Ways of characterization
The characters can be presented directly or indirectly.
Direct characterization. The writer tells us explicitly what kind of person the character is. In contemporary literature this way is not often used, mostly in fairy-tales or in humorous works.
Indirect characterization. The writer makes the reader figure out the character and come to the definite conclusion for himself. This is made by means of:
- the character’s appearance, clothes, gestures;
- the speech (the thoughts and feelings expressed by the character, as well as the choice of words, syntax and other peculiarities);
- the actions of the character and his relations with other people;
- the attitude of the other characters to this one;
- self-characterization.
Plot
Plot is the sequence of related events that make up a story. The plot can be rather simple or (mainly in novels) complex, consisting of a major plot and one or more subplots. The plot is usually based upon conflict. Conflict in a literary work is a struggle between opposing forces. Conflicts can take various forms:
a) internal – within the character’s consciousness or soul (man vs. self);
b) external – between the character and the outer world:
man vs. man
man vs. society
man vs. nature
man vs. machine
man vs. supernatural forces (god, evil, fate etc.)
Conflict can be obvious or hidden.
Conflict usually undergoes several stages:
1) reasons/causes;
2) beginning;
3) development;
4) crisis;
5) resolution;
6) consequences.
Accordingly the plot consists of the following components:
1) exposition;
2) beginning;
3) the story itself;
4) climax;
5) denouement;
6) ending.
Exposition gives necessary preliminaries to the action, such as setting (time and place), the subject of the action, the circumstances, which will influence its development.
In Anglo-American literary tradition the beginning and story itself are usually not separated from each other. Together they form the story (part of the plot which represents the beginning of the collision and the collision itself).
Climax: 1) in plot development it is the turning point, the moment when the character makes decision which course of action to take; 2) the point of the greatest intensity, interest or suspense in a narrative – the so-called emotional climax. These two types of climaxes do not obligatory coincide. The literary work can contain either both types or only one of them.
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Denouement is the action that follows the resolution of the conflict; the event or events that bring an action to an end.
Ending is a non-obligatory component that shows the consequences of the conflict, the events happening after the end of the main collision.
A work of narrative prose that has all the above-mentioned elements is said to have a closed plot structure.
A literary work in which some elements are omitted or are not represented in their conventional form is said to have an open plot structure.
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