the tools of the literary detective - literary elements and patterns/peculiarities

Most literature textbooks have a lot of information on the various elements of fiction (plot, character, setting, etc.) and how these often (though not always) add to an understanding of the work you are reading. In Kate Chopin's "The Storm," (one of the readings you may choose for Paper 1), for instance, the setting (where and when the story takes place) is centrally important. If Calixta and Alcee met in Las Vegas in 2010, the story would have almost no shock value and little to think about. The storm in the story is a literal event (plot), but it also is suggestive of what is going on with the characters (symbolism).

Here's another example: in "All About Suicide," the re-re-re-telling of the plot with variations is important to at least one interpretation of the story. Here we are forced to notice the plot because it is 1) a repeated pattern and 2) weird. So the look-for-patterns-and-peculiarities thing is still helpful, even when focusing on individual literary elements.

Simply, there are a lot of elements that make up a story; sometimes they are significant, and sometimes they are not. Not all stories have symbolism. I would be hard pressed to find any symbolism in "A&P," for example. There is a ton of symbolism in "How to Talk to Your Mother (Notes)" though.

a quick look at some of the literary elements (and there are a lot, so it's not that quick)

Plot

The plot of a story is simply the events that take place in the story. Most people read only for plot--but you now know to look for theme, too. And often, clues to the author's intentions can be found in the plot.

For example, pay attention to beginnings and endings of stories, and ask yourself questions: Why did the author choose to begin the story with this event? Why choose to end it with that event? What has changed between the beginning and the end? "A Rose for Emily," for instance, begins when Miss Emily is old and then moves back and forth in time. Why wouldn't Faulkner choose to begin when Miss Emily was younger, and then work his way up to her death? Has anyone in the story changed between the beginning and the end? If so, how?

Look also at the stages in all the important changes. What happens to change things or people? Why do you think the author chose to take this course of action? In "Gryphon," for example, how does the narrator change? What does he learn? How does he learn these lessons, and how does he act on them?

Look for events, people, and/or circumstances that work against the action of the story. In "The Things They Carried," for example, the narrator tells us what happens to the soldiers--but he also repetitively tells us what they carry, and this slows down the story. Why would O'Brien choose to include all this information? Why not just tell us what happened?

Look for characters, events, and details which seem to make no contribution to the plot or movement of the story, and ask yourself why they are there. In "This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona," for instance, the narrator tells us a lot of stories about Victor's and Thomas's past which seem to have nothing to do with the events taking place on their trip. Why tell us? We are told about a gymnast they meet; but the gymnast is unnecessary to the plot; why is she there? The reservation where the boys live is described; what details are we told about the reservation? What is left out? Why?

Look for repetition of events and details. What details repeat themselves in Faulkner's "A Rose For Emily"? Is there any sort of pattern that you can detect in this repetition?

The narrator of "The Tell-tale Heart" also repeats himself; why?

Note the conflicts that occur in the story, whether they are between the characters, the characters and their surroundings, or within the characters themselves. And look at how those conflicts are resolved. In "How to Talk to Girls at Parties," the narrator shows us Vic's fear; why not show us just what happened to cause Vic to be so afraid? How does this affect the narrator's perception of Vic? Of the girls at the p[arty? Of himself? And how is the conflict resolved? What does this resolution reveal about the narrator? About the reader?

Character

Characters in books and stories can function in two ways: they can be individuals, with unique characteristics, habits, quirks, and personalities, so that they seem like real people; or they can be "types"--that is, they can typify or represent something larger than themselves. The best characters do both.

In a story, the main character is called the "protagonist." The protagonist's opponent is the "antagonist." The antagonist is usually another person, but in some stories it is an animal, or a spirit, or even a natural force. Figuring out which character is the protagonist can help you to interpret the story's theme. For example, in "A Rose for Emily," we might say the protagonist is Emily--or we might say the protagonist is the town. If we choose Emily, we might see the story's theme as having to do with fear, loneliness, or mental illness. If we choose the town, we might see the story as having to do with social isolation or social class.

