Plot and Structure

Perrine’s Chapter Two

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Plot is:

• The sequence of incidents the author constructs in the story.
• It is like a map on a road trip.

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• It is not the action itself… it is how the author arranges the action toward the end.

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Plot: Commercial Literature

• Commercial Lit: May include surprising twists and a culminating, climactic incident = page turner.
• Conventional plot structure told in chronological order.

Artistic Literature

• Plot may be arranged in complex ways.
• May be experimental and unpredictable

Conflict

• The clash of actions, ideas, desires or wills.
• Protagonist vs
1. Fate
2. Environment
3. Their own nature

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• Can be: Physical, mental, emotional, or moral (and artistic literature strives to meet all of these)
• Can be clear and clean cut, or it can be multiple, various and subtle.

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Protagonist and Antagonist

• Protagonist: The central character in the conflict (can be sympathetic or unsympathetic)
• Antagonist: Any FORCE against the protagonist: people, things, society, or their own character trait.

Excellent Literary Fiction

• Often use four types of conflict in one work:
1. Physical
2. Mental
3. Emotional
4. Moral

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• Not always be good vs bad
• May be good vs good
• May not be clearly defined

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Suspense

• When readers want to know what will happen next.
• Readers are compelled to read further.
• Adds anxiety

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Suspense

• Commercial: What will happen next? Cliff hanger
• Artistic: Why is this happening? How do we explain a character's behavior or actions? This will lead to the _____________________.

Suspense is created with

• Mystery: an unusual set of circumstances
• Dilemma: Position requiring choice between two options…. Both being bad.

Suspense

• Commercial: Man on the ledge. Will he jump?
• Artistic: Why is he thinking of jumping? What brought him here?

Surprise Endings

• When something unexpected happens
• Two ways to judge a surprise ending
1. Is it fair? Contrived? Improbable? Or does it make sense after looking back?
2. Is it there just to shock and titillate? Or does it broaden and reinforce the meaning of the story. Illumination.

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Happy Endings

• Commercial Lit: Almost always end happily
• Literary Fiction: Almost always end unhappily.

Unhappy Endings

• Illuminate life: Life sometimes sucks. It often has unpleasant outcomes.
• Forces us to contemplate complexities of life.
• Keeps us thinking

Endings …

• Should reveal a full and believable revelation
• Can have an INDETERMINATE ENDING: One with no definite conclusion
• Should show ARTISTIC UNITY: There should be nothing irrelevant. Nothing that doesn’t enhance the central idea/intention of the story. They are not always chronological.

Plot No No’s

• Plot manipulation: Turn in the plot that is unjustified by situation and character.
• Deus Ex Machina: Plot end relies too much on chance and coincidence (an angel descends from Heaven and saves the protagonist or it was all just a dream).

Chance and Coincidence

• Chance: Event with no apparent cause
• Coincidence: Chance occurrence of two events happening.
• Both have a place in literature just like life
• They can start a story, but they should not end a story!

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Message for Today

• Plot is more than simply what happens.
• Don’t look at the plot: Consider the function of the plot in understanding the relationship between each incident/the larger meaning of the story: The ________________________.