Lesson 1 Narrative Conventions PDF

LITR 102 ASEAN Literature Narrative Conventions These are the techniques used by the writers to create meaning in a story. These may be particular to characters, development of plot, settings, point of view and style.  Plot Conventions ▪Flashback – tells an interjected scene of the...

LITR 102 ASEAN Literature Narrative Conventions These are the techniques used by the writers to create meaning in a story. These may be particular to characters, development of plot, settings, point of view and style.  Plot Conventions ▪Flashback – tells an interjected scene of the story that takes it back in time from the current point in the story and often used to tell the events that happen before another important event.  Plot Conventions ▪Backstory – tell the events of the story that happen before the present story. ▪Chekhov’s gun – tells of an inherent object inserted in the narrative.  Plot Conventions ▪Medias res - narration that starts at the middle of the story. ▪Narrative hook – tells a catchy story opening to hook the attention of the readers.  Plot Conventions ▪Cliffhanger – tells an abrupt ending which place the main character in a perilous situation with no resolution. ▪Flash forward – tells a scene that takes a narrative to a future time from the current point of the story.  Plot Conventions ▪Plot twist – tells a surprise ending. ▪Deus –ex machina – tells a good character in a bad situation ensures character wins with an unexpected or implausible used to resolve the situation  Plot Conventions ▪Story within a story or hypodiegesis – tells a story within a story. ▪Foreshadowing – indicates or hints something in the later part of the story  Plot Conventions ▪Poetic justice - tells a reward to the good characters and punishes the bad characters  Setting It is important and have a crucial influence over the story. It affects all the narrative conventions of a specific story. Setting are like backbones of the story. Types of Setting ▪Time setting is a period in which the story takes place. Time setting could be a time of the day, season or time period of history. Types of Setting ▪Place setting is a place where the story is set. Writers when writing a story used locations to portray the complete story. Plot Development This is the first stage in the narrative. This stage comes in the opening of the story. Here the reader gets introduced with various characters, different settings and hint about the events that are about to come. Plot Development This is the second stage in the narrative structure. In this stage of the narrative, tension rises. This is the stage when a conflict occurs in a smooth running story. Complication results in the disturbance of the status quo. Plot Development The third stage of any narrative line is the climax. The climax is the turning point which brings a change or new element in the story. The climax can bring good or bad for the protagonist. Plot Development This stage comes right after the climax of the story. This stage leads the narrative structure towards the conclusion. Falling tension discloses and loosens the conflict between protagonist and antagonist. Plot Development This is the last stage and also called as conclusion of the narrative. In this part of the story, everything gets sums up. All questions in the story are answered in this stage, and it takes the reader to the satisfactory ending.  Conflict It is the struggle or fight between two or more than two characters in a narrative work.  Man against Man In this type of conflict two characters in the story are having a feeling of hatred for each other. This type of conflict can be direct or subtle in nature. Direct conflict can be portrayed through fights and duels, where as indirect conflict is described through characters intentions for other characters.  Man against Society This type of conflict arises in the text when the protagonist stands against the man made wrong practices. For example fight against slavery, white dominance over blacks and many more. In literary text, one can find various examples of man against the society conflicts.  Man against Himself This conflict comes in the category of internal conflict. Here, a character has to fight with his own weaknesses or has to choose between good or bad. Such conflicts create a more dramatic plot in the story along with the action.  Man against Nature Such conflict occurs when a man is not able to achieve his/her wishes due to natural obstructions. For example, Odysseus journey from Troy to Ithaca was obstructed by natural forces.  Point of View ▪ It is the “eye” or narrative voice through which you tell a story. When you write a story, you must decide who is telling the story, and to whom they are telling it. The story could be told by a character who is involved in the story, or from a perspective that sees and knows all of the characters but is not one of them. Types Point of View ▪First person point of view. One of the characters is narrating the story. This is generally revealed by the “I” sentence construction and relies on first person pronouns. (“I went to work.”)  Types Point of View ▪Second person point of view. It is structured around the “you” pronoun, and is less common in novel-length work. (“You thought you could do it.”) Second person can allow you to draw your reader into the story and make them feel like they’re part of the action because the narrator is speaking directly to them. Types Point of View ▪Third person point of view. The author is narrating a story about the characters and refers to them with the third person pronouns he, she, or they. This point of view is subdivided into third person omniscient and third person limited. Types Point of View Third person omniscient – narrator knows all the feelings and thoughts of the characters. Third person limited - the narrator relates only their own thoughts, feelings and knowledge about various situations and the other character.  Characters A character in a story can be defined and described with various terms. But you will often find two most common terms that are: The protagonist and the Antagonist.  Protagonist Protagonist is the hero of the story; he is a central character around whom the whole story revolves. Protagonists make various decisions throughout the plot and later face the consequences of those decisions.  Antagonist Antagonist is a villain in the story. He always opposes the protagonist. One can say antagonist is completely the opposite personality of Protagonist and he always engaged in bringing the evil in the plot.  Characterization There is a way through which the writer create a bond between the reader and the characters.  Characterization Direct Characterization: This is when the writer openly tells about the character’s personality to the readers.  Characterization Indirect characterization: here what a writer does is, he provides character information to the reader and then the reader has to make his/her own perception about the personality of the character.  Theme The underlying message of the central idea which are reflected in characters, words and actions, events and other elements.  Symbol Symbol is a representation of place, person or any object which has a meaning but also represents another meaning also. Symbols allow the reader to think about the story with a different perception. They also help in showing the themes of the literary text.  Mood The mood is the atmosphere or feeling in a story, which is often created through the use of descriptive language and imagery.  Tone Tone represents the manner in which voice is delivered in a story. Tone defines whether the mood is angry, friendly or persuasive of the characters.  Convention Style ▪Language used (used of figurative language) ▪Sensory detail (mental images of scenes using descriptive words) ▪Dramatic visualization (description of gestures and dialogues making scenes vivid to the readers)  Literary Approaches  Feminism ▪Feminism uplifts women goals by defining and establishing equality in the family, civil, social, political, and economic arena. It tells about women identity in literature. This approach gives an impact to the voice of women.  New Historicism ▪It deals with the cultural context during the writing of the piece of literature. ▪A key goal for historical critics is to understand the effect of a literary work upon its original readers.  New Historicism ▪This approach focuses on connection of work to the historical period in which it was written; literary historians attempt to connect the historical background of the work to specific aspects of the work.  Formalism/New Criticism ▪This approach regards literature as “a unique form of human knowledge that needs to be examined on its own terms.” All the elements necessary for understanding the work are contained within the work itself.  Formalism/New Criticism ▪This approach focuses on form. The analysis stresses items like symbols, images, and structure and how one part of the work relates to other parts and to the whole. A primary goal for formalist critics is to determine how such elements work together with the text’s content to shape its effects upon readers.  Reader-Response ▪Reader response criticism places strong emphasis on the reader's role in producing the meaning of a literary work. It is in some senses an opposite approach from formalism.  Reader-Response ▪Whereas formalists treat meaning as objectively inherent in the text, in reader response criticism, the text has no meaning until it is read by a reader who creates the meaning.  Psychological Criticism ▪Psychological critics view works through the lens of psychology. They look either at the psychological motivations of the characters or of the authors themselves.  Moralistic ▪This literary criticism style approaches literature based on its ethical merits. Moral- philosophical critics evaluate literary works based on the moral statements and judgments the characters and author express throughout the literary text.  Archetypal ▪This approach focuses on connections to other literature, mythological/biblical allusions, archetypal images, symbols, characters, and themes. Thank you!