Introduction to Literature

First lecture.
- Plot is the most important element of a good story. It is the sequence of events
inside a story which affects other events.
- Plots can vary from simple structures to complexes.
- This term “plot” is similar in meaning to the term storyline.
- The English novelist E.M. Forster described plot as the cause and effect
relationship between events in a story.
- According to Forster "The boy died and then the father died", is a story, while "The
boy died and then the father died of grief" is a plot.
- A plot is the "why" for the things that happen in the story.
- The plot draws the reader into the character's life and helps the reader understand
the choices that the characters make.
- A story orders events from beginning to end.
- A plot is events that have a beginning, a middle and an end.
- Plot grows out of the characters, the author is always in control of what happens.
- A plot usually involves one or more conflicts, which are problems between
characters in a story that need to be solved, such conflicts often contain the most
excitement and suspense.
- We have five major kinds of conflicts:
1. Person vs. nature "external conflicts"
2. Person vs. fate "external conflicts"
3. Person vs. person "external conflicts"
4. Person vs. society "external conflicts"
5. Person vs. himself/herself “internal conflict"
- The first four kinds are called "external conflicts"
while the last is "internal conflict" ‫إذا سأل عن الخمس أنواع الزم نكتب معها هذي السطرين‬
- Protagonist: is the main or major, or central or leader character in the conflict.
The "movement" towards a solution and the person who tries to solve this conflict
or problem is called protagonist.
- The technical term "protagonist" is preferable to the term "hero" because it is less
ambiguous. Protagonist is the central character that we follow with interest,
whether he or she be good or bad. A "hero " or "heroine" may be a person of
heroic qualities or the main character, heroic or unheroic.
- The forces against protagonist, whether persons, things or traits of his own
character, are the antagonists .
- Suspense: to keep the readers’ attention, authors need to develop the conflict
logically. Suspense is created whenever there’s something the reader wants to
know and so, he reads to find the answers to his questions.
- The author can create suspense in five main ways:
1. By withholding information from readers. The author knows the entire story
and events but readers don’t.
2. By withholding information from the main characters. Here, the readers and
even the characters don’t know what will happen.
3. By having the characters withhold information from the readers and from one
another. Here, also, some specific characters know the events and don’t tell the
other characters or readers, this creates suspense.
4. Introducing an element of mystery. This is a common way for achieving
suspense.
5. To place the protagonist in a dilemma. Here, the protagonist is in a situation in
which a difficult choice has to be made between two things that are
undesirable.
- A good story should have its pleasure because it is well-written or because the
characters are interesting to live with. Thus, one can re-read it again.
END of first lecture.

Second lecture.
- Surprise: It is a sudden feeling of wonder from unexpected thing. (Her beauty
surprised me). Some readers demand that a story should have a happy ending: the
protagonist must solve his problems, defeat the bad people, win the girl and so on.
:‫ممكن يسأل عنه باالختبار‬
Write short notes about surprise / Discuss surprise / Illustrate surprise. ‫يكون جوابه كل الكالم اللي فوق‬
Surprise is a sudden feeling of wonder, to what extent do you agree? ‫جوابه يكون تكملت الباقي‬
What does it mean by saying happy ending?‫ جوابه الكالم اللي بعد‬a happy ending

- How many kinds of ending are there? Three

1. Happy ending
2. Unhappy ending
3. Indeterminate ending

- Here are two reasons that justify the unhappy ending.

What are the two reasons that justify the unhappy ending? / To what extent do you agree?
1. First; many situations in life have unhappy endings; therefore, fiction is a
part of life, it must present defeat as well as triumph. And so, we need to
understand and expect defeat as well as victory.
2. Second; writers wish us to ponder life. The unhappy ending may make us to
think a lot of the results, that's we can evaluate life.
- Indeterminate ending: In this kind, we have no definitive conclusion. The story is
more effective without a resolution.
- Artistic unity: It is the condition of a successful literary work when all its elements
work together for the achievement of its central aim. Nothing is included that is
not important to the main aim, nothing is omitted that is essential to it, and the
parts are arranged in good order for achieving this purpose.
- Chance: It cannot be away from fiction or life. But if the author uses an improbable
chance in a story, the story loses its sense of conviction.
- Climax: The critical point at which the central character is about to win or lose
everything.
- Fallen action: Occurs right after the climax when the main problem of the story
resolves. It is one of the elements of the plot of the story.
END of second lecture.

