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When it comes time to write or analyze a narrative work, you will want to know about literary elements. These are essential components of any story – which remains when you take all the figurative language and stylish choice. Although there is a disagreement on how many literary elements exist, there is a general consensus among teachers about which they are in charge. This article breaks them so you can recognize and use them as a professional.
Nine major literary elements are characterization, position, narrator, plot, conflict, setting, topic, language and tone. The literary elements are key to the story. They are different from literary devices, which are the optional techniques used by the writer to convey the meaning and style through the language.
Characterization Characterization refers to the way the characters are shown in the text. Imagine how the author describes their physical appearance and personality, but also how they meet on the basis of their actions and dialogues. Another aspect of characterization is the way they communicate with other characters.[2]
- Example: In the novel by F. Scott Fitzgeralda The Great Gatsby, the characterization of Jaya Gatsby as someone stuck in the past reveals what he says and does around the main character of Nick Carraway. Following the entertainment shoes to attract the attention of Daisy Buchanan, the woman he once came, and asks Nicki to compile them.
- Most stories include a protagonistthe main character of the story that the reader identifies and antagonista character who opposes the interests and actions of the main character.
- The protagonist can be a hero and antagonist can be a villain, but they do not always suit these archetypes.
- Another usual type of character type is accompanying characters“Typically, friends, family, love interests and other associates of the main characters.
- Clarify characters (or antagonist) may also be Foil characterswhich means their beliefs and actions directly confront those of the main character to add context and complexity.
- For example, in Frankenstein Mary Shelley, Frankenstein’s monster is the figure of the foil Victor Frankenstein. They have different philosophy about the ethics of creating life through science.[3]
Setting Setting up is not just where the story goes. This is also when the story takes place both the social and/or historical environment in which the story is happening.[4]
Setting helps to form other literary elements such as characterization and plot. Some stories have many settings, especially when the main character goes on a trip. Others take place completely in one place and time period.[5]- Example: In the novel RF Kuanga Babel, the story takes place in the fantastic version of the 1830s and 1840s. The novel includes scenes on the fictional version of the English University of Oxford IU Canton, China (now Guangzhou). The historical environment is the height of British imperialism.
Narrator The narrator is the one who tells the story. Every literary work has a narrator, even if not said in the first person from the point of view of the character. In non -physical, the author is usually the narrator. In fantastic works, the narrator could be a character, the omniscient presence (like the Greek choir) or the author.[6]
- Example: In the book Markus Zusak’s thieves, the narrator is death. In Harper Lee to kill a mocking bird, the narrator is a scout Finch. In the picture of Dorian Gray of Oscar Wilde, the narrator is a omniscient voice.
View Each story has an position (POV) or a specific perspective from which the story is told. This literary element is easy to confuse with the storyteller of the story, but the position is more general. The usual POVs are an individual first person, where the story of first hand was narrated “I” and the omniscient of a third person, where the storyteller narrated the storyteller from the characters.[7]
- Types of view:[8]
- The first person (singular) view: The character tells the story using the pronouns of the first person (“I”). An example of a work that uses the first person’s field is to kill a mocking bird Harper Lee.
- In the rare position of the first person (plural), more people tell the story in the choir of the vote, using the multi -person pronouns (“we”).
- Another person’s position: The reader has become the main character or is a story addressed to a character using another person’s pronouns (“VI”). An example of a job told in another person is a pov if a passenger is Italo Calvino on the winter night.
- Third Person’s position: Author or some other omniscient being tells the story using the pronouns of a third person (“on/she/the”). An example of a work written in a third person is Limited in 1984. George Orwell.
- In the third person Close/Limited Pov story, only the thoughts and actions of one character follow. The university POV of a third person is known by the thoughts and actions of each character.
Land The plot is what is happening in the story. This is one of the most important literary elements – without a plot, the story is simply a meandering and separated collection of unrelated events. Imagine a plot as what you would describe if someone asked what was being talked about. Most plots occur with chronological order (events presented in the order in which they appear), but some are nonlinear (said outside the order).[9]
- Example: In the novel by beloved Tony Morrison, the plot follows a family of previously enslaved people who are involved in the persecution of the spirit of the daughter of the main character. The plot is a nonlinear, jumping from the past to the present to explore the lasting trauma of slavery.
- A smaller conspiracy that appears along with the main plot is called a subplot. Subplot could be a romance, a smaller conflict or an inner path that the character goes on.
- Most plots start with The incentive of the incidentan event that drives the story on the move. What happens next – the main character that starts the journey is considered, falling in love or preparing for the battle – growing action.
- Action in the rise culminates in the story peakOr the top of the role and tension in the story. In the romance, it could be the moment when two characters acknowledge their love for each other. In the action story, this could be the last battle between the main character and the antagonist.
- After the climax, the remaining plot contains Fall of actionaka the consequence of all the events so far. Finally, denouement It happens – the moment when the story conflict is resolved and the world returns to normal (or new normal).[10]
Conflict The conflict is the struggle between the two forces that conflict with each other in the story. Usually a conflict between two characters who have competitive desires or beliefs. The conflict can be internal – Chacter opposite only -van – or external – Chacter opposite another character, character opposite to nature or character as opposed to society. The conflict drives the story. If everything all went perfectly, you probably wouldn’t want to read about it.[11]
- Example: In JD Salinger, a catcher in Razi, the main character of Holden Caulfield struggles with the inner conflict because he avoids facing the loss of his brother. He faces an external conflict when another student comes out with a girl he likes, causing him to fight each other.
- Stories can and often have more conflicts. The character may have an inner conflict that connects with the external conflicts they face.
Topic The topic is an important literary element, although it is not easy to recognize as another. The topic is an abstract concept of the story – what is being talked about, not just what is happening in it.[12]
Some claim that the topic is an argument that the story has given, but it may be a simple repeating concept.[13]
The usual themes in literature include love, family and power.- Example: In the novel Louise Erdrich Love Medicine, wide topics include religion, racism and love. More specifically, the topics are how to define the concept of a house, healing power of love and family and resistance to assimilation.
Language The language is as it sounds – what kind of language the story is told. The vast majority of stories are told in one language, but some have two or more languages that reflect a multicultural setting or various dialects present in the story of the story.
- Example: The story that is told in one language is the novel of Harper Lee to kill a derision. A story containing multiple languages (English and French) is the novel Charlotte Brontë Jane Eyre. One of the characters in the novel Adèle speaks French with a titular protagonist.
Tone The tone is sometimes categorized as a literary element and sometimes as a literary device, but it’s hard to imagine that the story is missing. Refers to the attitude that the author shows according to the topic of the story. The tone affects the reader’s experience with the story by framing the characters and events in a certain way.[14]
It is communicated through the choice of words, style, perspective and other elements.- Example: In the novel by Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn’s adventure, the tone is satirical, moralist and friendly. Because the novel on the vernacular said the main character with an innocent worldview that meets difficult social issues, his tone transmits a mixture of light and gravity.
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