The Short Story

Definition: The short story is a narrative artistically presenting characters in a

struggle or complication which has a definite outcome.

Characteristics:

1. It deals with a single event, a single emotion, or a series of emotions caused

by a single situation. It centers, then, usually, in one incident, situation, or

character.

2. Usually, it can be read in one sitting, from fifteen to thirty minutes in

length, but brevity (which comes from the artistic desire for the greatest

possible economy of means), is not an essential feature of the short story.

A modern short story of average length would have 3,000 to 4,000 words,

but a very well known short story, “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James

runs about 40,000 words.

3. It concerns itself mainly with one impression or effect.

4. It has few characters and a single pre-eminent character.

5. It has no unnecessary details. The short story writer is always concerned

with economy: he must select only those incidents, people, and traits of

character that are necessary either to the logical development of his plot or

to the creation of the dominant idea, impression, or emotional effect that

his story is to convey.

6. It has a conflict situation, a struggle between two opposing forces.

7. The climax evolves from the basic situation.

8. Complication and struggle lead to suspense, and the short story appeals to

the reader’s emotions.

9. It has a definite outcome which seems plausible to the reader. The short

story is said, then, to have verisimilitude.

The Four Basic Types of Short Stories are:

1. The short story of character. In this type of short story the writer

concentrates on presenting character. The character’s speech and action

dominate this story.

2. The short story of plot. In this type of short story the reader is most

interested in what is happening or what is going to happen. Here a character

meets a test, resulting in a struggle. The emphasis in this type of story is

upon complication. The plot is involved, novel, or surprising.

3. The short story of setting. In this type of story, the reader’s interest

centers in the surrounding or the place in which such a story occurs. This is

true of the mystery and the ghost story. Another type in which the setting

is important is the local color story in which a reader becomes interested in

a story of a particular region. In the short story of setting, the setting

dominates the story: it makes the plot possible; it determines the kind of

characters; it dictates the actions and personalities of the characters.

4. The short story of theme. This type of story illustrates strikingly an idea of

a truth of human life. In the story of theme, the idea behind the story is

more important than the characters, the setting, or the plot. These three

elements are only the media through with the theme is developed. The

theme is the author’s general idea or subject. Emotions upon which themes

have been based are pride, love, jealousy, hate, humility, terror, ambition,

courage.

A typical short story has:

I. Setting- “Where?”

 Includes time, place, season, era, social conditions, political climate, cultural

time period.

 Atmosphere is a part of the setting. This is the MOOD given by the setting.

 The amount of space given to describing the setting in a story will vary with

the importance of the setting. In stories of setting, the place in which the

story happens is described in more detail than in a story of plot. In all short

stories the amount of space given to description is limited, for a short story

must only be sufficient to carry the plot and enable the reader to

understand the action or emotional impression that is created. The way that

the setting is described in a story depends upon the story. Sometimes

several paragraphs of description are given in the early part of the story,

but more often the setting is brought in incidentally here and there,

whenever it is necessary to advance the events of the plot.

II. Characterization- “Who?”

 The main character (the protagonist) will usually be a person or an animal, or

both. Occasionally an inanimate object will be a character e.g. a ship.

 Usually there is one main character. As a rule, the prominent character is an

unusual, striking or fascinating person who has a dominant individual trait,

characteristic, desire, weakness, power, ambition, or ideal upon which the

plot is built. Sometimes a minor or humorous weakness or striking

contradiction is associated with a desirable dominate trait.

A reader may learn about a character many ways:

i. Through what he says

ii. Through what he does

iii. Through what others say about him

iv. Through others’ reactions to him

v. Through his reactions to others

Characters can be either:

i. Flat characters- who can be summed up using one or two traits

ii. Round characters- who are complex and many-sided

iii. Stock characters- this is a flat character who has reoccurred so often that

he has become stereotyped-we know his traits and we know his subsequent

actions immediately.

Characters can also be divided into types according to their changes:

i. Static character- is one that remains the same from beginning to end.

ii. Developing (or dynamic) character- undergoes some sort of permanent

change in some aspect of his character.

Minor characters function in the short story in several ways:

i. They serve as instruments in the plot

ii. They provide humour

iii. They fill the scene

iv. They add color to the story

v. They act as foils to the main character

III. Plot- “What?”

The action is more than a sequence of events. If one has simply a series of events,

told in the order in which they took place, one has a narrative, not a short story.

Plot is a sequence which has a logical development through cause and effect, leading

from a state or condition which is accepted by the reader as an agreed starting

point, through complication and conflict, and which leads to a climax and

rearrangement where a new and final condition is accepted.

Plausibility- the plot seems true even though it is fictional- occurs is the action

could have happened naturally with the type.

Seven elements are commonly spoken of in connection with the plot of the story.

The elements are:

1. Motivation: this is the element which makes the actions possible, the idea

that creates an unstable situation. It might be simply expressed as the

problem or goal or desire which the principal character has.