Third lecture.
- “The Japanese Quince” It is a short story written by John Galsworthy.
What kind of fiction is “The Japanese Quince”? It is a short story.
Who is the author of it? John Galsworthy.
What is the name of the main character? Mr. Nilson / Who is Mr. Nilson? The main character.
What is the difference between John Galsworthy and Mr. Nilson? The writer of.. / The main..
Who is Mr. Tandram? He is the neighbor of Mr.Nilson./What is the name of Mr.Nilson neighbour?
‫بكتابة األسماء الزم يكون كل حرف صحيح أو ينقص‬
- This short story is about a man who seems to be disconnected from the world
outside his home. To his surprise, one day, Mr. Nilson - a man who is famous in the
city - feels very unusual as he looks out of the window, and he is not sure what the
cause might be.
- He goes out for a walk and he feels a pain in his throat. While Nilson feels that he
looks healthy, it is suggested that these minor illnesses reflect his failure to
appreciate the physical world around him.
- He is so far from nature, that the birds singing and the Japanese quince tree throw
him off base.
- Nilson could not connect with other things around him. He speaks stiltedly to his
neighbour Mr. Tandram, who seems rather nervous to be speaking to Nilson. Thus,
Mr. Tandram is like Mr. Nilson. Nilson sees the other man Tandram as an exact
caricature of himself.
- In a moment of self-recognition, Nilson regards Tandram as a little foolish, "as if he
had seen himself ”
What does Nilson regard Tandram in a moment of self-recognition?... a little foolish, "as if he had
seen himself”. / When does Nilson regard Tandram as a foolish? in a moment of self-recognition.
- Quickly, Nilson goes inside to get away from the outside world hiding in his house.
He is no closer to understand what nature and his body are trying to tell him; that
life is waiting to be embraced just outside his door.
- Mr Nilson feels alienation. He is alienated from both nature and humankind.
- Character is an important element of fiction. Without a central character, there is
no story. The goal of the fiction is to create characters that are likeable and
memorable .
- *Plot is considered as apart of character.
Reading for character is more difficult than reading for plot
Why? Because character is much more complex and ambiguous.
Which one is more difficult and why?

END of third lecture.

Fourth lecture.
- Escapist/Escape fiction: is fiction which provides a psychological escape from
thoughts of everyday life by immersing the reader in exotic situations or activities.
The focus here is to entertain the readers.
- Limited readers demand that the main character should be an attractive one,
he/she must be decent, good-hearted, and good looking.
- The main character must be someone as they imagine or as they would like to be. If
the hero or heroine has vices, these vices must be such as the readers themselves
would not mind .
Write short notes explaining the Escape fiction. / illustrate, explain… ‫نكتب كل المالحظات بالضبط‬
The main character must be someone as they imagine, this is in? escape fiction.
Escape fiction provides a? psychological escape.

- Interpretive Fiction: It refers to fiction that conveys a moral lesson to illustrate one
or more practical truths or moral principles. It is used to understand life situations
as they are.
- In this type of fiction characters are unsympathetic. Therefore, we can know
people in this kind of fiction more than we can know them in real life. And also, we
can understand people in real life easily.
we can know people in this kind of fiction more than we can know them in real life, this is related
to? Interpretive Fiction.
Write short notes explaining the Interpretive fiction. / illustrate, explain…‫نكتب كل المالحظات بالضبط‬
Compare Interpretive fiction and Escape fiction. ‫نكتب كل المالحظات لالثنين‬

- How do authors present characters? ‫إذا جاء فراغات الزم اإلمالء يكون صح‬
Authors present their characters either directly or indirectly.
- Direct presentation: Authors give or offer analysis of what the characters are like,
or have someone else in the story tells us what they are like.
- Indirect presentation: Authors show us the characters in action; we discover
characters from what they think or say or do .
- The method of direct presentation has the advantages of being clear and direct.
The direct method should be supported by the indirect.
A story is successful when the characters are dramatized - shown speaking and
acting, as in drama, successful writers rely mainly on indirect presentation.
END of fourth lecture

Fifth lecture
- Characterization observes three principles. (characters may be dramatized
according to three principles ) What are they?
1. Consistent
2. Motivated
3. Plausible
- Consistent: The characters are consistent in their behavior; they don't behave one
way on one occasion and a different way on another unless there is a clear reason
for the change.
- Motivated: The characters are motivated in what they do and when there is any
change in their behavior, we must be able to understand the reasons for what they
do immediately or by the end of the story .
- Plausible: Here, the characters are plausible or lifelike. Characters must be neither
completely good nor evil. We must feel that these characters have come from the
author's experience, and they appear in the normal course of events .

