Lecture 2 – The Language of the Short Story

17 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment

by Ruth in Uncategorized

 

The Language of the Short Story

Last week, we learned that the short story comes in the form of sentence-incidents arranged in a particular plot or of the sequence of ideas.  Form, as we have studied concerns about how the subject and ideas about the subject are conveyed, delivered and presented to the reader.

Poetry differs in form from all the rest of the genres since the poet uses stanzas, rhyme and meter to convey his message.

Today, we study the language of the short story, hence we ask the question:  “How is the subject of the short story conveyed?  How are the ideas presented?

The Short Story Form

The story is a form of literature.  The short story, if we are to be faithful to its definition, is a short form of literature.  It has necessary features without which it will not be called a short story.  A short story is ­­­­­­­______ while a novel is ________.

Story and Plot

A story is a series of ­­­­­______ recorded in their __________ order.  A plot is a series of events deliberately arranged so as to reveal their dramatic, thematic, and emotional significance.

Based on the above definitions, write S if the sentence(s) tell/s a story without a plot, write S if the sentence is a story with a plot.

_____ 1.  In Nalbuan (now part of La Union) there once lived a couple by the names of Namongan (the woman) and Don Juan (the man).  (Biag ni Lam-ang)

______2.  At 9 months, when Lam-ang’s father had not arrived, he followed him to the mountains. (Biag ni Lam-ang).

______3.   In the early days, people lived in plenty, were happy and led quiet lives. (Alim)

———-4.  A sad event happened in their lives when a drought came. (Alim)

______5.  The queen died and the king died of grief.

 

1. A.      The Short Story vs. the Novel

Because of the limitation as to length, a short story can waste no words.  It can deal with only one or very few consciousnesses.  It may recount only one central _______ and one major change or effect in the life of the central character or characters.  It can afford no digression that does not directly affect the action.  A short story strives for a ________ emotional impact, imparts a single understanding, though both impact and understanding may be complex.  The virtue of a short story is its density.  If it is tight, sharp, economic, well-knit, and charged, then it is a good short story because it has exploited a central attribute of the form — that it is short.

A novel is __________, vast and panoramic.  It may have power, not because of its economy, but because its scope, breadth and sweep — the virtues of a medium that is long.  Therefore, a novel may range through many consciousnesses, cover many years or generations, and travel the world.  It may deal with a central line of action and one or several _______.  Many characters may change; many and various effects may constitute our final understanding.  Many digressions may be tolerated and will not destroy the balance of the whole as long as they lead, finally, to some nuance of that understanding.  In other words, the form of the novel is an _________story form.

Practice:  True or False.

____ 1. Novels differ from short stories as to form.

____2.  Short stories may deal with several chapters with different sub-plots.

____3.  If the novel is a mural painting, the short story is a detail.

____4.  Short stories come in verse form, like the poem.

____5.  Because of the limitation in terms of length, a short story need not have a conflict.

 

1. B.      The Necessary Features of the Story

Burroway (1982) uses the metaphor of the face to characterize what a short story is like.  She says that it can express grief, anger or joy.  A face necessarily has to have eyes, a nose, a mouth, two cheeks, two ears and a jaw.  She says a story without one of its elements can still be a story “in spite of” not having a part, but we cannot simply say that it is a wonderful face.  In the same way, even if a story has a plot but it does not have a crisis action, we can say, “It is a story, yes, in spite of the fact that it does not have a crisis action”, but we cannot say that it is a wonderful story.

Let’s define conflict, crisis and resolution, the necessary features of the story form.

1. 1.       CONFLICT

Burroway defines conflict as “the first encountered and the fundamental element of fiction, necessary because in literature, only trouble is interesting.”  Simply put, conflict is “TROUBLE”.  When we ask, “What is the conflict of the story?”  We are asking, “What is troubling our main character?”  Can a story exist without a conflict?  Yes, in real life perhaps, but _________ in literature.  You are familiar with the impediment to the love of Romeo and Juliet, right?  They love each other passionately, but their parents are against it.  Have you heard of the Koreanovela entitled “Helena’s Promise”, a formulaic example of a story the basic impediment of which is the failing health of the female lead character?

In Romeo and Juliet as well as Helena’s promise, the 3 Ds of the story form are present:  _________ equals desire plus _________. (Drama impelled by a passionate desire but an impediment, a barrier which brings about danger which when overcome, leads to a resolution.)

What are the types of conflict?  Most stories fall into these categories, and they can provide useful ways of discussing works.

