Literary essay - elementary

Literary Essay
In order to start writing a literary essay, you should be reading as widely as possible both for general interest and to increase your vocabulary. It is to devote particular attention to a small selection of books (being selective) because the process of writing a literary essay presupposes a detailed knowledge of certain texts.
Writing literary essays requires knowing the contents of the books to be studied very well. Reading a book twice may be an uneasy task for some of the students, so it is advisable to record what is being read. Summarizing enables revising the contents of a whole book in a matter of minutes. It is not necessary to write laborious summaries of each chapter because they are tedious to write and not very exciting to read. The best way is to make a page by page summary in note form as well as write more than a few points for each page.
The literary essay will be either narrative or descriptive, but unlike general essays, they will be based completely on the books being studied. The question you will be set will be designed to test your knowledge of the book. You may be required to reproduce in your own words any particular part of the story or to write a brief description of one or more characters.
It is necessary to discipline yourself to answer each question as closely as possible. Be specific in providing information which supports your answer to the question, and do not proceed to tell the whole story from the beginning to impress on the reader the fact that you know the book well.
As far as, information supplied in your essay about characters and events should be accurate. It is good for you to use your own words in reflecting ideas related to events and characters
If you are asked to retell part of the story in your own words, be careful to relate events in the order in which they occurred.
Questions which require you to give an account of a person s character are more difficult than those which ask you to reproduce a scene because in answering such questions you have to select your facts from all parts of the book.

The characters in a story can be divided into two groups:
1. Major characters (the people who play a leading part).
2. Minor characters (the people who play a small part).
The best way to write an account of a person s character is to note down abstract qualities which he or she possesses and then to illustrate them by referring to events from the book. The sort of qualities you should look for are: courage, cowardice, generosity, meanness, kindness, cruelty, understanding, initiative, wickedness, stupidity, cunning etc.
Making a plan before answering the question helps you to know beforehand not only what you will write in each paragraph but how many paragraphs will be included in your essay.
A good way to make a plan is to leave a wide margin on the left-hand side of the page. In the left-hand column you should write down any points that will help you to answer the question. These points may be written in any order as they occur to you. You may then order them correctly in the right-hand column, dividing your material into clear paragraphs. Cross out your plan neatly with a single line when you have completed it so that it will be possible for your teacher to refer to it if necessary.


Plot refers to the sequence of events inside a story which affect other events through the principle of cause and effect. The causal events of a plot can be thought of as a series of sentences linked by "and so". Plots can vary from simple structures such as in a traditional ballad to complex interwoven structures sometimes referred to as an imbroglio. The term plot can serve as a verb and refer to a character planning future actions in the story.
In 1863, Gustav Freytag, a German writer, advocated a model based upon Aristotle s theory of tragedy. This is now called "Freytag s pyramid," which divides a drama into five parts, and provides function to each part. These parts are: exposition (originally called introduction), rising action (rise), climax, falling action (return or fall), and denouement (catastrophe).

Exposition
The first phase in Freytag s pyramid is the exposition, which introduces the characters, especially the main character, also known as the protagonist. It shows how the characters relate to one another, their goals and motivations, as well as their moral character. During the exposition, the protagonist learns their main goal and what is at stake.

Rising action
Rising action is the second phase in Freytag s five-phase structure. It starts with a conflict, for example, the death of a character. The inciting incident is the point of the plot that begins the conflict. It is the event that catalyzes the protagonist to go into motion and to take action. Rising action involves the buildup of events until the climax.
In this phase, the protagonist understands his or her goal and begins to work toward it. Smaller problems thwart their initial success and their progress is directed primarily against these secondary obstacles. This phase demonstrates how the protagonist overcomes these obstacles.
Climax
The climax is the turning point or highest point of the story. The protagonist makes the single big decision that defines not only the outcome of the story, but also who they are as a person. Freytag defines the climax as the third of the five dramatic phases which occupies the middle of the story.
At the beginning of this phase, the protagonist finally clears away the preliminary barriers and engages with the adversary. Usually, both the protagonist and the antagonist have a plan to win against the other as they enter this phase. For the first time, the audience sees the pair going against one another in direct or nearly direct conflict.
This struggle usually results in neither character completely winning or losing. In most cases, each character s plan is both partially successful and partially foiled by their adversary. The central struggle between the two characters is unique in that the protagonist makes a decision which shows their moral quality, and ultimately decides their fate. In a tragedy, the protagonist here makes a poor decision or a miscalculation that demonstrates their tragic flaw.

