INTRODUCTION The study or appreciation of literature is very interesting and helpful to learners for

many reasons. Literature in English involves the reading and analysis of written materials of different
kinds including fiction and non-fiction written works in English.

It is very difficult to offer a precise definition of Literature, but we shall give a working definition of it in
line with what we shall be studying in this module. Literature can be defined as ‘pieces of writing that
are valued as works of art, especially novels, plays and poems’. • (Oxford Advanced Learner’s English
Dictionary).

IMPORTANCE OF LITERATURE Reading and studying Literature in very important for various reasons as
outlined below: • Literature improves your command of language • It teaches you about the life,
cultures and experiences of people in other parts of the world. • It gives you information about other
parts of the world which you may never be able to visit in your lifetime. (Shimmer Chinodya, 1992:36)

IMPORTANCE OF LITERATURE •

Reading and studying literature improves your command of language.

It teaches you about the life, cultures and experiences of people in other parts of the world.

It gives you information about other parts of the world which you may never be able to visit in your
lifetime.

It entertains you and provides useful occupation in your free time.

It makes you a wiser and more experienced person by forcing you to judge, sympathize with, or criticize
the characters you read about.

It helps you compare your own experiences with the experiences of other people.

It gives information which may be useful in other subjects, for example, in Geography, Science, History,
Social Studies, and so on. (Shimmer Chinodya, 1992:36) in ................

Types OF LITERATURE • Generally, Literature is divided into two (2) types : Fictional and Non-Fictional
Literature. • Fictional Literature is imaginary creative writing or work of art meant to provide
information, education and entertainment to the reader. Fictional literature is based on the writer’s
imagination rather than reality.

Non – fictional Literature is factual writing or written work which provides facts that can be proved as it
provides real places, events, characters, times or reality rather than imaginary things.
Examples of Fictional Literature are plays, poems, short stories, novels, oral literature, and songs.

Examples of Non-Fictional Literature include autobiographies, biographies, essays, diaries and journals,
magazines, newspapers, subject text books such as in English for mass communication, History and Civic
Education. In our study of Literature in English, however, we shall focus on Fictional Literature as
exemplified lesson.

Broadly our concern are: Drama (Plays), Fiction (stories), and Poetry (Poems)

Drama

A drama, or a play, is a text written to be performed on stage. It usually consists of dialogue, stage
directions, and the occasional description of the scene.

Dramas are usually divided into "acts" and "scenes" - similar to how novels are divided into chapters -
and the most famous dramatist of the English language is probably Shakespeare.

Novel

A novel is a story written in prose, and is usually split up into chapters. Just like dramas, novels tend to
have plots, characters, and themes. However, where a drama is meant to be performed, a novel is
meant to be read.

Poem

Poetry doesn't need to have characters or a plot - sometimes, it can just describe a place, or an idea, or
a feeling.

One of the most important things about poetry is how it sounds. Consequently, rhyme, rhythm, meter
and structure are all very important. Poetry can be bought in books, but many people prefer to listen to
it being read aloud.

ELEMENTS OF FICTION (THE STORY)

Fiction is any form of literature that tells about imaginary (invented, made up or unreal) people, places,
or events. Short stories, novels, and folk tales are kinds of fiction. A short story is a short fictional prose
narrative built on a plot that includes the basic situation, complications, climax, and resolution.

In contrast, a Novel is a long fictional story that uses all the elements of storytelling, namely, plot,
character, setting, theme, and point of view. Oral or traditional literature has some form of stories often
told by word of mouth from generation to generation such as folk tales, legends, and myths which have
now been written down as stories for us to read.

General elements that are used to analyze any written story are :

Author

Setting

plot

Themes

Characters

Style

Author: This is the writer of any written work of art or fiction. It is very crucial to know the name of the
aut ithor, understand and appreciate his or her background. This will assist the reader to understand
what, how and why the author writes any story or novel. For example, authors have different creative
writing styles in their works, and they are motivated in their writings. Once you appreciate these things
about the author, it most likely that you shall understand and enjoy the story you are reading and
analyzing.

