The Development of Elements of Fiction in Short Stories
The term “Elements of Fiction” includes such things as setting, characters, plot, methods of characterization, point of view, theme and symbolism. Each of them is used to develop the story, but sometimes authors focus on one element among others. I chose methods of characterization for this essay. Authors can describe their characters directly and indirectly. In the last case they demonstrate personalities with the aid of thoughts, words, actions and appearance. Many stories include both direct and indirect characterization. The element’s development and its influence on the literary interest will be shown on the basis of two short stories: The Night Before Thanksgiving by Sarah Orne Jewett
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Mary Ann Robb whose neighbors make her to move to a poorhouse. One of them, John Mander, makes the most efforts, because he wants to take character’s farm. Mrs. Robb understands she cannot do anything and is ready to spend her last moments at home on the night before Thanksgiving Day. However, fears did not come true, because of the returning of Johnny Harris. She cared about him before, and the man decided to return thanks to her after he succeeded in life. Author almost did not use direct characterization in this short story. There are few examples, like: “She was strong enough not only to do a woman's work inside her house, but almost a man's work outside in her piece of garden ground” (Jewett). Author shows that Mrs. Robb was a strong woman that did not surrender herself to despair after her husband left and always tried to help people who were poorer than her. However, own life conditions, diseases and age made her weak and small and neglected as her own house. Author also mentioned that the woman “was left, lame-footed and lame-handed” (Jewett). The direct characterization here helps readers to imagine character’s basic appearance and life situation. It works the same way in case of Johnny Harris the second person who appears in the story. He was characterized as a tall man who “had found plenty of hard times, but luck had come at last” (Jewett). Readers get the other information with the aid of the indirect …show more content…
Mother thought their neighbor chocked and decided to take the child for a walk to “overwrite” these terrible memories. An incident with the stroller made Karen to leave Lila with Linda whom she met in the café. After the mother returned, she saw that the woman disappeared and left the baby alone. At the end of the story Karen worried that the baby will remember this event and it will influence on her future life. Author also used direct and indirect characterizations in this story. She gave a description of Karen as a woman who looked younger than her real age. “She had hair to her shoulders and a body like a girl’s, with knobby joints… she looked like a teen-age nanny, someone from another country who was underpaid and exploited” (Kleeman). Woman worried about her daughter because her own teenage experience that included fascination with death, pyromania and cutting. The direct characterization was also used to describe an appearance of Linda and minor characters, like the second visitor of the café and the man whom Karen met in the pharmacy. Linda was shown as a possible young grandmother in “green silk blouse and pink patterned scarf… [She was] a sort of freelance psychoanalyst, consultant, therapist, whatever you please” (Kleeman). The direct characterization helps readers to imagine characters’ appearance and gives some clues about their
There isn’t a label on the screen that necessarily says “angelic, gullible teen” or “selfish, arrogant villain.” Instead, you have to watch and listen to that person to notice how the character’s personality is revealed through the story. By doing so, you are seeing how indirect characterization is being used on the screen. This also occurs in many novels and short stories. Instead of watching the character, you imagine the character in your head as you read descriptions of the actions and dialogue. The well-known phrase “show, don’t tell” can apply to indirect vs. direct characterization. Indirect characterization shows who a character is based on what he/she does and says, while direct characterization tells the reader or audience exactly what type of person that character is. An example would be, If a mother calmly tells her son it’s time for bed and he responds by saying, “No, I don’t have to do what you say! I’m staying up all night!” then we can infer that this young boy is mad, obstinate and may have authority issues. The author is not telling us directly what type of personality the boy has instead, we must decide this based on the author’s use of speech. Differences: As where Direct Characterization rather consists of the author telling the audience what a character is like. A narrator
An example of direct characterization is when Steinbeck show how Carlson likes to do things like play cards by himself when there are others around but instead he decides to play solitar which is a one-person game instead of playing together. Also, direct characterization is used when Carlson says “Well, looks here, Slim.
Also, the narrator indirect character because the author doesn’t tell us about her personality, it was located in the context clues. Chatita, according the context clues, is a little girl, who is faint of hearing and forgetful. In the book of Marigold, Miss. Lottie is a direct character because in the story, she is an matured lady, who is very poor. According to the story, Lizabeth is a indirect character because she is a sophisticated young woman that execute immature things to do, for her enjoyment, like breaking Miss. Lottie’s marigolds. Sometimes in the story, the author can use characterization in all of his characters but in these stories only a couple people have characterization. Without characterization, the story will become uninteresting and the plot wouldn’t make sense, for example if an author doesn’t apply a personality to character then it wouldn’t help the rest of the story because you don’t know what the character is
Susie’s mother opened the door to let Molly, Susie’s babysitter, inside. Ten-month old Susie seemed happy to see Molly. Susie then observed her mother put her jacket on and Susie’s face turned from smiling to sad as she realized that her mother was going out. Molly had sat for Susie many times in the past month, and Susie had never reacted like this before. When Susie’s mother returned home, the sitter told her that Susie had cried until she knew that her mother had left and then they had a nice time playing with toys until she heard her mother’s key in the door. Then Susie began crying once again.