- Types (kinds) of characters are two, what are they?

1. Flat characters
2. Round characters
- A flat character ( minor - stock ): a special kind of flat character is the stock
character. Here, character is a minor character in the story. This type of character
doesn't change as the story progresses .
- A round character ( dynamic - static – developing ): it, on the other hand, must
deal with conflict in the story and is change by it. Round characters are all the
major characters of the story including the hero and villain. This kind of character
grows and develops as the story advances.

- The change of characters must meet three conditions. What are they, how does a
change of characters occur?
1. The change must be within the possibilities of the character who makes it.
2. It must be motivated by the circumstances in which the character is placed.
3. It must be allowed through enough time.
 "Miss Brill"
- This is a short story written by Katherine Mansfield.
- In this short story, Miss Brill is the main character. She is a school teacher from
England who is in France, a lonely and old woman who thinks she is in a play and is
the butt of people's jokes.
- Everyone in the story contact with one another, but Miss Brill never speaks to
anyone in the story.
- She only observes, she has the ability to enjoy a simple world of her creation. She is
a single woman. She lives alone without a cat or bird.
What kind of fiction is Miss Brill? / Who is the writer? / Who is the main character? / What is Miss
Brill job? / Where did she come from? / Where is she now? / How does she lived? She lived alone..
Explain, discuss,…. ‫نكتب كل شيء عن القصة‬

- Theme: it is the main idea of the story. It is an important idea that the fiction writer
wants to convey the readers. The theme may be stated or implied by the story. The
theme of a story may be stated very briefly or at greater length.
- With a simple story, writers may sum up the theme in a single sentence. With a
more complex story, we can state the theme in a single sentence, but we may feel
that a paragraph is needed to state it adequately.
END of fifth lecture

Sixth lecture
- The theme in the story should be implied in the story. Why ?
Sometimes the theme of a story is stated either by the author or by one of the
characters. More often, however, the theme is implied. Why?
story writers are not essayists or philosophers.
- Their (the writers) first business is to reveal life, not to comment on it. Thus, the
story should express its own meaning, without pointing it out by writers.
- Writers must be away from interrupting the story or making remarks about it.
Explaining it means spoiling a story for readers.
- Writers should not spoil a story by explaining. Good writers do not write a story for
the only purpose of "illustrating" a theme.
- Discovering and stating the theme of a story is often a very important task. The
attempt to state a theme will reveal to us aspects of a story that we don't notice
before and lead to more understanding. The ability to state theme, is a test of our
understanding of a story.

“Theme" and "moral or lesson"

- Some readers-especially student readers-look for a "moral" or “lesson" in
everything they read. They consider "theme" and “moral" to be interchangeable.
- Sometimes the words are interchangeable. The critical term "theme" is preferable
than “moral" for two reasons: Why?
1. It assures the fact that a story is not a sermon; a story's main aim is
enjoyment.
2. The aim of story writers is to give us a greater awareness and a greater
understanding of life, not moral rules for life. Readers should not ask what
does this story teach? but better what does this story reveal?
END of sixth lecture

Seventh lecture
The themes of commercial stories
- The themes of such stories are widely accepted though the themes of these kinds
of stories may or may not be supported by the life around us.
- They represent life as we would like it to be, not always as it is.
Nevertheless, the story cannot be without value to us. There is value in knowing
what the world looks like to others.
- Good readers, therefore, will not reject a story because they reject its theme. They
can enjoy any story though they disagree with its theme.

