Week 1 - Day 2

Questions over the syllabus?????

Down to business of LITERARY TERMS and story analysis:

Plot - 72
Character - 114
Setting - 162
Pt. of View - 181
Symbolism - 227
Theme - 250
Style, Tone, Irony - 271

Also, the Bedford/StMartin's text has a website to help you with terms, if needed: Bedford Online Resources - available via the link here or on the sidebar.

PLOT - what happens in the story
traditional "plotting" vs. untraditional (for lack of a better term) - also very much like a Shakespearean tragedy
Terms: exposition; rising action; climax or turning point; falling action; resolution or denouement.
EXAMPLE: "The Flowers" by Alice Walker
Additional terms dealing with plot:

• in medias res - EXAMPLE: "Popular Mechanics"
• foreshadowing - EXAMPLE: par. 5 in "The Flowers" - note the shift/change in tone
• protagonist
• antagonist

Who is the protagonist in "Popular Mechanics"? The antagonist? Point of view comes into play here. 
conflict  . . . of the various types -- man against a) man; b) fate; c) environment; d) society; e) himself --  the one that many authors feel is of great importance is ________.

 ". . . the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat." ~ William Faulkner
(Part of the reason that this is such an important quote is because you'll be reading a story by Faulkner for next Monday, "A Rose for Emily." Keep the quote in mind and ask yourself which characters in that story seem to be conflicted with themselves.)


CHARACTER - 114
characterization: direct (telling) and indirect (showing)
Additional means authors use to characterize:

• names are sometimes a clue to characterization--either directly--Chilllingworth/ Pearl from The Scarlet Letter 
• physical description
• words/actions of others who respond to them
• thoughts of the characters

In order to be considered a realistic character, he/she must be:

• adequately motivated in their actions
• plausible
• consistent

Additional terms for character:

• dynamic vs. static character
• foil
• flat character
• stock character

SETTING - 163:  time, place & social environment
Setting may or may not be significant to the story
may evoke mood or atmosphere

In which stories that you read for today is SETTING vitally important? In what way? Does setting help determine the action of the characters?