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Analysing Fiction (OCR)
Understanding Fiction Texts
Fiction texts are works of imagination, created by authors to explore ideas, emotions, and experiences through invented characters and events. They are distinct from non-fiction, which is based on factual accounts.
Purpose: While fiction is not bound by factual accuracy, it often has purposes such as:
To Entertain: To engage the reader's imagination and provide enjoyment.
To Explore Themes: To examine universal ideas about life, society, and human nature.
To Evoke Emotion: To make the reader feel empathy, sympathy, fear, joy, etc.
To Offer Social Commentary: To critique or reflect on aspects of society, politics, or culture.
To Teach Moral Lessons: To implicitly or explicitly convey messages about right and wrong, or how to live.
Audience: Authors consider their intended audience, which can influence:
Genre Conventions: Choosing genres that appeal to specific readers (e.g., young adult fiction, crime fiction).
Language and Style: Adapting language to suit the reader's understanding and preferences.
Themes and Content: Selecting themes and situations that resonate with the target audience.
Forms/Genres: Fiction encompasses a wide range of forms and genres:
Novels: Longer works of fiction, often with complex plots and characters.
Short Stories: Briefer works of fiction, usually focused on a single event or idea.
Novellas: Longer than short stories but shorter than novels.
Drama/Plays: Fiction written for performance, often including dialogue and stage directions.
Fables/Fairy Tales/Myths/Legends: Traditional stories with cultural significance, often with moral or symbolic meaning.
Poetry (Narrative Poetry): Poems that tell a story.
Key Analytical Skills for Fiction
When analysing fiction, consider these key elements:
Character: The people (or animals, creatures) in the story.
Types of Characters:
Protagonist: The main character, often the hero.
Antagonist: The character who opposes the protagonist, often the villain.
Round Characters: Complex, multi-faceted characters with depth.
Flat Characters: Simple, one-dimensional characters, often serving a specific purpose in the plot.
Dynamic Characters: Characters who change and develop over the course of the story.
Static Characters: Characters who remain the same throughout the story.
Characterisation: How the author creates and develops characters:
Direct Characterisation: The author directly tells the reader about a character's personality.
Indirect Characterisation: The author shows the character's personality through their actions, speech, thoughts, appearance, and interactions with others (STEAL - Speech, Thoughts, Effect on others, Actions, Looks).
Analysis Questions:
What are the character's key traits and motivations?
How does the author present this character?
How does the character develop or change?
What role does the character play in the story?
What does the character represent thematically?
How do we feel about this character and why?
Setting: The time and place in which the story occurs.
Elements of Setting:
Time Period: Historical era, season, time of day.
Physical Location: Geographical place, specific places (house, city, country).
Social Environment: Cultural context, social norms, class structures.
Atmosphere/Mood: The feeling created by the setting (e.g., mysterious, peaceful, threatening).
Functions of Setting:
To Create Atmosphere: To establish mood and feeling.
To Reflect Character: To show how setting influences or mirrors characters' states of mind.
To Drive Plot: Setting can create conflict or opportunities for characters.
To Symbolize Themes: Setting can represent abstract ideas or themes.
To Provide Context: To ground the story in a believable world.
Analysis Questions:
Where and when does the story take place?
How is the setting described? What imagery is used?
What atmosphere is created by the setting?
How does the setting affect the characters and plot?
Does the setting have symbolic significance?
Plot: The sequence of events in a story.
Plot Structure (Traditional):
Exposition: Introduction of characters, setting, and initial situation.
Rising Action: Events that build tension and lead to the climax.
Climax: The turning point of the story, the moment of highest tension.
Falling Action: Events that follow the climax and lead to the resolution.
Resolution/Denouement: The ending of the story, where conflicts are resolved (or not).
Plot Devices:
Conflict: The central struggle in the story (internal, external, person vs. person, person vs. self, person vs. society, person vs. nature, person vs. fate/supernatural).
Suspense: Creating anticipation and uncertainty in the reader.
Foreshadowing: Hints or clues about events that will happen later.
Flashback: Interrupting the chronological order to present events from the past.
Pacing: The speed at which the plot unfolds (fast or slow).
Subplot: A secondary plotline that runs alongside the main plot.
Analysis Questions:
What are the main events of the plot?
How is the plot structured? Is it linear or non-linear?
What are the key conflicts in the story?
How is suspense created?
Are there any plot twists or surprises?
How does the plot contribute to the overall meaning of the story?
Theme: The underlying message or idea explored in the story. Themes are often universal concepts about life, human nature, society, etc.
