Notes C. 5-8

Short Fiction

Look for patterns in the structure of each short narrative.
Many of these are hidden.

Notice: flashbacks, space breaks, repetitive patterns of any type, contrasting details, beginnings and endings.
Pay attention to the story’s title also.

Chapter Five
Structure is very important.

Plot – action in the story.

Conflict
Usually involves the main character (protagonist)

Modern fiction:

Usually does not have a happy ending
May not have a clear beginning, or end.



Structure
Look for flashbacks (stopping the forward action to recount the past)

Subplots – reinforce theme, but can also be comic relief

Point of view –position from which the author tells the story

Setting-sometimes important, sometimes not

Characters

Look carefully at conversations between characters.

Notice what other characters say about each other.

Foils – minor characters who contrast a main character.

Other Literary Techniques

Irony – upsetting the expected.

Foreshadowing – hints for future outcomes.

Images – words and phrases that help the reader visualize the story.

Images are called “motifs” when they deliberately repeat and add to the theme of the selection.

Notice the title

May point toward the meaning
Has some relation to the theme in most fiction

Also, pay attention to the selection’s author and times. Historical context (as we discussed during the culture chapter) make a difference in context and possible motives for writing.

Chapter Six - Structure

Poems have lines and verses.
Novels have chapters.

Short fiction may have no visible structure.
Space breaks may indicate something.

Paragraphing is intentional.

Plot itself is the primary structure, usually.
Look at beginnings and endings.

“The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien

Uses things – tangible and intangible (emotional)

Conveys the burden of a senseless war
.
Central incident is the company’s first casualty.

Main character: Lt. Jimmy Cross – has a heavy burden of guilt bc he thinks his lovelorn musings made it impossible for his to protect his men properly.
At the end, he destroys the college girl’s letters and photos, and regains his focus on his duty to his squad and his country.

Company’s duty, however, is without purpose.

Events take place in two days-April 16 and 17

Lee goes into tunnel, while Ted Lavender goes away a bit to urinate.

Lavender gets shot, the men smoke Ted’s dope while waiting for copter to remove body.
Body is removed, soldiers burn Than Khe

Jimmy digs foxhole and weeps
Next day, Jimmy burns Martha’s letters and pictures

Characters
Jimmy Cross
Dave Jensen
Henry Dobbins
Ted Lavender
Norman Bowker
Rat Riley
Kiowa
Mitchell Sanders
Lee Strunk

Patterns

Objects and whether one character carries a unique object, or whether all “carry” an item (or emotion)

Repetitive pattern of the Martha theme.

The death of Ted

Psychological burdens
Memorable items from home
Idiosyncratic things
How they deal with stress and danger

Chapter Seven – Imagery and Symbolism

Images – words, phrases that appeal to the senses.
Visual – sight

Auditory – sound
Gustatory- taste
Kinetic – motion
Thermal – temperature
Tactile – feeling, touch
Symbol – a repeated image gathers meaning

Archetypal – symbols that convey the same meaning throughout cultures of all time periods.
Circle – symbol of wholeness, Sea = voyage through life
White as innocence, and black as evil are peculiar to Western culture
Water and dust are universal.


Phallic and Yonic Symbols

Phallic = potency of males, towers, fast cars, spurs, snakes, guns
Yonic = fertility and prolific nature of females. Caves, pots, rooms, full blown roses. Round or concave objects.
These are not always charged with sexual significance.

“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

Element of rituals
Precise meaning of the lottery, and when it began in ancient times is insignificant to the townspeople. What matters to them is the tradition of the ritual.

Note mindless nature of ritual; a question is asked and everyone knows the answer. Stylized question and response is typical of some religious actitivies.

“The Lottery”

Black box – symbol of the activity.
Black symbolizes evil in this icon (sacred or revered) object.
Stones mentioned at the story’s beginning are a foreshadowing of the end.
Outcasts supposedly violated the community’s laws, and serve as scapegoats.
Characters are not very well developed…notice very few have first names.

Look at student paper p. 129

Chapter 8 – Point of View

Decide who is telling the story.
Remember the narrator is not the author.

Types of point of view:

Omniscient: All knowing narrator tells the thoughts of every character.
Limited: Narrator tells all thoughts of only one character.
First person: The narrator is the major participant in the action. Presents one side of story. Some are completely honest, others try to deceive the reader as well as other characters.

Point of View

Unreliable narrator: misrepresents or misinterprets the facts. May be emotionally disturbed or imagining things.
Author does this so the subjectivity of the text or shallowness of the main character is evident.

Objective: There is no narrator and one must figure out the story through actions and dialogue. There is no insight into the minds of characters.