Some characters are "flat"; others are "round." Flat characters may play a small or a large role in a story, but they experience no change or development throughout the course of the story. Round characters change, grow, develop. (This does not make round characters superior to flat characters; it simply means they serve a different function in the story, depending on the author's intention.) In "The Storm," for instance, the husband, Bobinot, is flat; we do not see him experience any growth or development during the story. But the narrator, his wife, is round; her experiences change her.

Sometimes it is not easy to figure out whether a character is round or flat, and that in itself can help you arrive at an interpretation of the story. For example, is the narrator of "The Tell-tale Heart" flat or round? Does he change or develop during the course of the story, or does he stay the same? The way you answer this question may affect the way you see the theme(s) of the story.

Often, the names of characters are revealing. Authors are usually careful to give their characters appropriate names. Charles Dickens, for example, in Nicholas Nickleby, names a schoolmaster "Mr. Choakumchild"; right away, we know that Nicholas is in for a rough time at this school. Sometimes, the meaning is more subtle. In Herman Melville's Moby Dick, the doomed captain is named Ahab, after a Biblical tyrant who came to a bad end.

And last, examine the character's motivation: what makes him act as he does? This is important especially if he acts in an unexpected or unusual way. In "The Tell-tale Heart," why does the narrator kill the old man? Answering such questions can help you arrive at an interpretation of the story.

Setting

The setting of a story is simply where it is placed, geographically and in time. Often, an author will use the setting to create a mood ("It was a dark and stormy night..."). Asking questions about setting can also help you see the themes.

Ask yourself where and when the story is set. "The Storm," for example, takes place at the turn of the century. Is that important to the events and characters in the story? Would the story be any different if it were set in the present time? And the story takes place Louisiana, during a storm; why did Chopin choose to set her story in that particular time and place? How would the story be different if it were happening on a sunny day?

Asking yourself questions about how the setting affects the plot, the characters, the relationships between characters, and the mood may help you figure out the theme(s) of the story.

Point of View

All stories have a narrator, someone who tells the story. The narrator is not the same as the author. The narrator is a character the author has invented; through the narrator, the author manipulates the way you see the events and the other characters.

There are different types of narrators. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, and the author chooses the type which will best help him tell the story and present the themes.

The first person narrator is a participant in the story. He or she is telling the story: "I went to the store," or "I saw the events happen." The narrator may be a major character, as in "The Yellow Wallpaper," or a minor one, as in "Sleepy Time Gal."

The third person narrator is not a participant in the story. He stands outside the story and reports on the events: "He went to the store," or "She saw the events happen."

There are several types of third person narrators.

The attitudes and opinions of the author are not necessarily the same as those of the narrator. In fact, many authors deliberately create characters nothing like themselves in order to create a conflict between what we are told and what we are supposed to believe.

A story may be told by an innocent or naive narrator, a character who fails to understand all the implications of the story he is telling. For example, one of my neighbors is a six-year-old girl named Rachel. She knows everything that happens in the neighborhood, and when I moved in, she told me about all of the people on my street: this person has two cats, that person is a truck driver, "...and the man across the street wears a suit to work, and his wife stays home, and the mailman comes to their house everyday for lunch." Now, any adult can draw the obvious conclusion, but Rachel doesn't understand the implications. Thus, she is an "innocent" or "naive" narrator.

One of the most well-known naive narrators is Huck Finn, in Mark Twain's novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The novel is set in the pre-Civil War South. Huck runs away from home, and encounters Jim, a runaway slave. Together, they make their way down the Mississippi River on a raft.

At one point, they encounter several men who are hunting Jim. Having been raised to believe slaves were property, and not quite human, Huck believes that the right thing to do would be to turn Jim in. But he has come to love Jim, and he doesn't want to see Jim lose his freedom after all he's been through. Huck knows that if he's bad, he'll go to Hell, and if he's good, he'll go to Heaven. But he just can't bring himself to betray Jim; he says to himself, "All right, then, I'll go to Hell, "and he lies to the hunters. Huck thinks he has sinned; but as post-Civil War adults, we can see he made the right choice.

A story may also be told by an unreliable narrator, whose point of view is deceptive, deluded, or deranged, as in "the Tell-tale Heart".

