Elements of a Novel and Literary Techniques

Elements of a Novel

• A plot is the sequence of events in a story or the storyline.  It consists of:

• Exposition, which is when the characters and their goals are introduced.
• In The Hunger Games, it would be the introduction to the story in setting and storyline.
• In Siddhartha, it would be when he leaves his home to go with the Samanas.
• In The Last Lecture, it would be when we learn who Randy Pausch is and that he has cancer.
• Rising action, which is when the conflicts of the story are developed.
• In The Hunger Games, it would be the reaping and training.
• In Siddhartha, it would be when he meets Gotama and is in Samsara.
• In The Last Lecture, it would be when he talks about his issues and how he came to the decision to give the lecture.
• Climax, which is the point of greatest tension, or the turning point, of a story.
• In The Hunger Games, it would be when Katniss and Peeta defy the Capitol by almost eating deadly berries and leaving them without a winner.
• In Siddhartha, it would be when he contemplates suicide.
• In The Last Lecture, it would be the lecture.
• Falling action, which is when tension falls and the conflict will soon be solved.
• In The Hunger Games, it would be when they face small troubles once the Hunger Games are done.
• In Siddhartha, it would be when he meets Vesudeva and starts living with him.
• In The Last Lecture, it would be when he finds some fame.
• Resolution, which is when the conflict is solved.
• In The Hunger Games, it would be when they're back in District 12.
• In Siddhartha, it would be when he finds enlightenment.
• In The Last Lecture, it would be when he dies.
• Other elements of a novel include:
• Setting, which is the location or time period in which the story takes place.
• Mood or Tone, which sets the overall feeling of the novel.
• Characters, which are those beings who partake in a story.
• The protagonist is the leading character in the novel.
• The antagonist is the character who opposed the protagonist.
• The foil is a character who contrasts another character in order to highlight some of that other character's qualities.
• In Siddhartha, Govinda can be considered Siddhartha's foil.
• Secondary characters are those who contribute to the plot, but not greatly.
• Conflicts, which can be either internal or external.
• Internal conflicts include Man vs. Himself.
• External conflicts include Man vs. Man and Man vs. Society.
• Themes or Lessons, which are the overarching ideas present in a book.
• Some themes in Siddhartha could be spirituality, love, friendship, and perseverance.

Literary Techniques

• Figurative language, which is when things are said in a way that is not meant to be taken literally.
• Characterization, which is information about the characters of a story.
• This information includes physical and emotional traits.
• It may be obtained from:
• what characters say about themselves
• what other characters say about them
• what they do (their actions)
• general narration
• Foreshadowing, which is when something that will happen in the story is indirectly hinted before it happens.
• Irony, which can be divided into several types.
• Verbal irony is when sarcasm, overexaggeration, and underexaggeration are used in the narrative and in what a character says.
• Dramatic irony is when the audience, or readers, know a key piece of information a character is not aware of.
• Situational irony is when the audience, or readers, are surprised because the result of something is different than what was expected.
• An inference is when something is not said directly, but you can induce it from other information and the narrative, even though you can't prove it.