. ELEMENTS OF FICTION (SETTING) Setting: • This is the place and time in which the story unfolds or
takes place. • Setting is important in understanding the background and impact of the story or incidents
in the story. If a story is well told, we will recall the setting later, long after we have put the story aside.
Where the setting threatens the characters, it creates the conflict which is as important in fiction writing
or literature. • So, in interpreting or reviewing a setting of a story, you may have to ask and answer such
questions as: How does the setting or atmosphere influence the work? Where do the events of story
take place? When do they occur? What was the mood when the incident took place?

16. ELEMENTS OF FICTION (PLOT) • This is a series or chain of related events that tells us ‘what happens’
in a story. When a plot is well mapped out, it ‘hooks’ us, that is, it catches our curiosity (interest) about
what will happen next. A good plot draws us along after the narrator, just as a fish is hooked and played
and reeled in by an expert fisherman. The first thing to recognize about plot is the nature of that hook
which pulls us along and keeps us reading. What the hook grabs is our own curiosity, making us wonder
about the outcome of a conflict. When a story is strong, you can be reasonably sure its conflict is strong.
17. ELEMENTS OF PLOT • Let us explore this idea of conflict further because it is a core or basic element
of plot in the story. It is conflict or struggle that gives any story its energy. • This conflict can be between
one person or animal and another, one person or animal and a group of persons or a whole society, one
person or animal and nature, or one person or animal with something in the person or animal such as
fear, shyness, homesickness, or just an inability to make a decision.

18. ELEMENTS OF PLOT CONFLICT • A conflict can be external, as when a person struggles with another
person, or with an angry warthog or with a hurricane. On the other hand, a conflict can be internal, that
is, it can take place inside a person’s mind or heart. This might happen when a character has to make a
hard decision, or struggle against fear, or resist an urge to poke his nose into everyone’s business.

19. ELEMENTS OF PLOT • More conflicts in a story result into complications that develop as you read the
story that require resolutions. In most cases, these complications are full of suspense that builds up as
you anticipate what happens next in the story. This leads to a climax in the story, that is, the most
emotional moment or the tensest mood of the story (breath-taking). Lastly, every story with conflicts
should come to a resolution or an end. Sometimes the story may end in suspense, leaving you to guess
what happens at the end of the story. However, most stories especially short stories will often have a
resolution or conclusive end. In other words, your questions are answered at the end of the story
whether for good or bad.

20. ELEMENTS OF PLOT • Therefore, in interpreting or reviewing a plot for the story, you may have to
ask and answer such questions as: What is the central conflict of the story? Why does the conflict occur?
What larger meaning or picture is suggested by the way the conflict is resolved?

21. ELEMENTS OF FICTION (THEME) • Theme: This refers to the controlling, main idea or central insight
in the novel or short story. Theme answers the question ‘What does it mean?’ a story’s theme is often
hard to state, but it is what the author means or what the reader perceives to mean by the whole story.
• A theme is usually stated in a sentence or statement. This is so because a theme has to say something
about the subject rather than just stated as a subject phrase!

22. ELEMENTS OF FICTION (THEMES) • Mostly, questions are framed in such a way as to let you show
that you have learnt one or so lessons from the novel that bear on human interests. These are usually
challenging questions because they require you to have a good overview of the text with regard to a
wide spectrum of issues raised in the novel or short story. Such questions may be asked and answered
as: What central idea or insight into life does the work convey? How do other elements help illustrate or
reveal this idea or insight?

