4. Basic Elements of a Story
1. PLOT - the story line; a unified, progressive pattern of action or events in a
story
2. POINT OF VIEW (POV) - the position from which the story is told
3. CHARACTER - person portraying himself or another
4. SETTING - the time and place of the action in a story
5. TONE - the attitude of the author toward his subject or toward the reader
6. MOOD - the feeling or state of mind that predominates in a story creating a
certain atmosphere
7. +
Plot Line
Climax: The turning point. The most
intense moment (either mentally or in
action). The conflict is generally
addressed here.
Rising Action: the
series of conflicts
and crisis in the
story that lead to
the climax.
Conflict: Struggle between
opposing forces
Exposition: The start of the story.
The way things are before the
action starts.
Falling Action: all of the
action that follows the Climax.
Resolution: The conclusion; the
tying together of all of the
threads.
9. + Action:
Rising
Climax: The wolf tries to climb in through the chimney, but
the little pig is ready for him. The wolf falls in a pot of
boiling water.
The 3rd little pig builds his house out of
bricks. The wolf tries and tries to blow
the brick house down, but he can’t.
Falling Action: The little pig
celebrates with wolf stew!
The 2nd little pig builds a house out of
sticks, but the wolf blows that one down
too.
The 1st little pig builds a house out of
straw, but the wolf blows it down.
Conflict: Man vs. Man
The wolf is trying to eat the three little pigs.
Exposition: The three little pigs live at
home with their mother. They go off
into the world to find their fortunes.
Resolution: The little pig
continues to live happily ever
after in his safe, little home.
11. +
Narrator
POV
Depends on the
Narrator
The narrator is the “one who tells, or is
assumed to be telling, the story in a given
narrative,” that is, “the imagined „voice‟
transmitting the story.” The narrator is
distinguished from the real author (The
Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary
Terms).
12. +
“Hansel knew he belonged in the front because
Gretel was just a girl. Gretel dropped
breadcrumbs behind her as she went, knowing
that her bumbling brother couldn’t be counted on
to find his way home.
Ahead of them, an old witch waited, her stomach
rumbling at the thought of what a delicious dinner
the two plump children would make.”
Omniscient Point
of View: An
external narrator
is telling the
story. (S)he
speaks for all
characters and
knows everything.
13. +
“In his black suit he stood in the dark glass where
the lilies leaned so palely from their waisted
cutglass vase. He looked down at the guttered
candlestub. He pressed his thumbprint in the
warm wax pooled on the oak veneer. Lastly he
looked at the face so caved and drawn among the
folds of funeral cloth, the yellowed moustache,
the eyelids paper thin. That was not sleeping.
That was not sleeping.
Cormac McCarthy All the Pretty Horses
Limited Omniscient:
Third person, told
from the viewpoint of
a character in the
story. (S)he knows
only what one
character sees, does,
and feels.
14. +
“I have been afraid of putting air in a
tire ever since I saw a tractor tire blow
up and throw Newt Hardbine‟s father
over the top of the Standard Oil sign.
I‟m not lying. He got stuck up there.
The first person narrator uses the
pronoun “I.”
The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver
15. +
Review:
Three Common Points of View
Omniscient: The narrator knows everything, including what
each character is thinking, feeling, and doing throughout the
story.
3rd Person Limited: The narrator knows only the thoughts and
feelings of a single character, while other characters are
presented only externally.
1st Person: The narrator participates in action but sometimes
has limited knowledge about both events outside of those in
which he or she is directly involved and motivations that are not
his or her own.
16. + The Three Little Pigs is a classic folk tale from
the oral tradition. It was originally published in
the 18th Century with an Omniscient Narrator
The
story follows three pigs sent out into the world
by their mother. Each of them builds a house: one of
straw, one of sticks, and the last of bricks. The wolf
blows down each of the first two houses, but he
cannot even scuff the brick house. Finally, he
attempts to sneak in through the chimney. The third
pig is ready for his entrance and places a pot of
boiling water in the fireplace. When the wolf leaps
into the chimney, he lands in the pot and the pig
makes a stew out of him.
17. +
Identifying the Omniscient Perspective
their mother, who loved them
equally, told them " Whatever
you do, do it the best that you can
because that's the way to get
along in the world.”
a big bad wolf came along and
saw the first little pig in his
house of straw.
The first little pig built his house
out of straw because it was the
easiest thing to do.
The [third] little pig saw the wolf
climb up on the roof. He lit a
roaring fire in the fireplace and
placed on it a large kettle of
water.
