Elemets of Story

 Elements of a Story

A story has five basic but important elements. These five components are: characters, setting, plot, theme and the point of view. These essential elements keep the story running smoothly and allow the action to develop in a logical way that the reader can follow.

Elements of fiction and elements of story in general can be used by the reader to increase their enjoyment and understanding of different literary pieces. Once students are aware that all stories have elements of character, setting, plot, theme, point of view, style, and tone; they can be encouraged to ask themselves to identify the characteristics of each for a particular story.

When you analyze a literary text, you will deal with this basic elements of literature. Literary analysis is also known as literary criticism. In this context, “criticism” means a close reading and interpretation of a literary text, such as a poem, a short story, a play, a novel, or even a movie. The elements that make up a literary work are closely examined for their meaning and significance.

1. Character (click for more information and a video about it)

Character is the mental, emotional, and social qualities to distinguish one entity from another (people, animals, spirits, automatons, pieces of furniture, and other animated objects).

Character development is the change that a character undergoes from the beginning of a story to the end. Young children can note this.

The importance of a character to the story determines how fully the character is developed. Characters can be primary, secondary, minor, or main.

Types of characters:

•  Round characters are those the reader/listener/viewer gets to know well. They have a variety of traits that make them believable. Central characters are well developed in good literature. Meg, Claudia, Duck, Wilbur, and Jess are the central character, or protagonist (hero or heroine). 
• Flat characters are less well developed and have fewer or limited traits or belong to a group, class, or stereotype. Fern in Charlotte's Web. A character foil are minor characters whose traits contrast with a main character. The lamb is young and naive as Wilbur, but she is smug instead of humble.
• Anthropomorphic characterization is the characterization of animals, inanimate objects, or natural phenomena as people. Skilled authors can use this to create fantasy even from stuffed toys (Winnie-the-Pooh). The characterizing of inanimate objects from tiny soldiers to trees and so on is represented in Andersen's works and the ballet The Nutcracker.

2. Setting (click for more information and a video about it)

Setting is an environment or surrounding in which an event or story takes place. It may provide particular information about placement and timing, such as New York, America, in the year 1820. Setting could be simply descriptive like a lonely cottage on a mountain. Social conditions, historical time, geographical locations, weather, immediate surroundings, and timing are all different aspects of setting. It has its three major components; social environment, place and time. Moreover, setting could be an actual region, or a city made larger than life, as James Joyce characterizes Dublin in Ulysses, or it could be a work of imagination of the author as Vladimir Nabokov creates imaginative place, space-time continuum in Ada.

The function of settings in a fictional, poetic and prose work is of great importance. It has immense effects on plots and characters, as it could act as an antagonist, post a conflict that characters need to resolve, or could shed light upon characters, and could also present symbolic persons, objects, place, action or situation. It can establish the mood or atmosphere of a scene, or story and develop the plot into a more realistic form, resulting in creating convincing characters.

 There are two types of setting, the physical setting and the chronological set

• The physical setting is where the story takes place.  The “where” can be very general—a small farming community, for example—or very specific—a two story white frame house at 739 Hill Street in Scott City, Missouri.
• The chronological setting, the “when,” can be equally general or specific. For example, stories can take place in present or past time, a specific time of day, etc.

3. Plot (click for more information and a video about it)

    Plot is a literary term used to describe the events that make up a story or the main part of a story. These events relate to each other in a pattern or a sequence. The structure of a novel depends on the organization of events in the plot of the story.

   Plot is known as the foundation of a novel or story which the characters and settings are built around. It is meant to organize information and events in a logical manner. When writing the plot of a piece of literature, the author has to be careful that it does not dominate the other parts of the story.

    Elements of the plot

Ø  Exposition – The opening or the 1st part of the plot, Here the author describes the setting, introduces the characters, and gives background information.

Ø  Rising Action – the part in which the author describes the conflict or the problem in the story.

Ø  Climax – the turning point in the story, the part where the problem is at its worse.

Ø  Falling Action – the part where the author describes how the problem is solved.

4.  Theme (click for more information and a video about it)

    The theme in a story is its underlying message, or 'big idea.' In other words, what critical belief about life is the author trying to convey in the writing of a novel, play, short story or poem? This belief, or idea, transcends cultural barriers. It is usually universal in nature. When a theme is universal, it touches on the human experience, regardless of race or language. It is what the story means. Often, a piece of writing will have more than one theme.

    Think about some T.V. sitcoms you have seen that you have found trite and boring. Was there a significant problem in the T.V. show that needed to be solved? Probably not. In much the same way, if a piece of writing doesn't have deeper meaning than we can just see on the surface, it is just as shallow as the T.V. sitcom. In order for writing to be meaningful and lasting, it needs to have a theme.

5.  Point of view (click for more information and a video about it)

     Point of view is determined by the authors' descriptions of characters, setting, and events told to the reader throughout the story.

     Point of view is a reflection of the opinion an individual from real life or fiction can have. Literature provides a lens through which readers look at the world. Point of view is the way the author allows you to “see” and “hear” what’s going on. Skillful authors can fix their readers’ attention on exactly the detail, opinion, or emotion the author wants to emphasize by manipulating the point of view of the story.

Let´s go to see a short summary with this picture:

Bibliography:
http://users.aber.ac.uk/jpm/ellsa/ellsa_elements.html 
http://study.com/academy/lesson/character-in-literature-definition-types-development.html 
http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-the-setting-of-a-story.html 
http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-plot-examples-definition-quiz.html 
http://study.com/academy/lesson/theme-lesson-for-kids-definition-examples.html 
http://study.com/academy/lesson/point-of-view-definition-examples-quiz.html 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnUnxzNZzk8&t=2s