The story draws to a close. The major events in the story are already being told.
5. Resolution: This is the total end of the story; the plot has done its work. Whatever would have been
stated is stated.

CONFLICT
Conflict is the struggle between two opposing forces: against person, person against nature, nature against
nature, person against himself, nature against itself, and so forth in a story. Person against himself is an
internal conflict because the person has problems with himself/herself. For example, a person in a story may
blame himself for not taking a wife from \kinsman, and hence, may decide not to marry in his life because of
the error that he feels that he made in life. Conflict is said to be inevitable because where there are two or
more people interacting, there is likely to be conflict. Conflict springs from different sources, and therefore,
must be handled differently.

The assumption about conflict is that society is a collection of competing interest groups or individuals, each
with its own goal and agenda. These individuals struggle with one another to obtain the scarce social
resources that are considered valuable. These resources could be power, position, prestige, marriage or
dating partners, education, beauty, wealth, jewelry, farm, cattle, children, and so forth. Conflict exists when
one person or group of persons benefits from what a society has for the people. In protection of the
unfortunate ones whose legitimate claims are denied, find themselves in conflict with the fortunate ones in
order for their right to be attended to.

Some of the factors that lead groups or individuals into conflict are as follow:

1. Historical discrimination based on ethnic, social, religious or geographical factors.

2. Inequalities in access and ownership of resources.
3. Poverty rate
4. Illegitimate governance, etc.
There are four types of conflict based on nature and setting:
 1. Internal Conflict: This conflict occurs within the mind of a main character. The individual
struggles with himself/herself with social, political, economic or religious problems as he/she tries to
seek a solution to his/her problems by himself/herself.
2. External Conflict: This conflict exists between a main character and minor or another character, or
between a character and outside character and or outside forces or character. A conflict may be
between individuals or groups. These opposing groups struggle for a solution. One person or group
wants to be the winner in a struggle. The winner generally is known as the hero.
3. Positive or Functional Conflict: This type of conflict allows reasoning that will help to embrace
moral practice and improve decision-making. The resolution of such conflict is not destructive. The
main character takes a positive decision to improve the decision-making.
4. Negative or Dysfunctional Conflict: This conflict causes total waste, leading the parties
extensive engagement in their useful time in vain. In this case, there is no sense of direction in their
struggle. There are advantages and disadvantages among individuals or groups that are similar in
nature to each other as seen below.

A. ADVANTAGE

1. Some conflicts revitalize extent norms or contribute to emergence of new norms.

2. Other conflicts help to establish unity or re-establish unity and cohesion where it has been
threatened by hostile and antagonistic feeling among members
3. Some conflicts prevent achievement of progress of those parties involved directly or
indirectly.

B. DISADVANTAGE
1. Avoid conflict and pretend as if it does not exist.
2. Judicial power could be used to settle conflict.
3. Play delaying tactics in decision-making and appeal to reason in order to suppress that
outward sign of conflict, especially for conflict that lasts, and even get worse at later time.

CHARACTER

A character in a story is a person, animal, or thing that is taking part in the action of a literary work(story).
The different kinds of characters in the story are discussed in the following passages.

1. Major Character: The character that plays an important role in a story.

2. Minor Character: The character that does not play an important role in a story

3. Protagonist: A character that plays the central role in the story. This character can be considered
as the major character.

4. Antagonist: A character that opposes the protagonist. He could become a hero in the story

5. Complex Character: A round character that shows many different traits to include faults as well
as virtues (Praise worthy; worthy; moral GOODNESS OF Character and behavior). Character is
capable of changing in activities, decision, etc.
 6. Flat Character: This character is hardly capable of changing in activities or decisions. This
character may only have one or two traits.

7. Dynamic Character: The character that develops and grows, and changes during the course of the
story.

8. Static Character: This character does not change its traits. It remains what it is from start to finish
of the story. There is no change in activities, attitudes, belief, etc.

