Studying Fiction: Some Terms

Following are terms that apply to the study of fiction, although they often apply to other genres as well.

Plot—below is a diagram of typical plot structure:

[I’ll draw it on the board]

This is called Freytag’s Pyramid. The story begins either with an unstable situation or with an apparently stable situation that is soon disrupted. In other words, some difficulty or problem or conflict arises. Then various happenings occur which increase the tension (rising action, complications) and result in a climax (a.k.a. crisis, turning point). What follows the decisive moment of the climax is the falling action, denouement, which leads to a stable situation at the end (tying up loose ends).

To study plot, look either at causality (why things happen, what causes things to happen or what causes characters to do what they do) or look at how the protagonist overcomes conflict (protagonist-conflict analysis).

Character—plot is very much rooted in character. Characters do things or avoid doing things because of their personalities, their character traits (moral, intellectual, emotional, psychological traits). Their personalities lead them to do what they do, interact with others the way they do, etc. Consider

• What the character says (you might or might not be able to take this at face value)
• What the character does
• What other characters and/or the narrator says about the character
• How the character interacts with others and how they interact with him/her
• What the character looks like, how he/she dresses, etc.

Foreshadowing—veiled hints of what is to come later in the story. Usually involves setting, atmosphere, symbolism, or something similar.

Setting—time and place. Always analyze the function of the setting—how it affects the way you interpret the work. Perhaps the setting foreshadows or determines the end, reflects the characters, perhaps exerts an influence on the characters.

Atmosphere—the emotional tone of the work (joy, horror, etc.). Atmosphere is often established by setting.

Symbolism—A symbol is a person, object, action, or situation that is charged with meaning and suggests another thing. For example, a dark forest might symbolize confusion or maybe evil. A red rose might symbolize passion or love, or both. A symbol is the literal thing plus many possible meanings layered on top.

Theme—what the work is about, as opposed to what happens in it. Example recurrent themes in literature are greed as the root of all evil, love conquering all, the futility of struggling with fate.

Point of View—the perspective from which a story is told. Although the author is said to write the story, someone else is said to be telling it—maybe a character, maybe an invisible narrator. The story is seen from a particular point of view, and that point of view largely determines the reader’s response to or interpretation of the story. Three main types:

Omniscient Point of View—the word means “all knowing.” An omniscient narrator knows and understands everything that is going on and can tell us the inner thoughts of all the characters. The omniscient narrator may summarize large amounts of action into one paragraph, editorialize, pass judgments, reassure the reader, etc., in which case he or she sounds like the author, but isn’t really. Authors do not speak in their own voices in fiction. They do in non-fiction. Ex., most fairy tales, many older novels.

Dramatic Point of View—also known as Objective Point of View. In dramatic POV, you see what happens and hear what is said, but you do not get any of the characters’ thoughts, you do not get into any of their heads. It’s as if you were a fly on the wall, just observing, like you do when you go see a play. The narrator hardly seems to exist, doesn’t comment in his own voice, does not enter any characters’ heads. Plays use this POV, but so do some novels and short stories. Ex., Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” (except for one word).

Limited Point of View—there are two kinds of limited point of view. In the first kind, you have a third person narrator who tells the story from the point of view of one of the characters. As a reader, you follow that one character around, all the time staying with him/her, reading his/her thoughts and reactions. You see other characters only as he/she sees them. The difference between limited third person and omniscient is that here you can get only into that one character’s head, but you do not get into other characters’ heads at all. A novel may be written in serial third person limited POV, where each chapter has its own viewpoint character.

In the second kind of limited point of view, you have a first person narrator (“I”). He or she is telling his/her own story in his/her words, so of course you get that person’s inner thoughts. You see other characters only as this character sees them. He/She may be an active character or may be just a witness to the things going on. Ex., Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

Any time you are dealing with limited point of view, you are limited to one character’s point of view, which means you should ask some questions. Sometimes an author will choose limited point of view to be realistic in method, to explore the character’s psychology, to utilize voice and dramatic irony, or perhaps just to let you the reader feel really close to the character. The character might be an unreliable narrator—mistaken in his judgments about other characters and their motivations, mistaken about what has happened or why (dramatic irony—when the reader knows something the character doesn’t). He may be lying. In the case of an unreliable narrator, you need to read between the lines because your narrator is telling you things which cannot be taken at face value.

Point of View is considered the most important element of fiction—the one that controls all others.