Stream of consciousness is a technique in which the writer lets the reader see the thought processes of a character. When we think, we don't think in sentences, with perfect logic. Our minds jump from place to place with the flimsiest of connections, creating all sorts of images and calling on memories and sensations.

The writer most famous for using stream of consciousness is James Joyce, an early twentieth century Irish writer. In Ulysses, the protagonist, Leopold Bloom, is walking through Dublin, and he goes into Davy Byrne's pub. As he is sitting at the bar with his glass of burgundy, we read his thoughts: "Sardines on the shelves. Almost taste them by looking. Sandwich? Ham and his descendants mustered and bred there. Potted meats. What is home without Plumtree's potted meat? Incomplete. What a stupid ad! Under the obituary notices they stuck it. All up a plumtree. Dignam's potted meat. Cannibals would with lemon and rice. White missionary too salty. Like pickled pork. Expect the chief consumes the parts of honour. Ought to be tough from exercise. His wives in a row to watch the effect."

Interior monologue is a similar technique, in that it lets the reader see the character's thoughts. But in this case, the character's thoughts are not presented chaotically, as in stream of consciousness, but are arranged logically, as if the character were making a speech in his mind.

For example, in Charlotte Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre, Jane must leave her home, although she does not want to, and she gives herself a lecture to make herself stronger: "I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself. I will keep the law given by God; sanctioned by man. I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad--as I am now."

Any point of view has its advantages and disadvantages, from the writer's standpoint. So when you are reading, ask yourself why the author chose to use this particular point of view. What do you know that you might not have known if the story had been told from another point of view? How would the story be different if another character had narrated the events?

Style, Tone and Language

The "tone" of a story or novel is the author's attitude toward a character. The tone can most often be determined at the beginning of a story, although clues will be sprinkled throughout. Knowing the author's attitude toward a character is important to a reader, because it helps us understand which characters we should trust and identify with and which attitudes, therefore, we can take as the author's. This helps determine theme. Note: the author's attitude may or may not be the same as the narrator's.

To determine the tone, pay attention to the author's choice of words and details. For example, at the beginning of Sherman Alexie's novel, Reservation Blues, we are introduced to Thomas, as he encounters a stranger on the reservation (yes, this is the same Thomas you met in "This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona"):

Thomas wanted to know more about the Gentleman, but he was too polite and traditional to ask and refused to offend the black man with personal questions that early in the relationship. Traditional Spokanes believe in rules of conduct that aren't collected into any book and have been forgotten by most of the tribe. For thousands of years, the Spokanes feasted, danced, conducted conversations, and courted each other in certain ways. Most Indians don't follow those rules anymore, but Thomas made the attempt.

This passage tells you a great deal about Thomas, and the author's choice of words reveals his attitude toward Thomas. For example, Alexie doesn't say Thomas was "afraid" to ask the man questions, he says Thomas "refused to offend him..." This implies a deliberate choice, based on a set of principles. This decision by Thomas also lets you know that there is a conflict among the people on Thomas's reservation, and it tells you which side Thomas is on.

In an earlier paragraph, Thomas is described this way:

Although the Spokanes were mostly a light-skinned tribe, Thomas tanned to a deep brown, nearly dark as the black man. With his long, black hair pulled into braids, he looked like an old-time salmon fisherman: short muscular legs for the low center of gravity, long torso and arms for the leverage to throw the spear. Just a few days past thirty-two, he carried a slightly protruding belly that he'd had when he was eight years old and would still have when he was eighty. He wasn't ugly, though, just marked by loneliness, like some red L was tattooed on his forehead.

This description tells you Thomas is going to identify with the black man, who we will discover represents a set of traditions and difficult choices; and the phrase "he looked like an old-time salmon fisherman" tells you Thomas is connected to traditions of the past. The description of his body lets you see that his strength is both physical and rooted in tradition, and that this strength has set him apart from other people. The phrase "He wasn't ugly, though..." tells us the author has compassion for him, and is a signal to us that we should, too--and that, therefore, we should take his beliefs seriously, as well.

