小说几要素

小说几要素 American Literature INTRODUCTION Before we begin our discussions on any specific topics about American literature, it is imperative for us to deal with some basic questions concerning literature in general so as to prepare our minds for academic studies of the field. What is literature? How to define American literature? Why do people read literature? How to study literature? These are the preliminary questions that students of American literature must all know how to answer. I. What Is Literature The word “Literature” came into English th from the 14 century in the sense of polite learning through reading. Thus a man of literature, or a man of letters, meant what we would now describe as a man of wide reading. So, this word corresponds mainly to the modern meaning of the th word “literacy.” From the mid-18 century, literature referred to the practice and profession th century, literature has of writing. Since the 19 been the high skills of writing in the special context of high imagination. Whence comes literature? Literature comes from human interest in telling a story, in arranging words in artistic forms, in describing in words some aspects of our human experiences. This human activity embodies human desire to express and share experiences. Therefore, we can define literature as language artistically used to achieve identifiable literary qualities and to convey meaningful messages. Literature is characterized by beauty of expression and from and by universality of intellectual and emotional appeal. Literature as an art is the creation of individuals and it is experienced by individuals. Yet, creative artistic literature presents one of the essential sources for studying the relation between humanity and society. Great works of literature enable us to study the way in which people live out their social roles. Literature shows not only the socialized behavior of individuals, but also the process of their socialization as well; it speaks not only of individual experience, but also of the meaning of that experience. Therefore, a writer is a specialized thinker about the individual. Literature shows us not only what a society is like in a certain age, but also what individuals fell about it, what they hope from it, and how they think they can change it or escape from it. The fictional characters see and record not only the reality around them, but their hopes, wishes, dreams, and fantasies as well. The social meanings of this inner life of the individual are related to the central problems of social change. Literature is important in human life because the writer of literature is not bound a fact in quite the same way as the historian, the economist or the scientist, whose studies are absolutely based on what has actually happened, or on what actually does happen, in the world of reality. The writer of literature, being less bound to fact, has more scope to comment on the fact, to arrange it in unusual ways, and to speculate not only what is, but on what ought to be, or what might be (for better or for worse). Writers are sometimes people with visionary or prophetic insight into human life. All of us who read literature will find our knowledge of human affairs broadened and deepened, whether in the individual, the social, the racial, or the international sphere. We shall understand the possibility of human life, both for good and evil; we shall understand how we came to live at a particular time and place, with all its pleasures and vexations and problems; we +shall understand the ways onwards which are open to us, and we shall perhaps be able to make right rather than wrong choices. II. How to Define American Literature 1. Definition American literature mainly refers to literature produced in American English by the people living in the United States. 2. Basic Qualities of American Writers As the United States of America is country of merely over two hundred years’ history, she has little national literary heritage. Therefore, American writers, unwilling to imitate European tradition for long, are determined to create a heritage out of their own literary experiences in their own environment. Hence, some knowledge about the basic qualities of American writers in general is preliminary to the understanding of American literature as it is. Generally speaking, American Writers are independent, individualistic, critical, innovative, and humorous. (1) Independent Always in the flux changing, American society is very fragmentary. Therefore, it lays no close hold on the writers, and writers have been able to remain free from its control. They think and act with independence, and they see writing as an independent action. Most of them are free-lance writer. They are no raised by the government as they receive no wages from the government as writers. They make a living by writing. As a modern tendency, many writers are employed in American colleges as writers-in-residence. They receive wages from colleges as professors, not as writer. (2) Individualistic As they do not turn to their government for financial support, they are free from politics. They pursue their literary carrier with courage and become successful all through their individual efforts. Hence they regard highly the rights of individuals and are ever ready to protect their own rights and interest. Moreover, they view writing as a means of self-expression, a way of expressing their personal views about life and society, a way of advocating liberty, democracy and independent action of the individual. Their individualism embodies a devotion to self-realization, to protection of environment and to suspicion of a mass society and power which threatens to deprive the individual of his personal identity. (3) Critical Most of the American writers are not satisfied with the contemporary society. They often question the prevailing values held dear by the majority of their countrymen. They discern flaws in society before these flaws have been recognized by society as a whole. They often criticize rather than eulogize American society. They can laugh at themselves and their country and can be very self-critical. Their critical attitude has already become a literary tradition in American. (4) Innovative Americans are multi-ethnic with their ancestors coming from all corners of the world. Their link with the past is never tight. They feel the least restraints and bondage to the past. It is always the new ideas, new attitudes, and new cultural faces that urge them to pursue “newness” in life and literature. Hence American writers are ever ready to change in the intellectual climate, especially in the last half century. In order to achieve their distinct identities, they often make experiments in writing. By innovating styles and techniques, they try to be different from others as much as possible and start a new trend almost every ten years. American writers have been both witnesses and prophets to history. They have done much to shape America’s changing values. (5) Humorous Besides, American writers esteem humor as a strictly national characteristic. It is part of their life, their character, and their style in creative writing. Giving full play to this mental quality, they have enriched American literature with humor of all kinds. Sometimes, they comment on the pretensions of America with an affected simplicity which makes satire palatable. Sometimes, they blend realism and exaggeration skillfully in a style of noncommittal objectivity. Sometimes, they observe America through eyes that are affectedly wide and unaffectedly shrewd. III. Why Do People Read Literature 1. Reading for Pleasure Apart from its role of protest, education, cognition and aesthetic appreciation, literature is primarily to give pleasure. The greatest pleasure and satisfaction to be found in literature occurs when (as it often does) it brings us back to the realities of human situations, problems, feelings, and relationships. 