2. Conflict: this element is the very essence of a short story. There are

basically three kinds of conflict.

These are: (a) External: man vs. man; man vs. beast;

(b)Internal: man vs. self

3. Rising action: the series of events which interfere with the plans of the

main character. Complication involves the incidents which are related by

cause and effect, or motivated.

4. Suspense: Conflict and complication naturally lead to suspense, which are

really questions about the outcome.

5. Climax: The climax has been defined as the "turning point" of the story. It

is here that the main character encounters crisis, and the climax will

determine his success or failure.

6. Falling action: This part of the story is the unentanglement. It is the part

of the story in which information is given or events occur which clarifies the

outcome.

7. Conclusion: This element may be defined as the way in which the story

ends.

Other factors spoken of in connection with the short story:

1. Exposition: The giving of facts at the beginning so that the story is

understandable. The who, what, when, where may be brought into the story

directly by a statement from the author or by one of the characters who

tells the story or the details may be given indirectly in the speech and action

of the characters.

2. Point of View: first person, third person, omniscient

3. Dialogue has two main purposes:

a. To reveal character of the person speaking, the one spoken of, and

the one spoken to.

b. To forward the action on the story by:

i. Giving the exposition of the antecedent circumstances, that is,

to explain the events that have happened before the story

begins.

ii. Advancing the business of the present.

iii. Preparing for the future. The dialogue gives

suggestions.

Characteristics of a good dialogue:

a) Naturalness- the dialogue is appropriate to the characters’

personalities.

b) Convincing- if the characters speak “in character”, their speeches are

convincing.

c) Interesting- if the dialogue helps to advance the action of an

interesting plot, the dialogue itself will be interesting.

4. Satisfactory endings:

a. Immediately after the climax, for once the highest point of the story

is reached, there is little left to say.

b. Logical and well-motivated.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUSPENSE IN A SHORT STORY

Suspense is developed in many different ways. The following are some of the

methods an author uses to develop suspense.

1. Title: the title is mysterious or suggestive

2. Setting: the setting is often used to establish an attitude of suspense. It

may put you in the proper “mood.”

3. Foreshadowing: the author may give hints of what is to come. He insinuates

the future outcome but does not actually tell you.

4. Characterization: the author may use characters that are “weird” or

unnatural in some way.

5. Dialogue: the author may use dialogue that creates interest through

suggestion. Certain things are suggested but left unexplained.

6. Names: the author may use suggestive names.

7. Diction: the author uses words that promote suspense both denotatively and

connotatively.

8. Sentences Patterns: the use of long sentences to prolong or worry.

(Periodic- verb comes at the end), and short, staccato sentences to

promotes haste, confusion, sudden and startling movement etc.

9. Contrasts: the author uses contrasting words:

Color- white and black

Sound- loud and quiet sounds

Touch- hard, sharp and soft

He also contrasts characters and settings- beauty and ugliness.

10. Figures of Speech: the author may use imagery, metaphor, personification,

etc.

11. Anti-Climax: the author may keep bringing the reader to an emotional “high”

without arriving at the complete climax.

12. Surprise endings: the author may use surprise “twisted” endings.

13. Suggestion: the author suggests certain threatening alternatives.

14. Increase Detail: the author slows down the action of the story by

increasing the detail.

IRONY

One element common to most literature is irony. Put simply, irony is the idea that

what seems to be true is not true—that appearances are deceiving.

Verbal Irony-

The simplest form of irony is verbal irony. Verbal irony occurs when

someone says one thing but in fact means something else, usually the opposite of

what has been said. For example, as storm clouds loom overhead, I meet an

acquaintance on the street who greets me with “Nice day isn’t it?” He means, of

course, that the day is not nice. Sarcasm is a form of verbal irony—often a cruel

one. Saying “Smooth move” to someone who has just stumbled, is being sarcastic.

Dramatic Irony-

Dramatic irony is more complex than verbal irony and is more likely to occur

in stories or plays or movies. Dramatic irony is presented when readers or members

of an audience know more about what’s going on than a particular character. The

character may say, do, or intend to do something based on the information he or

she has. Do you remember that scene in “Cinderella” when the Prince appears with

a glass slipper at Cinderella’s door seeking the enchanting girl who dropped it

leaving the party in such a hurry? We know who fits the delicate shoe—Cinderella

who is locked upstairs—but the Prince does not. We know more than the Prince

does from what has occurred previously (from what the writer has already

revealed). It is the dramatic irony which created interest for the reader.

Situational Irony-

Situational irony occurs when events in a story turn out differently from

what was anticipated or when what appears to be is quite different from reality.

Using our Cinderella tale again, one would not expect a chore girl to become a

princess. Yet, happily, Cinderella is allowed to escape a degrading home to enter a

place of love and plenty.