Fiction

This section focuses on the major literary form of fiction. Our readings will be short stories or excerpts from novels because of the scope and timeline of this course, but keep in mind that fiction is anything from a 200-word piece of “flash” (and could be even shorter, like a meme that tells a story in prose) to a doorstopper novel like David Foster Wallace’s 1100-page Infinite Jest . (Or, for that matter, Henry Darger’s 15,000-page In the Realms of the Unreal, unpublished.)

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

1. Define “setting” and identify the setting of a story
2. Define “plot,” identify its elements, and describe the plot of a story
3. Define “character,” “narrator,” “protagonist,” and “antagonist” and identify them in a story
4. Describe and analyze the development of characterization in a story
5. Define “conflict” and describe and identify the various types of conflict in literature
6. Define “point of view” and identify the point of view of a story
7. Define “theme” and identify the theme(s) of a story
8. Differentiate between theme and plot
9. Define “symbol” and “symbolism” and identify and describe the use of symbols and figurative language in a story
10. Define “style” and describe the style of a story
11. Define the three types of irony (verbal, situational, and dramatic), and identify them in a story
12. Analyze a story using a variety of the literary concepts listed above