Definition Omniscient Perspective: The narrator knows what each
character is thinking, feeling, and doing throughout the story.
18. +
3rd Person Limited: Mother Pig
An abbreviated version of the complete tale
This
version of the Three Little Pigs is
presented as a third-person narrative by
the mother pig. After she sends her three
boys off into the world with her bit of
advice, she is left to wonder about their
fates. She, and consequently the reader,
knows nothing of their adventure with the
wolf until she receives a phone call from
her third son.
19. +
Identifying the Third Person Limited
Perspective
The boys left and she, as any
good mother would, worried
incessantly about how they
fared.
Day after day, she waited for
news of her offspring. She
busied herself by cleaning their
rooms.
One late night the phone rang.
It was her third son, George.
“Mom,” he yelled “you were
right.” John and Paul built
houses out of straw and wood.
This gigantic, bad wolf came
and blew them down one after
the other.
Definition 3rd person limited: Third person limited point of view is a
method of storytelling in which the narrator knows only the thoughts and
feelings of a single character, while other characters are presented only
externally.
20. 1st Person: The True Story of the Three
+ Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane
Smith.
An Abbreviated Version of the Complete Tale
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs is presented as a firstperson narrative by the wolf, who portrays the entire incident as
a misunderstanding. He had gone to the pigs to borrow some
sugar, had destroyed their houses in a sneezing fit, and had
eaten the first two pigs just to avoid food going to waste (the
pigs had died in the house collapse anyway). Ultimately, he had
been caught violently attacking the third pig‟s house because
the pig had continually insulted him
21. +
First-person – The narrator participates in action but
sometimes has limited knowledge/vision about events
outside of those in which he or she is directly involved
and motivations that are not his or her own. The first
person, however, allows for an intimacy between the
reader and the narrator that cannot be rivaled by another
POV.
“Everybody knows the story of the Three Little Pigs.
Or at least they think they do. But I'll let you in on a
little secret. Nobody knows the real story because
nobody has ever heard my side of the story. I'm
Alexander T. Wolf. The real story is about a sneeze
and a cup of sugar.”
22. + Identifying the First Person
Perspective
I was making a birthday
cake for my dear old granny.
I had a terrible cold. I ran
out of sugar, so I went to
borrow a cup from a
neighbor.
I mean who would build a
house of straw?
When the dust cleared,
there was the second little
pig - dead as a doornail.
Wolf's honor.
Now I'm a pretty calm
fellow. But when somebody
talks about my granny, I go
a little crazy.
Definition 1st person: The narrator participates in action but sometimes has limited
knowledge about both events outside of those in which he or she is directly involved and
motivations that are not his or her own.
23. + Why different perspectives?
Because each one has its own benefits!
The omniscient point of view gives the reader a broad,
objective overview of the story, but it is difficult to create welldeveloped characters or much intimacy from such a distance.
The third person point of view allows more development of
characters than the omniscient approach. Moreover, the
narrator seems more objective than one from a first-person
point of view.
The first person point of view allows for a very intimate, warm
connection to the narrator, but the facts in the story are often
seen as more subjective. We all know that when we tell our
own stories, we leave out the parts we don‟t care to share.
24. Consider this? Does it change anything? or
everything? Imagine this story. What perspective
would you use here? 3rd limited or first through
the pig? Third or first through the wolf?
Omniscient?
+
So
25. Guided Writing
Devise a plot for the story of The Three Little Pigs as a murder
with the wolf as a hit man. Choose a POV to make it
interesting. Use the drawing as your prompt.
1st person: the Pig or the Wolf
3rd Limited: the Pig or the Wolf
Omniscient
26. +
Homework
Post
#7: The best 250 words of your
Three Little Pigs story.
Reading:
“The
Note the Plot and POV of each
Tell Tale Heart” Edgar Allan Poe
“A Very Short Story” Ernest Hemingway
“Dr. Chevalier‟s Lie” Kate Chopin
Editor's Notes
Today we will continue our discussion of Literary Concepts.
So far we have talked about Plot, Setting, Tone, Mood, and Character. Today, we will look at POV-the position from which the story is told. WhyYou ask? Because the POV helps us to understand the author’s intentions. It also influences the method and timing of revealing details to the reader.
As I am sure you remember from a previous discussion, The POV depends on the narrator—not to be confused with the author of a text. The narrator is the imagined voice telling the story.
