Archetype

[A] primary symbol, action, setting, or character-type that is found repeatedly in myth, folklore, and literature. Religious mystics have at various times proposed that there is a universal symbolic language of dreams and visions; and in the 20th cent. this notion was encouraged by the speculative anthropology of J. G. Frazer and the psychology of Jung, who claimed that human beings shared a 'collective unconscious' for which archetypal images, whether in dreams or in imaginative literature, provided evidence. Archetypal criticism . . . under Jung's influence has sought to trace the recurrence of such symbols and types as the Earth Mother, the Quest, the Paradisal Garden, and the Trickster. . . . The wider significance of archetypes in literature was explored by Frye" ("Archetype")

Plot

Plot has to do with the "way in which a story's events are arranged" and not merely with "what happens" (Kirszner and Mandell (64)

• Conflict - conflict is what drives the plot, the tension between the main character(s) and themselves, other characters, their society/culture, and/or their situation.

• Scene - a scene is the structural unit of the plot. A scene is a span of narration focused on a single event, situation, or character.

• Structure - plot typically proceeds from exposition (setting, characters, conflict) through crisis (situation highlighting conflict), to climax (ultimate response to conflict), to resolution (outcome).

• Narrative time - the sequencing of story events in relation to linear ("real") time

• in media res - beginning in the middle of the action

• flashback- in a flashback, action that occurred chronologically earlier is inserted into the story-flashbacks usually provide a perspective on the "present" (the moment when the flashback occurred) by giving background information or by advancing the reader's understanding of the character or conflict

• foreshadowing - in foreshadowing, a action that will occur later in the story is hinted at, usually to increase the tension of the coming conflict or as a type of irony

Character

Character is the illusion of personality as it is revealed through actions and attitudes developed within the story through description, scene (actions), dialogue, exposition (comments by the narrator), and narrated thoughts (internal dialogue, stream of consciousness, point of view).

• Round vs. flat - round characters are "well developed, closely involved in, and responsive to the action" while flat characters are "barely developed or stereotypical" (Kirszner and Mandell 93) -relates to complexity of psychological makeup.

• Foil - highlights quality in a major character by demonstrating the opposite quality

• Stock characters - traditional roles - the youth, the drunk, the wise old man

• Caricatures - characters with a single dominating and exaggerated trait

• Dynamic vs. static - dynamic characters change as a consequence of their interaction with the conflict or other characters; static characters do not change

• Motivation - what compels a character to act

Exposition

Exposition is the background information given in a story. Rather than action, exposition provides necessary information about the characters, setting, situation, historical context, or other relevant details and information. Exposition often occurs at the beginning of a story in order to offer the reader a context for the action to be developed.

Setting

Setting is the physical, geographical, historical, cultural, and/or temporal location(s) in which a story takes place. Setting tends to influence the interpretation of actions and events, and can establish a mood or feeling about the characters or action. Sometimes the setting is so important to the conflict or drama of the story that the setting almost takes on the qualities of a character within the story.

Point of view

There are two aspects of point of view: Who sees? (focalizer) and Who speaks? (narrator). A story may be told by a character at a certain stage in his/her life (narrator) but be told using vocabulary or a style of writing only appropriate to another (later) stage of life (focalizer) (Rimmon-Kenan 71-72).

Separating the narrator from the focalizer can create tension or conflict in the story. The short story "The Secret Lion" by Alberto Alvaro Rios has an adult narrator recounting his experiences at twelve and five, often mimicing the way a child speaks. The result is a story by a "tongue-in-cheek" focalizer recounted by an angry adult narrator, which creates an interesting tension in the story.

The traditional way of discussing point of view is to focus on person - first, second, and third.

• First person - narrator tells story from his/her point of view (as a character in story)

• Irony - discrepancy between what narrator says and what reader perceives

• Dramatic - narrator perceives less than reader

• Situational - what happens is different from what reader expects

• Verbal - narrator says one thing, means another

• Unreliable narrators - "intentionally or unintentionally . . . misrepresent events or misdirect readers" (Kirszner and Mandell 175-6)

• Second person - narrator tells the story as though an observer of the reader of the story. Second person is rarely used.

• The reader becomes the protagonist ("Types," par. 6).

• The reader becomes part of the experience as the narrator anticipates how the reader might react, feel, or think about the action and events in the story ("Types," par. 7).

• The reader becomes absorbed in the setting of the story on a visceral level ("Types," par. 8).

• The reader is engaged in the action of the story as though experiencing it in the moment (The story is written in present tense.) ("Types," par. 9).

• Third person - narrator is not a character in the story

• Omniscient - see all minds, all characters, all actions

• Limited omniscient - see only through one character's mind or experiences

• Objective - see no minds, but all characters, all actions

Another aspect related to point of view concerns emotional distance. A first person narrator told in present tense has an immediacy to the action and may often include raw emotions, a sense of suspense, an epiphany, or uncertainty. Stories told in past tense provide emotional distance from the action, so a first person narrator has often had time to process the experience, resulting in a reflective tone or movement toward resolution and understanding.

Literary Conventions

Literary conventions refer to those features and qualities of texts that are common to literary works (as opposed to non-fictional writings such as essay or biography-although these works sometimes also take advantage of the conventions of literature). These include figurative and symbolic language (expressions which exceed their apparent literal meaning or express more than one level of meaning), archetypal language (language which evokes a subconscious but universal response), imagery (language that by its vividness recreates a sensory experience), elements of style (formality, complexity, and intensity of language and the writer's unique expression), tone (the atmosphere or mood expressed by the writing), and theme (the central or dominant idea expressed by a piece of writing).