1. Man against man;
2. Man against nature;
3. Man against society;
4. Man against machine;
5. Man against God;
6. Man against himself.

???

A writer once defined story as a “power struggle between equal forces.”  He said:  Each antagonist must have sufficient power to leave the reader in doubt about the outcome so that anticipation and suspense may be built.”

1. 2.       CRISIS

Crisis – the _____ _____ of the story.  The crisis action is the last battle and occurs when the outcome becomes inevitable; when, after much doubt, there can no longer be any doubt who wins.  It comes after a series of complications, leading to the crisis action, or the final battle.  It is followed a brief falling action, a walking away from the fight by the victorious one. (Burroway)

1. 3.       RESOLUTION

Resolution – the point where the story comes to a _______.  “They lived happily ever after,” is a classic resolution.

The Story Shape

The inverted check mark:  Conflict, Crisis, Resolution

Answer these questions:  How is real life different from modern fiction in terms of resolution of conflict? 

Is it possible to have a resolution that is not a resolution (that is, that there is no winner in the end)? Give an example, if yes.  Defend your answer, if no.

1. C.      Traditional vs. Modern Short Stories compared, as to conflict

In traditional short stories, conflicts occur outside the character’s mind, but “in many of the finest short stories and novels, the true territory of conflict is the main character’s mind, and so the real crisis action must occur there.” (Burroway, p. 10)

• Man vs. Himself, additional notes

James Joyce used the word _________ — to refer to a “crisis action in the mind, a moment when a person, an event, or a thing is seen in a light so new that it is as if it has never been seen before; at this recognition, the mental landscape of the viewer is permanently changed.”  Joyce chose the word “epiphany” to represent the moment of reversal, “that the word means “a manifestation of a supernatural being;” specifically, in Christian doctrine, “the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles.”  By extension, then, in a short story any mental reversal that takes place in the crisis of a story must be manifested; it must be triggered or shown by an action.  The slipper must fit.  It would not do if the Stepmother just happened to change her mind and give up the struggle; it would not do if the Prince just happened to notice that Cinderella looked like his love.  The moment of recognition must be manifested in an action. (Burroway)

Define epiphany in your own words.

(For this lecture, I used as my source Writing Fiction, A Guide To Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway, Little, Brown and Company)

Level Up: How to Understand Symbolism in Literature

Read this article that I found from the web.  The following How-To article will help you in your reading of “The Wireless Tower” by N.V.M. Gonzales.

“Whether you are taking a high school or college English literature course, symbolism will be important for you to recognize to fully understand a literature selection. If you’ve never had to evaluate a work critically, this may seem like a scary experience. Fear not, you can do it. Read on to learn how to understand symbolism in literature.

1.            Grasp the meaning of “symbol…”

2.          Recognize the signs. There are several ways to recognize symbolism in literature. One is the frequency an object or character is mentioned in a piece of literature–if it is mentioned often, it is probably important. Another way to find a symbol is to look at how much detail is used in describing an object. These two methods give clues that the writer wants you to infer something about a particular object.

3.            Familiarize yourself with the author’s work and style. A symbol in a piece of literature often represents an important issue of the time in which the author lived, or has personal significance to the writer. Edgar Allan Poe, for example, is well-known for the tragedy he suffered during his lifetime. His stories and poetry often included dark imagery and death which were undoubtedly symbolic of the events in his life.

4.            Trust your feelings. If an image or object described by the author makes you react in a certain way, you are probably on to something, never discredit your own feelings just because you’re a novice. It is very likely that the author planted the image in the work in a particular way to alert the reader that a symbol is important.

5.            Look to others. There’s no shame in reading critical essays about a literary work to gain a better understanding of it, or in discussing a piece of literature with a teacher or classmate. With experience, finding symbols will become easier, but when you are first starting out, it never hurts to get ideas from others who have a better grasp of symbolism.”

 

Read more: How to Understand Symbolism in Literature | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2095782_understand-symbolism-literature.html#ixzz1dkca5fgG

 

Next Week:

1. Expect a quiz on today’s lecture (first period, please come early).
2. In Lecture 3, we will discuss Plot, Character and Setting with exercises.
3. Read “The Laughter of My Father” by Carlos Bulosan.  We will discuss this in class.
4. Study Chapter IV of Philippine Literature Through the Years by Kahayon and Zulueta for the graded recitation

 

***

Every day one should at least hear one little song, read one good poem, see one fine painting and —- if at all possible — speak a few sensible words. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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