2. Reading for Relaxation It is people’s common desire to seek temporary relaxation from the stress in life. Reading serves the purpose well and conveniently. Literature flourishes, in part at least, because of such pleasant relaxation in affords the reader. 3. Reading to Acquire Knowledge 4. Reading to Confront Experience Literature is appealing mainly because of its relationship to human experience. It sheds light on the complexity and ambiguity of human experiences and thus broadens readers’ awareness of the possibilities of experiences. 5. Reading for Artistic Appreciation IV. How to Study Literature 1. Analytical Approach Perhaps the most frequently used method for a college literary course is the analytical approach. In order to enhance students’ understanding and appreciation of literature inductively, this approach first provides students with the critical terms of the basic elements that comprise a story, a poem, a play, or an essay. For instance, the elements of fiction include plot, character, setting, point of view, theme, symbol, allegory, style, and tone. All these elements relate to each other point of view, theme, symbol, allegory, style, and tone. Without a good command of these elements, students would have no common language to discuss a literary work. In order to identify and describe the various elements in a text and their interrelationship, students must ask and then try to answer certain basic questions about the text itself. For instance: 1. How does the setting create the mood? 2. How does the protagonist relate to other characters? 3. What is the central image of the poem and how does it reveal the theme? 4. What is the thesis statement? For lengthy work of literature, students shall be concerned with some big issues such as the unfolding of the plot, the development of the characters, the description of the setting and the background, the social problems presented, and so on. 2. Thematic Approach This approach begins with the question “What is the story, the poem, the play, or the essay about?” In other words, it first of all directs the student to the human experience presented and explored in a literary work. This approach emphasizes ideas, ideas about peace and violence, alienation and involvement, men and women, brotherhood and responsibility, the nature of humanity, the reality of death, society and individual, etc. 3. Historical Approach The historical approach aims at illustrating the historical development of literature. It teaches the students that all literature exists in time and as such bears the unmistakable imprint of the period and culture in which it is written. It teaches the students that many of the methods and techniques which they take so much for grated in the modern writing are actually the result of a process of slow, irregular experimentation and innovation. It teaches the students that each successive age has its own prevailing mode of literary sensibility ——be it classicism, romanticism, realism, naturalism, modernism, or postmodernism. It is such a literary trend that shapes, however subtly, the author’s vision of life and society and the way he or early trend that shapes, however subtly, the author’s vision of life and society and the way he or she arranges and gives emphasis to the materials at his or her disposal. V. How to Improve Reading Skills A literary course is different from an intensive reading course. Students will have to spend less time on actual reading and language development so that they can devote more time to gain a good understanding of literature. Moreover, a literary work is usually much longer than a text in an intensive reading course. Therefore, it is important to improve the skills of reading literature. Here are a few tips for the students. 1. Students should form a habit of intelligent guessing at the meaning of new words with the clues provided by the context. But for the key words in the sentence, students need not check each new word in the dictionary. They should gradually increase their reading speed in this way. 2. Students should learn how to notice details, how to get the main idea, and how to skim to locate the most meaningful passages in a literary work. 3. Students should cherish a strong desire to extract greater meaning from a literary work by relating ideas found in their reading with their own experience. Of course, there are many other ways to improve the reading skills which students themselves will discover in the process of their study. While taking the course work, students must be very attentive in class and form a good habit of note talking. They should preview the text before attending lectures and review the text after calls. It helps a lot if they compare notes with each other after class. Elements of Fiction By nature fiction is artificial. Novels, stories, plays, and poems are all technical devices. The following is an introduction to the elements that combine to make up the whole imagined universe. An awareness of these five elements brings consciousness into the reading and heightens pleasure in the process. I. Setting An important way of selecting and shaping the material is through the setting- the material is through the setting—the physical，and sometimes spiritual， background against which the action takes place(Good artists work on setting in the same way jewelers on diamonds to set them off(Authors create a background for characters and plot(Literary works begin with setting，which points to the meaning(The elements which make up a setting are geographical location，the time of day or year or century， and .general environment of the characters，such as religion，occupation，moral，and emotional conditions(and all of these tell us something about也 e characters who move through the setting( At times setting is relatively unimportant if the action is not closely tied with the location(e(g(Hemingway’s “Hius like White Elephants”，in which the setting is minimum and is not especially dramatized(But often setting is very important( An understanding of the significance of the setting will illuminate much of the meaning of the story(Kate Chopin’s“T}le Story of an Hour”takes place in spring( “Storm” in summer(Similarly we can not separate Emily Grierson from the American South(The stories of Dubliners by James Joyce are set in Dublin at the turn of the century，when Dublin was the heart of moral and spiritual paralysis。