CHARACTERIZATION

This is the act of creating character. The writer uses direct characterization when e/she states a character’s
traits explicitly. Indirect characterization occurs when the writer reveals a character’s trait by what the
character says, does or how he/she feels and thinks. Indirect characterization is done by means of description
of the character’s appearance, statements, thoughts, or actions. The writer mostly depends on the reader to
infer a character’s traits from the clues provided in the reading. You draw conclusions based on what the
writer has told you about the actions, thoughts, works, and appearances of the character.

SETTING/ATMOSPHERE
Setting / atmosphere is the time and place and the atmosphere in a story, that events in the story take place.
Setting makes one to picture a story in time and space. Setting includes landscape and buildings, seasons,
physical outlook, character’s wearing, and a wider culture, working conditions and traditions within which
conflicts and actions occur.

Setting reveals to the reader a great deal about the behavior of the characters in the story (novel, short story
or poetry). It is the description of the background that generates enjoyment in readers in a literary work and
supplies items with adventures.

If the language is dull in dealing with setting, readers may not be motivated to continue the journey of
reading a piece of literary work. Setting does not necessarily mean physical arrangement of a place or time
alone. It involves one’s impressions about a specific activity. It is like teasing bait that attracts a writer/poet
to take initiative of displaying setting in a way that constraints the reader to develop feeling, happiness, love,
lamentation, sympathy, empathy or anger against a particular person, article or idea at the end of the pattern
of the direction used to speak about the setting.

Atmosphere refers to the condition of a place over a period of time in a story. Writer uses settings to create
an atmosphere or mood such as good, peaceful, dangerous, charming, and so forth. Atmosphere affects the
way we feel or think about a character in a story. Some atmosphere in a story make the reader to feel fear,
uneasiness (e.g. lonely night in a terrible forest, a silent morning, a wander, etc.) while other atmosphere
make the reader to feel happy (e.g. a song of joy, a colorful garden, a charming lady, a handsome young man
etc.). Atmosphere in a story raises emotions of an author or reader, and the natural surrounding of particular
landscape (lake, valley, hill, sandy area, etc.), shy, weather, historical site, ocean view, etc. may influence the
thoughts and sentiments of the authors or readers to have interest in a fictional story.

Setting and atmosphere are inseparable in fiction. They both raise the emotions of writers and readers.
Setting provides place and time while the atmosphere describes the mood that the setting has revealed. There
can be no atmosphere where there is no setting. Setting provides the existing reality of place and time, and
the atmosphere reveals the conditions of the time and place in a fictional story.
THEME

Theme of a story is not the same as that of a moral lesson of a story. The moral lesson of a story is a
practical bit of advice about the conduct of our lives. The theme of a story reveals human experience.
Theme is an explanation of important ideas about human life. The theme expresses the story underlying
ideas. This is the central idea of the story. A theme is always a statement that expresses something in at least
one sentence. The truth is often one that the writer has discovered from experience or perhaps in the action
of writing.

For example, in certain circumstances, it is a mistake to marry for the sake of love. In this case, the writer
expresses circumstance. In a story, the writer lets the characters act the idea out for the reader to read. The
writer hopes that we will feel the character’s experience so strongly that the truth will be revealed to the
readers.
The theme is usually invisible and unstated. It can be the forceful element of the story. A powerful theme
can be the reason that a story gets our hearts and lingers in our mind.

The theme of a story can be at the beginning, middle or the end of a literary work. In some stories, the theme
is implied so that the reader will have to find his or her own imagination to understand the idea that the
writer is presenting. One may be able to draw or learn a lesson and apply it in his/her own life or reflect on
his/her own environment. Sometimes the readers state the theme for themselves after they have realized
what has happened in the story, and thought abut the characters.

A short story may have one theme while a long novel or drama may have several themes, which may work
together. The statement of a theme may not be exciting. The statement may mostly sum up the idea to our
conscious mind about what the story deeply feels. Discovering and stating the theme of a story is sometimes
difficult.

