short story

a method of literary analysis that examines the linguistic, structural and formal features of a text to explain how those features produce meaning.

Close Reading

HOW, not just WHAT. Look at language, structure and form to see how the text creates meaning.

Chronological sequence of events reconstructed from narrative.

Story ::: What happens, in chronological order

Arrangement, order, timing, and emphasis of events by narrator

Plot::

Events + order + timing + information + emphasis = how the narrative organizes and reveals what happens

Plot = 5 ingredients: Events · Order · Timing · Information · Emphasis

“Every Orange Takes Ice Easily.”

the textual agent or voice through which the events are presented to the reader.

Who speaks?

Narrator → the voice telling the story.

Who tells? What do they know? The author creates the narrative voice.

All-knowing: knows the thoughts and feelings of all characters. (third type)

omniscient

Access to one character’s thoughts and feelings only (third type)

limited

Only external information, no access to thoughts

Objective

The way a character's personality is presented or described in a story.

Characterization

the narrator says what the character is like

direct characterization

we infer from actions, speech, thoughts, appearance, relationships, others’ reactions, choices

indirect characterization

A significant discrepancy between appearance and reality, expectation and outcome, or literal meaning and contextual meaning.

Irony

A character’s words mean something different from or contrary to what they literally say.

Verbal Irony

words mean the opposite of what they say.

What happens contradicts what the reader reasonably expects.

Situational Irony

the outcome contradicts what we expect.

The reader knows something that one or more characters do not.

Dramatic Irony

the reader knows more than the characters.

(horror film: we know the villain is behind the door)

• Dramatic irony creates tension and suspense that drive the plot.

…

Memory trick – V · S · D = Voice · Surprise · Secret

Verbal = Voice: words mean the opposite of what they say

Situational = Surprise: the outcome contradicts what we expect

Dramatic = Dramatic secret: the reader knows more than the characters (horror film: we know

the villain is behind the door)

Irony created by unexpected events throughout a story.

Structural irony

•husband dies → wife grieves becomes husband dies → wife discovers freedom •and then: husband returns → wife dies

the point of greatest narrative tension or the decisive turning point at which the central conflict reaches its most consequential moment.

Climax

Point of greatest tension

It is the state of narrative tension produced by uncertainty about what will happen, especially when the reader anticipates a significant future event but does not yet know its outcome or significance.

Suspension

Tension from uncertainty about what will happen.

Uncertainty + anticipation + stakes

the stage at which the central conflict is brought to a conclusion.

Resolution

Conflict concluded.

the portion of a narrative that establishes the initial situation, including relevant information about: setting, characters, social circumstances, time, relationships, situation.

Exposition

Sets up the starting situation.

exposition:: exhibition

Bilgiyi veya ürünü ayrıntılı biçimde sunma. Latince exponere kökünden türemiştir. Sanat, edebiyat ve müzikte tanıtıcı bölümü ifade eder

the opposition between forces, desires, interests, values, or conditions that generates narrative tension.

Conflict

Opposing forces create tension.

the introduction of details, events, images, statements, or patterns that anticipate later developments in a narrative.

Foreshadowing

Details that hint at what comes later.

Before leaving home, Sarah noticed dark clouds and heard a strange noise coming from the forest. She felt that something bad was going to happen.

Later, Sarah gets lost in the forest.

Explanation: The dark clouds and strange noise give clues about future events.

Simple definition: Foreshadowing is when a writer gives hints about future events in a story.

It is a narrative strategy in which the narrator deliberately delays information that would allow the reader to fully understand the significance of events.

Withholding Information

Narrator delays key information. Withholding==stopaj.

the perspective regulating narrative information.

the perspective through which a story is told.

who perceives?

focalization

more than any one character.

The narrator knows more than the characters.

What does the narrator know?

Zero Focalization

Information filtered through a character.

The story is told through a character's perspective.

whose experience limits us?

Internal Focalization

Actions and speech without direct access to thoughts.

The narrator knows less than the characters.

what can we observe?

External focalization