Главная страница | Контакты | Случайная страница Автомобили Астрономия Биология География Дом и сад Другие языки Другое Информатика История Культура Литература Логика Математика Медицина Металлургия Механика Образование Охрана труда Педагогика Политика Право Психология Религия Риторика Социология Спорт Строительство Технология Туризм Физика Философия Финансы Химия Черчение Экология Экономика Электроника

I. Plot and Plot Structure.

The plot is a series of interlinked events in which characters of the story participate. The events are arranged in a definite sequence to catch and hold the reader’s attention. The plot of any story involves character and conflict. Conflict in fiction is the opposition or struggle between forces or characters. Conflict may be external and internal.

External Conflict:

• man against man;
• man against nature;
• man against society or established order in the society;
• the conflict between one set of values versus another set of values.

Internal Conflict:

• man versus himself (if conflict takes place within one character). This conflict is rendered through his thoughts or feelings.

The plot may be based on several conflicts.

The events of the plot are localized; they are set in a particular place and time, which form the setting.

The setting is established at the beginning of the story, in the exposition (the 1^st component of plot structure).

1. In the exposition the author introduces the theme, the characters and establishes the setting.

The exposition supplies information on the questions: who? what? where? when? It may be compressed into one sentence or extended into several paragraphs.

2. The 2^nd structural component is complications. They involve actions or thoughts. This structural component consists of several events or movements of complications. They become tenser as the plot moves toward the moment of decision – the climax.

3. The 3^rd structural component is the climax, which is the key event, the critical moment of the story.

5. The denouement (the upshot) is the unwinding of the actions. A story may have no denouement.

Novels may have two more components of plot structure: the prologue and the epilogue. Sometimes the story begins with complications or with the denouement. Sometimes there occur flashbacks to the past (“The Apple Tree” by J.Galsworthy). Any rearrangement of the components of plot structure is meaningful.

There is a variety of plot structure techniques.

A story may have:

• a straight line narrative presentation
• a complex narrative structure (with flashbacks to the past events)
• a circular pattern (when the closing event in the story returns the reader to the introductory part)
• a frame structure when there is a story, within a story. The two stories contrast or parallel.

The withholding of information until the appropriate time is called retardation.

Foreshadowing is a look towards the future.

The story may be told:

• in direct speech (the characters are speaking for themselves; first person narrative)
• in indirect speech (third person narrative)
• in non-personal direct speech (half-reported speech).

The author may select any of the following 4 types of narrators:

1. the main character
2. a minor character
3. the omniscient author
4. the observer-author

The first person narrative – the main character tells the story (internal analysis of events).

The first person narrative – a minor character tells the story (outside observation of events).

The third person narrative – the omniscient author tells the story (internal analysis of events).

The third person narrative – the observer-author tells the story (outside observation of events).

The plot with its characters, actions and settings forms the so-called surface contents of literary work.

The theme of a story is the main area of interest treated in the story (what the story is about).

The theme is disclosed through the representation of life.

The message of the story is expressed indirectly, implicitly. The theme of the story implies the problem, which the writer raises. The most important idea that the author expresses in the process of developing the theme is the message of the story. The theme is connected with the author’s message.

The title is the first element to catch our eye. It may convey the message or the theme.

The manner of presentation: description, narration, dialogue.

The means of characterization: direct/ indirect (through actions, appearance, speech).

The speech of the character may be: direct/ inner represented speech/ uttered represented speech.

Settings may be: realistic, historical, fantastic, exotic, rural, urban. A straight line narrative structure; a circular narrative structure; a complex narrative structure; a frame narrative structure; digression.

The Characters:

• the hero, the protagonist, the main character, the central character
• the antagonist, the villain of the story
• minor characters
• the author’s mouthpiece
• the foil comparison – someone that makes another’s good or bad qualities all the more noticeable. E.g. The older, cynical character in the play is the perfect foil for the innocent William. Her husband’s strength acts as a foil to her impetuousness.

The Writer’s Voice

When a writer has a distinctive style, we may recognize a passage regardless of the setting, plot or theme of a particular story. Every real writer has a distinctive personal voice. E.g. Bret Harte writes in a popular nineteenth-century style, old-fashioned and ornate, with grand rhetorical flourishes and frank appeals to emotion. John Cheever writes in an ironic recent “postmodern” style – allusive, detached, wryly amused.

If we focus on the writer’s voice, we begin to recognize it: a solemn or ironic tone; a mood of foreboding or expectation, a way of looking at places and people, etc. The voice of the author are the writer’s opinions, ideas or emotions forcefully expressed through the text.