and citizens of Dublin are shown as victims of entrapment and backwardness( The setting is made responsible for the fate of the characters(When setting dominates(or when the author wants to capture the language，appearance， mentality of people of a particular place at a specific moment in history，the story becomes an example of local color writing or regionalism，e(g(Bret Harte’s “The Outcasts of Poker F1at(” and Stephen Crane’s “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky”, two of the most famous of Westerns( The Functions of Setting 1. Setting as a background for action 2. Setting as antagonist Often, the forces of nature function as a causal agent or antagonist, helping to establish conflict and to determine the outcome of events. 3. Setting as a means of creating appropriate atmosphere or mood. 4. Setting as a means of revealing character or the influence of place, circumstances and time on human growth and change. 5. Setting as a means of reinforcing theme, as a means of reinforcing and clarifying the theme of a novel or short story. 6. Setting as a symbol. 7. Setting as a means of organization An author frames a story by opening with a description of a setting, and then returning to the same setting. 8. Setting as a means of Irony. Analyzing Setting 1. What is the work’s setting in space and time? 2. How does the author go about establishing setting? Does the author want the reader to see or feel the setting; or does the author want the reader to both see and feel it? What details of setting does the author isolate and describe? 3. Is the setting important? If so, what is its function? Is it used to reveal, reinforce, or influence character, plot, or theme? 4. Is the setting an appropriate one? II. Atmosphere Atmosphere begins with setting and is part of setting(Besides(it is rather the emotional aura which prepares readers and which permeates the work(The mood is established like the overture in music or the prologue of a play(Aldous Huxley in Brave New World begins the novel in a cold medical institution where “cloning” is taking place(While fertility rites are always warm there we have winter(The atmosphere is all uncomfortable though the death-like scientific building is where 1ife comes from(The tone is ironic and comic(In Eugene O’Neill’s Desire under the Elms，the two huge elms brooding over the stone house exude a crushing oppressiveness on the lives of the inhabitants, whose God is hard as stone, and whose church is built on rocks. The sense of suffocation and hardness is the one dominating impression the playwright wants to convey to voice his philosophical conviction of nature as hostile and indifferent. Edgar Allen Poe often successfully captures a mood in his tales of the supernatural and irrational. Setting also affects the atmosphere or mood of stories. You might note that a typical action usually requires no more than a functional description of setting. Thus, an action in a forest needs just the statement that the forest is there. However, it you read descriptions of the trees, the shapes, the light and shadows, the animals, the wind, and the sounds, you may be sure that the author is working to create an atmosphere or mood for the action (as in Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”). There are many ways of creating moods. Descriptions of “warm” colors (red, orange, yellow) may contribute to a mood of happiness. “Cooler” colors may suggest gloom. References to smells and sounds bring the setting even more to life by asking additional sensory responses from the reader. III. Plot Plot can be defined as the author’s dramatic manipulation of the events of his tale for the maximum artistic effect. Aristotle, in The Poetics, defines plot as “the structural union of the parts” that constitute the whole. E.M. Foster, like Aristotle, emphasizes logical relationship in the events. He say that a sequential order of events is “the story”, but a causal arrangement is “the plot”. Though Aristotle dislikes episodic plot, loose plot is as common and traditional as tightly knit plot. The third kind of development is the plot of interior action, in which the movements of the deep and instinctive feelings in characters are made vivid and real to readers. This modern form testifies the incalculable influence of the Freudian theory of the human mind on almost all literary forms and practically all writers in the twentieth century. Most fiction is dynamic, is about change. Events may cause people to change. Thus plot consists of characters performing actions in interrelating events. What makes plot move is a kind of tension called “conflict”,-- the struggle of opposing forces. This opposition determines the causal relationship that develops the struggle. One of the forces involved is likely to be the central character. The other forces include (a) another character or group of characters, (b) the forces of nature or the power of the universe, (c) society or culture, (d) aspect of the character’s own personality or value system. What is more, a single work of fiction may embody a variety of conflicts, or a number of actions, each with its own central characters. The central character in one line of action may be insignificant in another. By isolating the various lines of action and separating them from one another in our thoughts, we gain a better sense of the things that connect them. Often these connections will lead us to thematic relations. Another way of moving from the plot to the meaning of a story is to note characters or events that seem to make no contribution to plot or movement. These unimportant elements in the plot may have a special thematic importance. Narrative mode is also a convention which allows writers to violate chronology in real life. Plot does not have to begin in the beginning of action. It can begin anywhere in the sequence of events. When the entire narrative is a flashback, when readers know from the very beginning about what happens in the end, they will focus their attention on how and why that has happened. Sometimes there is more than one flashback in the narration. In some stories climax takes place in the flashback. In the same way we have flash forwards, and, like flashbacks, they are there for a reason. We should look for reasons why an incident from one sequence should be place next to a particular incident in the other. Foreshadowing is the introduction early in a story of situations, events, characters, or objects that hint at things to come. A chance remark, a natural occurrence, or a seemingly trivial event is eventually revealed to have great significance. For example, a dark cloud passing across the sky can foreshadow future problems. In this way, foreshadowing allows a writer to hint provocatively at what is to come, so that readers only gradually become aware of a particular detail’s role in a story. Thus, foreshadowing helps readers sense what will occur and grow increasingly involved as they see the likelihood (or even the inevitability) of a particular outcome. In addition to employing conventional techniques like flashbacks and fore shadowing, writers may experiment with sequence by substantially tampering with—or even dispensing with—chronological order. (An example is the scrambled chronology of “A Roses for Emily.”) In such instances, the experimental form enhances interest and encourages readers to become involved with the story as they work to untangle or reorder the events and determine their logical and causal connections. Deus ex Machina is the employment of some improbable incident in resolving a complication and is recognized as evidence of deficient skill in plot-making. A major criticism The Great Gatsby receives is the lack of motivation in the even of exchanging cars between the comforting parties. It is an even which leads to the final catastrophe, but with insufficient motivation it is like an expedient coincidence. Five Stages of Plot The plot of a traditional story is often conceived of as moving through five distinct sections or stages, as the following diagram shows: 3. Crisis 2. Complication 4. Falling action 1. Exposition 5. Resolution (denouement) Beginning Middle End 1. Exposition: The exposition is the beginning section in which the author provides the necessary background information, sets the scene, establishes the situation, and dates the action. It usually introduces the characters and the conflict, or at least the potential for conflict. 