This document provides an overview of prose as a literary form. It defines prose as ordinary written or spoken language without a metrical structure. The document then discusses the main types of prose, including fiction and non-fiction. It also examines key elements of prose like narrative, plot, character, setting, point of view, and theme. Examples are provided to illustrate concepts like characterization, setting, and how point of view is employed in literary works.
3. INTRODUCTION
• From Latin word prosa, part of the phrase prosa oratio , meaning
straightforward speech/ a natural flow of speech
• Written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure
• Written in full grammatical sentences, which then constitutes paragraph
4. TYPES OF PROSE
Fiction
• Short story
• Novel
• Novella
• Folktale – legend,
fable, parable
Non Fiction
• Biography
• Autobiography
• History
• Letter
• Diary
• Journal
5. • Is telling stories, true or false, factual
or fictional, in any medium.
• Is any activity which results in a story
being told and an event represented
and reported.
Narrative
ELEMENTS OF NARRATIVE
6. ELEMENTS OF NARRATIVE (CONTINUED)
Narrative Texts
Story (What is
told)
Discourse (How
is it told)
7. ELEMENTS OF PROSE FICTION
1. Plot
2. Character and
characterization
3. Setting
4. Point of View
5. Theme
8. PLOT
The structure, “framework” or “skeleton” of
the story
The story arc that holds all the events of a
story in an orderly way (E.M. Froster)
The casual and logical structure that
connects events (E.M. Froster)
10. PLOT (CONTINUED)
Introduction (Exposition)
• The beginning of the story where
characters and setting are
established
Rising Action
• Complications that arise when the
characters take steps to resolve
their conflict
Climax
• The turning point of the story and
is meant to be the moment of
highest interest and emotion
Falling Action
• The conflict is in the process of
being resolved or “unraveled
Resolution (Denouement )
• When the problem/conflict is
resolved and the story ends
11. CHARACTER AND CHARACTERIZATION
• Character : a person or being in a story that performs the action of
the plot.
• Characterization : the process by which the writer reveals the
personality of the character
13. CHARACTER AND CHARACTERIZATION
• Example: He was a simple, good-natured man; he was moreover
a kind neighbor and an obedient, henpecked husband. (‘Rip Van
Winkle’ by Washington Irving)
Direct
characterization
• Example: I jumped up, knocking over my chair, and had reached
the door when Mama called, ‘Pick up that chair, sit down again,
and say excuse me’. (‘The Scarlet Ibis’ by James Hurst)
Indirect
characterization
(CONTINUED)
14. SETTING
The historical time and place, and the social circumstances in the
‘world’ of the literature
Geographic
location
• topography
Cultural
backdrop
• way of life
Artificial
environment
• buildings
Properties
• furniture
15. SETTING
Like as he is to look at, so is his apartment in the dusk of the present
afternoon. Rusty, out of date, withdrawing from attention, able to afford it.
Heavy broad-backed old-fashioned mahogany and horsehair chairs, not easily
lifted, obsolete tables with spindle-legs and dusty baize covers, presentation
prints of the holders of great titles in the last generation, or the last but one,
environ him. A thick and dingy Turkey-carpet muffles the floor where he sits,
attended by two candles in old-fashioned silver candlesticks, that give a very
insufficient light to his large room.
(Dickens, Bleak House, ch. 10).
16. POINT OF VIEW
Point of view is how an author tells his or her reader about a character.
• Involving the
use of either of
the two
pronouns “I”
and “we
First person
• Employing the
pronoun “you”
Second
person
• Entering the
thought of
every character
Third person
omniscient
• Entering the
thought of one
character
Third person
limited
17. “I have of late,—but wherefore I know not,—
lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of
exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with
my disposition that this goodly frame, the
earth, seems to me a sterile promontory.”
‘Hamlet’ by Shakespeare
POINT OF VIEW
Harry had taken up his place at wizard school,
where he and his scar were famous ...but now
the school year was over, and he was back
with the Dursleys for the summer, back to
being treated like a dog that had rolled in
something smelly.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by
J.K. Rowling
18. THEME
• A main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work that may be stated directly
or indirectly.
