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What Are The Basic Elements of A Short Story

The six basic elements of a short story are setting, character, conflict, plot, theme, and point of view. Setting refers to where and when the story takes place. Character development focuses on the protagonist and antagonist. There must be a conflict, such as man versus man, man versus nature, man versus himself, or man versus society. The plot involves exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. Theme is the controlling idea or insight. Point of view determines if the story is told in first person, third person, or limited omniscient.

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79 views

What Are The Basic Elements of A Short Story

The six basic elements of a short story are setting, character, conflict, plot, theme, and point of view. Setting refers to where and when the story takes place. Character development focuses on the protagonist and antagonist. There must be a conflict, such as man versus man, man versus nature, man versus himself, or man versus society. The plot involves exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. Theme is the controlling idea or insight. Point of view determines if the story is told in first person, third person, or limited omniscient.

Uploaded by

Brielle Serrano
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What are the basic elements of a short story?

In analyzing a short story, there are six elements that the reader should
look for in the story.  All  stories begin with a seed of an idea.  From that
point, the author then should plan his story around these elements:

Setting, Conflict, Character, Plot, Theme, Point of view

Each of these aspects should be expected in the story.  Not all stories
will have the same importance placed on each element.  For example, in
the story “To Build a Fire,” one of the most important elements is the
setting.  It is the Yukon with 75 degrees below zero.  

Setting

This element refers to the place and time of the story.  When evaluating
the setting, look for where the action takes place.  In addition, the
historical period may be important. 

Conflict

In every story, there has to be a  problem.  The main character has to be


challenged in some way or the story will go nowhere.  There are four
basic conflicts to look for that may face the main character:

 Man versus man


 Man versus nature
 Man versus himself
 Man versus society

Character

The development of the characters is important to the short story.  The


characters are the heart of the story.  The two primary characters are
called the protagonist and the antagonist. 
The protagonist is the main character.  It is not safe to call him the hero
because the main character is not always heroic.  He/she is the person
with which the story is most concerned. 

The antagonist does not have to be a human being.  If he is a person, he


may be the villain.  This character does not have the main character’s
best interest at heart.  In some stories, nature is the antagonist. 
Remember “To Build a Fire.”  The main character has to face nature and
hope that he survives.

Some characters do not change in a story: these characters are called


flat.  The characters that change or grow are called round.

A character is considered flat (or static) when he or she does not


experience change of any kind, does not grow from beginning to end.
Shakespeare often uses comic villains as flat characters, like Don Jon
in Much Ado About Nothing..
Plot

The plot is the arrangement of the events in the story.  The plot should
follow some logical sequence of events. There are five elements to look
in the plot.

The Exposition-The initial events, the introduction of characters, and


beginning of the story.

The Rising Action- The beginning of the conflict. Complications arise.

The Climax-This is the highest point of interest in the story.  It is the


turning point that aims toward the conclusion of the story. 

The Falling Action- The events that occur which begin to resolve the
conflict.

Denouement-This is the final outcome of the story. 

Theme
This is the controlling idea or the insight that the author wants the reader
to understand at the end of the story.  The theme is often the author’s
thoughts or view of a subject.

Point of view

This element of the story is how the story is told .  It also determines who
will be the narrator of the story.

First Person-One of the characters tells the story and interacts in the
story as well.

Third Person-the author can narrate the story using a “god-like” position
in which he can see into the minds of the characters.

Limited Omniscient- Still in third person, the narrator will only know what
the character knows or what the author tells the narrator.

There are more intricate aspects of a story, but this is the basic terms for
an analysis. 

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