SF1 - Overview

A large book is open. A person in a red shirt holds a large pencil. A person in yellow holds a magnifying glass.Short Fiction 1 - Overview

Introduction

Have you ever noticed that ELA courses seem to repeat themselves? If you are taking this class, you are aware that character, setting, plot, and point-of-view are not new concepts. This repetition is intentional. Instead of merely identifying each Core Literature Element, the challenge comes from taking these Core Literary Elements and learning how to craft your awareness of them into a coherent literary argument.

This module will take Core Literary Elements that we tend to take for granted when reading fiction such as character, setting, plot, and point-of-view, and show you to how use them for the basis of creating literary arguments about short fiction.

Learning Questions

In this module, we will answer the following questions:

  1. How do short story writers use core literary elements (i.e. characterization, setting, plot, narrator, point of view) to craft complex meaning?
  2. How does a student craft a literary argument that includes analysis of literary evidence and the evidence itself?

Key Terms

The following terms originate with The AP English Literature and Composition Course and Exam Description published by the College Board (pp. 41-43). Familiarize (or refamiliarize) yourself with these terms as we will use them regularly in the lessons for this module.

Characters in literature allow readers to study and explore a range of values, beliefs, assumptions, biases, and cultural norms represented by those characters.

Setting and the details associated with it not only depict a time and place, but also convey values associated with that setting.

Plot or the arrangement of the parts and sections of a text, the relationship of the parts to each other, and the sequence in which the text reveals information are all structural choices made by a writer that contribute to the reader’s interpretation of a text.

Point-of-View acts as a narrator’s or speaker’s perspective that controls details and emphasis that affect how readers experience and interpret a text.

Literary Argument is the way that readers establish and communicate their interpretation of literature through arguments supported by textual evidence.

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