• Examples of themes:
Love and friendship War
Crime and mystery Revenge
Prose is a form of language which applies ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure. Metrical structure includes meter, tempo, and rhythm
Prose is the ordinary form of spoken and written language whose unit is the sentence, rather than the line as it is in poetry.
Novel is long narrative which includes fictional characters and events.
Novella is a fictional prose which is longer than short story but shorter than novel (The strange case of Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde, the old man and the sea by Ernest Hemmingway)
Folktale a tale/ legend passed on traditionally, especially one considered to be false or based on superstition.
Fable is a brief story which provides a moral lesson at the end. Fable is described through plants, animals or natural objects by giving them human attributes.
Parable provides moral lesson at the end of the story. It differs from fable in the characters. Parable has human characters. It can be found in religious texts such as the Bible or the Buddhist Tipitaka.s
Non fiction is called informational materials. It provides information that is factual. Nothing is make-believe in this type of materials.
Biography is a true account of people’s life which is written, composed, or produced by another person.
The biography of a person written by that person
History is a chronological report of past events and developments.
Fiction is partly of totally imaginative. However, authors can also include factual information in a made-up story. Some types of fiction are historical fiction (the story takes the readers back to a certain period of time where they learn the daily life of a person or certain group of persons. The characters may interact with the actual historical characters but usually the main character is not based on the real person), realistic fiction (the story presents a problem of somebody’s life. It may cover such topics as family situations, cultural differences, or peer relationships), science fiction (type of modern fantasy. It explores scientific facts,. The author focuses on the adventure of exploring the wonder of discovering new world and people), mystery, romance, metafiction, short story
Theorists of narrative have long been in agreement that there are at least two levels in a narrative text: Something happens (What is told?) and this something is related in a certain way (How is it told?).
Story consists of events (things that happen in the story) and existent (characters and setting to whom and where things happen)
Discourse consists of some elements, some of them are plot, language (diction and syntax), and focalization (the perspective in which the story is told)
Gustav Freytag was a Nineteenth Century German novelist who saw common patterns in the plots of stories and novels and developed a diagram to analyze them in 1863.
Protagonist is the main character in a story
Antagonist is the character or force that comes into conflict with the protagonist
Dynamic : the character that changes as the story progresses i.e. Bilbo Baggins – The Hobbit – From hobbit homebody to adventurous brave hero.
Static : character that do not change as the story develops i.e. Sherlock Holmes – The Complete Sherlock Holmes - confidence, quirky, neurotic brilliant detective.
How an author tells the readers about a character in a direct, straightforward manner
The process by which the writer shows the character's personality through his/her speech, actions and appearance
The narrator is a clumsy person who doesn’t have respect to his mother. His mother firmly tells him what to do, asserting her authority over him by being direct.
Setting can function as a means of characterization
Setting can function as a means of characterization
This excerpt describes Mr Tulkinghorn’s room. Like his room (the narrator points this out), Mr Tulkinghorn is extremely secretive (dark, muffled, retired, locked), nobody knows how much he knows, he is closely associated with members of the nobility (“holders of great titles”) and he knows their secrets past and present. Tulkinghorn does not arouse much sympathy in the reader mainly because he is not accessible to any emotional appeal. His room also expresses this immovability: It is out-of date, "rusty" and "dusty", "not easily lifted", all epithets which suggest that there has not been any movement for some time.
Hamlet – 1
Harry Potter – 3 limited
Love and friendship are frequently occurring themes in literature. They generate emotional twists and turns in a narrative and can lead to a variety of endings: happy, sad or bittersweet.
The theme of war has been explored in literature since ancient times. The literary woks utilizing this theme may either glorify or criticize the idea of war.
Crime and mystery are utilized in detective novels. Such narratives also include sub-themes such as “crimes cannot be hidden”, “evil is always punished” etc.
Revenge is another recurrent theme found in many popular literary works. A character comes across certain circumstances that make him aware of his need for revenge.
