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A literary work is unity of many elements which are used by the author to
accomplish his intention(s) to convey the message, to have an impact on the
reader.
Impressions of different readers of the book (story) may be different which
depends on taste, education, life experience, mood, imaginative power, etc.
Impressions are subjection while the literary work as a unity of many
elements with a message is objective.
Content. There are different kinds of contents in a literary work
- surface and hidden. The surface contents embrace the plot, plot
structure, events, and actions, the setting, characters, their development,
both physical and/or psychological. The hidden contents are the theme, the
message, the implications encoded in the work. To understand the message the
reader tries to discover what lies beyond/beneath the surface contents, what
the author's motives were for writing the work. The surface contents may
entertain and keep the reader curios. A skilled reader however looks for the
theme and the message.
The theme of a piece of fiction is its controlling idea; the
message is its central insight. The theme is the main idea of
interest treated by the author (love, family relations, war, arts, the fate
of artist, conflict between man and society, etc). The theme implies the
problem(s) which the writer raises. The most important idea (problem) that
the author expresses in the process of developing the theme is the message
of the work (идейное содержание произведения).
The message doesn't lie on the surface; it is expressed implicitly, i.e.
indirectly, often through implications. Implication is the
suggestion that is not expressed directly but understood, implied.
Implication may be conveyed by different techniques and means such as
contrast (verbal and non-verbal), parallelism, recurrent of events or
situations, symbols, arrangement of plot structure, etc.
The author's message is closely connected with the author's attitude, even
if the writer assumes an impartial and detached tone, he can't present his
characters without suggesting a definite attitude in the reader's mind. It
is mainly through the characters, their actions, deeds, that the message is
revealed. The protagonist is often considered to be the message itself.
Besides that, the message cannot be revealed without taking into account the
theme of the story and the title.
The title is the first element to catch the eye of the reader but
its function may be revealed only retrospectively (after reading the whole
story). It acquires its precise meaning when related to the whole story. It
may acquire a symbolic meaning. Sometimes it may acquire a totally different
meaning contrary to the first understanding. The title serves as a means of
cohesion uniting the components of the story to form a whole, as a means of
focusing the readers' attention on the most relevant characters or details;
it may characterize the protagonist (The Man of Property). Last but not least, it may serve as
a means of conveying the author's message - there are titles which actually
formulate the message (Say No to Death, by Cusak).
On revealing the author's message the reader generally analyses his rational
and emotional attitude to the work and draws his own conclusion which is the
objective message. It may be broader than the author's, because it's based
on more profound historical experience.
The effectiveness of the writer's presentation of the massage depends on how
credible and exciting the plot is, how lifelike and convening the characters
are, how expressive the language is and how well the literary techniques are
used.
Theme. To derive the theme of a literary work we must ask what its
central purpose is, what insight into life it reveals. Frequently a story
through its portrayal of specific persons in specific situation will have to
say about the nature of all men or about the relationship of human beings to
each other or the universe. Whatever central generalization about life rises
from, the specifics of the story constitutes the theme.
Thus, the theme is unifying generalization about life stated or implied by
the story. The theme of a story like its plot may be stated very briefly or
at (greater) length. The function of the writer is not just to state a theme
but to vivify it. The good writer doesn't write a story to illustrate a
theme as does the writer of parables and fables. He writes a story to bring
alive some segments (aspects) of human existence when he does so coherently,
theme arises naturally out of what he has written.
The plot of a story is a series (sequence) of interlinked events or
incidents of which the story is composed and in which the characters are
involved. The writer arranges the events ordering them as he sees fit. The
events in a plot need not always involve physical movement; the movement may
be psychological, revealing the changes in the psychological state of a
character. Thus it may include what a character says or thinks as well as
what he does. But it leaves out description and analysis and concentrates on
major happenings.
The plot may be rich or scarce (poor) in events (plotless). Yet each event
is related to the theme, the message, the conflict, the development of the
characters. The plot always involves character conflict.
Conflict in fiction is a clash of actions, ideals, desires or
wills; it is the opposition between forces or characters. Conflicts are
termed as external and internal.
Types of external conflicts:
(1) Man against man; the main character is pitted against (opposed to) some
other person or group of people.
(2) Man against nature (or environment). When man is in conflict with some
external force (physical nature). (The old Man and the sea)
(3) Man against society or the established order in the society (poverty,
inequality, injustice), for example, the conflict between one set of values
against another set of values (The Verger)
Internal conflict is the conflict of man against himself, against his own
nature, which takes place within one character.
The conflict may be physical (fist or gun fight), mental, emotional or
moral. The central character in the conflict, whether one sympathize with
him or he is an unsympathetic person, is referred to as the protagonist. The
forces arranged against him are the antagonist (persons, things, conventions
of society, states of his own character).
In some stories the conflict is single, clear-cut and identified, in others
it is multiple, various and subtle. A person may be in conflict with other
persons, with society or nature and with himself, all at the same time and
sometimes he may be involved in conflict without being aware of it.
Suspense is the quality in a story that impels the reader to read
on to answer his questions and satisfy his curiosity. An accomplished writer
keeps the reader in suspense (achieves suspense) by different stylistic
devices. In cheap escape fiction suspense is artificially created and
gratifies the readers' crude curiosity while in more sophisticated pans of
fiction suspense leads the readers from curiosity to anxiety about the fate
of the characters. Suspense may be heightened by retardation, the
withholding of information until the appropriate time (The Post; The Canary for One)
Plot structure is the arrangement of events, incidents, actions.