Style

Each author has his or her own style, his or her own way of using language and details to express ideas. Style, too, can reflect theme.

Ernest Hemingway, for example, in "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," uses many short, sharp sentences and gives few descriptive details. Paragraphs consist of just a few sentences. Even the lines of dialogue are short and clipped:

"Last week he tried to commit suicide," one waiter said.
"Why?"
"He was in despair."
"What about?"
"Nothing."
"How do you know it was nothing?"
"He has plenty of money."

Even in the longer sentences, the words are short and hard-sounding: "The waiter poured on into the glass so that the brandy slopped over and ran down the stem into the top saucer of the pile."

This style helps express the themes of the story, one of which is the isolation of individual people from each other, and their loneliness. These people live in a hard world which provides little comfort, even in language.

In "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner also explores the theme of isolation, but he emphasizes Emily's alienation by using style to provide a sense of abundance from which Emily is excluded. Many of Faulkner's sentences are long and include several ideas; the words flow smoothly and lazily, matching the pace of life in the town; and the narrator is "We," the people of the town:

When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant--a combined gardener and cook--had seen in at least ten years.

As you can see, style and tone are closely connected.

Symbol

Another tool writers use to help establish a thesis is symbolism. A "symbol" is a thing which suggests more than its literal meaning. For example, a rose usually stands for love; a sign of the skull and crossbones stands for poison.

In literature, most symbols aren't so simple; they usually don't "stand for" any one idea. Instead, they suggest or hint, or draw attention to an idea. They can mean more than one thing, and they can be interpreted in different ways by different readers.

In John Nichols' novel, The Milagro Beanfield War, one of the characters, an old man, sees an angel. But it is not your conventional angel. This is an old, battered, mangy, cranky coyote with one broken wing and a crooked halo. And he makes it plain that he's angry about being assigned to protect these people in this tiny town.

Now, John Nichols could have created a beautiful, white-robed angel with a shining halo, but he chose not to. What does Nichols want to imply about the people of the town? What qualities and attributes do coyotes have that the people of the town might also have? Coyotes are scavengers; they can survive anywhere; they may not be pretty, but they are very smart; and they are tough, sneaky, and creative. You can see what Nicjols is implying about the townspeople.

In the stories that you've read, there are lots of symbols: the light and the shadows in "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," the house in "How to Talk to Girls at Parties," the eye in "The Tell-Tale Heart," and many more.

Characters can be symbolic, too: Miss Emily, in "A Rose For Emily," represents a rapidly fading way of life; Homer Barron represents the new century and its new ways.

An action can be symbolic: when Lt. Cross destroy's Martha's letters in "The Things They Carried," he is symbolically letting go of his dreams of love and a normal life; he is acknowledging that that isn't possible any longer.

To find symbols, look for references to objects that are repeated; look closely at references to objects that aren't necessary to the story (Miss Emily's invisible, ticking watch is mentioned twice, for example, when it is completely unimportant to the plot). Symbols are often found at the beginning or end of a story, or make up part of the title. And don't skip the descriptions: often, symbols are found there.

Allegory

An allegory is a story which has two levels of meaning, one literal and one symbolic. Each event, character or object symbolizes one single idea. The medieval play Everyman is an allegory: its characters are named such things as Kindred and Good Deeds, and stand for virtues and vices. The play is not at all ambiguous; it is meant to teach a clear lesson to its audience.

A "fable" is a type of allegory, except that the characters are animals with human traits. As in an allegory, there is a clear moral. The most famous fables are by Aesop, and each has a moral stated explicitly at the end.

The following fable by James Thurber is humorous, but is still intended to make a strong point. It was published just after World War II.

