The Elements of Prose Fiction
1. Theme; the central idea of the story, usually it can be expressed using a single sentence.
2. Setting; the time, place, and period in which the action takes place
Example; The Catcher in the Rye: New York, 1940s, Lord of the Flies: deserted island, the
future, Romeo and Juliet: Italian city of Verona
3. Plot; The series of events and actions that takes place in a story/ the action of the story.
4. Character
Types of Characters:
• Round Character: Many personality traits, One feels as if he or she knows this character by
the end of the novel
• Dynamic Character: a character who changes in an important and significant way. This
internal change happens as a result of events in the plot. Ebenezer Scrooge, from Charles
Dickens's A Christmas Carol, is a classic example. When we first meet him, he is mean, bitter,
and greedy. Through his experiences with the three ghosts, he becomes generous, kind, &
beloved. The reader follows the journey of this person from (for example) ignorance to
enlightenment
• Flat Character: Stereotyped, shallow, often symbolic, Often times moves the plot along by
causing conflict for the main character
• Static Character: character whose personality does NOT change significantly throughout the
events in the story's plot. Internally, this character is basically the same as he/she was at the
story’s beginning. Disney, as usual, is a great source for an example. Cinderella remains
friendly, honorable, and positive despite being orphaned, abused, and taken advantage of by
her wicked stepmother and stepsisters.
The Character’s characteristics ;
Physical Characteristics
Psychological Characteristics
5. Characterization
Direct: The author tells you information about the character. “The man was very old…”
Indirect: The authors creates situations where you have to decide for yourself what
personality the character has.
6. Confict
• Types of Conflict
1. Internal Conflict/Psychological conflict
• Man Vs Himself(His Knowledge, His Belief, His Pride etc)
2. External Conflict/Social Conflict.
Man VS Nature
Man Vs Man
Man VS Society
7. Point of view/Who is telling the story?
Omniscient Point of View: The author is telling the story. He or she is all-knowing and can
tell the reader what all characters are thinking.
“The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his
way toward the lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from
one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All around
him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat.”
The Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Limited Omniscient: Third person. The story is told from the viewpoint of one character or a
few characters in the story.
“In his black suit he stood in the dark glass where the lilies leaned so palely from their cut-
glass vase. He looked down at the guttered candle stub. He pressed his thumbprint in the
warm wax pooled on the oak veneer. Lastly he looked at the face so caved and drawn
among the folds of funeral cloth, the yellowed moustache, the eyelids paper thin. That was
not sleeping. That was not sleeping.
All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
First Person: Story is told from point of view of one of the characters who uses the first
person pronoun “I.”
“I have been afraid of putting air in a tire ever since I saw a tractor tire blow up and throw
Newt Hardbine’s father over the top of the Standard Oil sign. I’m not lying. He got stuck up
there. About nineteen people congregated during the time it took for Norman Strick to walk
up to the Courthouse and blow the whistle for the volunteer fire department.”
The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver
8. Moral Value/moral of the story/message; what the author wants to teach you through out
his writing. The moral of the story supposed to teach you how to be a better person
