Short Story Mega Notes

Making Inferences

• Making an inference: 

  • Is making an assumption

  • Texts often suggest things more than they actually say things

  • So, we make inferences to understand what is really going on, or what will happen next

​Inferences are…

• Assumptions or ideas!

• Based on known facts or evidence

• Unable to exist unless we have evidence to back them up

• A great way to read closely and think about what the text actually MEANS on a deeper level!

Inferences Con't

• An inference is NOT simply stating something that is extremely obvious, or previously stated.

• For example:

  • If a character in a novel is eating dinner that his mother cooked him, you cannot INFER that this character has a mother.

  • We know this already – do NOT state the obvious.

Point of View

• the person or character telling the story

• NOT the same as the author (that is the person who WROTE the story)

​Narrator

The perspective used to tell a story.

​Definition

• Readers see events from character’s point of view.

• Readers understand characters better.

• Readers are directly in the characters’ mind – experiencing events with them!

​Advantages

• STORY IS TOLD FROM THE CHARACTER’S POV.

• THE CHARACTER IS THE NARRATOR.

  • The following types of words are used: 

    • I Me My Us We Our

    • Ex: I really enjoyed diving into the pool!

1st POV

• The narrator is speaking to the reader.

• The following words are used: 

  • You Your Yours Yourself

• Example: When washing clothes, you need to make sure that you sort them according to their color.

• Second person point of view uses “you” and presents commands.  

• Three types of third person point of view

  • 3rd person objective

  • 3rd person limited

  • 3rd person omniscient

• AN OUTSIDE NARRATOR IS TELLING THE STORY – NOT THE CHARACTER THEMSELF.

•  The following types of words are used: He/She, Him/Her/ They/Them

3rd POV

• Narrator tells the story without describing any character's thoughts, opinions, or feelings

• Gives an objective, or neutral point of view. 

Objective Advantages

• Readers are forced to read more closely to figure out how the characters feel, as the narrator does not reveal it. 

• Thus, readers become stronger readers because they have to do more work. 

• The narrator knows only the thoughts and feelings of ONE character

• the narrator is only in the mind of ONE character, and can only guess how other characters feel

• Limited Advantages

  • Readers are able to see the thoughts the main character in depth.  

  • Readers enjoy the mystery of guessing how other characters feel, just like the main character has to guess.

• The narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of more than one character

• the narrator is in everyone’s thoughts/mind!

• the narrator sees and understands all

Omniscient Advantages

• Readers are able to see the thoughts of all characters, so they never have to guess or wonder how a character feels or reacts 

• Beware of an unreliable narrator!

  • a narrator who is not fully credible (may lie, leave out important events, or twist the story)

• Sometimes the narrator's unreliability is made immediately evident

  • for example: a story may open with the narrator making an obviously false or delusional claim or admitting to being severely mentally ill

• However, in some cases, the narrator's unreliability is never fully revealed but only hinted at

  • this leaves readers to wonder how much the narrator should be trusted and how the story should be interpreted

• The person or force against the main character

• The antagonist isn’t always necessarily “bad.”

​Antagonist

• The main character

• Not always “good.”

• Typically gets the most "screen" time

• Typically dynamic

​Protagonist

• Readers only see one side of the character

• Usually minor characters that have one or two traits

• Can be used as a contrast to a major character

​Flat

• Have various characteristics or traits

• Complex and have multiple sides to their personality

• You can see more than one side of the character

Round

• Characters who stay the same or grow very little

• The character stays consistent with their good/evil traits throughout the story

Static

• Characters who develop and change

• Events in the plot will help them adapt and grow

​Dynamic

• A character has a conflict with another character

• Two or more characters are against each other

• External conflict

​Character vs Self

• A character struggles with a personal problem that they have with themselves.

• A character must overcome a fear, a personal battle, an insecurity, or make a hard decision

• Internal conflict

​Character vs Society

• Character struggles with man-made institutes, societal ways of life, or social structures

• Character is frustrated by social rules

• External conflict

Character vs Nature

• A character struggles against nature’s forces, such as the weather, sickness, or time

  • Hurricanes, Snow

  • Plague, Cancer, Autoimmune disease

  • Time moving too quickly, aging

• External conflict

​Character vs Supernatural

• A character struggles with a force that is not natural or explainable, such as a ghost or a god

• The character struggles to understand what is happening, or to control the unknown

• External conflict

​Character vs Technology

• A character struggles with a force that is becoming too powerful.

• The character struggles to understand the technology or how to use it.

• External conflict

Mood

• The feeling or impression the author creates with his writing

• The feelings the reader has about the characters or setting in a story

• Why does Mood matter? --> it influences the way readers feel about what they are reading.

• it can draw a reader into a story and can make them want to continue to read.

How Can I Find the Mood?

• Mood can be identified by analyzing…

  • the setting of a story 

  • the images described in a story

  • the character’s actions and dialogue (what the character says aloud)

What kind of Mood does this setting create? Why?

​

TtT

What mood does this setting evoke? Why? ​

​TtT

Setting & Mood

• Writers often create a setting that will convey the mood to their readers

• Writers will use a variety of imagery devices to vividly describe the setting so that readers can picture in their minds how the setting looks, smells, and sounds.

Characters & Mood

• Readers need to recognize/analyze the following:

  • Situation in which the character is involved

  • Character’s reactions to the situation

  • Character’s reactions to other characters 

  • Character’s body language

  • Character’s tone of voice

  • What the characters say to others

  • The character’s thoughts and emotions

Tone is a literary device that reflects the writer’s attitude toward the subject matter or audience of a literary work.

Tone is connected to Mood but they are NOT the same. Tone can be analyzed by looking at word choice, sentence structure etc.

One word concepts that need layers from the text to make into a statement to remember

​Topic

Moral, message, or lesson of a story

Must be a teachable phrase

Uses Big Idea and takes the message from the text to make a unique statement

​Theme

1. Success comes in many different forms.

2. Anything is possible with support from loved ones.

3.  What we can achieve is determined by our mindset.

​Topic

1. Success -->

2. Family/Friendships -->

3. Belief, Fate, Change -->

​Theme