2. Complication: The complication, which is sometimes referred to as the rising action, develops and intensifies the conflict . 3. Crisis: The crisis (also referred to as the climax) is that moment at which the plot reaches its point of greatest emotional intensity; it is the turning point of the plot, directly precipitating the resolution. 4. Falling action: Once the crisis, or turning point, has been reached, the tension subsides and the plot moves toward its conclusion. 5. Resolution: It is the final section of the plot which records the outcome of the conflict and establishes some new equilibrium. The resolution is also referred to as the conclusion or the denouement, the latter a French word meaning “unknotting” or “untying”. Analyzing Plot 1. What is the conflict (or conflicts) on which the plot turns? Is it external, internal, or some combination of the two? 2. What are the chief episodes or incidents that make up the plot? Is its development strictly chronological, or is the chronology rearranged in some way? 3. Compare the plot’s beginning and end. What essential changes have taken place? 4. Describe the plot in terms of its exposition, complication, crisis, falling action, and resolution. 5. Is the plot unified? Do the individual episodes logically relate to one another? 6. Is the ending appropriate to and consistent with the rest of the plot? Is the plot plausible? What role, if any, do chance and coincidence play? Character Character and plot are seen as two different sides of the same coin. Henry James in “The Art of Fiction” says that character is the determination of incident, incident the illustration of character. A basis in character is motivation. If the motivations are plausible, characters act believably. Plot structure should spring from the innate quality of the characters participant in the action. A character that develops is dynamic, while a character that stays the same is termed static. Using knowledge in psychology and sociology, realistic writers have offered us instruction in human nature. The motivation of characters, the workings of conscience and consciousness, have been made the focal point of most novels and short fiction. Types of Characters Protagonist &Antagonist The major, or central, character of the plot is the protagonist; his opponent, the character against whom the protagonist struggles or contends, is the antagonist. The antagonist may not be a living creature at all, but rather the hostile social or natural environment with which the protagonist is forced to contend. Flat& round characters Flat characters are those who embody or represent a single characteristic, trait, or idea, or at most a very limited number of such qualities. Flat characters are also referred to as type character, as one-dimensional characters, or when they are distorted to create humor, as caricatures. Flat characters usually play a minor role in the stories as caricatures. Flat characters usually play a minor role in the stories in which they appear, but not always so. Flat characters have much in common with the kind of stock characters or stereotypical characters who appear again and again in certain types of literary works (e.g. the rich uncle of domestic comedy, the hard-boiled private eye of the detective story, the female confidante of romance). Round characters are just the opposite. They embody a number of qualities and traits, and are complex multidimensional characters of considerable intellectual and emotional depth who have the capacity to grow and change. Major characters in fiction are usually round characters, and it is with the very complexity of such characters that most of us become engrossed and fascinated. The terms round and flat do not automatically imply value judgments. Each kind of character has its uses. Dynamic or developing & Static Character Methods of Characterization Direct Characterization: Telling or expository method Direct methods of revealing character— characterization by telling— include the following: Characterization through the use of names are often used to provide essential clues that suggest their dominant or controlling traits, as, for example, Young Goodman Brown, the naïve young Puritan in Hawthorne’s story. Other characters are given names that reinforce (or sometimes are in contrast to) their physical appearance, much in the way that Ichabod Crane, the gangling schoolmaster in Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, resembles his long-legged namesake. Names can also contain literary or historical allusions that aid in characterization by means of association. One must also, of course, be alert to names used ironically. Characterization through appearance Characterization by other characters Characterization by the author In the most customary form of telling, the author interrupts the narrative and reveals directly, through a series of editorial comments, the nature and the personality of the characters, including the thoughts and feelings that enter and pass though the character’s minds. Indirect Characterization: Showing or dramatic method By contrast, there are essentially two methods of indirect characterization by showing: characterization through dialogue (what characters say) and characterization though action (what characters do) Characterization through dialogue Characterization through action Characterization through thoughts or though the presentation of the subconscious or unconscious mind In modern stories, characters develop through gaining, for a moment at least, greater awareness of the truth about life and about themselves. James Joyce calls this radiant illumination an “epiphany. Joyce, in many of his short fiction, focuses sharply on events that lead toward the protagonist’s epiphany. He depicts one essential part of the character so well that he implies much of the whole. That kind of suggestiveness is a major aspect of an effective modern short story. The best realists today offer us a shock of recognition through which we share their perception of human behavior. Another indirect presentation of character is to show the character in action, in thinking. Readers infer what he is like from what he thinks or says or does. “Showing” is more demanding to both author and reader than “telling,” which is a direct way of characterization, through, for instance, straight description of appearance, gesture, motivation or what other characters tell us what “he” is like. Supporting characters are called “foil,” one type of which is “confidant”, who listens to the main characters, and is a means by which a self-effacing author conveys information to the reader. Analyzing Character 1.Who is the story’s protagonist? Who is the antagonist? Who are the other major characters? 