The main components of plot structure (structural composition) are
exposition. In the exposition, an introductory part of the story,
the author introduces the theme, the characters and establishes the setting.
It may be compressed into one sentence, embrace an opening paragraph or be
extended into several paragraphs.
The second structural component is complications or the development
of rising action as well as thoughts and feelings.
The events become tenser as they move towards the crucial moment in the
story, the key events, the moment of the highest intensity of the conflict
- the climax.
The events immediately following the climax and bringing the actions to an
end make up denouement. It is the unwinding of the action.
The components usually occur in the following order: exposition,
complications, climax, denouement; but the author may rearrange the
components which create a certain effect - it may introduce a necessary
mood, create and increase suspense and tension, and affect the reader's
emotional response to the story.
The events of the plot are generally localized, i. e. they are set in a
particular place and time.
Setting. For the setting the writer chooses (selects) most relevant
details which would suggest the whole scene. In some stories the setting is
scarcely noticeable, in others it plays a very important role.
The functions of the setting may wary.
It helps to evoke the necessary atmosphere or mood (esp. descriptions of
nature).
It may reinforce characterization by either paralleling or contrasting the
actions (suggest similarity or contrast).
It may reflect the inner state of a character (King Lear - the raging storm; or
serene landscape).
A realistic environment (including geographical names, historical dates and
names, allusions to historical events) tends to increase the credibility of
the whole plot - the reader accepts the characters and their actions more
readily.
A surprise ending is an element of plot, like suspense or climax.
The escape story supplies a surprise ending more frequently than does the
interpretive. It may be a cheap trick or it may carry significance (a) when
the author withholds the information that the reader ought to have been
given earlier, or the surprise is brought about as the result of an
improbable coincidence, or unlikely series of small coincidence (b) when the
ending that comes at first as a surprise seems perfectly logical and natural
as we look back over the story. Its justification comes when it serves to
open up or to reinforce the meaning of the story.
Author. The narrative method involves such aspects as: a) who
narrates the story and b) the way the narrator stands in relation to the
events and to the other characters. The story may be told by:
the omniscient author (the third person narrator);
the observer author (the third person narrator);
the first person narrator.
In the 3d person narration the author tells the story from the omniscient
point of view. He tells the story anonymously and interpreting the
characters actions, motives end feeling; he reproduces the characters'
thoughts and comments on their actions. His knowledge is unlimited. He is
free to go wherever he wishes, to peer inside the minds, and hearts of his
characters at will. He knows all and can tell us as much or as little as he
pleases.
The omniscient point of view is the most flexible and permits the widest
scope. The omniscient author may wander away from the subject of the
narration to state his personal view or to make a general statement - which
is known as the author's digression. The omniscient author may reveal his
attitude to the characters, his view point on their actions, etc; or he may
assume a detached attitude, telling the readers all about his characters,
concealing his own point, without giving his own analysis of their actions,
behavior, etc.
The observant author tells the story in such a way that we are given the
impression of witnessing the events as they happen, we see the actions, and
hear the conversations but we don't really enter into the minds of the
characters. The author is not there to explain and we can only infer what
the characters feel or what they are like. The observer author stimulates
the reader to form his own impression and make his own judgments. This form
of narration is called the objective point of view.
In the limited omniscient point of view the author tells the story in the
third person but he tells it from the view point of one of the characters he
looks at the events through his eyes and through his mind, he may interpret
his thoughts and behavior. The chosen character may be a major or a minor
character, a protagonist or an observer.
The 1
person narration is a very effective means of revealing the
character who narrates. The author disappears in one of the characters who
tells the story. The character may be protagonist, observer, a major or a
minor character. The narrator tells what he thinks and feels and the
1 hand testimony increases the immediacy und freshness of the
impression and the credibility of the story which tends to be more
convincing. The narrator often assumes the informal note, addresses the
reader directly and establishes a personal relationship with him (we, you).
The reader is treated trustfully as one to whom the narrator confides his
personal thoughts. On account of all that it is the inner world of the
character narrator that is generally in the focus of interest.
It makes a difference if the story is told by a major or a minor character.
In the first case the narrator represents internal analysis of events in the
second - outside observation of events. The limitation of this method is
that the reader gets a biased understanding of the events and other
characters; he sees them through the perception of the narrator.
The narrative method conditions the language of the story. The language of
the omniscient author is always literary. When the story is told by the
character, the language becomes a means of characterization. The social
standing of the character is marked by the use of either standard or
nonstandard lexical units and syntactical structures. The narrator's
language reflects his outlook (limited, naive, objective, primitive), his
pattern of cognition, his psychology. That is why most of the stories told
by the main character are deeply psychological.
The narrative method may affect presentational sequence of events. The
omniscient author will arrange the events as they occur in the chorological
order. A first person narrator is often disrupted by digression or haphazard
transitions from one topic to another or may have flashbacks to past events.
The events are then presented in psychological order.
Далее: General Questions for Analysis
Вверх: Учебное пособие для студентов
Назад: R. Aldington Sacrifice post
ЯГПУ, Центр информационных технологий обучения
05.12.2007