The Elements of Literature
Theme: Theme is an idea the piece of literature delivers. That
is, theme is some comment about the general condition of the
world. Common themes are that nature is more powerful than
mankind or that prejudice is wrong. Notice that in neither case
are specifics from a story used. Theme is about a larger
condition than what happened to the characters in a story, and
the events of the story (plot) are an example of the theme. In
some ways, the theme is like the moral of a fable, but unlike a
moral, the theme is less obvious and more left up to the reader's
interpretation. There may be many themes, or clearly one main
one. Almost any time a piece of literature is critiqued, it is in
terms of how one or more of the other elements relates to theme.
Plot: Plot is the series of events of a narrative. It is often
spoken of in terms of "conflicts." A conflict is one
thing pressed against another. Opening a car door is a conflict
between a hand and a piece of metal. In literature, these
conflicts lead from little to great tension. The point of
greatest tension is the "climax," after which the main
conflict is "resolved." To analyze literature, rather
than to summarize it, look closer and see how the conflicts
influence the larger idea.
Character: Characters are the people of the fictive world, and in
most realistic fiction, character development closely parallels
plot. Like the plot, the characters have "conflicts";
that is, frictions between a character and the outside world
(external conflict) or the inside world (internal conflicts). In
character development, the climax is called "ephinany,"
or a clear realization, and is resolved.
PoV: Point of view is the identity of the story teller. Of
course, one identity is the writer, but that writer must choose a
mask that will effect the reader. This can be done in a large
number of ways, such as choosing a narrator who is unattached to
the story to choosing one who is one of the characters. The
creation of a narrator comes through the use of
"person" in a grammatical sense--the use of the third
person in pronouns for an unattached narrator to the use of first
person, "I" for a story told by a character. The
unattached narrator also may be limited in an assortment of ways,
from knowing only events one character knows to knowing all of
the thoughts of all of the characters. The limited narrator is
called "third person limited," while the all-knowing is
called "third person omniscient."
Style: Writers, not the character who are merely creations,
choose both sentence structures and words. The writer's choice is
geared to a larger aim, either theme or a structural device
within the story. In some ways, "style" is to the
writer as "PoV" is to the character. The writer might
use short sentences, or long ones, or dialog, of even use style
through the choice of a title to the story or names of character
and places in the story, or even by leaving names out, and each
choice effects the reader.
Setting: The physical universe, or setting, of the story also
effects the reader. A story told about people living in a castle,
or or traveling on an airliner, or surving in a slum shifts the
larger idea of the piece. Also, the small objects of the fiction,
while used as those objects in the story, are part of setting.
Symbolism: When parts of the physical universe of a fiction or
the characters themselves are used to represent ideas, they are
called "symbols." Symbols can be "universal"
if generally society usually makes that association, or
"internal" if the association is contained within the
fiction.
Tone: With all elements, but especially PoV, style and setting, a
writer makes the reader feel chosen emotions, such as happiness
or disgust. Therefore, "tone" is similar to theme as it
relates to a larger condition. Tone, however, deals with emotions
rather than ideas, and tone helps define the theme.
Irony: A special kind of tone happens when a writer's choices are
intended in a reversed way. That is, the element or device seems
to be intended for one result, but in fact the opposite result is
achieved, and that opposite result was the writer's true goal.