We are going to talk about three points of view today;there are, of course, others. The Omniscient narrator knows all, including the thoughts, feelings, and actions of every character in the story. This is much different from the 3rd person limited narrator, who only knows the thoughts and feelings of a single character. He or she sees other characters and reports on their behavior but not their motivations or feelings. The first person narrator tells his or her story, but he or she often has limited knowledge about events other than those which directly affect him or her.
I will use as an example of point of view, “The Three Little Pigs.” It is not only well known, but also fairly simple to recount for those who may not be familiar with the tale. The objective in using a text as basic and familiar as this one is to take the emphasis off of comprehension so that we can focus completely on aspects of narration. Later, we will apply what we learn to more interesting reading. In other words, we will use simple text to master the technique; then we will apply the technique to more challenging text. The story follows three pigs sent out into the world by their mother. Each of them builds a house: one of straw, one of sticks, and the last of bricks. The wolf blows down each of the first two houses, but he cannot even scuff the brick house. Finally, he attempts to sneak in through the chimney. The third pig is ready for his entrance and places a pot of boiling water in the fireplace. When the wolf leaps into the chimney, he lands in the pot and the pig makes a stew out of him.
In order to identify POV, we must do close reading of the text. Each example here demonstrates an aspect we find in Omniscient writing. The pigs’ mother “loved them all equally,” which tells us both how she feels and the measure of that feeling. In the second example, we find out that first little pig “built his house of straw because it was easy,” which tells us of his motivation for using straw. In the third example, the big bad wolf “saw the first little pig,” so we know that not only was he in the area, but that he actually saw the pig in his home. In the final example, we see that the perspective has shifted to the pig, who now sees the wolf and responds accordingly. If the piece were written in the third person limited, we would indeed see much less of the broader story, but we would likely get more intimate details about the limited character.
This version of the Three Little Pigs is presented as a third-person narrative by the mother pig. After she sends her three boys off into the world with her bit of advice, she is left to wonder about their fates. She, and consequently the reader, knows nothing of their adventure with the wolf until she receives a phone call from her third son.
The mother’s story is drastically different from the omniscient perspective. We cannot know what happened to little pigs, until she hears from her 3rd son of the fate of the other two; we would, however, likely have much more information about how she felt at sending them off into the world.In the first example, we see how she feels: she worries; and in the second example, we see that she waits for news. In the third person limited, there is no way for either us or her to know what happens unless she sees, hears, or learns of it. In the third example, when her son calls her, we learn what happened to the three little pigs.
First-person - Narrator participates in action but sometimes has limited knowledge/vision about events outside of those in which he or she is directly involved and motivations that are not his or her own. The first person, however, allows for an intimacy between the reader and the narrator that cannot be rivaled by another POV. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs is presented as a first-person narrative by the wolf, who portrays the entire incident as a misunderstanding. He had gone to the pigs to borrow some sugar, had destroyed their houses in a sneezing fit, and had eaten the first two pigs just to avoid food going to waste (the pigs had died in the house collapse anyway). Ultimately, he had been caught violently attacking the third pig’s house because the pig had continually insulted himThis is the intro to the story. Notice the personal nature of the monologue: “Everybody knows the story of the Three Little Pigs. Or at least they think they do. But I'll let you in on a little secret. Nobody knows the real story because nobody has ever heard my side of the story. I'm Alexander T. Wolf. The real story is about a sneeze and a cup of sugar.”
To indentify first person perspective, we first look for the pronoun, “I.” Here is this first example we see that the wolf says “I was making,” “I had a terrible cold,” “I ran out of sugar,” and “I went to borrow a cup.” The second example shows us that the wolf does not know the motivations of other characters. While the omniscient narrator told us that first pig built his house out of straw because it “Was easy,” in this first person account through the wolf, neither the wolf nor we can know why. In the third example, the wolf tells us of his personal commitment to his story when he says “wolf’s honor.” This kind of intimate communication cannot be conveyed directly to the reader from another pov. Finally, in the last example, the Wolf tells us about his own feelings, a confession that we can not so easily believe from another kind of narrator.
The omniscient point of view gives the reader a broad, objective overview of the story, but it is difficult to create well-developed characters or much intimacy from such a distance. The third person point of view allows more development of characters than the omniscient approach. Moreover, the narrator seems more objective than one from a first-person point of view. The first person point of view allows for a very intimate, warm connection to the narrator, but the facts in the story are often seen as more subjective. We all know that when we tell our own stories, we leave out the parts we don’t care to share.
