language of fiction

How to read fiction How to read fiction Fiction: the general term for invented stories. Now usually applied to novels, short stories, novellas, romances, fables, and other narrative works in prose, even though most plays and narrative poems are also fictional. An understanding of the formal elements will enhance the reader’s appreciation of any piece of fiction, as well as his or her ability to share perceptions with others. At some level, or perhaps in the first reading of a piece, readers should read without applying these divisions in order to experience the story's unique effect. Nevertheless, knowledge of the formal elements is necessary for most critical discussions of fiction. These elements provide a basic vocabulary and set of critical tools that can be used in conjunction with many other critical approaches. I.​ Point of view One useful way to approach a novel involves asking yourself as you read, "Who's telling the story? Once you've determined that the novel seems to be told by either a first- or third-person narrator, next decide if this narrator knows absolutely everything about the story and its characters or only some of the things we want (and need) to know. Is the narrator, in other words, an omniscient or a limited narrator? One characteristic of an omniscient narrator is that such a story-teller, unlike any human being who has ever lived, knows what's going on inside the mind of other people (or at least other characters). Readers almost always identify with the fictional character who relates stories in the first person, but can you tell whether this speaker is reliable or not? Most first-personal narrators are reliable, but a good many are not. Some, such as Swift's Gulliver in Brobdingnag, clearly do not represent the author's views and may even be the butt of satire or other forms of criticism. How can you tell? definition: the position or vantage-point from which the events of a story seem to be observed and presented to us. There are many 'positions' or 'perspectives' or 'points of view' from which a story can be told. By 'point of view' we generally mean two somewhat different things: 1) the relation of the narrator to the action of the story — whether the narrator is, for instance, a character in the story, or a voice outside of the story; 2) the relation of the narrator to the issues and the characters that the story involves — whether the narrator is sympathetic, whether she agrees supports or opposes a particular cultural practice or doctrine, that sort of question. Most novels are narrated either in the first person, in third person omniscient, or in third person limited. First-person narrator The narrator tells the story from his / her point of view (I). It is a limited point of view as the reader will only know what the narrator knows. The advantage of the first person narration is that the narrator shares his / her personal experiences and secrets with the reader so that the reader feels part of the story. Example: ​ Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre Second-person narrator A small number of novels have been written in the second person, frequently paired with the present tense. A relatively prominent example is Jay McInerney's Bright Lights Big City, where the central character is clearly modeled on himself, and he seems to have decided that second-person point of view would create even more intimacy than first-person, creating the feeling that the reader is blind, in a sense, and the plot is leading him or her along. It is almost universally agreed that second-person narration is that hard to manage, especially in a serious work. In this case, the narrator is supposedly the reader, and refers to itself with the second person pronoun, 'You.' This is the rarest of the points of view because, though theoretically possible, it does not work very well. A reader narrating to herself would never call herself, 'you,' and anything the narrator does is questionable. The tongue-in-cheek example below makes this point. Example: "You walk into the room and see a man sitting in a chair. You think his bald head and bulging stomach are quite attractive. You decide to kiss his bare feet." You are the narrator, and are apparently kinky. Third-person narrator 1. A third person omniscient narrator can shift focus from character to character with knowledge of everyone's thoughts and of events of which no single character would be aware. Usually the narrator is all-knowing (omniscient narrator): he / she can switch from one scene to another, but also focus on a single character from time to time. Example: "She walked into the room, feeling nervous, and saw the man sitting in a chair, who, in turn, felt irate." The narrator tells the story from as many points of view as necessary; internal mental states of both the man and the woman can be described. It can be the easiest way to write a story. 2. The third person limited point of view picks one character and follows him or her around for the duration of the book. The narrator may be more observant than the character, but is limited to what that one character could theoretically observe. 3. Objective viewpoint: limited narrative, like a drama; narrator can only describe words and actions that can be seen objectively and cannot get into character's thoughts In a minor variant on third person limited, narrator may "travel" with a single character, but the point-of-view conventions may be extended to allow the narrator access to other characters' thoughts and motivations. Another common variant is for a novel to have different third person limited point of views in different sections. Thus, Chapter One might follow Jane, while Chapter two follows Dick, and Chapter Three follows their dog. Note: In literature, a point of view is the related experience of the narrator - not that of the author. After reading the story or novel through, you should have a notion of the plot of it. So we move to next part, plot. II.