Falling action
According to Freytag, the falling action phase consists of events that lead to the ending. Character s actions resolve the problem. In the beginning of this phase, the antagonist often has the upper hand. The protagonist has never been further from accomplishing their goal. The outcome depends on which side the protagonist has put themselves on.
Resolution
In this phase the protagonist and antagonist have solved their problems and either the protagonist or antagonist wins the conflict. The conflict officially ends. Some stories show what happens to the characters after the conflict ends and/or they show what happens to the characters in the future.
Plot devices
A plot device is a means of advancing the plot in a story. It is often used to motivate characters, create urgency, or resolve a difficulty. This can be contrasted with moving a story forward with dramatic technique; that is, by making things happen because characters take action for well-developed reasons. An example of a plot device would be when the cavalry shows up at the last moment and saves the day in a battle. In contrast, an adversarial character who has been struggling with himself and saves the day due to a change of heart would be considered dramatic technique.
Plot outline
A plot outline is a prose telling of a story which can be turned into a screenplay. Sometimes it is called a "one page" because of its length. It is generally longer and more detailed than a standard synopsis, which is usually only one or two paragraphs, but shorter and less detailed than a treatment or a step outline. In comics, the roughs refer to a stage in the development where the story has been broken down very loosely in a style similar to storyboarding in film development. This stage is also referred to as storyboarding or layouts. In Japanese manga, this stage is called the nemu (pronounced like the English word "name"). The roughs are quick sketches arranged within a suggested page layout. The main goals of roughs are:
1. to lay out the flow of panels across a page
2. to ensure the story successfully builds suspense
3. to work out points of view, camera angles, and character positions within panels
4. to serve as a basis for the next stage of development, the "pencil" stage, which are detailed drawings in a more polished layout which will, in turn, serve as the basis for the inked drawings.
In fiction writing, a plot outline is a laundry list of scenes with each line being a separate plot point, and the outline helps give a story a "solid backbone and structure".
Plot Summary
A plot summary is a brief description of a piece of literature that explains what happens. In a plot summary, the author and title of the book should be referred to. Also, it is no more than a paragraph long while summarizing the main points of the story.









Literary terms:
1. Alliteration is the repetition of the beginning sound in two or more words in a line of verse.
2. Allusion means referring to a previous great work or to history. An author uses allusion to deepen his/her meaning.
3. Analogy: Corresponding in some respects, especially in function or position, between things otherwise dissimilar.
Ex: “Because the way you grow old is kind o like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next.” (“Eleven” by Cisneros)
4. Apostrophe means addressing someone or something as if s/he were present or could hear you.
5. Assonance: The repetition of a vowel sound in two or more words. It is sometimes called partial or near rhyme.
Ex: Lake and stake are rhymes. Lake and fate are examples of assonance.
Ex: Base and face are rhymes. Base and fade are examples of assonance.
6. Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds in the middle or at the end of words.
(Spies hiss in the stillness.)
7. Foreshadowing: To indicate, suggest, hint at something’s occurrence before it actually happens.
8. Imagery: Sensory details that enable the reader to see, hear, touch, taste and/or smell whatever is being described.
Ex: “The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy.”
(“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke)
The desired effect of metaphors, similes, personification, etc. When a writer uses one or more of the literary devices to “paint a picture” in the mind of the reader.
9. Irony (Regular): When the reader expects one thing to happen, but the opposite occurs.
a. Dramatic Irony: When a character believes something to be true, but the reader/audience knows the character is wrong. The reader/audience really knows the truth.
b. Irony of Situation: When a character in a piece of literature expects one thing to happen, but the opposite occurs.
c. Verbal Irony: When an author uses a word or a phrase that is the opposite of what s/he means.
Ex: “my friend” in “Dulce et Decorum Est.”
10. Metaphor is describing a thing by comparing it to an unlike thing (without using the words like¸ as or than.).
The metaphor can be expressed in four different ways:
Type 1 Both the literal and the figurative types are specifically named.
Ex: Her skin is petal soft.
Type 2 Only the literal term is named.
Ex: “Leaves got up in a coil and hissed,
Blindly struck at my knees and missed.”
(“Bereft” by Robert Frost)
Type 3 Only the figurative term is named.
Ex: All throughout the poem “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou, the figurative term “bird” is used but the literal term “human” or “person” is never mentioned.
Type 4 RARE! Neither the literal nor the figurative term is named.
Ex: It sifts from leaden sieves.
Snow=literal term
Flour, sugar=figurative term implied
11. Onomatopoeia: The use of a word to represent or imitate natural sounds.
Ex: buzz, crunch, tinkle, gurgle, sizzle, hiss
12. Paradox refers to a statement that is contradictor but it somehow true.
Ex: “The child is the father of the man” (line, 7, ‘my Heart Leaps Up”)
13. Personification means describing an inanimate object as though it had animate (human or animal) qualities.
14. Rhyme is the similarity or likeness of sound existing between two words. A true rhyme should consist of identical sounding syllables that are stressed and the letters preceding the vowel sounds should be different. Thus fun and run are true to perfect rhymes because the vowel sounds are identical preceded by different consonants.
15. Simile is describing a thing by comparing it to an unlike thing, using the words, like, as or than.
Ex: Her skin is as soft as a petal.
16. Symbolism: A symbol may be said to have two separate meanings: literal and figurative.
Ex: A rectangular flag with red and white stripes and a field of 50 stars on a blue background is the U.S. flag literally.
The same flag stands for or symbolizes liberty, freedom and democracy, figuratively.