Unit two: The plot and the Character
Reading: O. Henry, The Gift of the Magi
Plot
?A plot is a plan or groundwork for a story, based on conflicting human motivations, with the actions resulting from believable and realistic human responses.
?“The king died, and then the queen died.”
?“The king died, and then the queen died of grief.”
Conflict in plot
Fictional human responses are brought out to their highest degree in the development of a conflict. In its most elemental form, a conflict is the opposition of two people. They may fight, argue, enlist help against each other, and otherwise carry on their opposition. Conflicts may also exist between larger groups of people, between an individual and larger forces, such as natural objects, ideas, modes of behavior, public opinion, and the like. The existence of difficult choices within an individual’s mind may also be presented as conflict.
External Conflict
External conflict may take the form of a basic opposition between man and nature, or between man and society. It may also take the form of an opposition between man and man (between the protagonist and a human adversary, the antagonist.
Internal Conflict
?Internal conflict, on the other hand, focuses on two or more elements contesting within the protagonist’s own character.
?Some conflicts, in fact, are never made explicit and must be inferred by the reader from what the characters do or say as the plot unfolds, as is the case in Ernest Hemingway’s Hills like White Elephants.
Five Stages of Plot (1)
?Exposition: the exposition is the beginning section in which the author provides the necessary background information, sets the scene, establishes the situation, and dates the action. It usually introduces the characters and the conflict, or at least the potential for conflict.
Five Stages of Plot (2)
?Complication: The complication, which is sometimes referred to as the rising action, develops and intensifies the conflict.
?Crisis: the crisis (also referred to as the climax) is that moment at which the plot reaches its point of greatest emotional intensity; it is the turning point of the plot, directly precipitating the resolution. Five Stages of Plot (3)
?Falling action: Once the crisis, or turning point, has been reached, the tension subsides and the plot moves toward its conclusion.
?Resolution: It is the final section of the plot which records the outcome of the conflict and establishes some new equilibrium. The resolution is also referred to as the conclusion or the denouement, the latter a French word meaning “unknotting” or “untying”.
The Ordering of Plot (1)
?The customary way of ordering the episodes or events in a plot is to present them chronologically, i.e., in the order of their occurrence in time.
?But even within plots that are mainly chronological, the temporal sequence is often deliberately broken and the chronological parts rearranged for the sake of emphasis and effect.
The Ordering of Plot (2)
?Perhaps the most frequently and conventionally used device for interrupting the flow of a chronologically ordered plot is the flashback, a summary or fully dramatized episode framed by the author in such a way as to make it clear that the time being discussed or dramatized took place at some earlier period of time.
Characters: The People in Fiction
?The term character applies to any individual in a literary work. For the purpose of analysis, characters in fiction are customarily described by their relationship to plot, by the degree of development they are given by the author, and by whether or not they undergo significant character change.
Types of Characters (1)
?The major, or central, character of the plot is the protagonist; his opponent is the antagonist. ?Flat characters are those who embody or represent a single characteristic, trait, or idea, or at most a very limited number of such qualities.
?Round characters are just the opposite, they embody a number of qualities and traits, and are complex multidimensional characters who have the capacity to grow and change.
Types of Characters (2)
?Dynamic Characters exhibit a capacity to change. As might be expected, the degree and rate of character change varies widely even among dynamic characters.
place.
Direct Characterization: Telling ?Static Characters leave the plot as they entered it, largely untouched by the events that have taken
?Characterization through the use of names
?Characterization through appearance
?Characterization by the author
Indirect Characterization: Showing
?Characterization through dialogue
(1) the identity of the speaker, (2) the occasion, (3) what is being said, (4) the identity of the person or persons the speaker is addressing, (5) the quality or character of the exchange, and (6) the speaker’s tone of voice, stress, dialect, and vocabulary.
?Characterization through action
It is necessary to scrutinize the several events of the plot for what they seem to reveal about the characters, about their unconscious emotional and psychological states, as well as about their conscious attitudes and values.
Reading: O. Henry, The Gift of the Magi
O. Henry (1862-1910), pseudonym of William Sydney Porter
Author Information
William Sydney Porter, or O. Henry (1862-1910), wrote mostly about ordinary people going about the daily adventure of living. Not infrequently, his stories involve coincidences or unexpected twists that result in surprise endings.
Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked in a drugstore, on ranch, in a bank, and on newspaper staff. When he was in his early twenties, he published a weekly humor magazine, The Rolling Stone, which failed. He then took a job with the Houston Post newspaper. However, a past misdeed, embezzlement of bank funds, caught up with him. To escape punishment, he fled to Honduras. When his wife, Athol Estes Porter, became terminally ill, he returned to the U.S. to be with her. After her death, he spent more than three years in prison in Columbus, Ohio. There, he cultivated his writing skills. After his release from prison, he became a professional writer, settled in New York City, and became famous as under his pseudonym, O. Henry. Typical for O. Henry's stories is a twist of plot which turns on an ironic or coincidental circumstance. Although some critics were not so enthusiastic about his work, the public loved it.
Notes
?The Magi
The Magi were the so-called three wise men from the east who travel a long distance to present gifts to the infant Jesus. The term magi (singular, magus) comes from the Greek word magoi. The Gospel of Matthew (Chapter 2, Verse 11) says: "And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary, his mother, and falling down they adored him: and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts–gold, frankincense, and myrrh." These offerings, though valuable, were not as important as the recognition, respect, and love they gave the Christ child. Frankincense was used as a treatment for illness and as an fragrant additive to incense. Myrrh was also added to incense, as well as perfume, and found additional use as an ointment. The three wise men have been identified in western tradition as Balthasar, king of Arabia; Melchior, king of Persia; and Gaspar, king of India.
Questions for discussion (1)
1. What are the chief episodes or incidents that make up the plot? Is its development strictly chronological, or is the chronology rearranged in some way?
2. Describe the plot in terms of its exposition, complication, climax, falling actions, and resolution.
3. Is the plot plausible? What role, if any, do chance and coincidence play?
Questions for discussion (2)
4. Identify the characters in terms of whether they are flat or round, dynamic or static.
5. What methods does the author employ to establish and reveal the characters? Are the methods primarily of showing or telling?
6. Are the actions of the characters properly motivated and consistent?
Questions for discussion (3)
7. What elements seem to be remarkable in view of the techniques adopted by the author?
8. How do you understand the paradox toward the end of the story with the narrator saying that the two main characters were two foolish children but were the wisest at the same time?
Questions for discussion (4)
9. Several passages in the story give subtle clues about the kind of person Jim is. Identify at least three passages and explain what they tell the reader about him.
10. Comment on the meaning of the following sentence in the fifth paragraph of the story: “She stood by the window and looked out dully at a grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard.”
11. Three times in the story, the narrator mentions the chops that the Youngs will be having for dinner. Are the chops significant in any way?