SOME ELEMENTS OF FICTION CHAPTER 3

SOME ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE

AImost every literature work includes four elements

(1) characters;

(2) plot;

(3) theme,

(4) style.

A good writer needs to balance these elements to create a unified work of art.
CHARACTERS
§ Writers may have to describe actions or ideas, but they must also describe the
characters - the persons or objects - affected by these actions and ideas.

§ The characters make up the central interest of many dramas and novels, as well as
biographies and autobiographies. Even a poem is concerned with characters and the
speaker, or the poet, is often the main character of a poem.

§ Writers must know their characters thoroughly and have a clear picture of their
looks, speech, and thoughts.
1. People in a work of fiction can be a(an):

- Protagonist – Clear center of a story; all major events are important to this
character

- Antagonist – Opposition or “enemy” of the main character

2. Characteristics of a character can be revealed through:

- his/ her physcial appearance

- what he/she says, thinks, feels, dreams, and what he/she does or does not do

- what others say about him/her and how others react to him/her
3. Characters can be …

- Round – Fully developed personalities that are affacted by the story’s

events; they can learn, grow, or detreriorate by the end of the story.

- Flat – One-dimnesional character

- Dynamic – Character who does go through change and “grows” during a

story

- Static – Character does not go through a change

§ Motivation means the reasons for a character's actions. Writers must be sure that
the motives of their characters are clear and logical. In literature, as in life, character
determines action.
SETTING
§ Setting is the place, the time or the atmosphere in which a character's story occurs.

§ Literature characters do not exist alone in space but act and react with one another.
They also respond to the word in which they live. Setting is another way of showing
people and their behavior.
SETTING
When eximaning how setting contributes to a story, there are multiple aspects to
consider:

1. Place: Geographical location; where is the action of the story taking place?

2. Time: Historical period, time of day, year, etc.; when is the story taking place?

3. Mood or atmosphere – What feeling is created at the beginning of the story?

Cheerful or eerie?
§ Plot tells what happens to the characters in a story. A plot is built around a
series of happening that take place within a definite period. No rules exist for
the order in which the events are presented to the reader.
 a climax

§ A unified plot has a beginning, a conflict

a middle, and an end.
1. an author leads us from a denouement /deɪˈnuː.mɒ̃/

character with a problem exposition

2. the character facing the problem

3. the character overcoming or

being overcome by the problem
§ A unified plot has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

§ That is, an author leads us from somewhere (a character with a problem), through somewhere
(the character facing the problem), to somewhere (the character overcoming or being overcome
by the problem).

§ In literature terms, we speak of a story having an exposition, a rising action [or conflict, a
climax, and a denouement [or outcome]. The exposition gives the background and situation of the
story. The conflict, built upon the given material, creates suspense and causes in the reader a desire
to find out what happens next.

§ The climax is the highest point of interest.

§ The denouement brings the story to an end

THEME

§ Theme, the basic idea expressed by a work of literature,

develops from the interaction of character and plot. A theme may
warn the reader to lead a better life or a different kind of life. It
may declare that life is profitable, or that crime does or does not
pay.
THEME

§ Serious writers strive to make their work an honest expression of

sentiment, or true emotion. They avoid sentimentality, which means giving
too much emphasis to emotion or pretending to feel an emotion.

§ A writer or honest emotion does not have to tell the reader what to
think about a story. A good story directs the reader to the author's
conclusion.
A literary theme is the main idea or underlying meaning a writer explores in a
novel, short story, or other literary work. The theme of a story can be
conveyed using characters, setting, dialogue, plot, or a combination of all of
these elements.
THEME
Six common themes in literature are:
1. Good vs. evil
2. Love
3. Redemption
4. Courage and perseverance
5. Coming of age
6. Revenge
STYLE
A WRITER’S POINT OF VIEW
THE WIDOW OF EPHESUS
fidelity honest, loyalty or lasting long