Common Themes:
Love, loss, death, betrayal, revenge, justice, good vs. evil, prejudice, identity, family, friendship, coming-of-age, power, corruption, isolation, freedom, fate, etc.
Identifying Theme: Themes are rarely stated directly. They are implied through:
Character actions and motivations.
Plot events and conflicts.
Setting and atmosphere.
Recurring symbols and motifs.
Authorial voice and tone.
Analysis Questions:
What are the main themes explored in the story?
How are these themes developed throughout the text?
What message or ideas is the author conveying about these themes?
Are the themes still relevant today?
How do different characters or plot events relate to the themes?
Narrative Voice/Point of View: Who is telling the story? The narrator's perspective shapes how the story is presented.
Types of Narrative Voice:
First-Person Narrator: The narrator is a character within the story ("I," "we"). Offers a personal, subjective perspective.
Third-Person Narrator: The narrator is outside the story ("he," "she," "they").
Third-Person Limited: Narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of one character.
Third-Person Omniscient: Narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all characters (or is all-knowing).
Third-Person Objective: Narrator reports events without revealing any characters' thoughts or feelings (like a camera).
Narrator Reliability: Is the narrator trustworthy? Are they biased, limited in their knowledge, or deliberately misleading?
Analysis Questions:
Who is telling the story? What kind of narrator is it?
How does the narrative voice affect our understanding of the story?
Is the narrator reliable or unreliable? Why?
What are the advantages and limitations of this narrative perspective?
How does the narrative voice contribute to the overall tone and atmosphere?
Language: The author's choice of words and how they are used to create effects.
Word Choice (Diction): Formal/informal, concrete/abstract, denotation/connotation, emotive language, sensory language.
Figurative Language:
Simile: Comparison using "like" or "as."
Metaphor: Direct comparison, saying something is something else.
Personification: Giving human qualities to inanimate objects or animals.
Symbolism: Objects, people, or events that represent abstract ideas.
Imagery: Language that appeals to the five senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch).
Hyperbole: Exaggeration for effect.
Understatement: Deliberately downplaying something for effect.
Irony: Contrast between what is said and what is actually meant (verbal irony), or between what is expected and what actually happens (situational irony).
Sound Devices:
Alliteration: Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
Assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds within words.
Onomatopoeia: Words that imitate sounds.
Rhythm and Meter: The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in sentences or lines (especially in poetry/drama).
Analysis Questions:
What kind of language is used (formal/informal, etc.)?
What effect does the word choice create?
Identify and analyse examples of figurative language.
How does the language contribute to the tone and atmosphere?
Does the language reveal anything about the characters or themes?
Structure: How the story is organised and presented.
Narrative Structure: Chronological, non-linear, flashbacks, foreshadowing, cyclical structure.
Pacing: Fast-paced, slow-paced, variations in pacing.
Sentence Structure: Short/long sentences, simple/complex sentences, varied sentence types.
Paragraphing: How paragraphs are used to organise ideas and create flow.
Dialogue: How dialogue is used to reveal character, advance plot, create realism.
Focalisation: Whose perspective is the story being told from at different points?
Openings and Endings: How does the story begin and end? What effect do these create?
Repetition and Motifs: Recurring patterns, images, or ideas that contribute to meaning.
Juxtaposition/Contrast: Placing contrasting elements side-by-side to highlight differences and create effect.
Analysis Questions:
How is the story structured? Is it chronological?
How does the structure affect the reader's experience?
How does the pacing contribute to the story's impact?
How is dialogue used?
What is the effect of the opening and ending?
Are there any recurring patterns or motifs?
Specific Techniques and Devices in Fiction
Familiarise yourself with these common techniques used in fiction writing:
Imagery: Descriptive language that creates vivid mental pictures and appeals to the senses.
Symbolism: The use of objects, characters, or events to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
Motif: A recurring symbol, image, idea, or pattern that has thematic significance.
Foreshadowing: Hints or clues about events that will happen later in the story, creating suspense.
Irony: A contrast between expectation and reality, or between what is said and what is meant.
Juxtaposition: Placing two contrasting elements side-by-side to highlight their differences and create effect.
Allusion: A reference to another work of literature, history, mythology, or culture, adding layers of meaning.
Ambiguity: Deliberate uncertainty or openness to interpretation, leaving room for multiple meanings.
Pathos: The quality that evokes pity or sadness in the reader.
Catharsis: The emotional release experienced by the reader at the end of a tragedy or intense story.