QUALITIES OF THE THEME

1. Clarity: The theme should be clear in wording. It should not be a mere listing of the writer’s point
from the body of the story to cover every aspect of the story.
2. Accuracy: The theme should be an accurate formulation of the content or purpose of the story. If
one is to discuss the values of the theme, the one must discuss these values to suit and agree with the
purpose of the story.

3. Narrowness: The theme should be narrowed until it can be handled within a time limit.

4. Brevity: The theme should be of a meaningful size approximately two to seven words with not
more than three to four strong words. One-word theme is too general in scope while lengthy theme is
burdensome both to the writers and the readers.

5. Suitability: A theme should be phrased in terms appropriate and suitable for public use.
CONCLUSION

The five elements (plot, conflict, character, setting/atmosphere and Theme) of the short story or novel are
inseparable. Each of these elements depends on another element in order to complete its function. For
example, there can be on plot if there is no conflict. Conflict must be developed in order or sequence of
events to take place in a story. Also, characters must be created so that they can be the actors to have the
struggle to oppose between or among themselves in the story.

Therefore, the writer must be able to create all these five elements so that the story will be well told and
vividly understood, and appreciated by the readers. Any story that is well written with well developed
elements and the story well told in systematic sequence may more likely motivate the readers to want to
continue to read until the entire story is read and completed. As such, the reader may be able to get the
education, entertainment and information that he/she needs from the story.

EXAMPLE OF A SHORT STORY

Crossing Through the Cross Fire

“Advance to be recognized,” a dirty stink nasty rebel commended Mulbah and the twenty-six year old men
and women, young men and women, and babies whom he was fleeing with them from the rebel attack on
their town. The rebels stood like black ants hill at the savanna rope gare that they made to kill anyone they
would or to collect things from the escapees. There were more than twenty rebels at this gate who tied old
red dirty clothes on their heads as the identity of the group they belonged to in the region. These rebels were
dirty like coal burners and stink like rotten crabs. They had not taken bath for more than ten months, for
bathing was their taboo.

It was at this gate that the left foot-crippled rebel walked to Mulbah and commanded, “I say, advance to be
recognized.”

The rebel who was called Death Squad ran to the people and commended, “open all your load or I spray you
with my RPG. “You know my name?”

“No Sir! Mulbah answered.

“My name is Death Squad! No one plays with me. Or else, I will do your work before Day Break!”

The people stood together under a plum tree like when a group of wet bush hogs gather under a palm tree in
a forest to watch a hunter come toward them with a single barrel gun, trying to find them for a game.

“ I am not happy with you. That you can bring the enemy. Your enemy.”
“We are not enemies-o.” Mulbah said.
Shout your mouth! I don’t want to talk. You just open the load.”

While the people were opening their bags, the deformed rebel walked straight to Mulbah and pointed his
loaded gun at him and said, “Climb this cola tree.”

Mulbah asked, “Where is the tree?”

“Yieh the tree.” The rebel directed.

The two men repeated this discussion for more than five minutes. Mulbah was tired of the talk and said, “I
am going to climb the tree.”

After Mulbah took a few steps toward the cola tree, a contracted gambian rebel came to the scene and asked,
“What are you doing to the papi?”

Mulbah said, “He said I must climb this cola tree.”

The Gambian rebel asked the Liberian rebel, “Can you tell your pa to climb a cola tree?” The Gambian
looked into the cola tree and saw a naked man who was attacked by powerful black tree ants that were biting
him all over his body. The ants got into his pants and he dared to kill a single of them. “What is the man
doing in the cola tree?” The Gambian asked.

The rebel who told the man to climb the tree did not say a word. As a result, the gambia released, “Come
down from the tree.”

The Gambian rebel continued his journey, and Mulbah and his people too left the scene, but the rebels had
already taken all their food and other belongings.

They walked for twelve hours that day and reached the next town where Mary was killed for allegedly being
a spy. Of course this is another complete chapter.