- We have four methods to discover the theme in a story, We can discover the
theme by:
1. Asking in what way the main character has changed in the course of the story.
2. What the character has learned before its end.
3. We have to explore the nature of conflict.
4. Sometimes the title provides an important clue to the theme.
END of seventh lecture

Eighth lecture
We should keep in mind "take care/understand" dealing with the theme the
following principles (rules)
There are Six (some) principles dealing with the theme.
Discuss What are the principles should be in mind dealing with the theme?
What are the rules should be in mind dealing with the theme?

1. Theme must be a statement about the subject.

2. The theme must be stated as a generalization about life. In stating theme, we
don't use the names of the characters or refer to places or events, as these are
not general statements.
3. We must be careful not to make the generalization longer than is justified by the
terms of the story.
 4. Theme is the central and unifying concept of a story. Thus, the theme must exist
inside, not outside, the story. It must be based on the data of the story itself, not
from our own experience.
5. There is no one way of stating the theme of a story. The theme may be stated in
more than one way.
6. We should avoid any statement that reduces the theme to some familiar saying
that we have heard all our lives.
END of eighth lecture

Ninth lecture
Page 376, Short story

Gooseberries
- It is a short story.
- It is written by Anton Chekhov.
- It is a story within a story.
- The narrative switches from the third-person to the first-person when Ivan Ivanych
begins to tell the story of his brother Nikolay for many paragraphs, the story is
taken over by this story within a story.
Who are the main characters? Ivan Ivanych and Nikolay.

Here, we have some of the themes:

1- Selfishness
- The two brothers reflect selfishness.
- They look out for number one; Ivan lives the good life in his good home and
beautiful servant. Nikolay spends his life achieving success and richness. He marries
an old, ugly woman not for love but for money.
2- Happiness
- The short story shows happiness through the brothers, Nikolay has all the markers
of happiness. He is rich, fat and satisfied.
- Happiness could mean many things to different people, depending on one's beliefs
and values.

Chapter Five
Point of view
- Point of view refers to: who is telling or narrating a story.
- Writers use point of view to express the personal emotions of either themselves or
their characters.

- The point of view of a story is how the writer wants to convey the experience to
the reader.
- There are four major kinds of point of view:
1. Omniscient (Third person).
2. Limited omniscient. (Third person).
3. First person.
4. Objective.

1- Omniscient (Third person).

- In the omniscient point of view, the story is told by a narrator using “he", "she" or
"it" (using the third person) whose knowledge and rights are unlimited.
- He is free to go anywhere he likes, to look inside the minds and hearts of his
characters and tell us what they are thinking or feeling.
- He can interpret their behavior and can comment if he wishes.
- He knows all. He can tell us as much or as little as he wants.
END of ninth lecture

Tenth lecture
2- Limited omniscient (Third person)
- Here, the author tells the story from the point of view of one character in the story.
- The chosen character may be either a major or a minor character.
- The author places himself near or close to this character and looks at the events of
the story through this character's eyes and mind.
- He moves both inside and outside this character.
- He tells us what this character sees, hears, thinks and feels.
- He interprets the character's thoughts and behavior.
- He knows everything about this character- more than the character knows about
himself- but he shows no knowledge of other characters, except for the chosen
character knows.
Limited omniscient point of view is called second person? Fulse
In Limited omniscient point of view the chosen character must be a major character? Fulse

3- First person P139

- Here, the story is told by a narrator who is a character of the story.
- The author disappears into one of the characters.
- The character may be either a major or a minor character, protagonist or observer.
- The speaker may use "I" or "We". The author has no chance to direct interpretation
but he can indirectly.

4- Objective (second person)

- The narrator disappears into a kind of roving sound camera.
- This camera can go anywhere but can record only what is seen and heard.
- It can not comment, interpret, or enter a character's mind (sometimes called
dramatic point of view) The narrator refers to at least one character directly as
"you", suggesting that the reader is a character within the story.
- The reader sees and hears what the characters do and say and can reach and
understand what they feel. The author is not there to explain.
The narrator in objective point of view is a kind of roving sound? camera. (choose)
Which kind of points of view is called dramatic point of view? Objective.