vault an arch

prodigy impressive example of a quality

corpse a dead body

grief deep sorrow

mourn feel regret

CAN YOU SUMMARIZE THE STORY?
The lady is known as very faithful women. She loves and respects her husband.
Her love is so great that she follows her husband’s dead body to the vault in the
cemetery.
The story proves the infidelity of women by giving the story a very sharp ironical
twist when the lady submits herself to the request of the soldier to eat food. This
happens only after one day of her husband’s death, whereas she had earlier
promised that she would not be engaged to any man after the death of her
husband. The lady eats the food provided by the soldier. Her passions are
aroused. The Soldier and the Widow marry very soon. They passed the night
together.
The above episode is enough to prove the infidelity of the Widow towards her
husband. But the theme of unfaithfulness is further increased by one fact. It
happens that one of the thieves body was taken away from the cross.
It happens that one of the thieves body was taken away from the cross.
The soldier was to be punished for the theft with the death penalty, as it was his
duty to protect the dead bodies from stealing. The story gets a very ironical
meaning when the Widow offers her husband’s dead body to be put in place on
the thief’s dead body to protect her illegal lover. This is enough to prove the
infidelity of woman in general. How ironical it is that the lady famous for her
fidelity, marries a second man only a couple of days after her husband’s death. It
is more ironical that she offers her husband’s dead body to be a substitute for
the missing dead body of the thief. The entire theme of the unfaithfulness of the
women is very much focused by the Widow’s love and her hasty marriage with
the soldier which at last results in the substitution of the dead body at the cross
of her husband’s dead body.
EXERCISE
1. Analyze the story “The widow of Ephesus” in terms of:
a. Characters
b. Setting
c. Theme
d. Plot (exposition, conflict, denouement)
2. What is the widow's main virtue? How does she show this virtue upon her
husband's death? What does abandoning her wish for self-sacrifice say about
her?
3. What values make the story seem like a joke? What values make it seem
more serious?
EXERCISE
1. Analyze the story “The widow of Ephesus” in terms of:
a. Characters
b. Setting
c. Theme
d. Plot (exposition, conflict, denouement)
2. What is the widow's main virtue? How does she show this virtue upon her
husband's death? What does abandoning her wish for self-sacrifice say about
her?
3. What values make the story seem like a joke? What values make it seem
more serious?
A. Character:
The widow, the soldier and the maid
B. Setting:
- Place: the city of Ephesus
- Time: 1st century A.D.
- Atmosphere: gloomy, sorrowful
C. Theme: Love, Loyalty, and Extreme Behavior
D. Plot
 The disappearance of the thief’s
body

The lady exchanges widowhood

for a new marriage The lady’s suggestion to substitue
her husband’s corpse for the
The soldier gores to the tomb missing one

The soldier’s acceptance

The town’s bewilderment

The lady is resolved to die

3. The widow’s main virtue was being faithful to her husband within
after his death. She was so loyal that she almost spent more than five days
in starvation until death. While she cried in the tomb, a handsome soldier
came to her and convinced her to eat again. She was so weak and starved
after those days that she gave up her duty. She could not oppose against
her human needs and woman emotions.
4. This story is a satire, but not a joke. It tries to ridicule the attitudes of women who were not
as virtuous as the narrator said. The story seems a joke because the widow loved her husband
so much that she let her husband’s body stayed onto the cross. Therefore, people asked how a
dead man could climb there. It had an unexpected end for, such as “virtuous” widow.

On the other hand, the story was serious because the widow arranged his funeral and burial
by herself and neither her relatives nor authorities could change her choice. Although the
story mistreated women in some way, I cannot deny that the story is fruitful because it
involves many themes, such as loyalty, sacrifice, love, moral, desires or needs of human beings.
Unfortunately, some women look like the widow because they could be interested in money or
other affairs. However, there are truly faithful women who could respect their marriage
during some time, and then get married again by love.
The theme of Love, Loyalty and Extreme Behavior