2. Who are the minor characters? What roles do they play in the story? 3. What do the major characters look like? Is their physical appearance important? 4. What are the major characters’ most noticeable personality traits? 5. What are the major characters’ likes and dislikes? Their strengths and weaknesses? 6. What are we told about the major characters’ backgrounds and prior experiences? What can we infer? 7. Are characters developed for the most part through the narrator’s comments and descriptions or through the characters’ actions and dialogue? 8. Are the characters round or flat? 9. Are the characters dynamic or static? 10. Does the story include any stock characters? Any caricatures? Does any character serve as a foil? 11. Do the characters act in a way that is consistent with how readers expect them to act? 12. With which characters are readers likely to be most sympathetic? Least sympathetic? Theme Theme is the central idea or understanding around which a story is constructed. It sets up a pattern the author traces throughout the work and provides a unifying point around which the plot, character, setting, point of view, symbols, and other elements of the story are organized. The theme of a story is not to be confused with its subject. Subject in its general sense may be expressed by one word or phrase, such as fate, death, innocence, youth, loneliness, and racial prejudice. Great stories frequently have more than one theme. Discovering and expressing the theme of a story is often a delicate and demanding task and a test of our understanding of it. The following principles might be helpful guidelines. 1. Theme must be summed up in a sentence. It is insufficient to say that the theme of a story is “first love”, which is simply the subject. Then must be a statement about the subject, for instance, “First love is sometimes more bitter than sweet.” 2. Them must be stated as a generalization about life. In stating theme we do not use the names of characters or refer to precise places or events, for to do so is to make a specific rather than general statement. 3. We must be careful not to make the generalization larger than is justified by the story. Terms like “every”, “all”, “always”, “never” should be used very carefully; terms like “some”, “sometimes”, “may”, “seldom” are often more appropriate and accurate. 4. Them is the central and unifying concept of a story, and therefore it must account for all its major details. If the theme fails to cover the implication of an important event or character, it is then partial of and incomplete or is only a sub-theme; if it is contradicted by any detail of the story, then it is defective. The theme must exist inside, not outside the story. It must be based on the data of the story itself, not on supposed facts or assumptions from our own experience. 5. We should avoid any statement that reduces the theme to some familiar saying such as “You can’t judge a man by his appearance” or “A friend in need is a friend indeed”. Although such a statement may express the theme accurately, we should use our own version for a fresh perception instead of falling back dully on a cliché or a readymade phrase. Identifying Themes 1. The title can often provide insight into the theme or themes of a story. 2. Sometimes a narrator’s or character’s statement can reveal a theme. 3. The arrangement of events can suggest a story’s theme 4. A story’s conflict can offer clues to its theme. 5. The point of view of a story can also help shed light on theme. For instance, a writer’s use of an unreliable first-person narrator can help to communicate the theme of a story. 6. Quite often a story will give names, places, and objects symbolic significance. These symbols can not only enrich the story but also help to convey a central theme. 7. Finally, changes in a character can shed light on the theme or themes of the story. Analyzing Theme 1. What is the central theme of the story? 2. What other themes can you identify? 3. Does the title of the story suggest a theme? 4.Does the narrator, or any character, make statements that express or imply a theme? 5. In what way does the arrangement of events in the story suggest a theme? 6. In what way does the central conflict of the story suggest a theme? 7. How does the point of view shed light on the story’s central theme? 8. Do any symbols suggest a theme? 9. Do any characters in the story change in any significant way? Do their changes convey a particular theme? 10. Have you clearly identified the story’s central theme, rather than just summarized the plot or stated the subject? 11. Does your statement of the story’s central theme make a general observation that has an application beyond the story itself? Point of View All fiction is In some sense a story told by someone，yet no author wants to assume the identity of the story teller(He needs a persona so that he can tell the truth without being vulnerable(Point of view is a literary convention which allows an author to be a protean story teller by acquiring a variety of identity and flexibility unattainable in life(It is a breach he finds to allow his emotion to erupt and a valve at the same time with which to hold information in check(In this sense it is also a tool that acts like a camera tens， a shutter，that regulates the visibility，the mystery， and ambiguity of the object under view so as to achieve depth and complexity in narration，which a good story requires(Point of view is the way a story is told. It is the voice outside the action that reaches us and shapes our attitude toward the events being presented，and our attitude will usually be controlled by the author through his technical management of point of view(Therefore，Point of view is often highly suggestive of the theme( The nature of the storyteller is itself far from a simple matter(It involves such things as the extent to which he is himself a character whose personality affects our understanding of his statements，and the extent to which his view of events is limited in time and place or in his ability to see into the minds of various characters. In view of the relationship between the miler and the tale，there are two lands of story tellers:participant narrator(or first person)，who is either a major character or a manor character，and non —participant point of view f or third person). In view of the credibility of the teller there are reliable， unreliable narrators，and the innocent eye(There the angle of vision can be that of a mature person，a teenager，a not—too。bright adult，an idiot，or a child(In terms of the range son exposure of the material to the reader we move from the omniscience, 1imited omniscience，selective omniscience, stream of consciousness to the other end of the extreme-dramatic point of view. A Brief Summary As you analyze point of view in a story, you will find the following summary helpful. 