A Guide to Literary Analysis
Plot involves conflict and usually has two conflicts-
External conflict= one person against another Or against nature or fate
Internal Conflict= two elements at war within the same person
Typical Plot structure
Exposition: presentation of important background information
Complication: building of tension between opposing forces
Climax: the turning point of the action towards the final resolution of the conflict
Denouement: sometimes called the resolution of the conflict
(pronounced dey-noo-mahn)
Plot events can be presented in a variety of ways:
Chronological:
End to beginning: in movies; begins and ends the same
Back and forth: past and present
Middle: in the middle
Flashback: back and forth in time
Character- an imagined person in the story
Essential to the plot
The methods by which a writer creates people in a story so that they seem actually to exist are called characterization
Setting- context where story occurs
Time
Place
Social environment that frames the characters
Point of View-Who tells us the story and how it is told
Narrator- Third person- he she or they - Omniscient (All knowing narrator)
Limited Omniscient
Objective- like reading a book or watching a film
First person narrator- major character or minor character
Unreliable narrator
Theme- Central idea or meaning of a story
Provides a unifying point around which the plot, characters, setting, point of view, symbols and other elements of a story are organized
Tone- The author's implicit attitude toward the people, places, and events in a story
Rely on context to interpret tone
Important element for interpreting a story
Type of Tone- Humorous, grim, nostalgic, serious, apologetic, condescending, playful