​ Plot If an author writes, "The king died and then the queen died," there is no plot for a story. But by writing, "The king died and then the queen died of grief," the writer has provided a plot line for a story. Definition: A plot is a causal sequence of events, the "why" for the things that happen in the story. plot: artistic arrangement of events, how artist present story -story: sequence of events in chronological order A plot's structure is the way in which the story elements are arranged. Writers vary structure depending on the needs of the story. For example, in a mystery, the author will withhold plot exposition until later in the story. Sometimes life is not simple. Stories are not always easy to understand, either. Gustav Freytag was a Nineteenth Century German novelist who saw common patterns in the plots of stories and novels and developed a diagram to analyze them. He diagrammed a story's plot using a pyramid like the one shown here: Freytag's Pyramid 1. Exposition: setting the scene. The writer introduces the characters and setting, providing description and background. 2. Inciting Incident: something happens to begin the action. A single event usually signals the beginning of the main conflict. The inciting incident is sometimes called 'the complication'. 3. Rising Action: the story builds and gets more exciting. 4. Climax: the moment of greatest tension in a story. This is often the most exciting event. It is the event that the rising action builds up to and that the falling action follows. 5. Falling Action: events happen as a result of the climax and we know that the story will soon end. 6. Resolution: the character solves the main problem/conflict or someone solves it for him or her. 7. Dénouement: (a French term, pronounced: day-noo-moh) the ending. At this point, any remaining secrets, questions or mysteries which remain after the resolution are solved by the characters or explained by the author. Sometimes the author leaves us to think about the THEME or future possibilities for the characters. Plot generally takes its impetus from conflict. III.​ Conflict: a clash of actions, ideas, desires, or wills. This conflict can be physical, mental, emotional, or moral. Conflict is the element of the story which shows the concerns of the central characters. There are some universal conflicts which are often identified by the terms: character vs. character, character vs. self, character vs. society, character vs. nature. One or more of these may be used by an author to tell a story and to present a theme or a set of themes. IV.​ Characterization: Characterization: Characterization refers to the methods used by the author to create or reveal the characters in a story. The characters are the humans, animals, or fantasized beings who are created by the author to act within a story for the author's purposes. Central and Minor characters can be: 1. Flat vs. Round flat: one dimensional, stock, stereotype round: multiple qualities, unique 2. Static vs. Dynamic static: does not change at all in tale dynamic: changes and develops in story 3. Protagonists and Antagonists protagonist: the main character, we are most concerned with antagonist: the opponent to the main character 4. Stock character and stereotype Stock Character: a flat character in a standard role with standard traits, such asthe bored hotel clerk, the overbearing mother. One whose nature is familiar to us from prototypes in previous fiction. Stereotype: a character who is so ordinary and unoriginal that s/he seems to have been cast in a mold, a representative character, a character who possesses no attributes except those of their class. How characters are created: 1. by name 2. physical appearance 3. speech, how they talk and what they speak about 4. from what other charcters say about them 5. from narrator's descriptions 6. from actions of character 7. from thoughts of character and other characters 8. if character is associated with object/surrounding Setting: 1．​ Definition: Setting is the times and places in which the events of the story occur. Most stories have multiple settings which have been created by the author to tell the story. 2．​ The position of setting: The setting may be specific and detailed and introduced at the very beginning of the story, or it may be merely suggested through the use of details scattered throughout the story. Customs, manners, clothing, scenery, weather, geography, buildings, and methods of transportation are all part of setting. 3．​ The importance of setting differs from story to story. Sometimes the setting is fairly unimportant, as in most fables. In other stories, the setting is very important. It may have an effect on the events of the plot, reveal character, or create a certain atmosphere. A.​ In some works of fiction action is so closely related to setting that the plot is directed by it. “The new man stands, looking a minute, to get the set-up of the day room. One side of the room younger patients, known as Acutes because the doctors figure them still sick enough to be fixed, practice arm wrestling and card tricks…Across the room from the Acutes are the culls of the Combine’s product, the Chronics. Not in the hospital, these to get fixed, but just to keep them from walking around the street giving the product a bad name. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (19) B. Setting can establish the atmosphere of a work. Mood/ atmosphere: The underlying feeling or atmosphere produced by a story Because particular places and times have their own personality or emotional essence, setting is also one of the primary ways that a fiction writer establishes mood. Establish with students that the setting can help develop and establish the mood of a story. A vivid description of the setting will help the reader to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch the environment of the story. Share with students the following passage: It was a cold and cheerless evening. The fog seemed to hover over the street, clutching the buildings, the streetlamps—the entire city—in a damp, icy grip. If one were to stand still, passers-by would emerge briefly from the gloom, only to disappear from view after taking just a few steps. These ghostly apparitions tormented James as he impatiently waited for his valet to return with his carriage. Ask students the following: ​ What sensory details does the author use to draw the reader into the setting? ​ What mood do these details help create? As he pressed forward he became conscious that his way was haunted by malevolent /me’levenes/(evil)existences, invisible, and whom he could not definitely figure to his mind. From among the trees on either side he caught broken whispers in a strange tongue which yet he partly understood. They seemed to him fragmentary utterances of a monstrous conspiracy against his body and his soul. “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country.” “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe C. Setting can help in the portrayal of character. “…it was so quiet and lonesome out, even though it was Saturday night. I didn’t see hardly anybody on the street. Now and then you just saw a man and a girl crossing the street with their arms around each other’s waists and all, or a bunch of hoodlumy-looking guys and their dates, all of them laughing like hyenas at something you could bet wasn’t funny. New York’s terrible when somebody laughs on the street very late at night. You can hear it for miles. It makes you feel so lonesome and depressed.” The Catcher in the Rye (81) 4．​ Discuss the specific elements of setting, which are outlined below. . Typically, short stories occur in limited locations and time frames, such as the two rooms involved in Kate Chopin’s "The Story of an Hour," whereas novels may involve many different settings in widely varying landscapes. Even in short stories, however, readers should become sensitive to subtle shifts in setting. For example, when the grieving Mrs. Mallard retires alone to her room, with "new spring life" visible out the window, this detail about the setting helps reveal a turn in the plot. While setting includes simple attributes such as climate or wall paper, it can also include complex dimensions such as the historical moment the story occupies or its social context. social context: The significant cultural issues affecting a story’s setting or authorship Tone is the implied attitude of the writer or the speaker towards subject, material, and audience; the emotional coloring or emotional meaning of the work. Overstatement (hyperbole): saying more than one what really means. Language that is so intense or exaggerated it must be read as meaning less than it literally states; a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used in the service of truth (ex: a beggar to one who drops a penny into the tin cup: "I'm rich!") Understatement (litotes): 间接表达法, 反语法 a figure of speech that consists of saying less than one means or of saying what one means with less force than the occasion warrants (ex: saying that a person who holds her hand for half an hour in a lighted fire will experience "a sensation of excessive and disagreeable warmth") Irony: a device that develops meaning by putting together seemingly contrasting concepts or ideas.  Irony occurs when there is a difference between what is asserted or believed, and what is actually the truth.  There are many types of irony; below are examples of the most common forms of irony: verbal irony: saying the opposite of what one really means; a figure of speech in which what is meant is the opposite of what is said (ex: to the cad who shoulders in front of you on the subway and then takes the last seat: "Aren't you the gentleman!") dramatic irony: when the reader or audience knows information that the character does not know, and thereby witnesses the impact of what the character says or does.  There is a discrepancy between what the reader knows, and what the character believes to be true. situational irony: a situation in which there is an incongruity between actual circumstances and those that would seem appropriate or between what is anticipated and what actually comes to pass (the conclusion of Maupassant's "The Necklace") situational irony Example: John stayed up all night working on his paper.  It was going to be his best work yet.  However, at 8:00 a.m., just before the paper was due, his computer crashed and he lost all of his work. Here, John and the reader expect for the passage to end with John turning in his paper and getting a good grade.  However, the situation is ironic because it ends opposite what was expected. o​ dramatic irony Example: In Sophocles' Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King, Oedipus puts a curse on his father's murderer.  The audience is aware at the time that Oedipus himself is actually the murderer, but Oedipus does not yet know this fact. Theme – 1. definition: The theme of a piece of fiction is its central idea. It usually contains some insight into the human condition. To determine theme, ask: What is the story's central purpose? What view of life does it support or what insight into life does it reveal? What is the central insight, the one that explains the greatest number of elements in the story and relates them to each other? On a more tangible level, ask: In what way(s) does the main character(s) change in the course of the story and what, if anything, has the character(s) learned before its end? What is the nature of the central conflict and what is its outcome? What information does the title reveal? Reading Fiction: Now that you have some idea of what a story is made of and have learned the basics of analyzing what you read, let's practice your new skills. Questions: 1.​ What is the basic plot of the story? 2.​ Tell me something about these three elements: a.​ characters b.​ setting c.​ theme