1. First person (“I”) All these first-person narrators may have (1)complete understanding, (2)partial or incorrect understanding, or (3) no understanding at all. a. Major participant i. telling his or her own story as a major mover ii. telling a story about others and also about herself or himself as one of the major inter-actors. iii. telling a story mainly about others; this narrator is on the spot and completely involved but is not a major mover b. Minor participant, telling a story about events experienced and or witnessed. c. Uninvolved character, telling a story not witnessed but reported to the narrator by other means. 2. Second person (“you”) Occurs only when speaker has more authority on a character’s actions than the character himself or herself; for example, parent, psychologist, lawyer. Occurs only in brief passages when necessary. 3. Third person (“she”, “he”, “it”, “they”) a) Omniscient. Omniscient speaker sees all, reports all, knows inner workings or minds of characters. b) Limited omniscient. Action is focused on one major character. c) Dramatic or third-person objective. Speaker reports only actions and speeches. Thoughts of characters can be expressed only as dialogue. 4. Mingling Points of View In most stories, there is a mingling of viewpoints. Hence a point of view may be limited omniscient when focused on the thoughts of a major character, but dramatic when focused on the actions and dialogue. The writer may tell most of the story in one type of point of view but then shift at an important point for the purpose of sustaining interest or creating suspense. Writers choose the point of view that best enables them to achieve their objectives. If they want to create an intimate, subjective portrait of a character, they employ a first-person narrator. If they ant to have a great deal of freedom in telling their story, they use an omniscient narrator. A limited omniscient narrator enables writers to maintain the focus on a single individual while commenting on the action. Finally, the objective point of view allows writers to remove the allows writers to remove the narrator from the story and present events in a distant, emotionless way. Being most improbable in life，the all—knowing narrator(ironically alienates reader，thus creating a vast psychic distance between reader and work, and it is uncommon in modern practice(What is valued， instead，is its opposite-the dramatic point of view， which shows but never tells，yet the teller’s apparent remoteness brings about forced active involvement of the reader in decodin2 the message without context(resulting in a closer aesthetic distance between reader and work. In the case of an unreliable narrator, the decreased credibility pushes reader back from the plot development, leaving space for the appreciation of dramatic irony. In the first-person-at-the-second-hand point of view, where the narrator tells a tale he learns form another narrator, reader is also pushed far away from the plot, and the distance created makes it possible for him to focus, for instance, on humor. A case in point is Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” On the other hand the employment of limited omniscience. And the steam-of-consciousness bring reader close to the heart of the tale. However, contemporary authors use a multiple point of view, as in the case of William Faulkner’s short novel As I Lay Dying, to achieve shock by underscoring a technique traditionally meant to be obscure. Point of view, to the reader, presents a problem of adjustment. The chosen point of view offers readers what it sees, remembers, or chooses to set down about the experience. And its perspective, or its response to the experience is colored by the personality. At the same time, point of view presents a problem of compensation. Readers have to be aware of any limitations in the narrator’s viewpoint. If the viewpoint is “partial”—in the sense of incomplete or in the sense of biased—the reader must be ready to compensate in appropriate ways. Readers benefit by asking, after careful examination, what is the benefit of the choice or how the choice contributes to the understanding of the characters and the meanings of the work. Such a question in fact marks the beginning of a trained eye. An inexperienced reader has little or no awareness of the narrative voice, and often confuses it with the author’s attitude when, for instance, it is the voice of the major character. Analyzing Point of View 1. What is the dominant point of view from which the story is told? 2. Is the narrator a character in the story? If so, is he or she a participant in the story’s events or just a witness? 3. Does the story’s point of view create irony? 4. If the story has a first-person narrator, is the narrator reliable or unreliable? Are there any inconsistencies in the narrator’s presentation of the story? 5. If the story has a third-person narrator, is he or she omniscient? Does he or she have limited omniscience? Is the narrator objective? 6. What are the advantages of the story’s point of view? How does the point of view accomplish the author’s purpose? 7. Does the point of view remain consistent throughout the story, or does it shift? 8. How might a different point of view change the story? 7. Symbolism A symbol is a person, object or event that suggests more than its literal meaning. Symbol is sometimes difficult to be distinguished from image and metaphor. In general, however, an image means only what it is; and a symbol means what it is and something more too. If we say that a brown dog is playing with a white kitten merrily, we are talking about nothing but a dog (and a kitten) and are therefore presenting an image. If we say, “Some dirty dog tricked us into buying those using a metaphor. But if we say, “You can’t teach an o ld new tricks,” we are talking not only about dogs but also about human beings or other creatures and are therefore using a symbol. Symbols may be roughly classified as conventional, natural and literary. The conventional symbol cultural symbols has its meaning established by a particular tradition and is widely acknowledged by a society or culture or large groups of people. The Bible symbolizes the entire body of Christian belief. A natural/ universal/ archetypal symbol appears to elicit similar responses wherever it appears and its meaning seems to be shared by the whole human race. Winter, the setting sun, and the black color suggest death, while spring, the rising sun, and the black color suggest death, while spring, the rising sun, and the green color evoke images of youth and new beginnings. A literary / Contextual/ Authorial or Private symbol is a concrete element whose meaning is located in or defined by the work in which it appears. For example, snow is often used in stories to indicate a whole chain of complex associations such as blankness, cold, frigidity, death, sleep, peacefulness, tranquility, innocence, and purity. For an element to function in a story as a symbol, it must satisfy these requirements: (1) The story itself must furnish a clue that a detail is to be taken symbolically. Symbols nearly always signal their existence by emphasis, repetition or position. In other words, considering how an image is used, how often it is used, and when is appears will help you to determine whether or not it functions as a symbol. (2) The meaning of literary symbol must be established by the entire context of the story. The symbol has its meaning in the story, not outside it. (3) The detail must suggest a meaning different in kind from its