The Rabbits Who Caused All the Trouble

Within the memory of the youngest child there was a family of rabbits who lived near a pack of wolves. The wolves announced that they did not like the way the rabbits were living. (The wolves were crazy about the way they themselves were living, because it was the only way to live.) One night several wolves were killed in an earthquake and this was blamed on the rabbits, for it is well known that rabbits pound on the ground with their hind legs and cause earthquakes. On another night one of the wolves was killed by a bolt of lightning and this was also blamed on the rabbits, for it is well known that lettuce-eaters cause lightning. The wolves threatned to civilize the rabbits if they didn't behave, and the rabbits decided to run away to a desert island. But the other animals, who lived at a great distance, shamed them, saying, "You must stay where you are and be brave. This is no world for escapists. If the wolves attack you, we will come to your aid, in all probability." So the rabbits continued to live near the wolves and one day there was a terrible flood which drowned a great many wolves. This was blamed on the rabbits, for it is well known that carrot-nibblers with long ears cause floods. The wolves descended on the rabbits, for their own good, and imprisoned them in a dark cave, for their own protection.
When nothing was heard about the rabbits for some weeks, the other animals demanded to know what had happened to them. The wolves replied that the rabbits had been eaten and since they had been eaten the affair was a purely internal matter. But the other animals warned that they might possibly unite against the wolves unless some reason was given for the destruction of the rabbits. So the wolves gave them one. "They were trying to escape," said the wolves, " and, as you know, this is no world for escapists."
Moral: Run, don't walk, to the nearest desert island.

Thurber is obviously criticizing the United States and other European countries who failed to help the Jews when Hitler began persecuting them. The wolves are the Nazis, the rabbits are the Jews, and the other animals are the other countries.

When looking for patterns or making sense of literary elements feels overwhelming,

Don't Panic! You are not alone.

The library and library database has articles, explications, analyses written by professional literary critics. Their job is to try to make sense based on patttern, peculiarities, literary elements and techniques. As long as you credit them in your own writing (quote accurately, give credit with parenthetical citations, include a Works Cited page), you are certainly allowed to use secondary sources.

BEWARE, however; you do not want the critic's writing dominate your analysis. Use bits to support YOUR thinkking; after all the teacher is evaluating YOUR ability to articulate ideas about the readings.

literary criticism

Here is what literary criticism is not: it is not the same as a book review. When you read popular articles on the latest Dan Brown novel in a magazine like People or an online newspaper such as The L.A. Times, you are likely reading a book review. This is just a quick summary, maybe some character sketches, and a "thumbs-up/thumbs-down" (whether or not the writer liked the book). Plot summary and personal opinion are not what you are looking for when you use secondary sources; it's one reason Wikipedia, Snopes, Ask, SparkNotes, etc. are not acceptable sources for your writing. They are basically cheat sheets that tell you what to think (and they often encourage plagiarism--a very bad thing).

Literary Criticism (the English call it "Appreciations," because the word criticism sounds negative, and that is not generally the case. If it makes it easier for you to understand, just call it Literary Analysis), is often published in literary journals (not popular magazines/newspaper). That is why using the Literary Criticism database at the library is going to be one of your best sources. Or wander the reference section in the physical library; you can browse volulmes of Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism or Cyclopedia of World Authors or The Explicator and so on. Chat with the Reference Librarian to get some help if you are lost. NOTE: public libraries generally do not have much academic reference material; use a college/university library/database for this.

The range of interpretations and schools of criticism (feminist, Marxist, social, psychological, textual, deconstructionist, etc.) affirm that there are many ways to approach complex stories, poem, plays, novels, films, etc. You are always welcome to use works of literary criticism (not reviews) when you write about literature. If you do, however, be sure you include direct quotations with appropriate parenthetical citations from those sources, and include a Works Cited page with an entry for the articles you use.

writing an essay that focuses on literary elements

For this week's lecture you read Kate Chopin's "A Story of an Hour." As with so much we've read, we are once again trying to figure out a cause of death (that seems to show up a lot in literature; perhaps humans are cocerned with death and dying?). The story is very short, and you will want to read through it and THEN look at the sample student paper on "A Story of an Hour" to give you further ideas how to do your first paper (due next week). In the Files section of Canvas, open the folder labeled "ALL ESSAY-Related Stuff" > then open the folder labeled "Analysis Paper" > and then select/open the file called "Short Story Essay Sample."

It's a pretty solid essay my son wrote for his English 2 class at SMC. He is looking primarily at the use of language in two stories--"A Story of an Hour" and William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" (which you may read if you select the topic on THAT story for Paper 1).