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Elements of prose - Coggle Diagram
Elements of prose
Conflict
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Sometimes it can be very subtle, but there’s always conflict.
It is when the conflict (or, in many cases, conflicts) is/are resolved that we come to a cathartic resolution to the work, and the work itself generally comes to an end.
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In most traditional novels, the reader usually follows the actions of one main character throughout the novel; this character is referred to as the protagonist. The force with which the protagonist is in conflict is called the antagonist.
The truth is that you often find many conflicts, and even combinations of external and internal conflicts within a piece of fiction.
Symbols
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For example, the dove symbolizes peace, or white hair symbolizes old age.
Some writers use traditional symbols such as winter to symbolize death, while others use their own symbols: while universally rain symbolizes life and re-birth, for Ernest Hemingway rain symbolizes death.
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Style
It’s the way in which authors use literary devices, language structures, vocabulary.
Prose writers have access to all the same literary devices that poets use – you will find allusions, imagery, similes, metaphors, irony, while reading prose.
Style is something each individual author develops – and within certain literary movements, you will find that authors share or experiment on some elements of style.
Ernest Hemingway used really short direct sentences with a really profound meaning as whereas Falkner, used run-on sentences that sometimes make readers get lost.
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Tone
Is the attitude the author, or a character in their work, has towards a situation or subject in a piece of literature.
It is the way you would describe the voice of the speaker as you read their words (ex. “pleading”, “accusatory”, “indifferent”, “hopeful”, “insensitive”, “inflammatory” etc.)
Tone is another important tool in characterization – especially in works of literature which use a first-person narrator.
Critical reading which takes into account character, situation, and the connotation of words is essential if one is to become an effective interpreter of tone.
Themes
As in poetry, themes remain ‘the connection the work has with the experience of being human (the human condition)’.
Often novels, because they are more complex and deal with a range of characters, will develop many themes simultaneously.
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The Things They Carried touches on aspects of social pressure, the loss of innocence, existentialism, love, escapism and meta-fiction.
Mood and atmosphere
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This is usually evoked by the setting and, like the setting, may change throughout the novel.
You may say that a novel opens with a mysterious atmosphere, a gloomy atmosphere, a light, carefree atmosphere, etc.
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Context of production
Considers the social, historical, and cultural conditions in which a text is created.
Historical background
The social, economic, political, and religious events that influenced the writing of a text.