23. ELEMENTS OF FICTION (CHARACTERS) • Characters: These are persons or animals involved in a story
in order to show entertain and show us some truth about human experience and ourselves. A good
character should be ‘alive’ to help us appreciate the story well. In a story, we can recognize a character
by his/her/its appearance, actions and thoughts, reactions of others (what other characters say or do in
relation to the character), and direct statement of the author (comments made by the writer of the
story as the narrator). • However, the best story is one in which the narrator doesn’t tell much directly
about what the character is like. Instead, you learn about the character indirectly by how the character
acts and how others act toward him/her, and by noticing what he/she thinks and says.

24. ELEMENTS OF FICTION • Characterization refers to the kinds of characters the novel or short story
has depending on the level of their development and involvement in the story of the book. For example,
are the characters flat or round, protagonists or antagonists, major or minor, stars or backers? • So, in
most cases, questions come in such a way that you need to compare and contrast, describe, discuss pros
and cons of one or more characters with regard to the development of the story or show appreciation of
the characters generally. In other words, you can ask and answer such questions as: Why do characters
act as they do? What are their motives? Do the characters change? How do they change?

25. ELEMENTS OF FICTION (STYLE) • This refers to the way the novel or short story is written in order to
have a desired effect on the reader or audience. • It also refers to the techniques used by the writer of a
literary work such as point of view, humor, fantasy, flashbacks, tone, and so on. • Style of writing if
understood and appreciated well, can help you to analyze the story very well.

26. ELEMENTS OF FICTION (STYLE) • On rare occasions, questions are asked to test your knowledge and
skills in these literary devices or techniques based on a novel or story that you have read. The questions
that may help you interpret or review a work of literature include: What stylistic devices does the author
use? What effects do they have? How does the tone, or author’s attitude, affect the work of art?

27. ELEMENTS OF FICTION (STYLE) • Point of View: This refers to the style the writer of a story uses to
narrate the story. In other words, writers usually chose who should tell the story or who should be the
mouth piece in the story. So, you can tell the story from various angles by using points of view. There are
three basic points of view often used in narratives: omniscient, third-person limited, and first-person.

28. ELEMENTS OF FICTION (STYLE) • The omniscient (unlimited) point of view is the point of view of a
god-like (all-knowing) being who has created a fictional world and who can tell us everything that is
going on in the minds of all the characters. The omniscient narrator is outside the story; he or she is not
part of the action at all.

29. ELEMENTS OF FICTION (STYLE) • The third-person (limited) point of view is where the writer has
decided to tell the story from the limited point of view of a single person (participant) in the story. This
kind of story reads as if a camera is zooming in on just one character. The writer uses the third person
singular (he or she, or the actual name) of the character. This is very close to the omniscient point of
view in that the writer still takes a prominent role.

30. ELEMENTS OF FICTION (STYLE) • And in the first-person (limited) point of view, the narrator speaks
as ‘I’, as a character in the story. This character can tell us only what he or she sees and hears and thinks
about what is going on. In other words, the narrator is a participant in the story. The writer chooses to
tell the story in the name of another fictitious person and uses the first person pronoun ‘I’ as witness
and participant in the events that unfold in the story. In this case, the point of view is also limited in that
the narrator can only tell what he or she sees or experiences rather than what others do.
31. ELEMENTS OF FICTION (STYLE) • In order to review the points of view of any story, you may need to
ask and answer such questions as: • What is the point of view used in the story? • Is it consistently
used? • How does it affect your understanding of the work? • Why did the author choose that point of
view?

32. ELEMENTS OF FICTION (LANGUAGE) • Language is part of style but it stands out to be the most
important element of any fiction writing. • Literary language is often used in fiction writing to ‘relish’ the
story so that it is more clear, educative, informative, and indeed interesting or entertaining. • Some of
these language devices include figures of speech and symbolism such as images, symbols, irony,
metaphors, similes, satire, and so on.

33. ELEMENTS OF FICTION (LANGUAGE) • The questions that may help you interpret or review a work of
literature include: What figures of speech have been used? What symbols or images does the work
include? What do they mean? What do they suggest about the meaning of the work as a whole? • You
shall learn more about literary language later when we deal with poetry.

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