literal meaning, for symbol is something more than the representative of a class or type. (4) A symbol must have more than one meaning and an effective meaning may suggest a cluster of meanings in its context like a many-faceted jewel which flashes different colors when turned in the light. In short stories and other types of literature, a symbol is usually a person, thing, place, action, situation, or even thought. To determine whether something in a story is symbolic, we must decide if it consistently refers beyond itself to a significant idea, emotion, or quality. For example, the ancient mythological character Sisyphus may be considered as a symbol because he is consistently linked with specific ideas. According to legend, he is doomed in the underworld to roll a large boulder up a high hill forever. Just as he gets it to the top, it rolls down, and he is fated to roll it up again, and again, and again, because the rock always rolls back as he gets it to the top. His plight may be seen as a symbol of the human condition: A person rarely if ever completes anything. Work must always be done over and over in every generation, and the same problems confront humanity in each age without any final solution. In the light of such infinitely fruitless effort, life seems to have little meaning. Nevertheless there is hope. People who meet frustration like that experienced by Sisyphus remain involved and active in their work and even if they are never more than temporarily successful, they may find meaning in their lives. Analyzing Symbolism: 1. What symbols or patterns of symbolism are present in the story? Are the symbols universal or contextual? 2. What aspects of the work (e.g., theme, setting, plot, characterization) does the symbolism serve to explain, clarify, or reinforce? 3. Does the author’s use of symbolism seem contrived or forced in any way, or does it arise naturally out of the interplay of the story’s major elements? 8. Style The word style, derived from the Latin word stilus (a writing instrument), is understood to mean the way in which writers assemble words to tell the story, develop the argument, dramatize the play, or compose the poem. Often the definition is extended to distinguish style from content. It is probably wiser, however, not to make this separation but to consider style as the placement of words in the service of content. The way a thing is said, in other words, can not be separated from the thing itself. Style is also highly individualistic. It is a matter of the way in which specific authors put words together under specific conditions in specific works. It is therefore possible to speak of the style of Earnest Hemingway, for example, and of Samuel Clemens, even though both writers at any time are adapting their words to the situations imagined in their works. Thus authors may actually have a separate style for narrative and descriptive passages, and their words to the situations imagined in their works. Thus authors may actually have a separate style for narrative and descriptive passages, and their style in dialogue is likely different from either of these. Indeed, it would be a mark of an inferior style if a writer were to use the same manner for all the varying purposes that must exist in a story. It must therefore be emphasized that style is to be judged on the degree of its adaptability. The better the writer, the more the writer’s words will fit the precise situation called for in the story. Jonathan Swift defined style as the right words in the right places. We may add to this definition that style is also the right words at the right time and in the right circumstances. In its most general sense, style consists of diction (the individual words an author chooses) and syntax (the arrangement of those words and phrases, clauses, and sentences), as well as such devices as rhythm and sound, allusion, ambiguity, irony, paradox, and figurative language. Elements of Style The following are some basic elements of style that we examine to characterize an author’s writing. Diction: Choice of Words Although words are usually meaningful only in the context of other words, stylistic analysis begins with the attempt to identify and under stand the type and quality of the individual words that comprise an author’s basic vocabulary. When used to connection with characterization, words are the vehicles by which a character’s ideas, attitudes, and values are expressed. Words convey the details of outer appearance and inner state of mind. In dialogue they reflect the speaker’s intelligence and sophistication, general level of conscious awareness, and socioeconomic, geographical, and educational background. When used to describe incidents, words help to convey the narrator’s (or the author’s) attitude toward those events and the characters involved in them. When used to describe setting, words help to create and sustain an appropriate atmosphere. The analysis of diction includes the following considerations: the denotative (or dictionary) meaning of words, as opposed to their connotative meaning (the ideas associated or suggested by them); their degree of concreteness or abstractness; their degree of allusiveness; the parts of speech they represent; their degree of allusiveness; the parts of speech they represent; their length and construction; the level of usage they reflect (standard or nonstandard; formal, informal, or colloquial) ; the imagery (details of sensory experience) they contain; the figurative devices (simile, metaphor, personification) they embody; their rhythm and sound patterns (alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia). In studying diction, we also need to pay close attention to the use of repetition: the way the key words recur in a given passage or series of passages in such a way as to call special attention to themselves. Syntax: Construction of Sentences When we examine style at the level of syntax, we are attempting to analyze the ways the author arranges words into phrases, clauses, and finally whole sentences to achieve particular effects. Although syntax is determined partly by the lexical content (or meaning) of the words and partly by the basic grammatical structure of the language, every writer enjoy considerable freedom to shape and control the syntactic elements of style. In looking at an author’s syntax we want to know how the words have been arranged and particularly how they deviate from the usual and expected. Although one can study syntactic units smaller than the sentence—for example, individual phrases that call attention to themselves by their length, content, and placement—syntax is probably most easily approached and analyzed in sentences. Such an approach mirrors most closely the writing process itself, for sentences are the major units of thought, and it is on the crafting of sentences that most authors concentrate their creative energies. Sentences can be examined in terms of their length—whether they are short, spare, and economical or long and involved; in terms of their form—whether they are simple, compound, or complex; and in their construction—whether they are loose (sentences that follow the normal subject-verb-object pattern, stating their main idea near the beginning in the form of an independent clause), periodic (sentences that deliberately withhold or