Hills Like White Elephants P166

- It is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway.
- It tells the story of a man and a woman drinking beer while they wait a train at a
train station.
- The man is trying to convince the woman to get an abortion, but the woman is
confused about it.
- The story takes its tension from their terse barbed dialogue.
- It is told of the objective point of view.
- The author brings the reader deeper into the conversation of the main characters
because the reader must try to understand the conversation without any help from
the narrator.
- In this short story, the author forces the reader to pay attention to the
conversation itself, not on the people having it.
How is this short story told?/What is the point of view of this story? It is told of the objective point of view.
Explain this short story. ‫نكتب كل شيء‬
Who is the writer? / What type of fiction is it? / The woman and the man were waiting at? Train station
(choose) / This short story is between a man and his friend. Fulse it is between a man and a woman.

The End of Tenth lecture

Eleventh lecture

Chapter Six
Symbol and Irony
- Literary symbol
A symbol is something that represents something else. A symbol is a word, a
person, a situation, an action or anything that represents a large idea.
- Beginning readers need to have the ability to interpret symbols as it is essential for
a full understanding of literature but readers should observe the following Four
cautions:
What are the cautions should be observed by beginning readers dealing with literary symbol?
What are these cautions?
1- The story itself must furnish a clue that a detail is to be taken symbolically.
2- The meaning of a literary symbol must be established and supported by the
context of the story. The symbol has its meaning in the story, not outside it.
3- A symbol must suggest a meaning different from its literal meaning.
4- A symbol may have more than one meaning. The literary symbol may suggest a
cluster of meanings.
- Irony
There are three kinds of irony.
What are the three kinds of irony?
1- ➡ Verbal Irony.
2- ➡ dramatic Irony.
3- ➡ Irony of situation.

- 1- Verbal Irony
Irony in which a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words
to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning.

- 2- dramatic Irony
It is the contrast between what a character says and what the reader knows to be
true and the characters in the story don't know.

- 3- Irony of situation
In this kind something different happens from what readers may be expecting. The
aim here is to allow the readers to make a distinction between appearances and
realities.

Chpter one p.509

- What is poetry?
Poetry has been written in all ages, and in all countries- and read or listened to- by
all kinds of people, by soldiers, farmers, doctors, kings, and queens.
- In all ages it has been the concern of the educated, the intelligent and the
uneducated and children.
- All people like poetry as poetry gives pleasure, enjoyment and amusement to
readers. Poetry has been regarded as something having unique value the fully
realized life.
- Language of poetry is not ordinary language, in poetry language has different uses.
Through poetry, readers could gain a greater awareness and understanding of their
world.
END of Eleventh lecture

Twelfth lecture
Chapter two
Reading the poem
- To understand and appreciate poetry, there are some preliminary suggestions.
[ FIVE STEPS ]
1- Read a poem more than once. Two readings may be important to understand
its full meaning. A poem is not like a newspaper, it should be in mind.
 2- Keep a dictionary by you and use it to be able to understand poetry and the
meanings of the words easily.
3- Read to hear the sounds of the words in your mind. Poetry is written to be
heard. Read a poem as slowly as possible, lip-reading is a good habit when you
can't read aloud.
4- Always pay attention to what the poem is saying, you should make and give
much efforts to follow the poem.
5- Practice reading poems aloud, make friends listen to it you must take care of:-
a. Read it affectionately not affectedly.
b. Read slowly enough that each word is clear.
c. Read the poem, don't be exaggerate.

- General information about dealing with poetry....

Poem.....‫قصيدة‬
Poet.....‫شاعر‬
Poetess…..‫شاعرة‬
Stanza….‫مقطوعة شعرية‬
Poetic lines…. ‫سطور شعرية‬
Paraphrase…. ‫ مثل‬،‫ اشرحي‬explain
Speaker…. )‫المتحدث (اللي يتكلم داخل القصيدة غير الشاعر‬
Late… ‫المرحوم‬

- Is My Team Ploughing p.527

This poem is written by the poet A.E. Housman. The speaker here is a dead man. He
is speaking to his friend who is still a live. The occasion is that the dead man is
asking his friend about his horses.