In the novel “Black Boy” by Richard Wright, Richard’s different character traits are revealed through multiple different instances of indirect characterization. Indirect characterization is a literary element commonly used in the novel. It is when the author reveals information about a character through that character's thoughts, words, actions, and how other characters respond to that character; such as what they think and say about him. Richard is put into many circumstances where the way he acts, the things he says and thinks, and the way others respond to him clearly show his character. Richard shows his pride when he refuses to fight Harrison for white men’s entertainment, principles when he doesn’t take advantage of Bess even though he has the opportunity, and ignorance when he sells KKK papers.
Since the emergence of literature, thousands upon thousands of characters have graced our imaginations. From trouble maker Bart Simpson of the celebrated cartoon television series The Simpsons to Mr. Darcy of Jane Austen’s renowned novel Pride and Prejudice, the world has witnessed a plethora of characters in literature. Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, and Billy Collins, distinguished American poet, as well as countless other authors, share the utilization of characters in their literary works. The manner in which these authors use the literary element of characters varies immensely.
Baby narrates her story through her naïve, innocent child voice. She serves as a filter for all the events happening in her life, what the narrator does not know or does not comprehend cannot be explained to the readers. However, readers have reason not to trust what she is telling them because of her unreliability. Throughout the beginning of the novel we see Baby’s harsh exposure to drugs and hurt. Jules raised her in an unstable environment because of his constant drug abuse. However, the narrator uses flowery language to downplay the cruel reality of her Montreal street life. “… for a kid, I knew a lot of things about what it felt like to use heroin” (10). We immediately see as we continue reading that Baby thinks the way she has been living her life is completely normal, however, we as readers understand that her life is in fact worse then she narrates. Baby knows about the impermanent nature of her domestic security, however, she repeatedly attempts to create a sense of home each time her and Jules move to another apartm...
Characterization is the process by which the author reveal the personality of a character. Characterization can be created in two different ways: direct and indirect characterization. Direct characterization is when the author tells the readers what a character is like. Indirect characterization is based on clues from the story, the reader decides what a character is like. Indirect characterization can come from what the character says/does, what the character thinks, what others say about the character, and the character’s physical appearance.
"Unit 2: Reading & Writing About Short Fiction." ENGL200: Composition and Literature. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 49-219. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
In traditional writing styles, the main element to give the story meaning is the narrative itself. However, with more modern and distinct styles such as the short stories written where the narrative is no longer the primary stylistic device, but the use of metaphors and distinctive different narrators applies meaning to the stories. Though it is easy to judge what is different from tradition as inferior, this change is no different than the rise of cubism in the art world. Even though initially many would comment on the art not being “real,” or in this case, the stories being poorly written, this style has even more of an effect. After
Throughout the story, the different roles and expectations placed on men and women are given the spotlight, and the coming-of-age of two children is depicted in a way that can be related to by many women looking back on their own childhood. The narrator leaves behind her title of “child” and begins to take on a new role as a young, adolescent woman.
Pike, Gerald. “Excerpts from Criticism of the Works of Short Fiction Writers.” Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale Research International Limited, 1990. 90. Print.
In the book Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses both Direct Characterization, and Indirect Characterization, to describe the characters. Direct characterization is when you tell the reader the characteristics of the character directly. For example, “She is tall and skinny.”On the other hand, Indirect characterization is when you give a description of the character, without directly saying what the character is like, through speech and actions. Direct And Indirect Characterization can easily be compared and contrasted in many ways.
Third, Connie and her mother’s relationship was one of distrust. Connie would often lie to her mother about hanging out with the Pettinger girl, and would even feel proud afterwards for being able to fool her mother. It seemed like her mother believed every word she spoke, but at the same time it seemed like her mother knew that she was being lied to. She would make her daughter do countless chores, which seemed like she was trying to keep her daughter out of trouble by giving her more work to
Effectively using these elements in a piece of literature enhances the reader’s curiosity. One prime example of such usage of these elements is seen in Kate Chopin's writing. Her use of foreshadowing and use of emotional conflicts put into few words in the short piece "The Storm" adds an element that is alluring, holding the reader's interest. In this short piece of literature, a father and son, Bobinot and Bibi, are forced to remain in a store where they were shopping before the storm, waiting for the storm to pass over them. In the meantime, the wife and mother, Calixta, whom is still at home, receives an unexpected visit from a former lover named Alicee. The two have an affair and the story starts to come together. The story shows us how we tend to want what we beli...