suspend the completion of the idea until the end of the sentence), or balanced (sentences in which two similar or antithetical ideas are balanced). Each type of sentence will have a slightly different effect on the reader. Long, complicated sentences slow down and retard the pace of a narrative, whereas short, simple sentences hasten it. Loose sentences, because they follow the normal, predicable patterns of speech, tend to appear more natural and less contrived than either periodic or balanced sentences, particularly when they are used in the creation of dialogue. Moreover, the deliberate arrangement of words within individual sentences or groups of sentences can result in patterns of rhythm and sound (pleasant or unpleasant) that establish or reinforce feeling and emotion. Although an author will usually vary the kinds of sentences used to avoid monotony (unless monotony is intended), certain syntactic patterns will dominate and become characteristic of that author’s style. Style can be used as an aid to characterization, the creation of setting and atmosphere, and as a means of reinforcing theme. Stylistic comparisons between authors provide instructive lessons in the dynamic, changing nature of the language itself. Comparing the style of Edgar Allan Poe to the style of Earnest Hemingway, for example, allow us to appreciate the movement in fiction toward less formality and more concrete diction, as well as simpler syntax, reflecting the modern tendency toward realism in fiction. Comparative generalizations about style, however, can be dangerous. Style is a highly personal and sometimes a highly idiosyncratic matter, open to endless opportunities for innovation and experimentation. Although some fictional styles are easier to read and understand than others, and although all readers sooner or later come to express stylistic preferences, there is, finally, no one style that is best or most appropriate. The critic’s job is to try to understand the distinctive elements that comprise an author’s style, the various effects that those elements create, and the way in which they serve to reveal and reinforce the other elements of the work. Analyzing Style 1. Describe the author’s diction. Is the language concrete or abstract, formal or informal, literal or figurative? What parts of speech occur most often? 2. What use does the author make of imagery; figurative devices (simile, metaphor, personification); patterns of rhythm and sound (alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia); repetition; allusion? 3. Are the sentences predominantly long or short; simple, compound, or complex; loose, periodic, or balanced? 4. What are the distinctive characteristics of the author’s style? In what ways is the style appropriate to the work’s subject and theme? 9. Tone Tone is the author’s implicit attitude toward the people, places and events in a story. To understand tone better, we might imagine ourselves listening to a storyteller. Through the quality, pitch and duration of his pronunciation and through his overall presentation, the storyteller conveys to us, for instance, a solemn, light, pleased, angry, sympathetic, reserved, matter-of-fact, or ecstatic tone. In reading a story, we cannot literally “hear” the author’s voice, but we can grasp his bone by examining his style-diction, syntax, and imagery. Tone is a term that designates the attitudes toward the subject and toward the audience implied in a literary work. As the author’s unstated evaluation of or attitude toward his subject matter, tone in fiction shapes and influences meaning just as the tone of our voice colors and controls the implications of our spoken language. Like a tone of a voice, the tone of a story any communicate amusement, anger, affection, sorrow, indifference or contempt. It implies the feelings of the author, as far as we can sense them. Those feelings may be similar to the feelings expressed by the narrator of the story, but sometimes they may be dissimilar, even sharply opposed. The character in a story may regard his life as sad, but we sense that the author treats it as funny. The tone of a story may also convey a medley of attitudes. To understand the tone of a story, then, is to understand some attitude more fundamental to the story than whatever attitude the characters explicitly declare. Often the tone of a literary work will be too rich and subtle to sum up in one two words, but to try to describe it will be a helpful way to penetrate to the core of the story and to grasp the whole of its meaning. 10.Irony Irony is a broad term referring to the recognition of a reality different from appearance, of a disparity between what is said and what is meant and between what is presented and what finally turns out to be. Essentially there are three types of irony: verbal, dramatic, and situational. Verbal irony is a figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is intended. When a driver in a jolty car on a bumpy road mutters “What a fine road!” he is being ironic, for what he really means is “What a terrible road!” Verbal irony is an effective device for joining speaker and hearer, writer and reader, in a shared understanding of the disparity between the apparent and real meaning. However, verbal irony should not be confused with sarcasm, which is actually a special kind of the former. Sarcasm is a caustic and bitter expression of strong kind of the former. Sarcasm is a caustic and bitter expression of strong disapproval under the guise of compliment. It is simply harsh, cutting speech of the guise of compliment. It is simply harsh, cutting speech of false praise, intended to ridicule and to wound. Generally speaking, verbal irony is not so openly aggressive; instead, it is more subtle and restrained though no less intense. Dramatic irony is a from of irony the author employs to allow the reader to know more than a character in the story knows. It expresses as a disparity between what a character says or does and what the reader understands to be true. Such irony is called “dramatic” because when watching a drama, the audience often perceives more of what is going on the stage than the characters themselves do. Similarly when reading a story, the reader finds that a certain character is stupid but the character may blindly regard himself as clever. Dramatic irony can be an effective way for an author to have a character unwittingly reveal his own true colors. Situational irony exists when there is an incongruity between appearance and reality, between expectation and fulfillment, or between what is and what would seem appropriate. One particular kind of situational irony is sometimes called irony of fate or cosmicirony. Some storywriters are fond of ironic twists of fate—developments that reveal a terrible distance between what people deserve and what they get, between what is and what ought to be. In O’Henry’s famous short story “The Gift of the Magi”, a young wife sells her beautiful hair to buy a watch chain for her poor husband as a Christmas present, unaware that her husband has sold his watch to buy combs for her hair. Irony of fate seems to suggest that some malicious fate is deliberately frustrating human efforts. Irony-whether in a statement, a situation, an unexpected event, or point of view-makes a story more striking, effective, and memorable.