- Stanza 1 ( My Team Ploughing )

Is my team ploughing,
That I was used to drive
And hear the harness jingle
"When I was man alive?"
)‫(هذي ما نحفظها بس نعرفها عشان إذا جابها وسأل عنها يكون الجواب اللي تحت‬
Q: Paraphrase the first stanza
- The dead man begins by asking his friend about his horses. He wishes to know if his
team of horses that he used in ploughing his fields is still working.
- The dead man goes on talking about his horses that he used to drive and hear these
horses. He seeks answers to these questions because now he is not alive.
- Stanza 2 ( My Team Ploughing )
Aye, the horses trample,
The harness jingles now;
No change though you lie under
The land you used to plough.
)‫(هذي ما نحفظها بس نعرفها عشان إذا جابها وسأل عنها يكون الجواب اللي تحت‬
 Q: Paraphrase the second stanza
- In the second stanza, the living man (his friend answers). His friend answers
immediately that the horses are indeed continuing to plough the field and making
sounds.
- Everything goes on as it is only the poor dead farmer's body was placed under the
land he used to plough.
- The aim of these poetic lines:
People die and life goes on.

‫ما راح يطلع عن هذي األسئلة باالختبار لهذي الجزيئية‬

1.Who is the poet/poetess ? A.E. Housman.
2.Who is the speaker? a dead man.
3.To whom is he speaking? He is speaking to his friend who is still a live.
4.What is the aim ( goal ) of this poem? People die and life goes on.
5.Paraphrase these lines / ( This stanza) / These poetic lines ‫نكتب الشرح اللي فوق‬
6.What is the occasion? The occasion is that the dead man is asking his friend
about his horses.
END of Twelfth lecture

Thirteenth lecture
- “ the chimney sweeper”
It Is written by William Blake. it is about poverty and child labor.

- Stanza 1 “ the chimney sweeper”

When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!'
So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.
)‫(هذي ما نحفظها بس نعرفها عشان إذا جابها وسأل عنها يكون الجواب اللي تحت‬
- The speaker is a child he says that his mother died when he was a small boy.
- He says his father had put him into the work as a chimney sweeper after the death
of his mother, when he did not even know how to speak, indicating that he was
probably a toddler at that time.
- The boy then tells us how he is used to sleep in soot every night because of
cleaning all day.

- Stanza 2 “ the chimney sweeper”

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head,
That curl'd like a lamb's back, was shav'd: so I said
'Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare
You know that the soot cannot spoil you white hair.
)‫(هذي ما نحفظها بس نعرفها عشان إذا جابها وسأل عنها يكون الجواب اللي تحت‬
- Now, the young child introduces us to his friend Tom. Starting with how his hair
that got shaved because he had white and curly hair, getting dirty often.
- When his head gets shaved the small boy Tom cries helplessly .the speaker then
tells us that he consoled Tom and told him to stop crying and worrying about his
hair because it is a good thing. He will no longer have to worry about all that nasty
soot getting into his hair.

1. Who is the poet? William Blake

2. Who is speaker? A young child
3. What is the Poem about? It is about poverty and child labor.
4. How did the speaker in “the chimney sweeper “get his job? His father sold him
into it
5. How does the speaker comfort Tom Dacre? The speaker tells Tom that it is
better his head is bare for the soot would have destroyed his white hair.
6. Paraphrase these stanzas ‫ أو كلهم‬2 ‫ أو‬1 ‫نكتب الشرح اللي فوق حسب وش يطلب ستانزا‬
END of Thirteenth lecture

:‫ الزم نكتبه نفسه بالضبط وأكيد راح يجي منهم‬،‫مصطلحات موجودة في نهاية الكتاب‬
1. Alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds used especially in poetry
to emphasize and link words as well as to create pleasing, musical sounds.
2. Free Verse: Poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme.
3. Imagery: Words or phrases that appeal to the reader's senses.
4. Onomatopoeia: The use of words that imitate sounds.
5. Autobiography: A writer's story of his or her own life.
6. Biography: A writer's account of some other person's life.
7. Action: Everything that happens in a story.
8. Setting: The place and the time frame in which a story takes place.
9. Dialogue: The conversations that characters have with one another.
10.Allas: A book of maps.
11.Moral: The lesson a story teaches.
12.Glossary: An alphabetical listing of difficult, technical, or foreign terms with
definitions or translation; usually found at the end of a book.
13.Periodical: Another word for magazine.
14.Reference: A type of book that provides Information arranged for easy access.
15.Table of Contents: The part of a book which lists the chapters or contents within
the book.