ELEMENTS OF FICTION

SETTING
This refers to the time
and place in which a
story takes place.
 TYPES OF SETTING
• Integral Setting: the setting is fully
described in both time and place, usually
found in historical fiction.

• Backdrop Setting: the setting is vague

and general, which helps to convey a
universal, timeless tale. This type of
setting is often found in folktales and
simply sets the stage and the mood.
 CHARACTERS
These are the beings who inhabit
our stories. Sometimes they are
actual people but, just as often,
they are animals or even inanimate
objects.
TYPES OF CHARACTERS
• Major or central character - vital to the development
and resolution of the conflict
• Protagonist - The protagonist is the central person in
a story, and is often referred to as the story's main
character.
• Antagonist - The antagonist is the character(s) (or
situation) that represents the opposition against
which the protagonist must contend.
• Minor character - serve to complement the major
characters and help move the plot events forward
TYPES OF CHARACTERS
• Anti-Hero - A major character, usually the
protagonist, who lacks conventional
nobility of mind, and who struggles for
values not deemed universally admirable.
• Foil - A foil is any character whose personal
qualities contrast with another character
• Confidante- someone in whom the central
character confides
 Characterization
• Dynamic - characters who undergo a significant change
throughout the story usually as a result of resolving a central
conflict or facing a major crisis
• Static - A static character is someone who does not change over
time; his or her personality does not transform or evolve.
• Round - A rounded character is anyone who has a complex
personality; he or she is often portrayed as a conflicted and
contradictory person.
• Flat - a character who reveals only one, maybe two, personality
traits in a story or novel, and the trait(s) do not change.
 PLOT
Refers to the way
the actions are
arranged in the
story.
 PARTS OF THE PLOT
• Exposition – introduction of main
characters, their background, interests, etc.
• Complication – marks the onset of the
major conflict in the plot
• Crisis – the point in which curiosity,
uncertainty, and tension are greatest
• Climax – the story’s highest point of
interest
• Denouement – the finishing of things right
after the climax
 TYPES OF PLOT
• A Dramatic or Progressive
Plot: This is a chronological
structure which first
establishes the setting and
conflict, then follows the
rising action through to a
climax and concludes with a
denouement.
 TYPES OF PLOT
• An Episodic Plot: This is
also a chronological
structure, but it consists
of a series of loosely
related incidents,
usually of chapter
length, tied together by
a common theme and/or
characters.
 TYPES OF PLOT
• A Parallel Plot: The
writer weaves two or
more dramatic plots that
are usually linked by a
common character and a
similar theme.
• A Flashback: This
structure conveys
information about events
that occurred earlier.
 POINT OF VIEW
The term point of view, or POV,
refers to who is telling a story, or
who is narrating it. The
narration of a story or novel can
be told in three main ways: first
person, second person, and third
person.
KINDS OF POINT OF VIEW
• FIRST PERSON
- First person peripheral

• THIRD PERSON LIMITED

• THIRD PERSON
OMNISCIENT
FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW
• First person is used when the
main character is telling the
story. This is the point of view
that uses the "I" narrator.
Example:
“When I was four, I lived with my
mother and brothers and sisters in a
small town on the island of Luzon.
Father’s farm had been destroyed in
1918 by one of our sudden Philippine
floods, so for several years afterward
we all lived in the town, though he
prefered living in the country.”

(My Father Goes To Court by Carlos Bulosan)

FIRST PERSON POV CAN BE:
• RELIABLE
• UNRELIABLE
 FIRST PERSON PERIPHERAL
• The narrator is another
character in the story, one
who witnesses the main
character's story and
conveys it to the reader.
 THIRD PERSON LIMITED
• Third Person Limited means that
the POV is limited to only one
character, which means that the
narrator only knows what the
specific character knows and feels.
• Also, the narrator can only relate
the actions or behavior of the
characters.
THIRD PERSON OMNISCIENT
• “All knowing”

• It is a third person narrator

who knows everything about
all the characters. The readers
knows about the thoughts and
feelings of all the characters.
 THEME
• A theme is a universal idea, lesson,
or message explored throughout a
work of literature.

• this can be expressed in complete

statements, stated as a
generalization or stated in more
than one way.
“MY FATHER GOES TO COURT” THEME:
•Poverty
•Social Status
•“Laughter is the best medicine”
•“Money is not everything”
 IMAGES/ IMAGERY
• Characterized by concrete qualities
rather than abstract.
• Words or phrases in literary text that
appeal directly to the reader's taste,
touch, hearing, sight, or smell.
• It refers to the use of vivid and
descriptive language to add depth to the
writing.
Examples:

• Musical Sizzling
(sound of the food when cooked)
• barking of a herd of seals
(the loudness of their cough)
• mouths water
(hungriness, smell or deliciousness of
food)
 SYMBOLS
• Broadly defined, a symbol is anything
that represents another thing.

• In literature, a symbol is often a

tangible thing—an object, person,
place, or action—that represents
something intangible.
Symbolisms (My Father Goes To Court)
• Spirit of the food
(represents the aroma of the food)
• Spirit of the money
(represents the sweet tinkle of the coins)
• Windows
(finding things out)
• Court
(symbolizes justice)
Formalism and
Feminism
 FORMALISM
•This refers to the critical approaches that
•Determine the form, structure, and devices used
analyze, interpret,
in the text. or evaluate the inherent
features of a text.
 Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
 FEMINISM
• The manifestation of this critical approach goes beyond
book and movie reviews, but also in making or imposing
the image of a woman as an epitome of fortitude in every
literary work a feminist will produce.